Having A’Dam Good Time

Post author:Kristin
Post published:October 24, 2018
Post category:Posts
Post comments:188 Comments

Hey guys!

Another travel update I know but honestly nothing else is really going on. It seems like every weekend is better than the next and every Monday I tell my friends that the city we just got back from is my new favorite city. However when I say Amsterdam was my favorite trip I am not being sarcastic. At first, I thought we were going to see a few things and that the highlight of the trip would be the music festival we were going to on Saturday. I really did not understand what Amsterdam had to offer. I was so wrong.

First of all, we were staying in a hostel which we were less than excited about. Our last hostel was in Ibiza and it looked like an aquarium from the outside and the rooms were so hot and everything was wet. It was serously painful to stay there. So why would a place called “Amigo Budget Hostel” be any better than that? It’s called “Amigo” and we’re not even in a Spanish speaking country. But it was so nice. Everyone there was so nice, the rooms were very clean, and we even had our own bathroom and our own private balcony. The beds were very comfortable and I had the best nights sleep there. 10/10 would recommend Amigo Budget Hostel, despite the sketchy name.

The first sight we went to go see was the Anne Frank House. We had to book this months in advance and the tour comes with the audio tour. This was the most moving experience I have had while abroad. I obviously knew who Anne Frank was and I learned about the Holocaust in school, however putting a name and a story to the Holocaust was very humbling. Walking through a house where a family and friends lived in hiding for 2 years and eventually got taken out of and never returned made the whole tragedy so much more real. When you learn about the Holocaust, you learn that millions of innocent people were killed however it is so hard to fully understand what that means. Putting a few names to the millions of faces made it so much more real and made me really reflect on how fortunate I am and how hate really has no place in this world. Anne’s story is very inspiring. We all left speechless.

We continuted that day with a visit to the (very small) cheese museum and a trip to the Ice Bar with a few more of our friends. The Ice Bar was definetly an experience, however I don’t know if it was really all it’s cracked up to be. Beer does taste 10 times better when you drink it out of a glass made entirely of ice though, so I guess they got that going for them.

Speaking of beer, the next day a group of us went to the Heineken Experience. For a group of girls that had no idea what hops was before going into the tour, it was very informative. Moreover, it was very very cool! There were interactive parts of the tour and you got 3 free beers which we didn’t even finish. Someone who hates beer could go here and have a super fun time. Here’s evidence that we did in fact have a pretty good time (as seen on Vanessa’s Instagram).

For the rest of the day that day we walked around the Red Light District and went to the IAmsterdam sign. We had to prepare for the main event-Amsterdam Music Festival. My friends and I have been thinking about this moment for months. Almost every study abroad student from Miami bought tickets and we were all so excited to go dance and have fun together. This was so much cooler than I thought it was going to be. Easily top 10 nights of all of our lives. The night started off with an insanely long line while it was freezing outside. To make matters even better, some weird man threw up on my back as I was about 10 minutes from finally getting inside. Nice concert goers handed me tissues and another nice man wiped a strangers puke off of my back because I was too busy gagging and trying not to freak out. Concerts really bring out the best in people. Shoutout to the nice guy who wiped another guys vomit off of me and whoever threw up on me, I hope you’re feeling better but I also really hope karma gets you. Despite the vomit incident, the conert was so cool and everyone was just so excited to be there together. They played all of our favorite songs and we had the best night. It wasn’t too hot or too crowded, despite being the largest indoor music festival in the world. Who needs Vegas fall break next year? We’re all going to Amsterdam.

On our last day, we still had some time. So we went to a restaurant called Avocado Show. All of the food somehow incorporates avocado. I don’t really love avocado (shocker because I’m the most basic girl on planet Earth) but it’s really only my style if it’s in the form of guac. So this wasn’t my favorite, but it’s cute for pictures and the food is presented beautifully, so I would check it out. After our avocado adventure I dragged my friends along to an art museum. In high school, I loved art, and I still do love art, but high school Kris really participated in it. I had a deep appreciation for street artists and modern and contemporary art. So when I found out about the Modern Contemporary Museum of Amsterdam, or the MOCO, I was so excited. The Moco specializes in contemporary art and is mostly full of Banksy pieces. LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING?! High school Kris was screaming internally the entire time. I also saw some classic favorites like Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Basquiat, Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. I also learned about Icy and Sot, who are contemporary artists from Iran who emigrated to Brooklyn. Their works are very politically charged and spread messages of freedom and hope for the children of the Middle East. Their works were very moving and spoke a lot about what it really feels like to grow up in Iran. They also work a lot with gun laws in America in their works. I loved going to a museum for one artist and discovering another that I ended up really being inspired by.

Amsterdam was one of my favorite cities that we have visitied. It was so clean, so welcoming, and so much fun! We learned a lot and saw a lot, but didn’t feel rushed or stressed or unsafe. From the hostel to the concert to the culture, everything was amazing. I could not have asked for a better weekend. This weekend I am (finally) staying in Barcelona. I plan to explore more and see some things I haven’t seen yet and hopefully eat at some good places so I can bring my mom and sister to them when they come in less than 2 weeks! It’s going to be pretty hard to beat this past weekend.

XOXO

Kristin