Reading Week Adventures Part 1

In the UK they don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is actually kind of a slap in the face for them if you think about it. Because the students here don't get a nice little break like we do back home they have reading week instead. Reading week is a class-free week that is meant for catching up on studies and going back home to visit family. Most of my flatmates went home for the break, so it was either be alone for the week or travel. So of course I chose to travel with a group of 4 other people that live three floors above me. I traveled with Jessica (a student from California who is on IFSA with me), Rachel (A fellow IFSA student that goes to school in Ohio), Hana (Jessica and Rachel's flatmate who is from Melbourne, Australia), and Kamran (flatmates with the others and goes to Penn). We decided to only travel Saturday-Thursday (November 2-7) so that we would have time to finish projects when we got back. Saturday through Tuesday morning we were in Amsterdam and Tuesday through Thursday night we were in Berlin. Both were so much fun, but I'm going to talk about Amsterdam first!

When I first got to London I was surprised how interested some people were in going to Amsterdam. Little did I know that marijuana is legal there. Since this is something I've never done and have sworn I will never do I wasn't interested in that aspect at all. Anywhere you walk around in Amsterdam you can find little shops called "coffee shops" that sell pot brownies and have smoking rooms that people can smoke in. Luckily, none of the people I was traveling with smoke either, so we didn't spend our time in Amsterdam in a heightened state.

We arrived in Amsterdam on Saturday morning. It was extremely beautiful. We were surrounded by canals and bikes. There were also quite a lot of naked statues.  Literally they pop up in over half of my pictures.

me, Kamran, Jessica, Rachel, Hana

That night we decided to head to a bar called Belushi's. There were a lot of young people there and a waitress came around a drew mustaches on all our fingers for "No shave" November. After that we strolled around trying to find snacks, but ended up in the Red Light District.  Amsterdam is famous for putting secret marks on its sidewalks and buildings pointing toward the Red Light District.  Needless to say it was an interesting, shocking experience.

                                     

The next morning we got up early and arrived at the Anne Frank Huis. The house is not furnished at all, as Otto Frank didn't want it set up again. However, they did stage it back in 1995 so that we could imagine what the secret annex looked like. I knew at some point I was going to cry and I did during a video display of Anne's best friend. Her best friend had seen her a week before she died. Anne had said she had no one left because her mother and sister had died. Little did she know her father, Otto, was still alive. Overall, the experience was eye-widening for me and I'm really grateful that I had a chance to see it. 

Next on the agenda was going to the Van Gogh museum. We had bought tickets for Monday morning and luckily did not have to wait in the horrendously long line. Although I will admit the wait would've been worth it! Van Gogh has been my favorite artist for a long time. My family is especially fond of him and I was so excited to see his "The Bedroom" painting, which is my family's favorite. 

Jessica, me, Rachel, Hana, Kamran

Voucher for my ticket into the museum

Me with "The Bedroom" 

New Van Gogh painting just discovered

Van Gogh self portrait

Van Gogh's paints

Right next to the Van Gogh museum is the I amsterdam sign. We spent the rest of our day walking around the area. Taking pictures by the sign and getting mexican food and sangria for dinner.

me in the a

Me, Jessica, Rachel, Hana, Kamran

Overall I really enjoyed Amsterdam. I can't wait to share the next part of my journey with you!

xx, Francesca