The last two weeks have consisted of traveling to Amsterdam and Tenerife of the Canary Islands for spring break. Both were incredible in their own respective way. Amsterdam came as a spur of the moment trip when our friends from Rome asked us to meet them there. Karrie and I could not find a reason to say no. Tickets were bought Wednesday and we arrived Thursday. The feeling of Amsterdam was very different than Barcelona, the first major difference being that we were once again in an English speaking city. The buildings had a village feel with the history of centuries. With canals running one after another lining the streets it was picturesque yet comfortable. The first thing any tourist would notice is the main mode of transportation. Cars are few but the bicycles come by the hundreds. There is a bike lane running throughout the city that is more dangerous crossing than the train tracks. These people are on a mission.
There are things to do other than the obvious recreation associated with Amsterdam. First of which, we visited the Anne Frank museum. Walking through her house it would be strange to travel here and miss this attraction. Just as one would expect it was an experience to remember, traveling through history and up the stair cases behind such an infamous tale.
The next order of business was the Van Gogh museum which holds the largest collection of his works. Standing three stories high and complete with masterpieces of the misunderstood artist, Karrie and I sipped cappuccinos between floors and took in the scene.
Afterwards we met up with our Roman girls and took the ever appropriate picture of us weaving the red “Amsterdam” block letters on-looking a gorgeous park. After hours of wandering the streets we fell curious to the red-light district. Who comes to Amsterdam without that curiosity? So it was back to the apartment of our host Evan, a fellow Penn State student abroad. We gathered him up and found ourselves window shopping for prostitutes. It was possibly the strangest feeling, indescribable and a scene so purely different from the States. Truly hysterical how ridiculous some of these girls were dressed and the fetishes they were willing to fulfill. I learned the grid of pricing and location depending on the girl’s worth as well as the blue light’s significance…find out for yourself.
We experienced everything a first-time visitor to Amsterdam should. But before I knew it I came back to Barcelona and had to start packing for spring break. I was off to a Canary Island called Tenerife which is owned by Spain and westwards of Africa. My travel partner was a fellow Becca who was from Texas and had become a great friend abroad. We left for the Gerona airport which is about one hour south and would take us to Tenerife. Enjoying a bottle of wine aboard the bus we anticipated the week ahead of us. We left with few expectations, mainly being that we relax and come back as dark as the neighboring Africans.
A bus from the airport drove us all around the island and the scenery was mind-blowing. Brilliantly colored flowers covered every inch of land and cliff-side villas on looked the black sand beaches. This place was a paradise. We traveled to different hotels hosting other spring breakers and got the nightlife experience this island was known for. More importantly we layed on the black sand beaches and took in the gorgeous sun giving us the relaxation we had craved. It was a perfect spring break, besides the insane taxi drivers taking hillside curves at 60mph making us sweat scared more than the beating sun did at peak hour. These drivers were out of their minds but we got to our destinations alive so who am I to talk.
If the setting of a clear blue ocean, stunning flowers and sailboats isn’t enough of a selling point, any guy would go for the numerous boobs seen on display around this island.
please read on for more entries. - Entry #10
Filed under: Studying Abroad Journal
