Amsterdam and then some...

So another week had gone by and i found out for sure that I got all the classes I wanted...YAY.

Last week was pretty uneventful but I did discover all the wonder that is gnocci.... not necessarily a spanish food, but I have never heard of it until here. We went out for  a bite to eat, three girls (kate, jess, aneka) and myself, to a great italian place. Very cheap, but I just got bread with tomato. Kate let me finish off her gnocci with pesto, and I went to heaven. Gnocci is a potato pasta, pretty chewy and very filling but such a great texture... so, so , so good. 

Classes are all going well still. I have my first field trip today for the art history class to the Picasso museum and the Comparative Europea Politics course is alright, just very boring at times. I daydream about gladys and Abner to avoid falling asleep in the last half hour. :) On thursday...well, technically Friday, I left for Amsterdam. The flight was at 8:30 am or so, so we had to leave pretty early in the morning, I napped twice during the night. I met my friends Claire and Ben there, and traveled with a girl who also had friends going. Everything went incredibly smoothly despite the fact that it was such a cheap airline ( I though everything would be running late, etc). The flight was pretty quick, under two hours....so weird that such different countries are so close. We got into Amsterdam around 12:00 to our hostel near the central train station there. After we settled in claire, her friend Jai, and I were ready to go. We hit up the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and did a lot of walking through the city. The Van Gogh museum is amazing, especially as he is my favorite painter.It's quite small but has som of my favorite paintings of his, including one of the series he did of his bedroom that I have on my wall at home. Next we did a photo shoot at the "I Amsterdam" sign, I got a little stuck in the "a".  The rijksmuseum was quite cool, too. They had some of the most amazing still lifes, and solid variety of styles too... I have to look up the name of one of the modern painters, he was fantastic. The city itself is beautiful and charming, much more than a lot of student probably expected who just went for what is allowed there. I hadn't realized how many canals there were! And lots of tulips at the markets, lots and lots and lots. Not quite my dream of running through tulip fields with clogs on but it sufficed.

One Saturday we were women on a mission. Our plan of attack: rembrandt house, film museum, photography museum, and heineken museum/factory... along with lots of walking. We hit rembrandt first after an included breakfast of bread, jam, coffee/tea, and hard boiled eggs. I was very resourceful and made us egg sandwiches, DELISH! So we were off to the Rembrandt House and took the long way to take in more of the city, there were some incredibly cute stores. In one we were all looking at the rings and Claire asked if she could try one on, soon we were all ( the three of us) trying them on and they guy kept grumbling about how he didnt now who was going to by anything.... so we left. We also found a cute market area near the Rembrandt house with some funky/adorable hats. I almost got one, but then figured i could make it myself.... (yes, aunt i know i have to finish a certain scarf first :)    ) And don't worry that wasn't the hat I was thinking of getting.

The Rembrandt House was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Everyone that worked there was very nice, we disocvered that we had been chatting to one of the 'guards' who was laughing at us take dumb pictures...and he didnt speak english...thats why he was nodding. The doors were so small! I fit through, apparently I am the size of your average man back then, which is sad.. I'm 5'3". At 11 they had a print demonstration ( Rembrandt made prints out of etchings, fyi). And i got to be the helper! I was very pro, using both hands and feet.

We left there after becoming incredibly claustrophobic...the floors themselves were small but there were about four or five. On we went to the Heineken Museum. At this point we were quite hungry, and were gnawing on a loaf of bread I had brought with me, thus delusional. I also had worn my sneakers because I refused to have a soar back that day... but I also happened to only bring one pair of pants and my
leggings so I looked like an aerobics instructor, so tended to run a had and skip around a lot.  That picture is just a small example of how much I moved. The museum turned out to be 15 euro, but we had waiting in line for a significant ammount of time, and were determined to make the most of it. There was a good deal of history on it, more history than you might think beer would have. I also want to recommend they revert back the the second style of bottle they used...much cooler looking. Then we went through were the whole process is explained with a bunch of inactive tanks...what are those things called again...I dont remember because I was too distracted by the crazy guide....C-R-A-Z-Y. His name was Raoul, and he had a very hairy chest. The hair almost had a life of its on crawling of his shirt and he was so energetic and enthusiastic about his job. He
talked about the process when water is added to the barley and gave us a sample of it...it is so delicious. The water is basically bread flavored water, but sweet and refreshing, they should sell that instead. next was the interactive tour. You go into a room where you stand in rows on platforms-like stairs- and it moves! It was like disneyland. We we fell into a vat of hobs water sprayed and then we were pasurized and warmed and they had a closing scene with music at a bar, and we danced ( though that wasn't mandatory). We might have been the ones who enjoyed it most. Next we had a our first sample, I learned that you should blow off the foam from your bear because it keeps in the bubbles and keeps out the air, I missed why this was important though. Next was what we liked to call the rave room, it was basically a room with videos about heineken playing tu they were sports videos and there was intense music playing, so we danced there for a good fifteen/twenty minutes. There was a bit more history after that about their support for certain sports teams and such and we made our own video singing a popular folk song in amsterdam... once i get it I will post it. And then we had our last sample in a room that was a little useless, but amusing. There were images and panoramas all along the walls of different places in the world, presumably amsterdam but they didnt all look it. Then we were released. 

Next we splurged...it was time for pancakes. We got two, they were BIG  but nice and thin.... one with chocolate and one with strawberries. They were essentally crepes but just so delicious. Then we met up with Ben and his friend and he came with us to the other two museums on our list. One of them, the photography museum had been moved to an old traditional canal house across the street during renovations, it had on of the most unpleasant rooms  I have even been in. The walls, furniture, bed, and floor were done in the same fabric, a jungle motif....but with sheep?weird. It was something like the loon house, with though it was fitting as it would definately make someone go loony. We were pleasantly cheered up by a frog we found outside in the garden. 

We did quite a bit more walking after this and eventually went to the supermarket to get a little something for dinner. I supplemented my bread from home with a mysterious salad... I am still not sure what it was, but the price was right and it tuned out to be delicious. We did go for a walk through the red light district around eight with ben and his friends, much smaller than I had though, then we went to a small place called Heffer to meet a friend of Claires. By eight the next morning I was on my way back to Barcelona. I know I have been here for a month when I am excited to come back. 

This week we are eating a bag of potatoes... last night I made the most delicious mashed potatoes......Grammy would be proud :)

Until laterrrr xxxxxxxxx