Oh Damn, Amsterdam

This weekend was our much-anticipated trip to AMSTERDAM! So, as you can guess, I had no time to blog. But no worries, I will spend this three-hour train ride home telling you all about it.  

First of all, Bianca and I had the most amazing housing arrangement for the weekend. While the rest of our group was booking hostels in rooms with up to 18 beds for around 30 euro a night (at hostels with questionable cleanliness reviews), Bianca and I decided to look at just HOW much more expensive staying in a small hotel would be. We ended up landing a pretty good bed & breakfast deal for 35 euro a night with two beds. However, the hotel said they double-booked our room and offered us an apartment around the corner for the same price. It had two rooms, a kitchen, a living room and a nice bathroom with views of the canals. Kick-ass. It was by far the best deal we could have gotten for about $100 each for the whole weekend. 

Ah, with that said, I can go into detail about all the sights we saw. When most people think of Amsterdam, they probably think of “coffee shops” where pot is legal and an über-tolerant crowd of young people, but it’s really probably one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen. My first impression of the city was how very old it is and obvious its age is. Since so much of Germany was flattened in World War II, most of it has been rebuilt and has a modern feel to it. But in Amsterdam, you could practically smell the history. In fact, we even found at that some 8,000 homes and buildings in Amsterdam are considered historical sites and are given subsidies by the government when they are in need of renovation because the people want to preserve them.  

Our first night there, we got dinner at a place called “San Diego Pizzeria” (funny, no?) and I decided to catch a good night’s sleep since I planned on waking up early the next day to run. I woke up on Saturday at 6:30, dressed myself for Amsterdam’s 28-degree weather and took off for my 18 mile run. I figured it would be a good way to orient myself and see the city. It was a beautiful run but my legs were definitely not so grateful to me after. We had a busy day of sightseeing, which included the Heineken Brewery, the Van Gogh museum, and taking pictures at the I Amsterdam sign. The Heineken Brewery showed us how the famous beer is brewed, how to properly drink beer and gave us plenty of history about the company. The Van Gogh museum was interesting as well, and told about the life and work of the famed artist who killed himself because he said he “felt like a failure.” If only he knew. 

 

My cough last night revealed that I am starting to catch a cold, so once again - I opted for sleeping instead of going out. I guess I am just not into that side of Amsterdam. I figure if I wanted to just go party, I could do that in Bonn, or even in LA for that matter. The drug-induced partying aspect of the city just did not interest me, and I decided I’d rather sleep and feel good for sightseeing than be hung-over. Maybe that’s just me. Anyways, today was another busy day of seeing the city. It started with a great breakfast and a horse-drawn carriage ride (Bianca insisted, she rides horses and is obsessed with them) from Dam Square to the Anne Frank House. I think my toes almost froze off while we waiting in line for about 30 minutes, but we finally made it inside of the house-turned-museum. The house was her dad’s office building where the family was forced to hide from the Nazis for years during the war. The museum was fascinating and showed many original Anne Frank diary entries and antiques from the house. It was very moving to see and hear about the persecution the Jews felt during World War II.  

 After the tour of the museum, Bianca and I enjoyed a relaxing cruise through the many canals that Amsterdam boasts. On the cruise we learned that Amsterdam was originally built on a swamp, and the canals provided an escape for the water and was also used for trash (gross).  After, we enjoyed an early dinner of what felt like an American salad to me (yay!) that consisted of eggs, bacon, avocado and chicken. Pretty California, eh? Then of course, I was still hungry, so we ventured on to the most famous pancake house in Amsterdam. If you didn’t know, those guys are famous of their Dutch pancakes. I ordered a banana & Nutella one but was not prepared for the monstrosity of a pancake that came out. It was bigger than my large plate. That was about four hours ago, and I’m still stuffed. You get the idea. 

  

With all that said, I think our first weekend trip was a big success. Next weekend we are off to Berlin and Prague for a week, followed immediately by Budapest. I think all this traveling will make our time here fly by, but I can’t wait for all that I am about to see. Class tomorrow morning will most likely not feel so good, but at least I slept for 11 hours last night. Oh yeah, 11 hours.

Good night! 

Are these boots really made for walkin?

A big warm hello to everyone! I am writing this in my fluffy robe that resembles a combination between a snuggie and an easter bunny costume, with slipper socks on as I lie in my comfortable bed. Today was a long day of walking in Cologne, and I'm starting to question whether or not the boots I have are really made for a long day of Disneyland-like movement. Or maybe no amount of support could leave your feet feeling fresh after a day like today.

In any case, I didn't blog the last two days because nothing really exciting happened. Monday and Tuesday were class-filled days and were rather uneventful besides that. Today our entire group took another trip to Cologne (this one was mandatory) and had an exciting day filled with a scavenger hunt, lunch and a tour around the city. The scavenger hunt made us explore for ourselves, and our mini-group even stopped inside a bar to have a beer and get the bartender to help us with our quest. Yes, at 11 in the morning. Cologne brews a special type of beer called "Kölsch," so it's kind of inevitable that a trip to the city will be somewhat pleasant.

 We also visited a Roman museum today and got to see the ruins that were excavated underneath the city. If you didn't know, much of the Rhineland used to be Roman territory, and if you dig 3 meters just about anywhere, you will most likely find ruins of the Roman history. We even got to walk through what used to be a Roman sewage system. Sounds kind of gross, but trust me, the smell was relatively normal.







We concluded our day with a roof-top tour of the Cologne cathedral. I will admit that being over 100 meters above the ground at almost the top of the cathedral did provide an amazing view, but I was less thrilled with the wobbly platforms (maybe that was just my imagination) and what is better described as a "lift" rather than an "elevator." But even though I was a little unnerved, it was definitely a cool experience.

The unfortunate part of my busy week is that I have barely had time to run. And since we are all going to Amsterdam this weekend (yay!) I can only guess that this no-running trend will continue. So I leave you with a short post because I will be waking up at 6 a.m. to get a run in. No joke.

 Lots of love all the way from Deutschland!

The Germans really ARE cold

Just kidding! It's just that it has gotten freezing cold here over the past few days. (To my host mom, Gabi, you are very WARM!) And before you read on, know that this post is very long since I feel that it has been a long time since I've written! 

Saturday morning I woke up to the first snow I have seen in Bonn. My first thought was of course: I should have brought boots suitable for the snow. 

Apparently I thought it was a good idea to bring 10 pairs of boots, but none that won't be destroyed in snow. Except for my UGGs, which I have been told are very fashionable here. Who would have guessed? My second thought was: damn, 16 miles is going to be brutal in this weather. Yes, I dressed myself in a pair of compression pants, three tops, a scarf, headband, two pairs of socks & gloves and went on a 16 mile run. Two weekends ago I was running on the beach in shorts in Southern California, and yesterday I ran with snowflakes in my eyes. Sometimes I still can't believe I am really here!

A long, hot shower (sorry, Germany, I know you are energy-conscious) and copious amounts of food later, I got ready to go on a day trip to Cologne. Once our group got there, the first thing we did was take pictures of the cathedral, because that is the American tourist thing to do. It is truly a breathtaking sight. It's size is not the only striking thing, but the amount of detail and intricacy in every part of the cathedral is amazing. The inside is captivating. I can't even find words to describe the beauty or how I felt when I saw it, so I suppose I will just show a few pictures.                                                                                                                                                               

  

I think most people are as stunned by it as I was. Anyways, after a visit at the cathedral we went shopping for a bit and I ended up getting a long, black coat at H&M (of all places) for half off! Thank you, end of season sales. We headed to a bar to get a beer and relax and also to get yelled at for bringing a sandwich inside of the bar even though we drank about 10 beers altogether and spent a good amount of money there. Whatever, lady, your bar should serve food then. Most of our group, which was pretty much all guys, went to the Cologne "futbol" game after that, but my good friend Bianca and I decided we didn't want go, so we stayed and had dinner/coffee in the shopping area. She had real German schnitzel and sauerkraut, while I had salmon and spinach (is anyone surprised?) We even found a Hard Rock cafe after! I felt like I was at home.

We waited for our group to have some drinks, but were iffy on the whole idea of "raging" since we were STILL so tired from Thursday night! After our group joined up with us, we all wandered into a gay bar for "Latino night." Only, we didn't know it was a gay bar until we walked all the way to the back and realized that there was not one female present. We left quickly, had one beer at another bar, and called it a night. I guess when you fall asleep on the train ride home, you obviously were not cut out for a night of partying. We will experience you next time, Cologne. 

As for today... it did not have the best start. My host family and I got together with the neighbors because one of the boys on the trip lives right across the street from me, and we all got ready to go on a day-long excursion to some mountain to see some view and some castle. Only... we missed the group, took a tram to the top of the mountain, still missed the group, went down the mountain, did not have a view to see as the fog left anything further than 10 feet completely invisible. But luckily, we FINALLY found the group, enjoyed lunch and a tour of the castle, and came home.

My favorite part of today was this evening. The neighbors (same ones we went on the day-trip with) came over for dinner and my host family cooked an extravagant meal of pork, two kinds of potatoes, salad and apple strudel (which we were all too full to eat). Somehow our conversation led to me and my romantic life, and I think everyone knows you need a few days to hear that story. But an hour and many facebook pictures later, I think my host family (and Paul) had a better idea of me and my life, for better or worse. We had many laughs about different things... some of which I won't say, because let's face it, there are just some things you can't blog about (hi, Dad). I really felt like I had just had dinner with close friends. Every day I feel more and more at home here, and I could not ask for anything more. 

And just in case I were to miss having a pet... my host family has the most amazing cat ever named Chili. Except she's really more of a dog than a cat. She sleeps with me in my bed and will cuddle with me ALL day. I go to the store and come back, she is in my bed. Go for a run and come back, she's still there. I feel like I have my own little pet. The family is complete! 

And so, the weekend is over and tomorrow school starts again. Tonight will consist of laundry and homework (if I can remember what my homework is). I'll get back to you on that one.

Auf wiedersehen!

 

Finally, a blog!

Hallo! 

Welp, after much deliberation and some extra inspiration from a friend of mine who has a study abroad blog, I thought I'd create one. Even if it's not popular, I figure it will be a good thing to look back on one day since I am absolutely terrible at keeping a hand-written journal. 

It's been a week and a day and I can honestly say Bonn is everything I thought it would be. The beer is just as good as they say it is! I never thought of myself as a beer-drinker, but I figured if I am going to spend four months in Germany, I'd damn well better get used to it - good decision. First week of class is over (though it was kind of a joke anyways), and our second weekend is here! So much has happened over the past eight days, but here is a little overview: 

-Toured the city of Bonn 
-Went to Eifel and Monreal to see castles and fortress ruins! 
-Got acquainted with the group (we are awesome)
-Got lost about 15 times 
-Became addicted to nutella 
-Fell in LOVE with my host family (they are absolutely amazing) 
-Realized I packed too much 
-Drank too much for my own good

Those are just a few of the things that have happened, and luckily I will be able to keep up to date now that I have this nifty little blog. Tonight I am staying in because last night kicked my butt. About ten of us in the group went to a club called N8schicht, which my host dad said means "work in the night" in German. Not sure about the working thing, it looked more like the ultimate playground to me (I even broke my black heeled boots from tearing up the dance floor). Like the rest of my friends, I got around an hour and a half of sleep so needless to say German class this morning was utterly miserable. Tomorrow we are going to Cologne - the REAL party town about 20 minutes away - and God knows I'm gonna need some rest for that. Oh, how I love the weekends.

Tschuss! (German for Bye)