Amsterdam, The Netherlands

DAY 1:
Friday we got out of class at 1p.m. By 3:00, we were Amsterdam-bound aboard a train from Antwerpen Centraal. By about 4:30 we were boarding another train at a random stop in the Netherlands because our train had "technical difficulties." By 6:00pm we we had arrived!!

We went to our hostel-- only about a 10 minute walk, and checked in. The Bulldog Hotel would be our home for the next two days, and it was definitely an interesting experience. We walked into the reception and were greeted by Luc & Jas (who knows why they don't use the end of their names, or how much they had smoked, but they were friendly enough...). We got our room keys and headed upstairs to check out the room. Jeremy, Leigh, Sara, and I were sharing a room with a guy from Belfast (by way of Boston) whose wife sends him to Amsterdam for a week surrounding his birthday every year, and a group of British guys who were also in town just for the weekend.

We met up with the rest of group and wandered around, exploring. We went to the Sex Museum (a fairly good deal for a museum, only 3euro!!). It was pretty entertaining, and kind of frightening at the same time, haha. Then we headed out to another part of town where we went to "Smokey's" and got drinks and danced. We ended our night by heading back towards the Bulldog, where we relaxed in the lounge/bar downstairs. I have to say, it was bizarre to see people rolling joints and smoking weed openly throughout the city.

In the middle of the night, one of our British roommates talked in his sleep. Not just talked, yelled...profanities. It was funny at first...

DAY 2:
We woke up at about 9, got ready and made it downstairs to breakfast before it ended at 10am. We had the standard european breakfast... bread and cheese. Then we headed out for the Anne Frank Huis. We got to actually see the city in daylight for once!! It's so pretty with all the canals. We found the Museum courtesy of Jeremy and Leigh's navigational skills (I was no help there), and got there early enough that there wasn't much of a line. The museum was really moving. You were led around by quotes from Anne Frank's diary that were written on the walls. In each room there was a lot of information and short video clips from survivors and historians. I can't believe they lived in such a tiny space! After the tour, we met up with the rest of the group who had followed us through.

We slowly but surely made our way to the Van Gogh Museum, which was awesome, but I don't think it was worth 12.50euro. It was still pretty inspiring to see the self-portraits and paintings that I've learned about for so long in school. Afterwards, we found a grassy spot in the park to sit and relax for a minute.

Then we were off to the Heineken Brewery. This was probably the coolest tour we did (and we were actually allowed to take pictures!). We started off with the history of heineken, then we saw how it was brewed...which included an interactive "The Brew you Ride" moving theater ride. Next was all the famous heineken advertising, and finally, the world of heineken bar. It was definitely worth the 15euros, even though I've discovered I don't like Heineken.

That night, we went out to Smokey's again, and got a booth for everyone to sit and hang out at, but we were exhausted and headed back to the Hostel (through the red like district...eek!) pretty early.

DAY 3:
We woke up just in time for breakfast, and then went souvenier shopping, and headed to the train station. No issues with the return train, and we were home by 2pm or so.

[[Today's Pictures Include: a street view of Amsterdam, Me enjoying my Dutch heritage :), and a glimpse of the red light district (across the street is a Cathedral from the 1600s)]]

Up Next: Strasbourg, France with JMU, Interlakken, Switzerland, with a big group, and Milan, Italy for a night...also, dealing with having to do homework and a head cold of massive proportions all while in Europe!!

Bruges, Belgium

Yesterday was our first group trip. Destination: Bruges (or Brugge, in Flemish), Belgium... aka "the venice of the north."

Once we arrived, the group split in half for walking tours of the city. Our guide was a nice-looking old man with an unfortunate close-talking/spitting combination. You'd back away from the showers and he'd just get closer. Through his thick accent, we still managed to learn a lot and see a lot of the city.

Throughout the day, I kind of kept freaking out about how old stuff was. Buildings built in the 12th century... can you imagine all that has happened there!? After the walking tour we had free time until dinner, about 4 hours.

We all split up for lunch. Jess & I, smart enough to pack lunch as opposed to finding a cheap option in the tourist-y part of the city, ate our sandwiches then wandered through some shops and the streets. We went into the Church of Our Lady and saw Michelangelo's Madonna with Child (another freak-out moment for me, MICHELANGELO!? FORREAL?!, haha)

Then Jeremy, Jess, and I toured the St. John's Hospital, built in 1188 (whattt?!). It was a pretty cool museum, full of paintings and tools used in the hospital. There was one painting from the 1400s of the hospital setting, and again, it was crazy to be in the building that was in the painting in front of you. Some of the paintings still on the walls today, were also hung on the walls in the painting. (I just re-read that and it sounds really confusing, sorry!)

After the hospital we took a canal boat tour, which was fun. It was nice to see the famous brugge swans, crusie around Minnewater (The Lake of Love) and all the sights from the water. I was just enjoying being on a boat. From the boat we saw some of the rest of our group at a bar along the waterfront enjoying their 3 liter beer glass, haha.

We met up with them and saw the "Wall of Beer" showcasing all 750 Belgian Brews. Then headed over to the Belfry Tower, hoping to climb to the top. Unfortunately, they had stopped selling tickets and closed the tower for the afternoon, but we went around and found "De Bier Tempel" which is.. The Beer Temple. Jeremy and I bought a couple bottles of Bruggian brews, and then we bought Super-Classy-Belgian-Beer-Steins.

Then it was time to meet up with the group, Matt & Mary Rutherford, and Coach Kelly for dinner. This wasn't just any JMU sponsored dinner... we had beer/wine, soup, salad, steak & baked potato, dessert...the whole she-bang.

Our full stomachs made for a very quiet bus ride home, probably their intentions...You stay classy, JMU.[[today's pictures: the prettiest view of brugge (according to our tour guide), and my birthday beer stein..as always, there are more on facebook.]]

Ghent, Belgium

Today 12 of us went on a day trip to Ghent, in Belgium.

It was our first real attempt at figuring out the train system, and it was definitely interesting. We bought "Go Passes" which allow 10 domestic rides for 50euro. It worked out pretty well.

The train ride was about an hour, then we took a tram into the city's center. We wandered around the cathedrals and finally ended up getting food at a frituur (cheapest possible option). Afterwards we got italian ice for 1euro (i got tiramisu).

We toured the Count's Castle, right in the middle of the city. There's an entire room dedicated to torture devices, a room for weaponry, etc. Lots of narrow spiral stairwells and a great view from the top.

After the castle, we went back to wandering. We got traditional belgian "Caberdons" (aka chocolate noses) that were not in fact chocolate, and they were actually pretty gross, pretty sickeningly sweet. We browsed around a market that has been held since the 13th century (but I guarantee that they didnt sell quite so many clubbin clothes there back in the day), we saw some shops, and headed back to the train.

Overall a good day, probably could have stayed longer if we didn't do such a good job of celebrating the end of marketing last night, but oh well. Well worth the trip.

[[the photo show's count's castle...and the delicious ice cream truck in front, haha.]]

Antwerp, Belgium

Well, well, well...

I initially planned on blogging 100% of my semester abroad, but with the excitement of getting here and getting started, I never really got around to it. I've been here just over two weeks now, my entire blitz-marketing course is complete, and I still haven't started.

The good news, I suppose, is that I'm starting now, and the best is yet to come! I still have all my travelling ahead of me, but I'll start you off with Antwerp.

Things I've Learned:

1. Antwerp is one of the biggest, busiest port cities in the world


2. Antwerp is the world capitol of diamonds (a girl's best friend!)


3. They really like the sound of music, as evidenced here

Anyway, living here in the city of Antwerp (or Antwerpen in flemish) is pretty cool so far. I'm picking up some flemish ("dank u" means "thank you"), drinking lots of classy beer, (goodbye natty light!), and enjoying all it has to offer so far.

We are staying in "The Monty" an apartment building just for JMU, and studying at the University of Antwerp. Our classes here are in 3 (miserable) hour long blocks, but because of crazy travel schedule, we don't have a set class schedule (kind of nice, kind of confusing).

With everything we have planned (amsterdam, barcelona, dublin, florence, and more), It's sure to be a crazy, fun semester. Stay tuned :)

[[today's photo is the cathedral across the street from our apartment building.]]