"Getting Lost" in Amsterdam

Hello from Amsterdam! This is by far one of the greatest cities I have EVER been to. It is so beautiful and uniquely European.

Our flight over here was fine - no glitches. Andrew, Pauline and I landed around 9am and had the whole day to explore. And we did just that. After dropping our bags off at the hostel we explored our neighborhood Zeeburg. After some extensive napping we headed in to central Amsterdam.

The central part of the city is breathtaking. There are canals, bridges, cobblestone streets, infinite rows of tall/skinny townhouses, and bicyclists everywhere! It is just amazing. For the first time in a long time, we had nowhere we had to be and nothing we had to do. So we wandered. We wandered along the moss-covered cobblestone streets of the residential area, past the boathouses, towards some loud echoing music, through markets and festivals, the shopping areas, the red light district, and more. We were completely immersed in the city and it was great.

The next morning our classmates and teacher arrived at the hostel. We explored the city some more until everyone arrived. The Dutch architecture is outstanding. The contemporary stuff is out of this world. We walked around and sat down in the new library along the river. It is definitely one of my favorite buildings as far as atmosphere goes. I took lots and lots of photos with my new Canon but unfortunately....BELIEVE IT OR NOT....they were all deleted today. But that's another story....

Anyways, last night a group of us headed into the city to experience the bars and pubs. We sat outside drinking Dutch beer along the canals at night. (YES, I drank beer. Haha). Doesn't get much better than this!

Today we've already walked over 10 miles. A girl I was walking with had a pedometer and we honestly walked 8 miles by lunchtime! It's been an exhausting day. We went to see a bunch of housing projects on these artificial islands called the Eastern Docklands. Various architects designed contemporary takes on the traditional tall and narrow townhouses. They were situated along the canals going through the island and were so incredibly picturesque. I even sat down and sketched for a bit.

Unfortunately, Erik, Jenny and I could not find our group and ended up meeting up with them at the hostel later. This trip needs to be a tad bit more organized. But other than that, no complaints. I absolutely love Amsterdam. I would return in a heart beat. Between tonight and tomorrow I want to revisit all the places I saw in the past two days and re-shoot them to make up for my lost photos. I'll upload photos after that.

We're here for 2 more nights and then will make our way to Berlin. I may not have computer access again until we are in Germany. But I love you all and hope everything is going well back home.

xoxo