Amsterdam Good Time with Brussels & Antwerp

(PICTURES TO COME)

This weekend I traveled to not just one country but two! Three cities in one weekend is quite a lot, and I am very tired from all the traveling but I will do my best to recap the weekend because I have been slacking on my blog.

We arrived in Amsterdam Friday night around 6:30pm. From there we figured out how to take the train to Central Station and then the Tram to where our hostel was. After taking a right at the bridge and a left at the other bridge we found the lovely International Budget Hostel. Despites its name this little place was quite nice with friendly staff, clean rooms and a great location! We were in a 4 person room but, except for our new friend Paul the first night, we had it to ourselves.

Friday night we wandered around the city a little before finding a place to eat. Walking over the bridges and past all of the canals was so beautiful. After eating we thought it would be best to locate where we were supposed to go the next day. But, Google Maps being brilliant gave us the most convoluded directions and proceeded to turn us around for hours. Luckily, we found the place and managed to walk back to the hostel in 20 minutes.  However, I am very surprised that I was not hit by a tram or bicycle. It is impossible to figure out what is sidewalk versus bike lane versus street!

We ended our night early and headed back to the hostel to sleep so we could wake up bright and early for our trip to Belgium!

Through a tour company we booked a day trip to Antwerp and Brussels. This is also where my weekend of eating officially began. We began the day in Antwerp which was tiny and cute and really fun to explore for a little. We went into the Cathedral of our Lady. After that Annsleigh and I hunted down waffles and enjoyed the best waffle I have ever eaten. And, naturally, we bought Belgium chocolate.

From there we headed to Brussels, which is one of the coolest cities I have been to. I would have loved to spend more time there. Sadly, we only had about 3 hours of free time to explore on our own before the bus left for Amsterdam. We wandered around the square. Then, we went off in search of  Manneken Pis or The Peeing Man which is one of the most popularly photographed statues in Belgium.

We also continued eating and bought fries because, as you may or may not know, what we considered "French Fries" (or chips here in London) are actually Belgium Fries because that is where they originated.  After that we went in search of Delirium Cafe. Randomly, we found it down a little alley way after thinking we may never find it. There we tried Delirium beer, a great Belgium beer that (fun fact) was named named as "Best Beer in the World" in 1998 at the World Beer Championships in Chicago, IL.

Sunday we woke up early(ish) and first went to the Anne Frank House. The house was turned into a museum by Otto Frank not just a museum, but a "museum with a story." It was a truly powerful and engaging museum. I highly recommend it to anyone going to Amsterdam. Afterwards, we decided to continue our Holocaust theme and headed towards the Resistance Museum. We got a little lost on our walk there as well but eventually made it. Again, another really great museum that provided me with some knowledge about World War II and the Netherlands that I had not known before. We concluded our day with an hour long canal boat tour which basically showed us the area around our hostel was but from a different perspective which was quite cool.

Monday we woke up and checked out of our hostel. We left our bags there and headed towards to Von Gogh Museum. Although most of his famous peices are not there we saw many incredible works. What I also really enjoyed was the museum displayed peices by other artists who may have inspired Van Gogh or were his contemporaries. They also included a lot of history about Van Gogh, his life and his relationship with his brother.

After the museum we went to Vondelpark which is Amsterdam's most famous park. And then, after giving up all hope, we found the I AMSTERDAM sign!

After a busy morning we grabbed our bags from the hostel and headed towards the airport, worrying about making sure we got there with enough time. Luckily, we arrived at the airport over two hours before our flight was scheduled to even board! Better early than stuck paying for another flight. What was odd about the Amsterdam airport is after having our tickets and passports checked we did not encounter any sort of security until we were at the actual gate to board. Strange. Also, we flew into London City Airport which is tiny so getting back through customs was much easier than what I've encountered before.

All in all I loved Amsterdam and Belgium and would love to go back and be able to spend more time in both areas. Although, the bitter cold we encountered is something I would hope to avoid in future trips.

So, after a very successful, and very exhausting weekend, I am looking forward to writing many papers in preparation for the end of the first half of the semester and my upcoming trip to Prague and Vienna!

So Many Sheep

Classes were relatively uneventful after our weekend in Scotland. I did go see an amazing play for my Contemporary British Theatre class called "Midsummer," it is not based on Shakespeare's play but it is an excellent, excellent production put up by the Tricycle Theatre. What was most impressive about the show is that two actors played every part, sang and played guitar. So much talent on that stage.

Last Saturday was quite jammed pack! Our program arranged a trip for anyone interested to visit Stonehenge and Baths. So, we woke up bright and early to get on an 8am bus to Stonehenge. We arrived there around 9:30am and it was freezing out! Stonehenge is something I've always wanted to see so I'm happy I had the chance, plus our guide gave us some interesting background to what archeologists know and still don't know about the place.

 One of the most exciting parts of Stonehenge was all of the sheep wandering around. They were blocked off by a fence but there were sheep everyone!!

After an hour at Stonehenge we continued along our way to Baths where the Roman Baths are. It is such a cute town. After a short bus tour through the city we were dropped off at the Roman Baths museum where we toured through. Here are some pictures below!

At the end we were able sample a glass of the water. It was warm and tasted like minerals. Interesting...

After the museum we had a couple of hours to wander the city and grab lunch. However, at 1:30 on a bright Saturday all the pubs and cafes were packed with people. It didn't help that there was a football match on so everyone was watching that. However, on our adventure for food we got to see a good portion of the city.

Finally, we got on the bus and made our way back to London after an exhausting, yet wonderful day trip.

Adventures in Edinburgh

I told you I was terrible at keeping a blog, but I'm trying to do better! This past weekend I went to Edinburgh with, Scotland! We took the train up on Friday afternoon and despite some train technical issues (typical) we made it there around 7:30. After checking into our hostel we met up with a friend from AU who is studying in Edinburgh. From there we went to a place called the Jazz Bar that is exactly what is sounds like. It was a lot of fun and the perfect way to relax from traveling.
                        

Saturday we began to explore to city. We ventured over to the Royal Mile and began by taking a tour of the Scotch Whiskey Experience. It was fun to learn about how whiskey is created and the history behind it. We were taken through the different regions of Scotland where whiskey is made and how the flavors change. Finally, we were able to sample one of our choice. I chose a whiskey from the Highlands called Alencadam.
                    


After that we went to Camera Obscura, the coolest optical illusion museum I have ever seen! Check out some pictures below!

For dinner on Saturday we went to a pub called Greyfriars Bobby's bar.The bar is named after a dog, Bobby, who according to the story was owned by a man named John Gray who died of tuberculosis in 1858 and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. His terrier kept watch over his master's grave for the next 14 years until Bobby himself died.

 Sunday we started the day at the Edinburgh Castle. Despite being very cold and windy the castle was a great time to explore. One of the coolest parts was getting to see the prisons. Unfortunately, this was also the part of the weekend where my camera died.

After we were frozen we went to The Elephant House where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter! A cute little cafe the best part is the bathrooms where Harry Potter fans have graffitied the doors with quotes from the books, including a list for Dumbledore's Army, which I signed up for, of course. Before it got too dark we went to the graveyard right next door to search for the characters of the books. Apparently, J.K. Rowling took many character names from the headstones. We found Tom Riddle and McGonagall before it got too dark. But, apparently there is a Hermione Granger buried there.

Sunday night we went to quiz night at the University of Edinburgh's Library Bar with our friend who is studying abroad there. Although our team came in last it was a lot of fun! The TV/Film and Sports sections were the most difficult because they were all UK centered.

Sunday we went on a tour called The Real Mary King's Close which shows parts of the underground city of Edinburgh and also includes some ghost stories. It was creepy because it was so dark! Afterward we went to the National Gallery of Scotland to kill some time before returning to our hostel to grab out luggage and hop on the train back to London.

This weekend was packed with activities and Edinburgh is such a beautiful city! Despite seeing so much there are still things that I would love to have done, such as Arthur's Seat.

First Post

I am terrible at making blogs and keeping up with them, so bear with me. I arrived in beautiful, rainy London at 7:40am on Thursday January 6th. After getting through customs (they let me in!) I tried to figure out the Tube and successfully made it to Kensington, where I am going to be living for the next 4 months!

From there I met my lovely roommates, Annsleigh Carter and Morgan Immerman! We live in a triple but our room is a good sized and we have a bathroom. I also lucked out by getting the single bed!

(Me, Annsleigh & Morgan at the Natural History Museum)

The next few days included orientation stuff and exploring! Naturally, I lost my umbrella on the first night there. So sad. Luckily, since rain is quite common here I was able to buy another one for pretty cheap.

FIE provided us with a coach tour of the city as well as a walking tour of the local area. I have about a million pictures so I'll save you the pain of posting them all here since I forget what most of the buildings are. But, the tours were very interesting and the tour guides very knowledgeable.

In terms of nightlife, we have checked out Piccadilly Circus for different pubs and clubs. Piccadilly Circus is a fun area, lots of people and lots of bright lights, but definitely on the more expensive side. However, it's London and everything is expensive.

Finally, last night FIE hosted a Welcome Reception for us on Imperial College's campus. It was a great way to meet some other people in the program. After, a couple of us went to Imperial College's campus pub and mingled with real life British students!!