Holland at ya girl!

Normally, I like to blog soon after an experience so all of the impressions are "fresh", but I hope you all will excuse my tardiness this time! I went to Amsterdam last weekend (gosh, that's all?) and since then I've played hostess to one of my good friends from college/on-the-rise fashion and lifestyle blogger during his first few days of covering Paris Fashion Week, as well as keeping up with the normal (which lately has been somewhat manic) pace of work to be done for class, et cetera, et cetera....

Anyway, Amsterdam! As with most awesome things in life, this opportunity came at random and literally about a day and a half before I decided to go. I went to see Marguerite with Liz and Mel, two girls also doing study abroad at Sciences Po. After the move, I am asked: "What are you doing this weekend?". I thought it was a typical niceties-type question, perhaps to be followed up with an invitation to grab drinks, go to a pique nique, or the like. Instead, the follow-up is: "Wanna go to Amsterdam with us for 24-hours?" The plan sounded not unlike a military operation: we were to be conveyed in via Megabus to the drop zone (Amsterdam) at exactly 6:30 am, at which point we would engage in various agreeable activities until 6:40 am the next morning, at which point we would take the Megabus back to Paris. No hotel/hostel. No sleep (except whatever you could manage on the bus). The low fixed cost aspect was very appealing. I think my round trip ticket was only 22 pounds. The spontaneity of it all was also a selling point. I got the ticket, and Friday night after our 9:15pm class, we grabbed an uber from Liz's place and made our way to the bus depot.

I remember waking up at some point in the night hours before we were scheduled to reach Amsterdam, reading street signs in....Dutch, maybe?...and feeling very disoriented. Turns out that the bus had a stop in Brussels on the way to the Netherlands. For some reason, it hadn't really dawned on me that I was actually leaving France, and all that that would entail. Even though I'd packed my passport, the short duration of the trip made me think of it more as an excursion rather than a foray into a foreign land. Eventually we made it to Amsterdam (or the 'Dam, as I like to call it), somewhat tired, but buoyed by our excitement!

Normally, I like to do my research before heading to another country, but the time constraints on this trip meant that the extent of my research consisted of watching this hot Dutch dude say a couple of phrases. Luckily, everyone we encountered knew english and didn't seem to mind speaking it even though we didn't know Dutch (*cough*cough*). The trip itself was great. We were able to do a lot in a relatively short amount of time thanks in large part to Liz's "The Dam Plan": an expertly-crafted document which outlined our activities hour by hour.

The Metro stop where we were dropped off after the Megabus. Obvi a good sign. #werunthistown

Goudaaaa

ermagerddd stroopwafel and currant tart...so gewwwd

Bikes on bikes

More sweets, b/c #priorities

A Van Gogh painting of tulips and windmills...doesn't get much more Dutch than that...

Some highlights:

• Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market) off of one of the canals. Beautiful dried flowers hung from the ceiling in one of the shops. Bulbs and wooden shoes everywhere!
• Von Gogh Museum
• "I Amsterdam" sign
• Canal cruise
• The Amsterdam Tulip Museum
• Some place that claimed to be an Amsterdam Cheese Museum, but really just seemed to sell a lot of cheese (hey, free samples, so no complaints here...)
• The Redlight District
• Lanksroon for amazing stroopwafel
• Doe maar market
• Concert at Het Concertgebouworkest

Things I'd like to go back and do one day:

• Rembrandt Musuem
• Ann Frank House
• More stroopwafel

There you go, my summary of the ultimate "day" trip. Travel via Megabus is not for the faint of heart, but ideal for the shallow of pocket. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, and I look forward to going back one day...preferably with a hotel stay involved haha.