Amsterdam!

Once our plane landed in Amsterdam I could not keep myself from getting excited. I have always wanted to visit and for some reason knowing that one side of Brian's family is from Holland just made it that much more special. My goal was to get tons of great pictures.

On our first day we arrived at our beautiful hotel in famous Rembrandt square. We visited The Our Lady Hospital which was if I'm being honest..really hard to concentrate in because I was in Amsterdam! It was a beautiful facility though. Couldn't tell you what they talked about on the other hand:)

After our academic visit we went to the Van Gogh Museum which was pretty awesome for me because he is one of my all time favorite artists. I was really tired though, so I was disappointed in my lack of energy.

Once our visit was over we had a group reservation at Brasserie Harkema, a gorgeous restaurant in the middle of downtown. We went right to bed after dinner..well because we were tired at it was midnight!

The second day was also filled with great activities. We started off with a bike tour around Amsterdam which ended up being one of my favorite things that I did. Our guide was awesome and the city was just breath taking. We saw the wooden draw bridges, houseboats, canals of course, Dam square, the war monument, the Nieuw Market, coffeeshops, Vondelpark, the Jordaan district, etc. Oh! and I finally got the see the I AmSterdam sign for myself! It was really cool to see the city from this point of view!

After the bike tour and a visit to Hospice Kuria (which is where I've decided I want to live at the end of my life) our group went to the Anne Frank house, which our of everything was my favorite part. It was completely emotional and I had chills the entire time. I literally stood where Anne Frank slept in fear for two years. Seeing the personal videos from her best friend and hearing her own father say he didn't know his daughter as well as he thought he did after reading her diary was just incredible. You CANNOT go to Amsterdam without visiting the Anne Frank house. It will leave you feeling...well she for yourself, just go. After the visit I went out to a amazing dinner with Em, Tayler, Pia, and Ida. We laughed a ton, ate great food, and laughed more. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

I could hardly sleep in anticipation of the CHEESE I would be getting the next day. Our group visited Zaanse Schans, which is now a historical little town that has a cheese mill, fresh ice cream, windmills, and traditional green houses..including wooden shoes!! It was a beautiful day and everyone just loved making fun of my love for cheese and Gouda specifically. There are plenty of pictures of my face while eating cheese..thanks guys:) After our visit we had time to watch USA play Algeria. We went to Boom Chicago, a local bar that had a great vibe. I had a Corona with Lime. VERRRY European:) In the last 4 minutes the US won!!! After the game we all ate together at Restaurant De Nissen which to be honest I cannot remember. I'm sure it was good or else I would have remembered. The night ended with a tour of the Red Light District. This was extremely interesting to me and if you're really curious I'll discuss why on our own time. Too many thoughts to type at 1:30 am.

On our final day in Amsterdam we had our last academic visit to the TB clinic. This was really interesting and I'm glad I was awake enough this time to soak it all in. We all had lunch at Le Rendez-Vous which was just ok and then we all toured the Heineken Brewery. I HATE Heineken, but it was really cool and if you like it..you get A LOT of free beer throughout so I would suggest going. The people in my group got extra because I didn't drink mine:)

The entire trip was so great and I would absolutely go back again. I had such a great time and a little part of me was sad to head back to Copenhagen so soon.

P.S. I have a TON of pictures...this is only a fraction of them.