AmStErDaMmMmM!

AMSTERDAMMMM… now I don’t know if you all know this… but I have ALWAYS been afraid of this place… last summer we were suppose to go… and I had a very firm NO because I always have heard and or seen in the movies that this place is no place for a Newport girl... hahah well the Thursday (Thanksgiving) started off like any other day, I got up showered got the rest of my things together and then headed to Mickis house around 10am in the morning… our French friend from school Claire (so NICE) drove us to the Milano Airport with her own car… I got in it and said... “Well this is awkward..!” haven’t driven in car in like 3 months… hmmm this is NICE! So we were on our way to the airport ringing in Amsterdam wonderfulness… yes yes! But ran into a problem… we got to the booth where you have to pay to drive on the road... ya no one knew how to work the machine and we all couldn’t find coins… problem! The next thing I knew we were getting like 4 honks at a time… Micki Ashley and I couldn’t stop laughing it was one of the funniest things I have ever been involved in… now Claire, god love her, is talking to the box with her THICK THICK French accent but the box was saying... “Insert money with blinking lights...” just an auto voice and watching her try and have a conversation with it was the perfect start to the trip! Hahhaahh sober up girl... we are going to get caught! Hahah! We got through... ahhh hahhahah!

 

We get to the airport and get on our flight and everyone passes out... ahhahah typical. We land in AMSTERDAM! Woot woot! We go and check in at our hostel called the Bulldog, which by the way was very nice besides the bathroom and showering situation... (I didn’t shower for 2 days… umm eww) so I “roughed it” and waited until we got to Den Haug where Daniel (Mickis BOOYYYII) lives and took a shower there… didn’t bring any soap but used AXE for men… smelt like a boy all weekend.  I wasn’t going to complain because I smelt good and anything is better than smelling like a foot! Am I right?  So anyways back to our first night in Amsterdam, on our confirmation email from the hostel... I will never forget this, it said... “Please don’t run to the first coffee shop you see to get high… this makes check-in a little more difficult. Thanks!” hahahhahaha I don’t know why I find that so funny... but its totally true!  We get there and get our stuff situated and went down stairs to meet Nicole and Bryanna and we did Amsterdam PROUD! After our “sitting sesh” we left the hostel and went down to the red light district… J hahahahah now I had pictured it COMPLETELY different... and to be honest it was like the movie “Taken” except the girls in the window look fine... like normal, but they come in ALLLLLL shapes and sizes and colors... and when I say colors I mean… they had the red lights in the window but then they had these like neon black lights on them too... so some of them were purple, blue, yellow… it was interesting… saw all the men walking out of hallways.. gross... and Daniel wanted to see their faces, as well did the rest of us… STRUT OF PRIDE! But what is even more disturbing about the whole sitch was that the creepy men that you see on the streets that you think they only pay for hookers because they are just creepy looking... these are the men walking out of the rooms… EWWW!! I thought the whole Red Light District was cool because it’s so different…. But at the same time I look at these girls in the window and all I want to say to them is “stop! Don’t do this to yourself!” it was kind of upsetting thinking about it after we had left because these women do this every day of their lives because they “think” they don’t have another option. Disturbed me a little.  But after that we went into another coffee shop and had another “sitting sesh” and giggled and laughed about all the funny stuff other than the Red Light District that happened to us that day.  We went to bed that night at 3am…. Smoking rule number one… everyone passes out by like midnight… we cruse into our room with 12 other people (mostly boys) and everyone is passed out! Hahhahaah such a sight! The next day we went to the Anne Frank and Van Gogh museums, which were spectacular! I read the book of Anne Frank when I was in middle school and walking through the house is a sight to see because all the memories from reading the book come flooding back to you… its incredible!  Van Gogh was incredible... everyone knows about Van Gogh but they had his whole life written on the walls with quotes that he has said about his life. It was fascinating!  I learned so much more about him that I had no idea that he had done in his life. It was great!  My joke all weekend was to call our pack of friends “stoners” so one day for breakfast we went into a grocery store and before we went in… I announced to the group... “Alright stoners... I know this place is big, no wandering to the snack isle stoners, everyone is getting a smoothie and then we are ALL out of here!” hahahha it was GREAT!  We also went to the sex museum, and a live peep show… annndddd the Heineken factory! Which was awesome! Free beer! Well sort of... you have to pay to get in and then they give you 3 beers throughout the tour! Hhahah it was awesome! Then that night we planned on leaving for Den Haug VERY easy to get from central Amsterdam to Den Haug… and yes they are Dutch so no the trains or buses are NEVER late! (Italy….ya no!)  We spent 2 nights in the Haug and met all of Daniels friends which were all very welcoming even though Ashley and I were sitting in the corner all awkward… I would just tell people I was fresh off Amsterdam so they would laugh and ask me about my stay even though I didn’t want to talk anyone because I couldn’t think… it was interesting! 

 

The next day we went and saw... wait for it… wait for it... NEW MOON!!!!!! In ENGLISH! With Dutch subtitles! Hahahha YESS!! It was great seeing it in another country… but the movie itself… I don’t know how I feel about it... I’ll have to go and see it again.  Then we just went back to Daniels apartment and hung out and his friends came over and we all partied!  Monday (next day… travel day) we get to the train station and everything worked out great we bought our tickets and waited like 20 min for the train to the airport and it was even more fabulous because I didn’t have to take a bus, cab, donkey to get from the train station to the airport because they were connected, so we go off the train and went up the escalator and was in the airport… ahhhh the Dutch!  Then we get on our flight and 2 hours later we arrived in Milan at 6:05pm… go down to buy our bus tickets back to Torino… the bus left at 6... missed it by 10 minutes… but oh wait… the next bus wasn’t arriving until 8:30p,.. I stared at the Italian lady behind the desk and said… “what?!?” 2 and a half hours… what shall we do…. Eat?  Yep… we cross the border and everything started to fall apart.. hahah Italians…. We didn’t get home until 12am.. like walking in Mickis apartment at midnight… oh but wait we had a paper due Tuesday the next day… and we weren’t planning on coming home so late.. so we had to crank that out… 2am I wasn’t going to walk home in the dark.. so Micki and I snuggled in her shortage of a twin bed and went to bed.

 

ALARM…. NO!!! lets go to finance 9am… another week in Torino! This weekend is an Italian holiday so we have this Friday-next Tuesday off… WOOO!!!.... Mickis roommate has 3 British guys staying at their apartment, its called couch surfing… but the funny thing is that they only have 1 couch… should be interesting! This weekend I will be in Torino again!! No traveling! Ahhh sleeping in!! Till next time! I LOVE LIFE!!!! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL keeping up with my BLOG!

 

… if you want juicier stuff email me! I hope you are all enjoying my postcards and emails! Ciao ciao!

 

xoxoxox 

Weekend in TORINOOOO

Bloooggg tiiime!

 

Okay… so as you all know it is DECEMBER!!!! I cant believe it and so much has happened this past semester… partying, dancing, trips, food, cultures, and studying… J! But it all has been memories that for the rest of my life I will never forget.  And for all you reading this out there… this is all real… don’t try this at home! Hahhah

 

So the weekend of the 19^th of November was the first weekend I had actually stayed in Torino in like a MONTH! And yes, my mom was here and we went to Rome as you all know, and then after she left I went to London… so this weekend I was looking so forward too because I didn’t have to catch a bus, train, airplane, donkey to get to my destination, and the other BEST part about not traveling is your roommates are all gone! Hahah I had the entire apartment to myself... well sort of… J Now, Now get your minds out of the gutter and let me explain… My friends Nicole Talisse and Bryanna Burkhart came to Europe for this particular weekend to Torino to share their second European adventure with Micki and I.  Last summer wasn’t enough!!! So Bryanna stayed with me at my apartment while Nicole stayed with Micki.  To rewind to either Tuesday or Wednesday I can’t remember, the “Americans” (aka: Micki Ashley and myself) were invited to play a little beer PONGG! Now I don’t know if you all know this but I am a CHAMP at the PONG…. It was like the Olympics, “and in this corner we have the Brits, and in the right corner we have the sweeds, and then in back we have the French, and then in the front we have the French-Canadians and in the center we have the Americans!” Whoop Whoop! My partner Lilly and I SKOOLED the Europeans and made it to the FINALS... now I know what your thinking… ya right… but we weren’t using big red cups... ohhhh no.... we were using plastic water cups that you get on the side of a water jug… do the Europeans not believe in BIG CUPS? There’s a shortage of that too… put that on the LIST! Anyways the game was heating up and Lilly and I were scared, he had one cup left and we had four… next thing I knew Lilly hit one… BAM! And then I hit one…. BOOM! And then she hit one again… PONG! One to one… the Canadians began to sweat... will they loose against the Americans or will they win?? Tick tock tick tock… the room was silent… then WHAM… he makes it… I lost to a Canadian… and WORSE... it’s a French region in Canada… sorry dad! It was a good game for all the players around the world, but I will never forget beating all the other countries, so what if I didn’t win… I still beat the boys! J

 

Thursdayyyy roles around and the French were throwing a party… and the best part is… you have to dress French… well I don’t have anything that says, Bitch, or I am stuck up in my closet... soooo Micki and I attempted to go shopping, no I didn’t find one thing... boo L!  But I ended up putting something together that I already had... will you look at that!  We started the party at my favorite apretivo… la Druggaria (mom member??) best food in the WORLD! And we sat around and laughed and talked... but as the hours passed I began to get very “tired” and the next thing I knew I was home… weird! And looked at my phone and it was only midnight…. WHAT!!!?!? We had started so early that I got too tired and then regretted my decision when I was lying in bed... I almost got redressed and went back out.  But before I could pulled the covers off my body I had passed out… hahaha!

 

FRIDAY… I honestly can’t remember what happened…

 

Saturdayyyy the GIRLS CAME!!!! Micki and I picked them up from the bus stop and showed them a little of the city, but they just wanted to relax and chill because they had been traveling for a week before and wanted some down time… hey! I’m all for it! That night we got all dressed up and went down to River with all the CLUBS! Woot woot! I have missed it so!!  We arrived at this club that I had no idea existed and ended up having SOOO much funn! Nick my friend from school bought us bottle service…! Hahah thanks! It was an exciting moment for the Americans! hahah And we danced and partied till 4am in the morning… hhaaha

 

Sunday!! We had brunch with champagne! J Well it was pizza and champagne... the brunch was Italian style... typical! We were planning on making it to the Mole… the cinema museum... but didn’t quite get there... oops! MONDAYYY.. not exciting, since obviously I didn’t do any homework over the weekend… J Monday was catch up day… ahhh and there was a lot to be done… till next weekend… AMSTERDAM!