Amsterdam

So I never wrote about my trip to Amsterdam...I'll keep it short because I also need to write about my homestay.

So Amsterdam was my first big traveling adventure alone, and I will say I was a bit nervous. It took me a little bit longer to find my way out of Amsterdam Schiphol airport than it should have, but I managed to find my way to the correct train and from the train to the correct exit. Luckily, the hostel was fairly easy to find, and I happened to run into Tom and company on the way over because their flight had been delayed. So, we walked over together to Hotel My Home. It had possibly the steepest stairs I have ever encountered, but it was nice as hostels go I suppose. There were 4 of us, and a random Chinaman in our room haha. He was quiet and nice. The hostel served breakfast each morning which was good to have included in our price and day.

The weekend is a bit of a blur, and I was absolutely exhausted when I got back. We spent the majority of our time walking in the gray an drizzly weather. It was still beautiful though, I would love to see it in the spring. We went to the Van Gogh museum almost first thing, and that is one of the higlights of my whole trip abroad so far. It was incredible. Starry night was there, as well as the paintings leading up to it. The museum was multiple floors and exhibits, and like I said before I would love to go back to the city in the spring to see a lot of the things in the lighting and weather Van Gogh painted them in.

Our small group of four then attempted to meet up with the rest of the GW Madrid group, who were spread out in different hostels and hotels. The problem was, only Tom's phone worked and he had no balance so he could only receive calls...quite the comical yet frustrating situation. We eventually managed, with luck on our sides to find each other and we proceeded to wonder about the city more. Of course the boys were anxious to see the red light district, so we went. It is as scary and outrageous as you can imagine. We went back in the daylight and it wasn't so hustling and bustling, but it is by far one of the strangest things I have encountered in my life.

We all went to the Heineken experience together, that was a lot of fun...a lot more interesting than the Anheuser Busch brewery! Anddd delicious half pints were included with our ticket. After the experience, some people went to the Anne Frank House museum, while others of us who were quickly running out of money decided to go see a cathedral and take more pictures around the city. There were really cool people as standing statues...one as a gorilla one as darth vader. They would get mad if you took a picture without putting money in their bin. So we tried not to anger them.

My last day there was cut short by the fact that my flight was at 1pm. Tom was nice enough to come with me even though his flight wasn't until 3 hours later, and unlucky for him his flight was delayed another hour. :( And unlucky for us both, we were at separate gates so he wasn't allowed through to the same one as me to hang out :(

It was a long journey back between being at the airport an hour early, waiting, being on the plane for an hour, then having to take a bus to the train station in edinburgh and from edinburgh back to leuchars train station and from leuchars train station a bus to st andrews. Despite the fact that I had the hour time difference on my side: I left Amsterdam at 1:10 and got to edinburgh at 1:40, it was no consolation for my level of exhaustion.

But, I made it through, got some sleep, and set out the next weekend for my homestay!