amsterdam

i guess i should write about my amsterdam weekend before i forget! well we got up super early friday to walk, bus, train, shuttle, fly, and train again into amsterdam. we got there and wandered the city for a while, noticing the billions of bikes everywhere. i swear there were SO many it was great, i totally would've rented one to get around if there weren't 9 of us there together. the first day we found dam square, which ended up being our meeting place for the weekend and pretty much central to everywhere we went. coffee shops, bars, souvenir stores, some restaurants, and women in windows lined the streets all packed together. the town was laid out like a checkerboard with old crammed buildings and canals running through every other street. one woman on the metro told us to look up while we walk. it made such a difference, the gray city was actually really pretty.
saturday we went to the I AMsterdam sign and spent a good hour or so climbing on the letters, taking pictures. a few people went to the van gogh museum but the rest of us didn't feel like spending the money so we found the shopping and art districts. we watched a giant chess game outside the hard rock hotel for a while and then met up with everyone again. saturday night there was a squatters protest at dam square with hundreds of people in the rain. half the group stayed and got great pictures of this guy spinning fire, and alex even showed off his fire twirling skills. i was in the tired group that got fries at chipsy king - the best place in the world - and headed back to the hostel.
sunday we all got up at different times to find our last coffee shops and souvenirs before we got to walk, metro, train, fly, shuttle, bus, and walk back home to york street. it's weird calling this home, but hey, it is! for awhile at least.

happy post

this entire past week felt like a vacation with matt here. he got here wednesday, we went out for a great italian dinner and this fun place called zizzi near my flat. thursday we did touristy things allllll day. it was rainy at first just to show matt what real london weather is like of course, so we went to trafalgar square and the national gallery first. then to the london aquarium and the london dungeon - both so much fun, so im actually really happy it rained haha. along the way we saw big ben, houses of parliament, the thames, and the london eye, then made our way through covent garden for the traditional fish and chips at a fun pub called belushi's. early morning friday nine of us left for amsterdam - see next post. we got back sunday and just laid around the rest of the night letting ourselves be lazy after an exciting weekend. monday i had class for a while until matt met me at school and we went to camden market to walk around, shop a little, and grab some dinner. sidenote - while i was at school, matt went and got me flowers, tara almost cried from the cuteness lol. tuesday we slept in a little before going to buckingham palace to watch what we could see of the changing of the guard - so many people. from there we walked around hyde park, had a pizza lunch at the serpentine cafe on the lake, and took the classic telephone booth picture of each other. we stopped by the british museum for a bit, then came home to relax some.

then we saw THE FREAKING LION KING. for anyone who doesn't understand my absolute love for the lion king, it was the first movie i saw in theaters, and for some reason it has always been my favorite favorite favorite show. like my favorite "disney princess" is nala. i love all the music and sing it a lot. i used to roar around the house as a kid. i had the kissing simba and nala dolls - mom where are those i miss them?! haha so anyway, I was beyond happy to be able to finally see the show for the first time in london with matt. i have to be special for him to travel across the world to see me, but he has to be just as special for me to see lion king with him. we had great seats and i was literally smiling the entire show. it was such a great way to end matt's stay here, even though no way is a good way to say bye until christmas.

sad post

matt left this morning
mild drama back home
and its a rainy day