AMSTERDAM!
For the Große Ferien (a vacation that is at the end of the semester), my host family and I traveled to Amsterdam, Netherlands for a couple of days.
AMSTERDAM.
The city known for "Coffee Shops" and legal prostitution (two reasons Rotary will not allow Exchange students travel there alone). Amsterdam is a very liberal city, yet should be recognized more for its beauty and historical background than its abnormal rules.
I have been to many major cities in Europe, and Amsterdam is by far one of prettiest my eyes have seen. The city is very old, yet carries this modern, cool, and hip atmosphere with it. When walking down the streets, one will see many people. You will not just see Dutch natives and silly American tourists pridley wearing Amsterdam-made wool hats, but people of Asian and African descent as well. I find it refreshing to see a diverse amount of people all in one place.
The architecture in Amsterdam also caught my eye. Every building, coated with a warm and inviting color, is tightly compacted between two other buildings of the same nature (as seen in the picture above) .
In front of every house, restaurant and shop, there lies a cluster of bikes. Bicycles literally flood the streets of Amsterdam. Seriously, everywhere you turn, there will be at least one bicycle in your view. If I were an American who has not spent six months in Germany, I would have suffered from a severe "culture shock" when seeing the amount of bicycles. It is seldom to meet an American who commuites by bike on a daily basis. In Holland, apparentally, it is considered the 'hip' thing to show up to school on a bicycle.
Me in front of the Entrance of the Anne Frank house. I apologize that you can't see have of my left eye.
Everybody knows the story of Anne Frank. Anne Frank, who lived during World War Two, was a Jewish girl who hid during the German Occupation. She, along with her family and the Van Pelz, hid in a very cramped house where she wrote about her experience. Her diary has been considered an amazing piece of literary work around the world. I remember reading the Diary of Anne Frank in Middle School and being very moved by it.
'And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren't any other people living in the world. ' Anne Frank .
While in Amsterdam, I was very lucky to go inside of the very same house that Anne Frank lived in. It has been a dream of mine for sometime to see that building in the flesh. I remember gazing outside a window within the house. I remember seeing a tall tree, and knowing for a fact that that's the exact tree she spoke often about in her writing. I cannot explain in words how amazing it was to go inside that house. If I could, right at this moment, I would go inside again.
Being in Amsterdam, all in all, was an AMAZING weekend that I will never forget. I want to thank the Franks (unrelated. haha) for taking me. I have always wanted to see Amsterdam.
In my next blog, I will talk about a weekend in Köln and Kohlfahrt.. I would like to keep the blog seperate because I have so much to say.
AMSTERDAM.
The city known for "Coffee Shops" and legal prostitution (two reasons Rotary will not allow Exchange students travel there alone). Amsterdam is a very liberal city, yet should be recognized more for its beauty and historical background than its abnormal rules.
I have been to many major cities in Europe, and Amsterdam is by far one of prettiest my eyes have seen. The city is very old, yet carries this modern, cool, and hip atmosphere with it. When walking down the streets, one will see many people. You will not just see Dutch natives and silly American tourists pridley wearing Amsterdam-made wool hats, but people of Asian and African descent as well. I find it refreshing to see a diverse amount of people all in one place.
The architecture in Amsterdam also caught my eye. Every building, coated with a warm and inviting color, is tightly compacted between two other buildings of the same nature (as seen in the picture above) .
In front of every house, restaurant and shop, there lies a cluster of bikes. Bicycles literally flood the streets of Amsterdam. Seriously, everywhere you turn, there will be at least one bicycle in your view. If I were an American who has not spent six months in Germany, I would have suffered from a severe "culture shock" when seeing the amount of bicycles. It is seldom to meet an American who commuites by bike on a daily basis. In Holland, apparentally, it is considered the 'hip' thing to show up to school on a bicycle.
Me in front of the Entrance of the Anne Frank house. I apologize that you can't see have of my left eye.
Everybody knows the story of Anne Frank. Anne Frank, who lived during World War Two, was a Jewish girl who hid during the German Occupation. She, along with her family and the Van Pelz, hid in a very cramped house where she wrote about her experience. Her diary has been considered an amazing piece of literary work around the world. I remember reading the Diary of Anne Frank in Middle School and being very moved by it.
'And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren't any other people living in the world. ' Anne Frank .
While in Amsterdam, I was very lucky to go inside of the very same house that Anne Frank lived in. It has been a dream of mine for sometime to see that building in the flesh. I remember gazing outside a window within the house. I remember seeing a tall tree, and knowing for a fact that that's the exact tree she spoke often about in her writing. I cannot explain in words how amazing it was to go inside that house. If I could, right at this moment, I would go inside again.
Being in Amsterdam, all in all, was an AMAZING weekend that I will never forget. I want to thank the Franks (unrelated. haha) for taking me. I have always wanted to see Amsterdam.
In my next blog, I will talk about a weekend in Köln and Kohlfahrt.. I would like to keep the blog seperate because I have so much to say.