Dam Over The River Amstel

I had to spend the night at Geneva Airport . The security guard came around, looked at my passport and said it would be fine if I slept there. I used my backpack as a pillow and slept for about 4 hours. Not bad for sleeping on cold floor. It was basically the same as sleeping on the ferry from Chania to Athens. Except there was no Catherine or tv or snacks or warmth. Well, ok, it wasn't really the same. Anyway, it was time to check in which I did. I was a little apprehensive (I thought something might go wrong again) but it all went smoothly. I went through security and waited to get on the plane. I did my now usual routine of trying to get on earlier and get an aisle seat near the front. The plane ride was only about 1 hour long. I listened to music since I don't have any books to read. It was cloudy and kind of rainy in Amsterdam when we landed. I grabbed my bag and hopped on the train into town. I found my hostel, Aivengo Hostel, pretty easily. It is only 5 minutes from the train station. There are two big dorm rooms with 16 beds in each. I am staying there four nights. That is the most nights I will be staying in the same place the whole trip. Weird. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I couldn't check in right away so I left my backpack and decided to go for a walk.

The walk I decided to do was through the Jordaan (yor-DAHN) neighborhood. This is the neighborhood on the western side of the city. It is a very artsy, yuppy area. There are many small canals (Amsterdam is known for having a lot of canals by the way). I started at Dam Square which is sort of the main square of Amsterdam (City Hall Building picture 1). I will talk more about that tomorrow when I do another guided walk. I bought a couple donuts for breakfast. Everything seems cheaper here. I also exchanged the last of my Swiss money. Goodbye pretty money, hello again Euro. I started walking and it started raining pretty hard. I kept my book under my jacket whenever I wasn't under some kind of cover. I walked through some canals and by a bunch of really cool streets. The houses here are so different. They are very skinny and very long. Completely different architecture from everywhere else I have been. They also used a lot of brick since they had multiple fires long ago (brick buildings in picture 6). Another thing about Amsterdam, there are a lot of bikes here. They are much more popular (and practical) than cars. Bikes are locked up to everything, I think it's pretty cool (picture 1 and 3). Also, Amsterdam has lots of ethnic food places. You know what that means... Kebabs again! Haha. We'll see if I ever get one here.

So back to the walk. I kept walking and finally came upon the Westerkerk (picture 5). This literally means Western Church. Rembrandt is buried somewhere under the chairs (they don't have pews). It has the tallest spire in the city. The organ is pretty sweet looking. I went into the Anne Frank House next. There was a little bit of a line to get in and it was pretty crowded inside but I didn't really mind. As most of you should know, Anne Frank was a Jew in Amsterdam during WWII. She wrote some diaries (for those with good memories, or who happen to look to the side bar, you will remember that I read those diaries back in February) while she was holed in a secret annex for two years. No pictures allowed inside (BOOOO) but I bought a couple postcards. It was insane trying to imagine 8 people living in that tiny little space for 2 years. They ended up getting caught and all but Otto Frank (Anne's dad) survived the concentration camps. So sad. I was really glad I went to the House today and I really liked seeing the room. It made me remember a lot of the stuff from the Diaries.

From there, it was still raining but I kept walking. I came to what Rick Steves calls "The Center of the Jordaan"which is a bridge over a canal. One road has a lot of shops, another road has a great view of the Westerkerk spire and the canal is tree lined and very pretty. I will admit, the neighborhood is pretty spectacular. I think I took some pretty cool pictures. We will have to wait and see when I put them on a computer. I walked back to the hostel and on the way stopped at a grocery store. There are a lot of pastries and salads and sandwiches there. It was a pretty big store and had cheap prices. I liked it. I bought some almond pastries, a fruit/lettuce salad (weird but looked interesting), and some crackers for sometime in the future (I always like having some crackers around just in case). I had the salad and pastries back in the hostel after I got checked in. My hostel is only about €18 a night. That isn't bad at all for where it is located and stuff. I sat around and regained some strength.

I decided to go to the library next (picture 8). It is pretty near to the train station in the northeast part of town. The library has loads of computers and free internet usage. That is pretty much the coolest thing ever. It is a very modern building and has some awesome views over the city. Like the view on the other side of the computer monitor I used to write most of this post. I spent a couple hours in the library starting, but not finishing, both of the posts from the weekend. They should be finished tomorrow. I also picked out my hostel for Friday in London. I went back to the hostel and sat around for a little bit. Then I walked down to Dam Square and ate some French Fries with mayonnaise (the Dutch way). It wasn't too bad, very different, but I still prefer ketchup. The Square was much more lively at 6 pm than it was at 10 am when I was here earlier. Lots of people walking around and stuff. I just sat and people watched for a while. I stopped by the grocery store again for some dinner. Just a ham and cheese sandwich and some stroopwafels. Stroopwafels are little waffles with the syrup inside them. SO GOOD. Oh man. I am like addicted. I ate that stuff back at the hostel and then went back to the library and emailed a bunch of people. I came back to the hostel and slept. Only one person snored in the entire room... and he was right above me. How does that always happen? Also, I was right under the emergency light which stays on the whole night. Very annoying. Oh well. I slept really well (I got about 10 hours of sleep).

Happy Monday!

Lonely Confusion

I woke up and showered and stuff and then got my things packed. I was sad to already be getting ready to leave the house in France (view from their spectacular porch picture 2). I felt like I had just arrived (actually, I pretty much did just arrive, I ended up only spending about 24 hours at the house). We didn't leave the house just yet though. I ate some cereal with some strawberries in it for my first breakfast (at the dining table picture 2). Then Jim was still getting ready so Francoise invited me to walk down to the bakery with her to get some more stuff. We walked and talked. It looked like it might be a pretty nice day out. I got a pain au chocolat and Francoise a pastry for herself and one for Jim. She says she always gets one for him even if he says he doesn't want one because he ends up always wanting one. Haha. We walked back and the two of us ate our pastries (my second breakfast). We hopped in the car (I took a timer shot of the three of us before we left picture 3) and drove to a mountain pass where, on a non-low-cloud day one would have a fantastic view of Mont Blanc. It was a low-cloud day so the view was not that great. That's ok. We walked into some souvenir shops which were cute. Then we drove down to a little trail. The trail lead up a mountain cliff where people were practicing their climbing. It was really nice out and very beautiful (pictures 4 and 5).

We ate lunch in the town of Thône (picture 6). It is another ski resort type place. It was France's Mother's Day. So, for the third time since January, Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! The place was pretty busy for a while because of the holiday but we still got a table. Jim and I got the full lunch menu. We got to eat some stuff from the appetizer buffet. I had some vegetables, some taboulé (really good) and some other salad type stuff. For my main course, I had steak with a boat load of french fries, a couple skewers of grilled cherry tomatoes and pineapples, and mashed potatoes on top of mashed carrots. If that sounds like a lot to eat, let me tell you, it was. It was all soooooo good though. Jim mentioned that I had been in Europe for 4 months but still did not eat like one. By that he meant I held my utensils the wrong way. In Europe, you always hold the utensils and never set them down. You always hold the fork in the left and the knife in the right. Americans switch the fork from the left to the right (at least I do). It was very strange at first but I did feel more refined eating the way Europeans do. I explained to Jim that 99% of the time I eat finger foods alone so that's why I never learned the European way. I was glad he shared it with me though.

We drove back to the house and picked up Cici and our bags and then drove on to Geneva (Cici did her usual routine of throwing up soon after we left, Francoise cleaned it up and we drove on). I should mention our gas situation. Jim started the trip with about 140 km on the car already before we left plus we took the scenic route to the house. Then we drove through all those mountain towns on Saturday and today so we were extremely low on gas. The problem is that all the gas stations in France only have pay at the pumps open on Sunday (no place to go inside and pay). That is a problem because the pumps don't accept foreign credit cards. The other problem is that since Jim is an international worker for the UN (technically UPU, or UN Post) he doesn't pay tax on gas in Switzerland. So because of all that, Jim didn't want to, and couldn't, stop for gas in France. He used the gas he had left for the lawmower and dumped it in the car. That was enough to get us back to Geneva where he bought more gas (tax free). They dropped me off at the airport about 2 hours before my flight was to leave. I hate saying goodbye. Especially to people as nice, caring, and fun as Jim and Francoise. This is a weird metaphor but my time with them was like the eye of a storm. Beautiful, calm, and surrounded on either side by the unknown. When I was with them, I didn't have to make plans, I didn't have to decide what to eat, I didn't have to pay for lodging. It was all great. I had the same feeling of a large weight dropping back on my shoulders when I said goodbye to them as when I said goodbye to Catherine and to my mom. Oh well. That's part of the journey, learning to deal with that feeling.

So I walked into the airport and tried to check in to my flight. No go. I kept trying and eventually asked the guy at the counter. He said I wasn't on the flight. Uh oh... So here's the deal with that. I bought my ticket from Geneva to Amsterdam for 150 CHF because the price kept going up and I was worried I would have to pay more than that. The next day, I checked the price... 50 CHF. I called Easyjet to have them cancel my first ticket so I could buy a new, cheaper one. The email they sent to confirm it never said anything about cancelling the ticket, all it said was that they deducted 100 CHF. I thought they had taken care of it for me, apparently not. Apparently, they cancelled the ticket but there was a 50 CHF cancelation charge, again, the email they sent never said anything cancelling. Anyway, I was freaking out and went to the cash machine to get some money to buy a ticket from the desk (it would have been 220 CHF). The machine only let me get out 200 CHF and when I tried to get more, it said I couldn't. I was really freaking out but eventually calmed down. I went online and bought a ticket for Monday morning using my mom's credit card for 50 CHF. That meant I had to stay the night in the airport. I wasn't sure if I could do that which made me worry a whole lot. I never thought to ask someone. I bought a sandwich for dinner and a book at a bookstore. The book was by Micheal Connelly, whom I had read before. Another detective book. I finished it in about 3 hours. I listened to music and wandered around until about midnight. The airport was deserted a security guard walked up. I thought I was going to have to sleep outside or something. Turns out, the guard asked if I wanted to stay in the airport. I said I did and the guard looked at my passport and then said I could lay down wherever. They locked the doors and I slept (picture 7 is my sleeping corner).

Au Revoir!

Travelin' Man

I woke up this morning and shaved (those that know me know that this is worth mentioning because it is a super big chore for me, I hate it). I had a pineapple creme pastry from a bakery at Syntagma Square (picture 1). My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I sat in the square and read from my guidebooks some more. I can't believe I am leaving Greece today! I came back to the hostel and finished up yesterday's post. I was basically waiting for 10 am to rolll around so that I could go to the Museum of Cycladic Art (it opened at 10 am). I walked over to the museum and went inside. Part of the museum is in a refurbished 19th century mansion (picture 2). That was really cool. The main part is in the adjacent building though. The floor with the Cycladic Art had a tour group so I went up a floor to the Cypriot Art (Cyprus). That said it was closed until 1 pm. Bummer. The next floor had Ancient Greek Art which was closed for refurbishing. Bigggg bummer. The top and last floor was open. It was a display of Ancient Greek Art but in a new way. They organized the artifacts into categories like marriage, war, burial, children, etc. It was realllllly interesting and there was a video showing actors acting out how the Ancients used the artifacts. One of the best displays I have ever seen in a museum. I went back down the stairs to discover that the Cypriot Art gallery was actually open. That was eye-opening as well. I had no idea that Cyprus had that much history and stuff. I hit up the Cycladic Art last. Loads of those very modern looking guys. Pictures were allowed but I didn't take any. It didn't feel right somehow. I really liked seeing all the statues though. They were carved 2000 years ago... Jeez. I ate at Everest again. It is just too good and cheap to not (picture 3). I went back to the hostel and grabbed my backpack (garden I sat in last night picture 4).

I rode the Metro to the airport and then hopped on the plane to Milan. While waiting for the flight, I met a few girls from Indianapolis who had been studying in Milan and were on their way back so that they could go home. They were cute and nice. The plan ride was pretty uneventful. I ate some crackers and read more of Zorba the Greek. Ever since Heraklion I had not really felt like pleasure reading. I listened to music or read guidebooks instead before I went to bed or rode a bus. But I was tired of reading guidebooks and was back in the mood of pleasure reading so I hit Zorba the Greek hard and was pretty far along by the time the plane landed.

I talked to a woman from Wales on the bus ride from the airport into Milan. She does yoga classes for a living and gives advice about nutrition. I did not ever tell her what my diet had been since I came to England (loads of carbs). She was really nice and in great shape for her age. She was taking the train to Venice to visit a friend that evening. The bus dropped me off at the train station (picture 5). It took a while to find the city bus I needed to get to my hostel because he bus ahd a different place to stop. The directions I got online were "take the #9 bus to Piazza Susa, the hostel is two blocks away". Um, thanks. Once off the bus, I had to ask three different people to help me find the street it was on. I had a kebab sandwich (in foccacia bread, not a pita) for dinner. I loved the different spices and the different bread. I ate it on the balcony that came off my dorm room. I read more Zorba for a while and then went to bed. Milan did not impress me on the first day because it was cloudy, rainy, and confusing. But first impressions are quite often wrong. I liked being in Italy again.

Ciao!

New Beginnings

*This is an extrememly long post* Holy crap. What a day. Well as the title suggested, I suppose I should start at the beginning.
Before I do that though, I want to make known that even the keyboards are slightly different here. The shirt key is exceedingly small and where the " usually is, @ replaced it. That completely messes up my rhythm in entering my facebook name. I also have not slept in approximately 36 hours or something outrageous like that. Keep that in mind as I mutter incoherently.
As I said, start at the beginning. The beginning of this little adventure of mine was being dropped off at the airport. My mom, dad, and sister came with me. When I was checking my baggage, one of my bags was seven pounds over weight so I had to do some rearranging. I was not mentally prepared for this so I was rather annoyed and such (sorry to anyone who had to witness, including the flight attendant). So I said my goodbyes and I went through security. I met up with the two girls from my program while we were waiting to board. We discussed the usual stuff: majors, excitement, fears, yadda yadda. We did not have seats by each other (they did, I did not). I boarded the plane and the girl I sat next to ended up being a junior from U of M TC studying abroad in London as well. Also by us were three other girls on the same program. The girl's name was Brit (coincidence? and picture of her to the left) and she was very cool. We watched "Into the Wild". She took sleeping medicine but it only made her cranky (her words, not mine). After that I read "An Abundance of Katherines" which Amy had sneakily tried to put in my backpack before I left. Incidentally, I ended up finishing the book on the plane. A testament to how good the book was. My flight was only 7.5 hours a full hour less than was expected.
After the plane landed, Brit and I exchanged e-mail addresses and I went to get my baggage. I did not mention before but I had to take two pairs of jeans and a sweatshirt with my carry on (to reduce weight) so I proceeded to stick that stuff back in the suitcases (yet another opening of the suitcases in public). I exchanged some money and bought my train and tube (subway) tickets. Pretty uneventful train rides. It was exciting actually being in London, but not much happened. It must have been a sight to see of me having my red backpacking back pack on my back (lots of -ack), my yellow back pack on front, my coat in one hand, a map in the other, while totting along the big black suitcase. I saw myself in the reflection of the window and laughed at myself. Anyway, I got to the tube station by my flat (apartment) and proceeded to get completely and utterly lost. A woman helped me. She said, "I live around here and it doesn't look like you do." I asked, "What gave it away? My luggage or the clueless look on my face?" She responded, "Both." Anyway I got to my flat after a TON of walking with all that crazy weight.
I was informed that I was the last SJU person to arrive. I met my roommate. His name is Mo. I don't know much about him. He was always sleeping or I was out and about (more on this later). I unpacked and we had a tour of the imporant stuff around our flats by our RA. He walked super fast and it was raining and he never waited for everyone to catch up before he started talking so a bunch of people missed the memo. After that I went to the grocery store with some people (Kristina and Vanessa). It was very disorienting not knowing ANY brands and being dog tired. We were all missing our parents buying and picking out food for us. After that, I was itching to go and see something even though it was raining and I was a dead man walking (I am crazy, I know). I asked Vanessa if she wanted to go and she said yes which was awesome.
We went to the tube and bought tickets. I am really glad I came from Gatwick on my own. It definitely built my confidence up on the transportation system. Anyway, we went to the Thames and saw the Houses of Parlaiment and Big Ben (pictures to the left) and the London Eye. It was INCREDIBLE. My pictures look like crap because of the rain but it was stunning seeing them in person at night. I still find it hard to believe that I am actually here around all these super famous and historic monuments. Vanessa and I walked across to the London Eye and back over the Millenium Bridge and to Trafalgar Square. This is when it all gets a little hazy and kept making wrong turns and I felt really bad. Vanessa was really cool about the whole thing. We talked about going to the Tower of London but decided against it because of the roar of our stomachs and the barking of our dogs. Another day.
This might be one of the busiest, most disorienting, lesson learning day of my life. I wish there was a way to describe how awesome it is to be here and all the awesome things I have to look forward to but I am not the great of a writer. Anyone who finished this post is a saint and I love you. As the song goes, "Another new beginning is another beginnings end" and I can definitely see this new beginning happening. Love you all!