I was (not) down at the New Amsterdam.

I was at the old. And what a marvelous marvelous city it was. I fell in love IMMEDIATELY. You walk around in a real-life fairytale. The architecture and beautiful canals of this city was absolutely perfect in my opinion. Not that I know much about it, but regardless.

I'm seriously considering moving.

I got to see KIM! Finally. It was so nice to see someone familiar. Someone I love and miss. The group got on well. Everyone was funny, my favorite thing.

The first day there we discovered we played our roles of tourists perfectly and signed up for the "Amsterdam at Night" guided walking tour. Baslio, our guide, walked us through the various places throughout the Red Light District. It was such a surreal experience. Definitely the most shocking of the weekend. Prostitutes sitting in perfectly lit shiny red windows, boxes essentially, just waiting for someone to buy their 15-minutes with them. While they wait they talk to the others just like them in the windows next door, upstairs. Many put on lip gloss. Many text message. I have never been so disgusted and intrigued at the same time. What a sad sad life. But perhaps some of them enjoy it? We contemplated paying one of them and just sitting and talking with her about life. But ultimately, decided it was probably not a good idea. Most of ours are not. Basilio takes us all back to St. Christopher's Christian hostel for shots of Jägermeister.

The next day we embark on yet another guided tour, this one much more wholesome. We eat everything in sight. Pancakes, apple pie. WAFFLES. Our eyes remained much bigger than our stomaches but we still managed to make it all fit. It was really kind of gross.

We walk it off a bit and then head off to sample some some more local specialties at Baba, one of many coffeeshops. Immediately after, we ventured to the Van Gogh Museum. It was very very interesting. It was an experience.

Later that evening we walked around in circles searching for the Anne Frank House, where she hid from the Nazis during their occupation of The Netherlands before being captured. This too is where she wrote her infamous diary. It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. Everything remains in tact perfectly. It was amazing.

Hans met us! If you remember him from one of my first posts, you already know that this added to the craziness of the weekend and in what manner.

OF COURSE we did a canal cruise too. It was sweet. Overall perfect perfect perfect weekend. Back to reality. Not really though.

Today was my last day of "school". I've taken some finals. They're surprisingly difficult. I don't really understand how they don't teach but test you on things. A few more ahead, but will be totally done in the next week. It's quite weird actually and we are all beginning to realize that this is all coming to an end. Emotions are running high these days for reasons unexplainable. We will miss each other. But we also miss our friends back home. We miss our families. We are told everything will change once we get back. We are more warned than told. I think we are nervous to find out. What exactly will change? Will we have changed? Will you? We shall see.