Cheezin & Amsterdam

Despite my lingering exhaustion from Spring Break, I was so ready to go for my weekend in Amsterdam. However, we couldn't leave until Saturday because Friday we was our field trip to a cheese farm. Yes, that is considered part of my class schedule, like I have said many times I do not live a real life here but I'm going to enjoy every second of it. 

That Friday marked the first day of April and the beginning of the BEAUTIFUL weather we've been having in Rome. I basically get sunburnt on a daily basis, but that's besides the point. Anyway so Friday was cheese farm day. Cheese farm was located in a beautiful little valley outside of Rome with a huge volcanic lake in the middle. We learn how cheese is made and even got to make our own. No they do not grow it on cheese plants, they make it from goats. I even got to meet a few of the little guys and feed them. They loved me. 

me and all my goat friendzz

After our tour we of course sat down for a cheese tasting and lunch and then got to hang out around the farm and prendere il sole.

roomiez aka "sugar kitties" (ask gina)

i could totally be an italian cheese farmer with these views

sheepss

After a provincial day living the life of an Italian cheese farmer, I was ready to venture off to the big city of Amsterdam Saturday morning. I had a lot of stereotypes in my head about Amsterdam and what I thought it was going to be like. The word adorable was not one of them, but after stepping out of the train station and wandering around the city in search of our hostel, that quickly became the word I used to define everything I saw. 

We arrived early Saturday afternoon to a warm sunny day. All the Amsterdamers were out and about riding there bicycles and doing Dutch things. 

photos courtesy of Amy Wheeler

After about an hour of being lost leisurely searching for our hostel, we finally found it. Street names in Amsterdam are hard to read, say and distinguish from one another so this weekend we just decided to wander until we found what we were looking for.

Amy and I walked around the area of our hostel, grabbed some beers and waited for Corinne and Gina to arrive. They too had some trouble finding our place so by the time we all left to hit up the Heineken Experience to experience Heineken, they were done giving tours for the day #studyabroadproblems. We decided the next best way to experience Heineken was to drink Heineken so we found a cute little gazebo restaurant in a park area and posted up there before dinner. 

Some of our program friends had already done the 'dam and told us about a great Mexican place they found, which I was all for. I literally think I complain about my cravings for Mexican food on a daily basis so sorry to all those who have to deal with me. On our search for said Mexican restaurant we kept stumbling upon many Argentinean grills. There were probably at least 3 on every street no joke. I was very confused because it's not like a saw an abundance of Argentineans walking the streets of Amsterdam. We eventually abandoned our search for the Mexican restaurant and I settled my cravings with a sub par plate of nachos from one of the Argentinean grills. 

After dinner we decided to head out in search of the Red Light District. Once again we were hopelessly lost until my friend Amy noticed a street with red light bulbs in the lamps and suggested that could possibly be the street. We doubtingly checked it out and sure enough that was the start to the Red Light District (who would have thought that the lights are actually red there???? not us)


The Red Light District was weird. I will leave it at that.

Sunday morning we did some more sight seeing. We got up early and headed over to the Anne Frank House, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. After reading her diary and learning so much about the Holocaust throughout school, going to her house just made it all so real.

We took a quick lunch break and then tried again for Heineken Round 2 and got in with no problems. Heineken Experience was like Disney World for adults, with beer. They even had a sweet motion sensor ride ride where you got to pretend you were a beer bottle. And at the end we got two free beers, I think the Guinness Factory might need to step up their game...

Gina and Corinne went home that night and Amy and I stayed for one more. We did a very educational walking tour the next day. The End.

Except I forgot one of the greatest parts of Amsterdam, Chipsy King. They were like the best french fries in the world and they had a bunch of different toppings. They even had the awesome cheese sauce from a bag like the ones they use for nachos at movie theaters. I never realized how much I missed bagged cheese, it was delicious.