Orientation (Boring) and Amsterdam (Awesome!)

  Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Wednesday, August 27, 2008

As I'm sure you expected, this past week was really crazy. Getting adjusted to the new time zone (we're 7 hours ahead of you, by the way) along with all the early morning activities they had planned for us, did not exactly work out in our best interest. Orientation was pretty boring. It was nice to meet all the professors and the people that created the program. This is only the fourth year for the program, so they treat the "globals" like royalty (i.e. they give us free food) ... Friday night they took us out to a 3 course steak dinner. It was awesome.

Saturday one of the guys and I headed to Amsterdam for a little day trip. Leiden is about a 25 minute train ride to Amsterdam, so it's no big deal. We did a really awesome canal tour. It was nice to see the city while sitting down ... walking everywhere is already starting to get old! After that, we hit up the red light district (I know you're all super excited for this!). This place is ABSOLUTELY INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, so basically you're just walking in the middle of this giant city, and when you look down random side streets or allies you see a variety of different types of red lights. Check them out in this picture:

Red Lights

Ok, so you're not allowed to take pictures of the girls in their little stalls ... so I played it super cool to get this picture for you guys (especially Tom/Trevor). I acted like a was taking a picture of my friend, and then zoomed in on this girl. It's absolutely insane how packed in they all are and how little room they have to "do their work." The door right next to this girl is in use ... creepy much?!

Ho

As we continued our walk, we came across this place ... only in Amsterdam will you see doggie style portrayed in neon lights ... so ridiculously hysterical!

Doggie Style in Neon Lights

Then we came across a ton of these random sex shops. Soooooooo funny too! It's amazing how accepting people here are of this "openness." You think you'd ever see this stuff in a window in the US?

Outlet

Window Display

Another Window Display

I know that's what everyone really wanted to hear about ... but I have actually been doing some school stuff. We had our first class last night. It's pretty lame that they actually expect us to do work while we're here ... a little different than the 'ole Costa Rica study abroad. We had a ton of reading for our first class and had a short paper due as well. Our professor for our International Relations class is super laid back and came to the bar w/ us after class last night. We have more reading for our International Law class tomorrow. Apparently this professor is a bit more hard core and is know for kicking people out of his class ... yikes!

Other than that we've been exploring Leiden some more. Every Wednesday and Sturday there is an open air market where they sell vegetables, fruit, cheese, bread, etc. Haven't had anything bad there yet! There are also some pretty cool sights to see. There are several historic windmills in the town, and they always make for a good picture. I'll leave you w/ one, and hopefully, I'll be able to update you again soon!!

Leiden Windmill

Kisses!
B