Get the Popcorn Out

Hey guys, so I'm going to try and cover the Awesomeness of my last day in Amsterdam and my first day in Germany, so get ready for a blog thats most likely going to be a tad long!

Yesterday was our last day In Amsterdam. I had a continuous debate with myself (I literally changed my mind for very good reasons and asked a lot of people on their opinions) on what I should do for the farewell of Amsterdam. I’ll explain later.

For the morning adventures, a special select group of us got to experience a bike tour about an hour away from Amsterdam. This was definitely the classic “Dutch” experience…I mean, cows, windmills....wind, more cows, big open fields, more cows, some horses...It was like a Dutch Ice cream commercial. But an awesome one.

My bike was too big (Im REALLY short- but "not short enough" to have qualified for a kids bike ((but even that was big)) so I had to go on a huge adult bike. I was definitely the first to fall off, and we weren't even RIDING yet. And I just went down.  I sort of just lost my footing on one side while standing, and since my feet couldnt touch the ground, I couldnt grasp the other side, but then I couldnt get my leg over quick enough to catch myself...and then it all was downhill from there. It was definitely a crawl inside a hole moment.  But after that, i got the hang of it, and learned how to stop without killing anyone. The funny part is I bike all the time at home and there are absolutely no issues.. But then give me one that is too big for me and uses back-pedal breaking.....not so much. And it was comical because since everyone bikes here more so than cars, the cars sort of just don't care.  THey just drive and assume you'll get out of the way. They assume the bikers are skilled enough to know what they are doing, and those that don't know- must be tourists and they want to run them over anyway. So Here we are- very beginner bikers, crossing major highways. It was good times. 

But then we got to the real countryside, and got to see a windmill and go inside. We had lunch as a picnic in a barn, and lunch was jam and bread and apples! Hah! At least I could eat it...

Favorite.

The countryside was so different from the city of Amsterdam. We were riding right around the time that the school systems were letting out, so we got to see a lot of schoolchildren riding their bikes home (so cool!). Also, a LOT of parents ride with their babies in front, and the babies get a little shield to protect them from the wind. So adorable.

So as I mentioned before, I wasn't sure what to do at night. My options were 1) stay in hotel by myself, get my suitcase packed, shower, and relax, go to bed early (I was super tired) or....2) go with all my friends out on the town on our last night in Amsterdam to celebrate my tour guides birthday but doing this "Pub Crawl". Apparantly all of Amsterdam participates....And by god they participated. You pay 20 Euro, get a free teeshirt, and get a free drink at every bar. Every 45 minutes, the whole group switches to a new bar until the group is no longer coherent and functional OR too rowdy OR it is morning. Also, unlimited shots at each bar, and at least one shot is "required" to get into the bar. And there was lots of dancing.

So, if any of you know me at all, this is TOTALLY not my scene. Not even in the SLIGHTEST. Drinking, no. I don't drink. I can't drink. It causes hell for my whole body. And bars? Not my thing. Smoking? No. So my first reaction was, "I'll definitely be skipping that". But when I realized that my only other option was to sit in my hotel room by myself doing nothing while in AMSTERDAM, I figured I should just go have fun with my new friends and live every minute in Europe to the fullest. Well, it got full. A very long and rather interesting funny story made short, lets just say we all finally got back and went to bed at 4:20 am. I would never do it again, but I'm really glad I made the experience and it will always be something I'll remember.

Its startingly funny because everyone in Amsterdam so far that I have met is exceedingly interested in America. The question everyone wants to know, is, "Where YOU from?" People ask us this and we ask locals this. People come to Amsterdam from all over Europe, so last night we met a lot of people from England, Norway, Finland, France, Ireland, America, India, etc.  When they find out were from America, they go so excited and are all like, "OoOo, what STATE?" My friends and I are almost all from NY or NJ and when they learn that they are fascinated with with New York City and get Ubbbberrr excited and jealous (I'm serious!-Jealous!) that we are not only from America but close to the big apple. They tell us of how much they aspire to go to NYC or America in general one day which I find hilarious- Because I've always wanted to go to Europe! I guess the grass truly is greener on the other side.

TODAY, we spent 8 hours on a bus ride to Heidelberg, Germany! Eight hours is not fun when you literally slept 2 hours and fifteen minutes the night before, but it was also funny because my other drunkenly new friends were all in the same boat and we all sat together and it was fun. ALSO, we got to ride on the AUTO BONN (sp?) today! It was so funny, because our tour guide came over the loudspeaker and told us we were getting on the Auto bonn as we spoke. Well, lets review the fact that I do not know my European history OR any common geographic knowledge. First of all, I did not know the Auto bonn was in Germany. Second of all, I thought it was this special highway that only really fast cars were allowed to go on if they passed special fast tests...and once on, they could do like over 100 mph and everyone just went crazy. I mean, I had DREAMS of one day driving a corvette on the auto bonn at 150mph. Well, that obviously wasn't it at all, considering my BUS was on it going 60mph. The only cool thing we saw was a lot of fast cars in the fast lane, which I would have seen on any other highway, really....But it was funny because she announced, "Occaisonally you will hear a car go by but you will not see it." I thought that was funny.

WELL, my battery is dying, my roomie wants to sleep, I want to sleep, I need to shower, and sleep. As you can imagine from my ridiculous Amsterdamian adventures last night.

To any people from Holland or the Netherlands (Its the same thing apparantly), I LOVED your country, I really did! It was absolutely gorgeous and I would come back to visit any day. You guys are certainly on the right track in terms of being environmentally friendly! Thank you!

Tomorrow, or the next day or whenever, I will pick up sharing with you how awesome Heidelberg was!!

~A Writer in a Nurse's Body