Hup Holland, Hup!

I'm baaack!

Ok well, I've been back. But you know. These past two weeks I've been at home, recovering. My European experience was a blast, but it took a lot out of me... and made me extremely lazy considering I now have no wake up calls, no curfew, no laundry to do, and no where to go.
The only thing I have to do are summer assignments. Oh yeah, about those...
I guess this is what I get for attending one of the top schools in New Jersey, but really? 3 books, 2 essays, and 20 pages of math.

Hah. haha. hahahahaha.
Oh my god.

Considering I read maybe 50 or so pages of the first book on my trip, and that was all I accomplished? I've got a long way to go.
But hey, you can't blame me: I wrote 72 pages in my journal instead! So now I have lots of fodder for story telling around a campfire. Or around a blog, whatever trips your trigger.

SO my trip was wonderful, thank you for asking. A lot of stereotypes that I subconsciously suspected were either cleared up or confirmed (rude French people, anyone?). And above all, I realized:

I LOVE Amsterdam.

Like passionately adore, "holy crap is this place for real", can I move here when I get out of college? love.

But then again I was there during the World Cup, and they were in the finals, so everyone was slaphappy and in an absolutely wonderful mood.
On July 10th, 2010 Amsterdam was a sea of orange. And it was spectacular.

So maybe my perceptions of it are a little misguided. Maybe this was out of the ordinary. But I still love it for other reasons.

Like the fact that there are more bikes than people in this city. And that the cars you do find are tiny, electric, and super eco-friendly.
Or maybe that it's the cleanest, most neat and tidy city I've ever seen, and the most practical?

And not just Amsterdam, but The Netherlands in general. Many citizens of The Netherlands speak Dutch and English, and often even another language! And the tolerance practiced throughout is amazing.

Long story short, I 'm going to go back again and again.