Brb, Headed to Amsterdam!

Hey there!

I mentioned in my last post that I was on a bus to Amsterdam when I heard about the terrible attacks in Paris. For my response to that, look at the last post. As for this one, here’s a little reflection about Amsterdam!

I didn’t spend too much time in Amsterdam unfortunately, but it was an amazing time nonethelss. The bus was really long but it yielded amazing conversation with Renata that I couldn’t have planned for! We talked about everything from our vocations and life hopes to discrimination and music and a whole lot of jokes about Starbucks and generally a lot of jokes that were carried so long onlookers probably thought we were crazy (aka Efi and Quynh, <3). But that was such a great part of the trip!

So, Amsterdam. Upon arrival, I spent quite a bit of time on my phone answering the loving and concerned messages from family and friends in response to the Paris attacks. But at least we were warm and off a bus! And it was great to see Elena, who is studying in Cork, Ireland and was with us for the weekend.

Around 3am, I fell asleep only to wake up to Kelly Clarkson asking me to “Hear her” at 5:45am. So yay to 3 hours of sleep! But, we were prepped to profitez-bien and seize the day! And so we went out, figured out Amsterdam public transportation and maps (lol at my navigating skills). But it was all worth it when we got in line at the Anne Frank House museum. We were 45 minutes early for the opening, but by 9am, the line was outrageous, so kudos to Elena for planning well!

And boy, was the Anne Frank House a highlight of the trip. Absolutely heart-wrenching, the trip through the actual building that Anne Frank and her family hid in for 2 years during the Holocaust was an influential experience. It again begged the question of how to allow my life to matter and influenc the world. As one visitor put it, “We like to think this kind of thing will never happen again. But it could.” How do I act as part of the generation that prevents that? How do I “make her would-be’s my opportunities?”

After the visit, we walked around quite a bit, taking numerous pictures of all the canals and beautiful buildings before settling in to eat a pancake (Dutch pancake!) lunch. Then it was back out to searching the city for the iconic I Amsterdam sign, the bench from The Fault in Our Stars movie, and other tourist attractions. Lots of pictures and walking later, we stopped for a snack (Stroopwaffle!) and chatted amongst each other for a bit to get out of the rain that had started. And soon after was dinner and a train ride back to our Air BnB! We definitely made the most of the day, and it was a great time!

This week was actually pretty rough in terms of me being exhausted, some tough times, and long courses. But it’s Friday now and I’m feeling great! Have a wonderful weekend!

Love and Peace,

Jessica

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2015 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.