OK.

So, I am here in Holland. Just outside of Amsterdam, well, actually about 1 1/2 hours outside of Amsterdam, in a city called Valkenswaard. I am staying with my Dad's cousin Willie, and he is pretty nice, not the most talkative though, so I feel awkward during the silences in the car. lol But all is well so far.

I arrived on Friday with Hai at the airport, and Willie recognized me immediately. We chatted a little bit (because I've never met him before, that I can remember) and then we said bye to Hai as he went to find his Hostel, and we jumped in the car to head back to his house. I didn't really see much of the countryside as we rode back because I PASSED OUT. I didn't sleep too much on the plane, so I fell asleep pretty quickly once we were on the road. And Willie isn't really that talkative so he just kinda did his thing. Basically just came back to his place, ate some food, hung out a little bit, then I hit the sack. I was pooped.

Then the next dayy....[Saturday]....we took the train into Amsterdam with Willie's son-in-law, John, and we met up with Hai there and toured the city. Let me tell you, IT IS SO GORGEOUS. First of all, it is sunny weather with clear blue skies, and its not extremely hot out. It has been in the 80's where if you're in the sun for too long, it does get hot, but otherwise it is beautiful. The city itself has a ton of canals so it is really really pretty. It was actually built up on piles since the ground is so marshy. We took a boat tour of the city and saw some of the different parts of town....very very nice. I wanted to buy every house I saw. lol There is a shipping museum built by Renzo Piano which was really cool to see in person, too. =)

Now, the juicy stuff....what EVERYONE thinks of when they think of Amsterdam...the weed and the red light district. I did get to experience both, but let me explain. In Amsterdam, its not really like what people think where people are smoking everywhere and there are prostitutes everywhere. There are 'coffee shops' that sell pot and hash brownies (space cakes is what they call them) as well as coffee and tea. Now, they will only sell you 5 grams at a time and you can either smoke it there in the cafe or wherever you like. But I think since it is legal, people don't really go overboard on it. I am under the impression that everyone smokes in moderation for the most part. And the red light district really just looked like every other part of the city....if you didn't look in the windows. It is right along a canal and the houses are gorgeous, just like all the others, and in the windows are prostitutes sitting on little stools in these little tiny rooms. There is a little door on the front and what happens is a guy will just go up to the glass door with his money, the girl (at least I think most of them were girls...) will let him into the little room and close the curtain. What happens after, I don't really care to know. There were also other places that had live shows......and others where there would just be one woman in the front of the place and I'm assuming her job is just to get people in and then they can decide what they want to do. I kinda wanted to get something from one of the stores as a gag gift for some of my friends, because they had stores to sell toys and clothes and other stuff, but I just couldn't bring myself to actually go into one of the shops. I think I would have been traumatized. lol

Aside from those two aspects of the city, Amsterdam was just like any other city with street performers and town squares and tons of food (even McDonald's) and a shopping area..there was even a minor bomb threat while we were there (don't freak out, Mom, it was just a scare). The only other thing that was different was that there were bathrooms for men IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SQUARE. OUTSIDE. It was so weird. They were just these little plastic things that were round and divided into four little stalls, no doors, just a....pocket type thing for the deposit. lol very very weird to me.


So then yesterday....[Sunday]....I spent the night at John's apartment the previous night and we left early in the day to go to an all-day concert series. It was called Rockin' Park and it had tons of bands. The lineup was:

Black Bottle Roit
Customs
Arid
The Black Keys
Rise Against
White Lies
Vampire Weekend
Stereophonics
Amy Macdonald
Ben Harper
Pearl Jam

I ended up going with John and three of his guy friends (all of them are somewhere in the 35-37 range) so I was the only girl, which I was a little worried about at first, but they were all really nice and had great taste in music so we had plenty to talk about. My Dad would have loved them. The music was pretty good too. I'm not really a huge fan of any of those bands, and most of them I don't even listen to so I didn't know any of the songs, but I still had a really good time. The only problem was that it was outdoors, so it was HOT and I am covered in hives still due to my sun allergy. =(

And finally today....[Monday]....we just took it easy. I came back from John's at about 7:45 this morning because he had to get to work, and Willie showed me around Valkenswaard. We saw a working watermill and two windmills, all of which were really really pretty. The countryside is so so pretty! There are little sheep and goats and the little short shaggy horses everywhere. Just like in the fairy tales. Disney has done a great job.

So, I leave early tomorrow morning to start the next leg of my journey: Copenhagen and my summer semester. I think I get my own room and my own bathroom, which will be great, so I am excited to see what else the Kollegium will bring. =)