I Amsterdam

This weekend I went to Amsterdam with all of my flatmates. We were all really excited for this trip, mainly because it was the first thing we booked, but we booked it really far in advance. It has been staring back at us from our calendar for months. Finally, the weekend came! As soon as I got into the city I realized that my camera was dead, so I had to rely on my friends' cameras. I'll post a few of my favorite pictures once they upload their pics, but for now, I have nothing to show from my trip.

While in the city, we just walked around and explored. It's a fairly small city, so it wasn't a problem to get to where we wanted to be. We played on the well-known "I Amsterdam" sign, which is great for pictures. We also toured the Anne Frank house, which was bigger than I expected. It was unfurnished, so I bet when there were eight people and some furniture in there it quickly got a lot smaller. We also planned on touring the Heineken brewery, but we were a little slow getting there and that plan fell through. So we basically spent the rest of the day exploring the Red Light District (which is exactly how you would picture it) and some other well known areas in the city.

The next morning we woke up in time to catch part of the Christmas festivities that were going on that day. Santa came in on a boat, and there were a LOT of people there to see it. I was shocked at the number of people that were dressed up; both kids and adults. It was really cool. Anyway, Amsterdam was a lot of fun. I wouldn't say it was my favorite European city that I've been to, simply because there just isn't as much to do there. But all in all, I still had a great weekend.

The main thing I was excited about was getting the stamp in my passport. I've had layovers in Amsterdam before, but I've only left the airport for short periods of time. This was my first real visit of the city, so the first time I actually counted the passport stamp. This one is significant because it brings my count of countries I've visited up to ten. (United States, Canada, South Africa, Mozambique, Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Greece, Netherlands) I can't believe that I am only 20 years old and I have been to ten countries across three continents. I count myself very grateful for the opportunities that have given me the ability to travel as much as I have at such a young age. With that said, I'm aiming for 20 countries by the time I am 25.

Countries I'd like to visit: (in no particular order)
-China
-Japan
-Australia
-Spain
-Brazil
-India
-Thailand
-New Zealand
-Costa Rica
-Morocco
-Germany
-Denmark

And basically everywhere else in the world.