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

The Lumi's at Paradiso

If you know me well, you know that I started looking up concerts in Amsterdam immediately following receiving my acceptance letter.

There are so many great venues, so many amazing bands lined up, so many wonderful nights of live music to be heard.

The Lumineers were at the top of my list. If you don't know them (shame on you!), they're a indie-folk band from Denver. Last year they had their first CD release party at Twist and Shout and Ani, ClayBoy and I swayed happily along in the audience to each beautiful song. Since the show was small and intimate, and they weren't too popular yet, we got to say hello and get our CD's signed. I dreamed of makin' moves on beautiful lead singer Wesley Schultz, but nerves got the best of me, as usual. Afterward, we walked to the Chipotle around the corner and as we were munchin' our burrito bowls, the three lovely musicians coincidentally walked in and sat down to eat at the table next to us. (Oh, how I miss Chipotle.) Over the next couple of months, I started hearing them on the radio and watched as they began to get the recognition they deserve.

But since there were so many unknowns and overwhelming changes ahead, I figured I'd just wait to make sure I had a solid concert buddy once I arrived here and buy my Lumi's tickets then.

Awful idea. Tickets sold out extremely fast.

Devastated.

But I'm no stranger to miraculously finding my way at the front of sold out shows, or getting lucky with last minute craigslist ticket sellers. So I've been asking each Dutch person I meet: does craigslist exist here? is there any other website like it? do you have any suggestions for somehow acquiring tickets to sold out concerts?

And a few days ago, a lovely friend gave me lovely advice. Add myself to the concert's facebook event, post there that I was in search of tickets, and keep checking back to see if anyone had posted about selling theirs.

So one idle Monday night (three days ago), I was randomly clickin' around facebook and suddenly felt a strong urge to check the Lumineers at Paradiso, Amsterdam facebook event page. Low and behold, a girl had posted approximately 1 minute ago that she was sick and selling her and her friends tickets. With shaking fingers, I frantically scribbled out a message to her stat. She had two tickets available, 25euro a piece, and would love to sell them to me.

HALLELUJAH!

There were a couple small issues: I didn't have anyone set to go with (because I was not planning on being so lucky in a million years), she lives in Rotterdam so I couldn't just hop on my bike and exchange money for tickets, I needed a Dutch bank account in order to transfer money to her, I do not have a Dutch bank account yet, etc. But after a very stressful hour or so, I had figured everything out. A lovely German girl told me she would love to go. The couldn't be nicer ticket seller had a friend that lived in Amsterdam and if I could personally deliver the money to him, she would email me the tickets.
And bonus: she even offered me her third ticket, because she said I was nicer than all the other people she was talking to and would rather sell it to me. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

So Tuesday morning rolls around. I map out my game plan: Printer, ATM, 30 minute bike ride south to deliver the cash. And hallelujah again, all went swimmingly and I didn't even get myself lost!

Tuesday night rolls around and I meet my two German friends at Wok to Walk in Leidseplein to grab a bite and then head to Paradiso. Dinner was delish. The company couldn't have been better.

Adorable girls and Delish food!

We got to the venue just as doors were opening, walked forward until we were just in front of the stage, and stood in awe admiring how gorgeous Paradiso is. Now, I'm from the land of Red Rocks Amphitheater, I know an amazing venue when I see one and this was an absolutely amazing, amazing, amazing venue. It used to be an old church. So incredible. Just a different kind of worship being done these days. (ps. Funny: "the only church the Dutch go to is Paradiso")

Amazing venue.

So the opening guy goes on. He's good. We're jammin'.

And then right around 21:00 (that's 9pm, folks), my wonderful friends, the Lumineers walk onstage to a crowd of cheering fans. Lovely Wesley puts his fingers to the strings of his guitar and opened his mouth and swoooooooooooooon. They played a generous set: their entire album plus one absolutely amazing new song, and a few covers. And highlight: at one point, they left the stage, climbed to the balcony in the back of this beautiful venue and played their most popular, can't not smile when you hear it, song from this amazing place above all their adoring fans. Made the list of one of the most magical show moments I have even experienced. So amazing. I was on a complete live music high (no Amsterdam coffeeshops necessary!) and smiled uncontrollably for the rest of the evening.

Cutie Mr.  Jeremiah Fraites

Wesley looking handsome and dapper and adorable, as always.

Groovin' away.

(I unfortunately did not get any good pictures of the beautiful Neyla Pekarek, but she was nothing less than amazing as well)

HO! HEY!

<3 <3 <3

I am still in awe of how wonderfully lucky I am. To be here (in Amsterdam). To have the opportunity to be there last night (at Paradiso). To be having the best day of my life, each and every single day.

Incredible, incredible, incredible.

Lumineers, I belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweethearts <3

Just a Denver girl, a Denver band and these two lovely ladies having the time of our lives in Amsterdam. Perfect day, perfect night. 

Just in case you need a little musical education:

Ho Hey!

MAGICAL

Yippee, new song!

Cheeeezin'

Hi, Loves!

Nothing new here: just another one of the best weeks of my life!

I have continued to be this weird form of on/off sick all week. Some days I feel fine, other days my throat kills, and randomly throughout each day, I sound like a lifelong chain smoker or a prepubescent boy (shoutout: prepubescent Mard and Ani!) or lose my voice all together. But I have yet to be bedriddenly ill, and hallelujah, I have never been more proud of that little kickin' little immune system!

So, Wednesday: I did indeed make it to my big dance party. (Timeframe: two Wednesday's ago!) I grabbed some sweet wine and met some even sweeter girls for a little din-makin'. We met at a one girl's homestay house, which is completely unbelievable. It's one block away from my place and it's small and European and full of character and beyond beautiful. It has a hammock perfectly placed right in the center of the living room. Obviously, my kind of people. We sipped wine, chefed up gourmet pizza and salad and had ourselves a lovely little evening. Can't get enough of these lovelies! (Fun fact: one of them just so happens to go to CU Boulder. Why couldn't I have been drinking wine with her for the past three years?) Once we were wined and dined and liquidblanket-ed we headed to Coco's Outback, an Australian bar that turns small club every Wednesday night, packed with International Student Network kids. Incredibly fun, once again. Drinking happy hour cocktails, dancin' on tables and meeting friendly new faces all the time! A few pictures from the evening:

Happiest when I'm hammockin'

Din din din, yum yum yum!

Pretty ladies

The two Finnish girls that have stolen my heart

Absolutely NOT taking pictures, while drinking wine, while riding bikes.

Most certainly not.

Thursday was Valentine's Day and as you know from my previous post (if you are an avid follower/, congrats!), it was not at all lacking in L.O.V.E. I woke up a little foggy from one too many sips of the Coco's the night before and stayed snuggled in bed. I easily could have stayed forever since: 1.) I was hungover, 2.) I left my bag at Emily's the night before and was ill-equipped, 3.) could only find one sad, lone glove, 4.) it was cold, cold, cold, snowy, snowy, snowy. But I put on my big-girl-pants and my Dutch-girl-pants simultaneously, got out there and hoped on my cutie little fiets! By the time I got to class I was freezing, soaking, and questioning permanent loss of feeling in my right hand. But there's no complaining about getting pretty on V-Day and coincidentally heading to Dance Me to the End of Love. Plus, snow is cold (profound, I am.) but Amsterdam is BEAUTIFUL. When it snows it is nothing short of winter wonderland and I am this little girl from Colorado with big eyes, a rudolf red nose and a smile of my chilly face. So I sat dripping, but happily, in class. And afterwards had a lovely little chat with my favorite new Friesian friend! We both had class at the same place across town, he offered to walk with me, I very happily obliged. He's really great. He told me that soon, when I have a day off, I should take the train to Friesland, he will pick me up and we can drive around town. Supes excited! So now I'm just waiting on a list of places/people that good 'ol Grampie remembers and I'll be off to the north! After my second class I ran to grab a little more wine and met up with a few more completely wonderful people. One of them had an oven (quite the luxury to us student dormers), so we baked brownies (sans ganja, Boulderites), ate chocolate, drank red wine, got a little cozy on the couch, and watched Sleepless In Seattle. I have to admit I missed my cute Momma's super extravagant bundle of pink and red Valentine's prezzies a bit, but I felt so much crazy love that day.

Sidenote: Sweet baby heyzeus, Amsterdam has turned me into the cheeziest human in the world. No pun intended!

So, Friday. What did I even do Friday? Did a little homework (meh), did a little reading (meh), and then because of all the meh-ing, I spiced up life a little by ditching a CIEE meeting, woo hoo! (Sorry, Momma! But you remember senior year... I have a real talent for playing hookie! Haha) Emily and I (lovely girl previously mentioned in pizza making night and museum day) went for some ice cream (I do not have a freezer. I had not had ice cream since America. I couldn't go on). Lucky for us, this ice cream came on top of a beautifully delish waffle and my heart nearly exploded with each bite. After, I played a little wine King's Cup and headed to the Sugar Factory for what was supposed to be a crazy night of shakin' my groove thang. There was some solid bootay shakin but SugarFac turned out a little lame. Can't complain though... I fully appreciated the funky mural outside and sneakin' flasks in bathroom stalls with one beautiful ladyfriend! Always keepin' it classy! :)

Funk

She's a F*cking Lady, obvi.

So I danced all night and slept only a little, only to wake up early in the morning and have to run to an all day workshop where I was expected to be bursting with energy and inspiration. Both Saturday and Sunday were chalkfull of these workshops and I was horribly un-responsible and went out each night anyway (oops!). So I wasn't on my most passionate behavior, but the days still turned out really incredibly. They took place at this amazing little workspace called The Hub. It's a space created solely to inspire social entrepreneurs and it delievered. It's big and open and airy and light, with plants everywhere and comfy hidden workspace nooks (one including a hammock!) and unlimited tea and coffee. I fell in love. Day two was the moment I became a real Dutchie and tilted my head back and swallowed a slimy herring covered in onion. Like I said earlier... can't say I enjoyed it but so glad I got the opportunity to try it!

Thank you, to this lovely Dutch guy, for the herring and for letting me take a picture of him swinging with a flower.

I dig.

Pretty people inspiring pretty ideas

The working all weekend aspect mildly messed with my week. I went into Monday feeling like it should be Saturday and a long week of full on strugglefest followed. But there were a few really great highlights that made the week incredible:

• Field trip in my Dutch Social Policy class on Monday. I love field trips!
• One of the (almost)founders of AirBnB did a little presentation in Socionext on Monday: super interesting.
• Finally got to catch up on sleep Monday night. Heaven.
• No classes on Tuesday and was lucky enough to have a lovely Dutch boy tour me all around his gorgeous city. He showed me the Amsterdam Public Library (love!), strolled me around, pointed out all the must eats/must gos/must sees, and introduced me to a delish white beer. He's really wonderful, the day was really wonderful.
• Got another tour on Wednesday (from an actual tour guide this time... Although, DutchBoy, you gave MuseumMan a run for his money!) I now know everything there is to know about the Jordaan area and ate a magically delish (and free!) goat cheese sandwich.
• Hosted a little Ladies Night at my apartment on Wednesday night. Flowin red wine and red lipstick! We ended up at Coco's and danced the night away per the ushe (ps. I don't know how to spell the abbreviation of usual? ya know, the ushe!)
• Walked/Fiets-ed around like a zombie on Thursday due to the devastating combination of extreme lack of sleep and abundance of booty shakin'. But through my half closed eyes, it was a gorgeous day and I didn't stop smiling.

Ladies journey to the Coco's

Makin' friends with Coco's Bouncers, yeehaw!

And yesterday was one of my favorite days here. Emily and I finally had an entire day to do completely aimless wandering. We've enjoyed mini wanders every chance we get the past three weeks, but having literally no plans and no expectations for the entire day made all the difference. I woke up, stopped at her house where she fed me delicious pancakes and coffee (thanks, love!), we stopped at the CIEE office to print something and found magical little Amsterdam books and novels, and then we were off. Headed towards Vondelpark. Every single person has told me I'd love it, and every single person was spot on. Before we even reached the magic, we took a detour to snap a few photos in front of an amazing wall of red graffiti and as we were shooting away, Amsterdam made all my dreams come true. A magically sweet girl rode toward us on her fiets, toting around a magically giant, magically beautiful DOG in her magical fietsbasket. We asked to take a picture of her and her pup, and begin the nicest human in the world, she happily obliged and even hoped off her fiets in order to get pictures of us riding her PuppyFiets. I was ecstatic. And I spent as much time as I possibly could petting her babydog. His name was Dogo and I couldn't pull myself away. She literally had to say, "Okay, sorry, I really have to go now" and actually start riding away in order to get me to stop lovin' up on her Dogo. My heart will be his forever. So thanks to Dogo, I was the happiest. And then we got to Vondelpark and my heart burst. It was beautifully sunny (rare occasion... I even wore sunglasses!). There was grass and ponds and trees and fresh air and birds chirping and tiny children climbing tree houses and playgrounds and laughter and DOGS EVERYWHERE. Ladies and gentleman, it was an oasis of everything I love. So we purposelessly doodled around, talking about how incredibly happy we both felt. When the cold finally tore us away we found a posh little cafe, drank fresh mint tea and flipped through our newly discovered "Cool Amsterdam" book, highlighting our future adventures. Our stomachs were growling, and insisting upon devouring some good ol' bad for you American pizza, so we fiets-ed our way to a cozy little Italian restaurant. Definitely no pizza hut. The fresh focaccia, garlic butter and margherita pizza were better than we had been imagining all day. Smiling as usual, we walked away only to stumble on more loveliness. Holy WholeFoods of Amsterdam! It was beautiful, our eyes were twinkling. We walked away with gorgeous bottles of cordial to splash with the wine we would soon be sipping. (Bonus: Marqt takes American credit cards! This may be the death of me...) 

DOGO! Be still my beating heart.

Forever Fietsen

Vodelpark, I love you.

Bouf! Shwankay!

<3

From there, we got a little artsy with the makeup, dressed a little funky and made our way to Paradiso for Sonic Acts. It was definitely interesting. For the life of me, I can't remember who said they wanted their art to assault the senses into delirium, but thats all I could think of during these performances. I wish I had gotten a little more sleep so that I could have enjoyed it a bit more (assaulting acoustic/visuals and exhaustion don't mix well), but I enjoyed nonetheless. Plus, I just like the feeling of doing something with no assumptions or expectations and enjoying it no matter what the outcome is. I think Emily wholeheartedly believes in that as well, and I makes me all giddy for the adventures we will surely get ourselves into.

Sonic Arts and GLITTER GALAXY PANTS!

So today I woke up, still feeling the heavy weight of not enough sleep in both quality and quantity. I'm tired and all I want to do is snuggle. Preferably with my babydog. So I'm takin' it easy today: going to get a little homework done (turns out, I'm still in school here?), do a little leisurely reading, listen to acoustic music, drink water instead of wine (haha). And tonight I am venturing to my two favorite Finnish girls apartment for a relaxing evening of cheese and wine (to wash away the water, haha). Just what I need.

I hope you lovelies had a wonderful week last week and will have an even better one to come.

I miss you, guys. I love you, guys. xo. <3

Hi!

Haven't had the time to perfect a big, fun update in a while (sorry!!), but I figured I'd take a second to scribble down some little things that you may like to know:

1. I am still alive.

2. I have successfully chefed up five real, quality meals (and bonus: they haven't made me sick! haha)

3. I have been here approximately three weeks and still have not bought even one (non-necessity) thing. Bank account is still kickin'!

4. Today, I am going shopping :) 

5. I bought a soft blanket (this falls under the necessity category) and now my bed is much happier.

6. I still do not have any Amsterdam bike scars (therefore, I am not a true Amsterdamian. yet.)

7. I am quickly acquiring a taste for good beer. 

8. I think Amsterdam is just as in love with me as I am with it.

9. The only thing that could make me smile any more than I already am is a kiss from my babydog.

10. Today is an absolutely gorgeous day and I am completely happy.

xoxo.

Love you <3

Haring in Holland

Quick update to let you all know that I am now officially, absolutely, no doubt about it, 100% Dutchie.

And loving it.

<3

An Affair to Remember

Wishing all my favorites a very special Valentines Day. I hope your day was filled with as much magic as mine was.

I spent the day in a misty eyed haze of loooooooove. This city is courting me and ladies and gentleman, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours! Couldn't have asked for a better Valentine.

And now I am casually lounging in bed eating Droste Puur Chocolade Pastilles, because chocolate (duh), and listening to some good 'ol fashioned American country music, because is there really anything more romantic? I hope you all are as perfectly happy as I am right now.

Amsterdam, be mine.





Love you, lovelies. Sweet dreams. xoxo.







Ps. Just in case you are being one of those cynical, lonely, grumpies this V-Day (please, don't be though.), my gift to you is a little bit of punnin that will absolutely turn that frown upside down and the most perfect song for the occasion. Now, go buy yourself some flowers, eat some chocolate and enjoy your own damn company, cause you are your own greatest valentine. <3 <3 <3

Week #3 of Nonstop Smiling

Mornin' Sunshines!

Views from my window... love!

My Baby Girl! <3 <3 <3

The past week has been wonderful upon wonderful-er! I left off all giddy about class last Monday and although a mass amount has happened since then, I'll try to hit you all with the highlights!

I've been meeting people left and right. Dutchies and Americans and people from all kindas crazy places! Toto, we're not in Boulder anymore. And loving it! Met a few more CIEE-ers (there are at least 70 of us in the program so I am constantly seeing new faces), met some beautiful people from my  dorm, and am always accompanied by Dutch hospitality. I've been seeing Sir Chivalry randomly around my building and found out his beautiful accent is straight from Lithuania! (Warning! Tangent ahead: I am utterly embarrassed to admit that I was that ignorant American girl who had to look up exactly where Lithuania is as soon as he told me... look forward to a full blog entry about how egocentric and uneducated I have been feeling here. Sadface. And a short hint of advice to all you 'Mericans: start learning about the rest of the world. Turns out, there's a whole lot of it and we really suck. But anyway!) He's really great at opening doors for me and makin' me smile. I fall in love over and over and over again, with every new person I come across.

I had my third class last Thursday. Dance Me to the End of Love: Romantic Love Narratives. Woot wooten! What a name. What a class. I'm really excited about it. My professor is this beautiful Dutch lady who is one of the most quirky, friendly, smiley-est people I've ever met. She seemed genuinely interested to get to know each one of the students, went off on innumerable adorable little tangents, and said, "that just fascinates me!!" after pretty much every intellectual thing she said. She just fascinates me! And do I even need to elaborate on what we'll be discussing each week? L.O.V.E.: doesn't get much better than that! So I'm really lookin' forward to each one of my classes. Lovin' it all! Ya done me well, Universiteit van Amsterdam!

Another fun fact about that class: One of the few Dutchies enrolled in it is straight from Friesland! (Quick lesson for those of you who are not my Mom: my fam is from Friesland; it's in the north of the Netherlands; has it's own language; whole lot of farming and cows; not very many Amsterdamians are Friesian and a quite a few have never even been there). But this one lovely guy from my class still lives there! In fact, (get this!) he lives in a tiny town called OUDEGA. (Again, for those of you who don't know: that's my fam's name, also my middle name.) So, obviously, I'm all about him! Happy to see him again this coming Thursday, planning on firing questions at him left and right and keepin' my fingers crossed that he will be lovely enough to offer to let me journey there with him sometime and show me around! I'll keep ya updated!

Het Scheepvaartmuseum

I don't have classes Fridays so I got my Lewis and Clark on! A CIEE pal and I (she's extremely wonderful!) met up and went to Het Scheepvaartmuseum. Translation: The Amsterdam Maritime History Museum. Further translation (just in case): the Ship Museum. It's right across the street from my dorm and super cool! Really amazing building, really great exhibits, fantastic replica of a big, fun pirate (looking) ship. And as usual, the kid's part was where it was it! Emily and I threw on turtle costumes (naturally) and climbed inside this big, comfy clam bed. We were all smiles, relaxin unda da sea... Until a Dutch security man came to firmly inform us that we were not allowed to be inside said clam bed. So we awkwardly weaseled our way out of the clam, and sheepishly took off our turtles, under the watchful eye of Mr. Grumpy. Kicked out of a children's play place, yet again. But all in a day's work, right? Next we headed to the NEMO Science Center. The entire thing is made for the kiddies and full of fun hands-on sciencey goodness. Shoutout to Bro-Cheese Clay Campbell, you woulda gone wild! It was overwhelmingly fun. Best part: the TEENfacts floor where I learned all about sproutin' new body hair, combatting body odor, and how to properly make-out, haha.

The sea captured on canvas and the very magical kid's play place

That night we had a couple of CIEE meetings (snooze.) and then dinner at Kentjil en de Tijger. Indonesian food, also known as the best dinner I've had since being here. Ate my heart out! From there a few girls and I wondered the city, did a little pub hopping and met a few friendly-face Dutchie men. Also for Brother Clay: I'm getting so great at casually sipping quality beer! Woo!

Saturday was big CIEE adventure day. First stop: cheese and klompen making! We drove a little ways into the country: the area was beautiful and the houses were absolutely magnificent with fresh flowers in every single window. Just as I'm thinkin', "holy hallelujah, I just found the place I am going to settle down forever!" a CIEE guide tells us that this is where the rich and famous of Amsterdam live, so if you're currently daydreaming: stop. Haha... damn you again, expensive tastes! So new life goal: marry a rich and famous of Amsterdam and settle into life in Dutch country paradise. Anyway: we pass the most adorable windmill and arrive at Cheese/Klomp Place. A friendly dutch women, with her short blonde hair in pigtails and klompen on her feet, explains all about how she slaves away all day making cheese. And then a cute little Dutchie man shows us how he makes the klomps! The actual word "klompen" was never mention, which I thought was a little strange, but I guess "wooden shoes" will do for the mass amount of tourists that come through each year. Klompen Man was hilarious and adorable and made me feel warm inside. His sense of humor was just like my own Granpie's, gigglin' away at all his own jokes and making mildly racist (however, completely innocently and not at all meant to be racist) comments. Loved him! I was so tempted to buy a good pair of klomps, but I thought of the ten pairs we have at home (and the complete lack of any sensible occasion to wear them) and left empty handed. I did buy some cheese though (how could I not?), so I left cheese handed.

Such beauts!

So many klompen! CHEESE! Blue Delft Heaven, Momma!

From there we went to Jaap Eden for a lovely afternoon of speed skating. Before the skating began, they served us sneert! Ahhh, home. Again, the actual word "sneert" was never used, and was replaced with "traditional Dutch pea soup". Lame. But Momma, it was actually a little bit different from both yours and Grammie's. Tasted very similar, but much less thick and creamy. A little blah on the consistency factor, I thought. But I'm going to have to do a little sneert exploring before I make any judgements cause keep in mind this was the food served at the ice skating lodge and judging from my American experience (fond memories of hard pretzels and nacho cheese), the cuisine in these places usually isn't top notch and traditional. It was very good though. So who knows! I'll venture for some sneert elsewhere and let you know!

The lovely Jaap Eden

Apolo Anton Ohnin'

(I'm clever!)

After sneert, I strapped on these skates with the enormous sword fighting blades and was on ice! And while I'd love to tell you all that I am a natural and will be appearing in the next winter Olympics, I gotta keep it real... I basically just ice skated with the wrong kind of skates on. It was really fun though! I briefly tried to do that whole crossing the feet over each other and leaning around the curves thing and at one point I bent down (shawty, got low, low, low, low) and crossed my hands behind my back... But both were mainly for purposes of laughing at myself. I had tons of fun! And holy enchanting! It snowed, I mean really snowed, for the first time since I've been here that day. The place was beautiful by itself... outdoors with strands of little lights circling the rink and big trees just outside it. But just as we were skating giant wet snowflakes started falling and everything felt like magic. I'm from Colorado, I've seen beautiful snow. But this was BEAUTIFUL snow. I happily skated in circles, feeling all warm and cozy, looked up into the big twirling white flakes and felt so blessed to be here.

By the time we got home, I was soaking wet and freezing. I speedraced back to my dorm, took a long, hot shower and sipped tea until it was time for dancing. That night a few lovely girls and I bonded over wine and American drinking games, walked to a well known Amsterdam club, and got our groove on 'til morning.

Everything is so, so wonderful. I can't get enough.

However.... dun dun dunnnn. Today has not been my greatest day here. I have felt a small cold coming on since late last week but I was absolutely determined to not give in to the complete lack of immune system that I have been blessed with. Today I think I am giving in. I woke up this morning, my throat on fire and my head all puffy and foggy. Immediate grumps. Guess all that snowy cold and dancing the night away and denying the germs has finally done me in. And it doesn't help that today has been one of the chilliest days here yet. It snowed last night and everything outside is covered in a thick sheet of ice. The frozen roads are covered with icy bike track grooves making staying on my feet near impossible. Three steps out of my dorm and I almost fell. And within one pedal of my bike I was almost roadkill. So I grumpied my way to class, swung by the grocery store for the essentials on the way home, and am now back in bed.

I'd love to say I'm not letting it get to me, but I'm an honest kid... I'm letting it get to me.

I picked up some Dutch ramen on my short grocery visit. So dumb. I don't typically eat ramen in the states and here I am, in my pajamas in Holland, boiling water for a crappy meal that I don't even particularly enjoy. But I'm gonna let the broth work its wonders on my throat for now. I also picked up Dutch soup and am gonna make it a little later for din. It surely will not be as good as Grandma's or Momma's and will be rather veggie-less (and sans meatballs, but I usually pick them out anyway), but I think it will be just what the doc ordered. I'm missing my favorite cough drops but I'm armed with mentos. So, as I tend to do when I'm sick, I have turned into that whiney toddler, kicking and screaming on the floor. Grumpin', all the way. But I'm trying to be nice to myself. And with the power of positive thinking, I will be back with a bang by tomorrow! ...And if not tomorrow, definitely Wednesday because there is a large international dance party that I refuse to miss, haha.


So send me healthy thoughts and strong white blood cells. And don't forget, I am always sending all of you all my love!

XOXO


Ps. Happiest of birthdays to my all-time favorite uncle!!! Rand, wish I could take you for some jenever at Wynand Fockink today! Cheers!

Wynand Fockink, est. 1679

Fresh Mint Tea and Honey. Drown me in this... I never want to come up for air.

Fiets, fiets, fiets! That first one was beyond gorgeous

Essentials from my first grocery adventure

Prettiness everywhere I look!