AMSTERDAM!

So, I have decided that it is really hard to even blog about a trip that happened a month ago. My goal is to get back that far, but I'm going to start with the most recent....which is Amsterdam this past weekend!

A group of us flew out of Barcelona on Friday morning at 6am (which meant getting ready 3am, which REALLY meant no sleep that night...). We got to Amsterdam around 10am and checked into our hostel. It definitely wasn't the best hostel, but the great thing was that we were all together in the same room. On our way to the hostel, we got a little lost and came across this older man with sunglasses on (with one lens missing and the other one as a light green color). "I can help you. I know ALL about Amsterdam!" We were pretty sure he was probably on some drugs, but he was still really nice to all of us. This guy was really awesome. This set the tone for a great weekend ahead...

Overall, the city of Amsterdam is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! While it is a touristy city, it doesn't come off that way, at all. It's a nice city with many different landmarks and artwork. We were around during the "March of the Elephants" which was this art exposition only there for a few months. Basically, it was different elephants painted up with different designs. Here are some examples. All of the locals that we ran into were incredibly nice and SPOKE ENGLISH. As nice as that sounds, I hate going to places like this and then returning to Barcelona. It's depressing to think of how much my Spanish gets worse after just one weekend of speaking only English. I HAVE to keep this going when I get back to the U.S. (P.S. - Yes, that's an Obama elephant on the left).

After stopping by at different coffee shops, we visited the Van Gogh museum. It was really cool seeing his different works, but honestly, I am much more of a fan of Dali. He is my favorite artist, thus far! We also stopped by for a tour at the Heineken museum. We got to see the various stages of how the beer is made and got three free beers at the end. I also ended up getting my own bottle which states: "Brewed at Heineken Experience, Amsterdam, Holland for Brent." Sweeeeet.

Wow, I almost forgot to mention one of the best parts of the weekend. We checked out this rave where Dj Deadmau5 was spinning. It was incredible, to say the least. Luckily, all of us stayed together as a group most of the time and just got to enjoy it. Being a  hip-hop man myself, it isn't my most preferred type of music. Still, I can definitely get down with the house/electronic music. Every time he played one of his more popular songs, he put his mouse head on and people went wild. We didn't end up leaving until 4am (like most raves) and slept till 2:15 the next day. hahaha

All in all, it was a GREAT weekend. Out of all of my trips thus far, this was the hardest one to say goodbye to. Everyone was really bummed to be leaving Amsterdam. It's just such a relaxing city and we all had such a great time. There weren't any crazy stories, like usual (Even though, the Red Light District was crazy enough all by itself). Just a good time in an amazing city.


Alrighty. Time to head to bead. Friend's birthday tomorrow night and with a midterm on Thursday morning, I have to get up early tomorrow and start studying. I really missed the whole "classes are really easy abroad' part. While classes aren't near as challenging as UCSD, I definitely have to work hard to get good grades. I found out I aced my film midterm today. While it doesn't sound like a hard class, we have to analyze the films we watch with our readings and lecture notes to dive deep into hidden themes and comparisons between the film and what was going on at that point in Barcelona. Blahh


One more psych midterm on Thursday and I'm done for awhile. Staying here in Barcelona for Halloween. Thanks to everyone for keeping in touch! I can't thank you all enough. You keep me from getting homesick. T-minus 1 1/2 months and I'm back in the U.S. Whew, time definitely flies.


Next blog entry, I will cover our crazy adventures in ROME! Take care everyone!