Bliss.

I woke up this morning with leftover excitement from yesterday's adventures. I pulled my curtains open to one of my most favorite surprises: birds chirpin' and sunshine shinin'. I relaxed in bed, drinking tea and savoring a stroopwafel for breakfast. Life doesn't get any better. (This was written Monday. But being so happy is exhausting. I stopped here and got some sleep. From here on out, everything was written Tuesday.)

This past week was incredible. Most magical Lumineers show on Tuesday. Random trip to the zoo Wednesday. Spontaneous crazy girls night on Thursday. Relaxing movie day Friday. Happy exploring day on Saturday. Daring adventure Sunday. Beautiful day Monday. And even more beautiful, most gorgeous day ever, Tuesday.

So settle in... As you've probably noticed, I tend to babble when I'm blissfully happy.

WEDNESDAY: Class was interesting. Dutch Social Policy. Topic: Prostitution. Really enjoying it! All the controversial topics. Comparing America's way of lawmaking based on moral/ethical judgments vs. the Netherlands more pragmatic, does this actually work?, lawmaking. I don't just sit in class, scribbling carbon copies of powerpoint slides in a notebook, walk away, then a few weeks later read them over, quickly cram, and regurgitate them for an exam. I actually think. How very refreshing! Afterward we had a little meeting for Education in Amsterdam. Have I even mentioned this yet? I get to teach Dutch kiddies English! Every Wednesday from now on, I will be hangin' out with fun little Dutch 12 year olds, singing American pop songs and playing English games.  They get out of class early this Wednesday so I won't meet them until next week, but you know me.. I cannot wait! Anyway, small meeting for that and then a few of us decided it was much more fun to wander around the zoo looking at monkeys and seals than go home and do homework. So to the elephants we went! I love the zoo. And afterward, I went home and had one of the very few and far between nights where I actually get to bed at a respectable hour and wake up the next morning feeling well rested and refreshed. There is too much happiness to be had... I can sleep when I'm dead. (or back in the states.)

Brushing up on our camel riding skills at the zoo... Marrakech, here we come!

THURSDAY: My socionext group and I made plans to grab food and drinks following our lecture. We got out of class around 7, settled into a delish little Italian place, ate, chatted, relaxed. On the way back to our bikes, a lovely Polish girl (who has been living in Amsterdam for the past 3 years so Polish, but Dutch for all intensive (know-how) purposes) was givin' me the low down on all hip, happenins. "Go here on Wednesdays for free ladies nights. Go there on Fridays, but never on Sundays, it's lame. This is a really cool place, that is not." Ya know, all the down and dirty deets I need to know! So she's telling me about this amazing little secret bar: speakeasy style, just looks like a black wall, can hardly see the entrance,  not many people know of it, you may or may not need a password to get in, etc. And most importantly: the best cocktails in the city. So obviously my eyes are sparkling and my mouth is watering, when she says, "ya know actually, we are just about to walk past it! Yep.. see that black wall between those businesses? That's it!" I stop. Ask her if she has any plans at the moment. She says shes got a couple hours to kill. I ask if she wants to go. She asks if I want to go. And next thing I know we are walking toward the black wall, giggling with excitement. We knock, a door opens, she says something in Dutch, we sneak inside the dark bar and an extremely gracious little man is gently taking our coats off our shoulders and seating us at an intimate little table. Two other girls came along (the two guys said they would be standing across the street, laughing at us when we didn't get in, haha). So there I sat, in a dark, secret bar in Amsterdam, with one Dutch, one Polish, one German (all amazing) girls, giddy and smiling uncontrollably. The place was incredible. So swanky, so fancy, so nice. We open the menus, chalk full of amazing looking cocktails and spot a 15euro price tag. I'm a little taken aback... I'm about to pay a solid 20 dollars for one drink. But hey! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I will probably never be in this bar again (due to never being able to find it again, haha)! And 20 dollars for such a wonderful experience is nothin'! :) So us four excited girls each ordered a different cocktail and pick-a-little, talk-a-little, pick-a-little, talk-a-little, cheep cheep cheep, pick-a-little, talk-a-lot, pick-a-little-more, as we waited for our fancy drinks to arrive. Mine was last to come and when it did arrive it was on fire! So excited. We sipped and passed and marveled over the extreme delish-ness of each drink. All three of them laughed at just how giddy and jolly I really was. I just couldn't help myself... so much fun! So after loungin', sippin', and girl talkin', we got up, the lovely little man helped us back into our coats, and we suddenly appeared on the street, visible to the world again. Kate (wonderful Polish girl) said her friend worked in a bar and would be happy to serve us free beer if we'd like to join her, so with the thought of "hey, free beer will kinda even out the mass amount of money I just spent on one drink!", I couldn't say no! So we free beer-ed all night long and I eventually wandered home stumbly and smiley.

FLAMIN'

Please note: At this exact moment in time, back in the states, a certain Dr. Suess fest was in full swing. The coincidence that I was off in a foreign country drinking cocktails and beer and stumbling around, while I was supposed to be completing my annual very virtuous duty of dressing up as Clifford the Big Red Dog to make a bunch of giddy baby elementary schoolers smile is not lost on me. Not in the slightest. I'd like to formally apologize to the students and teachers of Force Elementary. I hope you all missed me as much as I was missing you! And don't you worry... Clif-Dog will be back in action next year, I promise!

In honor of Dr. Suess, Force Elementary, and my Super Teacher Momma

FRIDAY: I slept in. Much needed! And had a naturally relaxing day-after-cocktails day filled with errands, a little cleaning up and just generally doodlin' around town. That night I settled in for movie and wine night with a friend and had a lovely little evening.

SATURDAY: I met a really lovely girl, Joanna, at her fancy dorm, Prinsengracht, and we walked over to a beautiful little farmers market, Noordermarket. Delicious food stands, fresh fruits and veggies, bread and olives and oils, heaps of clothes and vintage shoes, jewelry, books and books and books, old records and spice girls CDs, prints and prints and prints, art and art and art, treasures everywhere! We caught each other up on life as we walked through all the goods, doing our best to stay strong and not completely empty our wallets. Once we were chilly and treasured-out we settled down for the best apple pie in Amsterdam (quite possibly the world) and some tea. DELISH. It was actually my second experience. A Dutch girl had taken me earlier, but it was nothing less than incredible yet again. Yum. From there we did a little wandering in the city and came back to my place for some girly chat and as always, wine drinking. We got lost in conversation and realized right around midnight that we had been sitting on my bed talking for the past five or six hours and now it was really time to get out and have some fun. After getting a little lost (per the ushe!), meeting some very drunk and hilarious Dutchmen (new favorite feisty pickup line: "I'll tongue wrestle you for it!" hahaha, ridiculous. (disclaimer, just in case there's any doubt: we did not fall for said pickup line, haha)) and some help from two very lovely policeman, we found our way. We ended up in the back of this completely random bar in Rembrandtplein, surrounded by a bunch of bit older (but not the creepy kind) Dutchmen, dancing under chandeliers to the goofiest music. Both the Backstreet Boys and Cindy Lauper were played. And by the end of the evening we were swaying along, under the arms of friendly Dutchmen as the bar blasted Dutch songs and they sang along in our ears. Hilarious. Lovely. So much fun. After all, girls really do just want to have fun!

Holy yum: best apple pie in the world.

Stealin' glasses from random drunk Dutchies!

Dutch bar happiness!

SUNDAY: Alright, family... get ready for this. On Sunday, I went hitchhiking. Now before you have a mild hard attack, Momma, just keep in mind that I am very obviously alive and well, in good spirits, writing a blog entry about how happy I am. All's well that end's well, right! So lemme give you all a little background info: for Socionext, my group has to create a product/service/event by the end of the semester that will hopefully be successful enough to generate money that we can then donate to scholarships for students in South Africa. Our idea was a hitchhiking for charity event (see: Britain's very successful Jail Break). So last week we had an assignment to create a minimal viable product. Basically get the most minimalistic version of your product out into the world as soon as possible and see what happens. A very first test run. So we put our money where our mouth was, if you will. We met at a Coffee Company (the somewhat Dutch equivalent to Starbucks) near Amstel Station, made our signs, and walked to the liftplaats. Before I say any more, let me just mention that hitchhiking is not the scary, dangerous, no one ever does it, you will no doubt about it get abducted and die, thing that it is in the U.S. in Europe. Here, it is relatively safe, people do it all the time, no biggie (smalls)! Plus, I was a little bit smart and put quite a bit of thought into my hitchhikin' partner. Requirements: 1.) Must be male: for a feeling of better overall safety, as well as for punchin' fists, just in case. 2.) Must be Dutch: for knowledge of the country, as well as bailing me out of any uncertain non-English encounters. 3.) Must be fun: because, obvious. I recruited a friend with all the necessary stipulations and lucky for me, he agreed! (See Mom! Even while putting myself in situations full of spontaneity and possible impending danger, I am still being at least a little responsible! Yippee! Aren't you proud?) So we stood on the liftplaat, I held a sign saying UTRECHT, he held out his thumb and before I knew it a red little Fiat was pulling over. I thought I was all ready for this adventure but as soon as I saw the car slowing for us, I freaked out a little, to be honest. I took a step back and suddenly I was a five year old tiny and all I could concentrate on was a resounding, "DON'T GET IN CARS WITH STRANGERS!" Good job, Momma... you got me. You're a great Momma. But with a little push from my partner and a few Dutch words exchanged I hopped in the back of this completely random car and we were off to Utrecht! The driver was a super friendly women: maybe 50 to 60's, Dutch, on the way to visit her daughter and her new granddaughter. We talked about me (America and all that jazz), about Sybren (my partner) and about her and her life. Shoutout to both of these two lovely Dutchies in the front seats: thanks for being so wonderful and considerate and switching to English for me!! So a little less than a half hour later and we were dropped off in Utrecht! My friend's Dutchie status helped once again, in asking for directions to Nijntje Pleintje. That was our mission... hitchhike to Utrecht, take a picture with Nijntje at Ninjtje Pleintje, hitchhike back and whoever wins gets a free cocktail! (One more shoutout to my perfect Momma: I'm not sure if it's because you are Dutch or if it's because you are a really amazing english reading teacher and read so many books to me when I was just a wee little tyke, but I felt very happy to remember who Nijntje (Miffy, in English) was and it made reaching Nijntje Pleintje that much more exciting! Thanks for being the best Momma ever, Momma. Miss you!) But anyway, we decided that using our phones for help was out of the question so we walked, keeping out fingers crossed that we were going in the right direction. On the way we passed big shopping streets, stopped in to listen to a little local band's set in the front of a new store, explored a big, beautiful Catholic church and a hidden little peaceful park, and walked past two story canals lined with adorable little restaurants and things. And soon we stumbled upon Nijntje! We got our pictures, did a little exploring, and then prepared for the hitchhike home. This time wasn't so easy. We couldn't find a specific liftplaat so we stood under a highway sign for Amsterdam for about a half hour watching car after car after car not even give us a second glance. When the cold started to get to us, and doubt was creeping in, we asked a bus driver if he knew of any better places where we would have a greater chance of getting picked up. He was completely wonderful (I'm tellin' you, these Dutchies are the nicest people ever!), let us hop on and ride two stops down where he dropped us off right by where the highway to Amsterdam actually started and wished us luck. We waiting there, me dancing around, smiling like a goon and waving, for a little less than another half hour and then a lovely girl waved us into her car and we were on the way back! The ride was full of quite a lot of Dutch speaking, but I enjoyed it nonetheless! Sitting in the back, just being thankful we weren't stranded, and reveling in all the wonderfulness of listening to Dutchies do their thang! (Yeah, yeah, I know: it's not the most beautiful language in the world. But I like it.) So we arrived safely back in Amsterdam, took a tram back to Amstel Station where we left our bikes, and then grabbed beers to celebrate our success (the whole whoever wins gets free cocktails thing fell through). Sybren laughed at how extremely happy I was and how big and goofy I was smiling. But again, I just couldn't help myself... I couldn't believe I actually did it, I couldn't believe it actually worked out, and I couldn't believe how much fun it was. Such a great, fun, amazing day!

Yippee!

Sybren and Lovely Lady on the way to Utrecht!

UTRECHT!

"Oh my gosh, I'm in the back of some random person's car on the freeways of the Netherlands! eeeeeeeehhhhh!!!"

Prettiness in Utrecht

So lovely! Wish we could've gone inside!

We have arrived!

YIPPEE! Nijntje!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

SUCCESS!

Ps. Thanks to this guy for being such a stellar hitchhiking partner!

MONDAY: Yesterday was a lot of schoolwork. Although the hitchhike was incredibly fun, it was initially for school and my group and I spent hours going over what actually happened, what went well and what went poorly. We put a presentation together and presented that night. I won't bore you with a bunch of school details. But it was sunny and beautiful outside and it seems that it is impossible to me to be anything less than happy here. So work day, but good day.

TUESDAY: I don't have classes on Tuesdays. And either I have really fantastic karma or the weatherman must be on my side, because today was the most beautiful day I've seen yet. I awoke to not-a-cloud-in-the-sky perfect sunny sunshine. It was a perfect 15degrees (celsius). Thats just about 60 Fahrenheit. I did not stop smiling the entire day. I opened my window/doors, ate fruit, got ready, and headed outside. I was planning on heading straight for Vondelpark but kept passing these amazing looking little vintage stores and since I still have not done any shopping here, the urge got the best of me. But I'm so glad! I wandered through them, so many wonderful things everywhere! Why don't shops like this exist all over Boulder? I kept a little bit of self control (purposefully did not allow myself to go near an atm, haha) and walked away with only two purchases. From there I made the short trek to Vondelpark, met up with my Finnish friends and basked in all the sunny Vondelpark glory. PERFECT day. I am not exaggerating. My facebook status today was: "Days don't get any more beautiful, life doesn't get any better." And that is the only way I know how to explain how I felt today. So happy. So blessed. Bliss.

Sunset. View from my room. Most beautiful Amsterdam day yet.

Like I said: bliss.

xoxo <3