Hello from Holland!

Kirby and I took a trip to the Netherlands this weekend-what a beautiful country! Friday afternoon we boarded a plane in snowy Prague and landed in lush, green Eindhoven. We took a train from Eindhoven to Leiden where we met up with Kirby's good friend from high school, Brad, and his friend, James. The boys made us dinner while we hung out and had a nice relaxing evening. Their German friend stopped by later in the evening and I don't know what it is about German people, but they are hilarious! We planned our trip into Amsterdam and headed to bed-the idea of the Red Light District bothered me so deeply that my sleep was more of a thoughtful coma. Amsterdam was gorgeous! The canals run through the city and bikes cover the streets. Kirby and I planned to find a 'Tourist Information' center when we arrived to find a map, but we couldn't find one. I tore the Netherlands pages out of my travel book to take with me and it was good thing I did because we used the sketch of Amsterdam provided as our map for the day.

We ventured over to the Van Gogh Museum where we split up and explored on our own. I loved the museum! Walking through the exhibits was delightful as was seeing the children analyze the paintings with their parents-so precious. We planned to meet up again in 2 hours, so I moved through the museum fairly quickly. I was exhausted from not sleeping the night before, so for the last twenty-five minutes I sat in front of a Paul Gaughin exhibit and journaled-a much needed break. Kirby and I met up again and went to find the famous AMSTERDAM letters. The rest of the day we just wandered around the city. We went to find a canal tour, but we were unsuccessful and decided to follow the canals on foot rather than pay to sit on a boat and ride in the canal (good choice if you ask me). Since our map had practically no street signs, we ended up walking in a few circles and having no idea where we were. Our plan was to head back to the train station and catch a bit of the Red Light District on the way. We pulled off to the side of one street to try to figure out where we were, and when we looked up, there was a scantily clad woman standing in the window-we found it. The Red Light District was so odd. There were so many tourists of all ages, shapes, and sizes there to see it as if it were just another landmark (I suppose we can be included in that group since we were there though...). It was sobering to think of the lost women and the hardness they must have towards life. There career was viewed as just a joke to so many people , but looking into their blank stare gave a taste of the emotionless life they lead.

We eventually made our way back to the train station and headed back to Leiden. Brad and his friend, Chad, showed us around the city and then dropped us off at the train station for our short trip to Den Haag. Our friends, Sarah and Dave, from Grove City are studying there this semester, so we met up with them for the night. We talked about our different adventures and thoughts about studying abroad for a few hours and then the three of them headed out to a Saint Patrick's Day party while I went to bed. I slept like a rock! We woke up around 9:30 this morning and headed out about an hour later to explore Den Haag. They were excellent tour guides and the city was gorgeous! At 12:58 we sat on our train to back to Eindhoven to catch out flight. A group of elderly, Dutch people boarded the train and sat in our row-they were a hoot! We clearly could not understand each other, but a smile goes a long way. After they left, the guy sitting across the way offered us a piece of candy and of course we could not resist (yes, I took candy from a stranger-kids, don't try this at home). He ended up being a young guy from Colombia who has traveled all over the world and was presently on his way to Stockholm. We chatted for a bit and when we arrived at the station we wished each other luck and headed our separate ways. In the airport, we ran into him again and he insisted on giving us his email in case we ever needed anything-Carlos was awesome!

Well, since my parents are still not on skype (I've only been waiting for about five hours....), I'm going to sleep. And thus another week begins.