Rachel G & the Goblet of Legally Purchased Wine

You probably get this question a lot, but ………

Is this really Juliet’s balcony?
Is that the real Mufasa
Is this the real Platform 9 and 3/4?
Where’s Quasimodo and Esmeralda?!
Is this really where the queen lives? ….yes 

“There’s a 30% chance that it’s already raining.”
And that the rain is following us. Nbd.

Chenin- I want some grilled cheese. All. The. Time.

How Nolan Kerby describes gelato….
Magnificent
Delectable
Scrumptious

Don’t drink and plank!!

Nolie Polie Olie…Enough said.

“Hey guys! Are you ready for the crematorium?”

“Nolan, I got shampoo in my eye.”
“Oh, that sucks…Could I use your laptop?”

“Hey guys, I’m gonna order chicken dumplings. Don’t worry. I got this.”
…10 minutes later…
“Carlie…This doesn’t look like chicken dumplings to me.”

That one time that Jess fed the pigeons and I almost cried.

 Becky: “SWITZERland” (you know what I mean)

Plankel Tower =D

McDonalds. Nuff said. It’s practically the promised land in Europe. 

“Hey everybody! It’s me, your tour director…Sabrina!”
“Hi journal! It’s me…Doug!”
Coincidence? I think not. 

Everyone told me Paris was overrated. Maybe that’s why I had such a good time. Paris is absolutely beautiful. I spoke awful, terrible mixes of Italian and French and everyone was so nice to me. Most of it was clean, the restaurants had amazing food (these French people…they know their bread), the metro system is WAY easier than New York City’s (and a hundred times more efficient) and it’s just wonderful. I loved it. More to come in my blog post later, but I went off completely on my own for about two hours and it was the most liberating experience of my life. I feel like an independent woman, hahaha.

This morning, we woke up at 7AM to check out of the hotel in Amsterdam. Amsterdam was very nice, but I was ready to leave. I wouldn’t recommend spending more than 4 days or so there. We got on the bus and drove for about 3 or 4 hours until we got to a rest stop. I ended up getting Burger king to see if it was any different. I got small fries and they actually tasted a lot better. They tasted like actual potatoes and had less grease and salt on them.

Then we got back on the bus for 2 hours or so and traveled to Heidelberg. It’s a really sweet little town. There’s an old part and a new part. We only went to the old part and the bridge that connects the two, which was all I really wanted to see. First, we went to the castle, which was gigantic and had absolutely gorgeous views.

We saw the largest wine barrel in Europe. It was absolutely huge. 150,000L, I think I heard? We also heard a story about a guy named Perkees who was the court jester turned wine master. Legend has it that he drank only wine. One day, someone bet him that he couldn’t go without wine for a day. So he spent a day only drinking water and promptly died. Then we went to the terrace, which had the best views yet. There, we were told a story abou ta guy who jumped down from a building and his foot print was still in the cement. According to legend, if a man’s shoe fits perfectly into the imprint, he is a good lover. Nate did it, hahaha. Good for him. The other boys were too chicken.

After that, we went down this really intense and steep cobblestone road and got post cards. Then, it was time to go in the city. We went to the bridge and took awesome pictures. We saw the obligatory combination locks. People are itnense—they bring locks with their names engraved and everything.

The city was more of a quaint village. We walked around and got gelato, which was great. Then, we walked around some more and got dinner. It was the best meal I’ve had on this trip. I got 2 bratwursts and some boiled potatoes. I had no idea if it was pork or not, but hopefully it was beef.

Then we went back to the hotel. It was really nice- 3 girls to a room and the room was fairly spacious, with…wait for it….2 SHOWER DOORS! Haha. I was rooming with Carlie and Andi, which was perfect. We went downstairs for our free drink. I tried a Radler, which is beer with sprite. So good. But I ended up trading with Carlie for her screwdriver because it was too strong for her. Let me tell you…German vodka is not American vodka. Two and a half shots and a beer later, I was pretty darn tipsy. I met these 2 girls, Cammie and Anna, from Virginia Tech. They were nice. I also spoke to BRandon, Chris and Charlie for the first time. Brandon and Chris are from Fresno, Cali and Charlie is from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

After drinks, I went on the computer, showered and crawled into bed. Sabrina the TD was nice enough to lend me her converter—I will get one in Munich. Carlie, Andi and I had some intense pillow talk - it was great, haha. Went to sleep up at 2am, up for Munich at 7!

*As taught by Sabrina, our tour guide. In bold are the ones I actually used ha.

Hello- Hallo

Good Morning- Guten Morgen

Good Day- Guten tag

Good evening- Guten abent

Good bye- Aufwiedersen (Tschus)

Please - Bitte

You’re Welcome- Bitte

Thank you (very much)- Danke (schun)

Excuse Me- Ent schudigonk

Yes- Ya

No- Nein

How are you? - Vi geit es dia? (Vi geits)

I am well, thank you- Gut. Danke schun.

My name is… - Mein name ist…

What is your name? - Vi est dain name?

I live in America- Ich libe in America.

I am a student- Ich libe ein schtudent.

I am on a holiday- Ich bin in uallope.

I am drunk- Ich bin bedrunken (even though I wasn’t, I just found it hilarious)

Do you speak English- Sprechen zee English?

I don’t speak German- Ich spreshe kein Deutsch.

I don’t understand- Ich feirshtie nicht.

What time is it?- Vi shpet ist es?

Where are the toilets? - Vo ist di toilette?

How much ddoes it cost? - Vi fil costet das?

I would like- Ih meinte a..

0- nol 1- eintz 2- tzvai 3- trai 4- fia 5- funf 6- zex 7- zieben 8- acht 9- noin 10- tzin

Breakfast- frushtuk

Lunch- Mitdag esen

Dinner- Abent esen

Big- grosse

Small- Klein

Entrance- Eingang

Exit- Ausgang

Open- Offen

Closed- Gishlosen

Pull- Ziehen

Push- Druken

Ice Cream- Ice

Water- Vassa

Bill- Direchnon

Pharmacy- Apotheke

**I’ve been writing in my journal, but wi-fi is shitty so I’m taking the time out now to just update**

In the morning, we woke up pretty early and had breakfast. Since we got to bed at almost 5AM and woke up at 9, everyone was exhausted. So me, steph and Aaron were the only ones that went to the Van Gogh museum. We bought the tickets at the hotel and because of that got to skip the long line, which I was happy for, because it was raining outside. Inside, we couldn’t take pictures. But it was a pretty standard art museum setup. It split Van Gogh’s art into sections of his life, according to where he lived. It was a 3 floor museum, which meant that a lot fo it was his contemporary’s work and people’s works that inspired him. It was a good museum, but a bit dull and standard.

After we were done with that, Aaron went back to the hotel and Stephanie and I went to the Reiks museum which had arts from Dutch artists and Dutch artifacts. It was more interesting than the Van Gogh museum for sure. My favorite thing was a gigantic doll house. We had to climb up a few steps to see the details and there were tons of them. After the Reiks, we went to these little stands on the Museumplein, which is a huge park. I got a grilled cheese, which the worker was extremely amused by. The pigeons there were just incredibly obnoxious.

Then we went back to the room. I took a nap, talked to a few friends on Facebook and showered because my hair still smelled like smoke from the club. Then me, Steph, Courteney, Nolan, Carly, Andi, Deandrea, Val and Nate went to dinner. We were gonna go to a place with singing waiters called pasta e basta but it was kind of expensive, so we went to a Chinese place called P. King. I got tofu with stir fry, but took out hte lettuce and mushrooms. Then we walked to a bridge called the Skinny Bridge, which is the skinniest bridge in Amsterdam. It wasn’t all that skinny but it was a drawbridge, which was cool. Then, we got these Dutch fries, which were awesome and dipped them in our 35 cent ice cream. Yes, 35 cents. It was amazing. Then, we got home, packed and went to bed.

We woke up pretty early in the morning and had breakfast. We had a good 7 hours of sleep, which was nice. Breakfast was typically European. Breads, cheeses, deli meats, Nutella and some random cereal in the tiniest bowls ever. I was expecting that. It definitely wasn’t the worst breakfast I’ve had in Europe but I guess a bunch of people weren’t expecting it.

When we were done with breakfast, we decided on going to the Heineken Museum. But first we walked to the park. There were a bunch of dogs, and we took a picture with a huge sign statue that said “I Amsterdam”. Then we went on these cute little Dutch swings and just generally played around. We also went into this huge fountain cause most of us were wearing shorts and sat on the statue in the middle. Pictures will eventually come, ha.

Then, we walked to the Heineken Museum. We went around and saw how the beer was made, which was cool. But then we went on this cute 4D beer ride where we were “made into beer bottles.” It was super cute and fun. When we got out of that, we got this tiny glass of beer and the guy told us a bunch of facts. I remember one which was cool. The foam at the top of the beer is important because it keeps the oxygen out, which keeps your beer carbonated. And in order for it to taste good, you have to take big sips instead of tiny sips of foam.

After that, we kind of split up, because some of the girls wanted to go on a boat ride and I’m waiting it out until the gondolas in Venice. So we went to to get something to eat at this place called…”The Place” haha. It was the dutch version of Whole Foods which I blogged about before. It was really cute and yummy. After, we went to meet up with everyone but got there really early, so we walked around a bit. We went to the mall, which was kind of small, but REALLY pretty. Then, we met up with everyone to walk to the Anne Frank house.

On the way there, we passed by a whole bunch of people with signs and songs about sluts. It looked like some kind of rally. Our tour guide told us that they were trying to show that just because someone dresses in a “slutty” way doesn’t mean they’re a slut. But the bigger message was that you shouldn’t judge people on their appearance and people should feel free to dress and act however they want. They were doing it on a memorial for the gay people that were killed in the Holocaust. A lot of pride parades and stuff take place on that memorial.

The Anne Frank house was sad, obviously. But it was also really interesting and fascinating. I don’t really remember reading it, even though I know that I did in junior high school. I was always under the impression that she lived in just an attic, but they had almost a mini-house up there. I have no idea how they got up and down the stairs. Those stairs were almost vertical—everyone was bugging out a bit. The attic was unfurnished, because Otto Frank decided to keep it that way. But there were models of what it was like. And the pictures that Anne posted up on her wall were still there, which was cool to see. There were also pencil marks on the wall, marking Anne and Margot’s growth while they were in the annex. It was also really cool to see the original diary. And, in typical Amsterdam fashion, it ended with a lesson of how everyone should be accepted and no one should be discriminated against for who they are. Good experience overall.

Then, we all went together to this Turkish place. The food was pretty good, in my opinion. I think a lot of people were really confused about it. I got a lot of falafel because everyone else was freaked out about it, haha. I guess I’m used to Turkish food. It wasn’t the best, but we had some appetizers, like falafel and chicken wings (random, lol). Then, we had some shish kebabs and cous cous with dried fruit. It was good stuff.  I also had some red wine.

Then we walked back and we were really cold. I bonded with one of the girls about how we hate people that are in relationships and are annoying.

Then, we went back to the hotel and got ready to go out. We went out at about 11:30pm. We went to Rembrandtplace to meet up with these other people, but we couldn’t find that one bar. So we went to this random pub, where I had a malibu with orange juice. The people that were in the original group were me, Steph, Courteney, Deandrea, Nate, Aaron, Alexa and Val. The bar was playing oldies and a ton of jive, which just made me want to dance. Deandrea was hilarious and danced to Proud Mary. The people in the bar enjoyed it. As did we, haha! Then, we met up with Chenin and a couple of other girls and went to The Bulldog, which is where we had the real fun. We were waiting outside and at some point, the bouncer said: “Alright, all the ladies can come in” I LOL’ed cause I’ve only ever seen that in movies, haha!

There was a fight in the club and Nate and this Brazilian guy pretty much saved all the girl’s lives haha. I don’t know why, but the security is really rough when they’re coming through so when they were taking the guy out, Nate and the Brazilian guy moved us out of the way and stood in front of us to make sure we didn’t get shoved. They were really nice. Then, Jess, Alli and Becky came to meet with us and we all danced and after that one little incident, it was a pretty chill night. They played a lot of American music. According to our tour guide, Sabrina, a lot of the music people listen to is American. At least we have something to bring to the table because the Europeans have everything else over us.

Then, we walked home, our feet in pain. Chenin and I yelled about how men are rude, because we all got yelled and whistled at from a car. I also talked about how badly I wanted a grilled cheese and talked about the night owl, hahaha. Then, I got home, ate some goldfish and went to bed at around 4:30.

End day 2 =]

We took the tram to the city, which Val and I decided is like the Manhattan of Amsterdam. We’re living in the Brooklyn, haha. Except a little less ghetto fab. The tram makes no sense. You get on wherever you want, no one watches you swipe and you just go. I guess it works on the honesty system…until you get a ticket (which I saw a person get a day later!!!!) Meanwhile, I’ve been using an expired ticket for two days and have yet to get in trouble. If I did, though, I would’ve just played dumb tourist.

We went to “The Dam” which is the center, with some kind of castle in it. We were basically getting an orientation. We walked through the longest shopping street in Europe, through a couple of random neighborhoods, through the China Town (yeah, they have one too : surprise, surprise). Then…We went to the “Red Light District” which was…interesting.

Everything smelled like marijuana. I may or may not have gotten high just walking around. THe prostitutes literally stand in their little windows, being creepy. I learned that, in Amsterdam, it is totally legal and even respectable to be a prostitute. They are tax-payers. They also get tested every 3 months for HIV and STD’s and have to put a little sign on their window, showing that they have (kind of like the licenses hair stylists need to have up…lol). It’s a good system, but it’s still surreal that it’t actually lawful to sell your body.

After our orientation and the lesson on prostitution (hehe), we split up and went our separate ways. Steph, Courteney, Alli, Becky, Jess, the other Stephanie, Aaron and I went to this thai place. I didn’t eat, but I ordered my first legal beer (and, promptly, in my usual fashion, tooka  picture). Then we did a bit of shopping. I got 2 postcards—one for myself, one for Gilad. I plan on getting myself a post card for each city I go to that I will eventually put up on my wall.

There are about 800,000 people living in Amsterdam. About 500,000 people own bikes!

This morning/yesterday was damn hectic. I got on the plane, called Danny, called my parents and then called Gilad. And when I hung up the phone, I felt terribly alone.

That morning, my breakfast had consisted of my first ever auntie anne’s cinnamon pretzel sticks. I haven’t eaten well since. My lunch today was a hot dog and my dinner was a Twix bar. Now I’m having some tea as I sit on Cafe Gruta, a few blocks away from my hotel, with a girl from my group named Valerie.

Everyone on the group seems nice despite the fact that most of them are at least three years older than me. I guess I don’t stick out as much as I thought I did because people are shocked to hear I’m 19.

When arriving in London, I realized that a few people from my trip were on the plane and talked to them. They were super nice and friendly and also surprised that a 19 year old girl came to Europe by herself.

When we got off the plane, we went through customs (the officer was so nice to me) and then met up with our tour guide Sabrina. She’s sweet and lots of fun but seems overwhelmed.

We got to our hotel which is a tiny room for 8 girls but I ended up rooming with some awesome people. We went to the park to eat lunch and then met up with the rest of the group to see the city part of Amsterdam. We had a walking tour which I will detail in a separate post when I have time.

Tomorrow, I’m either going to the museum of van gogh or the heineken factory or the museum of the history of Amsterdam. Then we are seeing the Anne frank house, having dinner and drinks and going out to party.

Amsterdam is a great city. Picturesque to say the least. I’m off to go back to my room now because I am exhausted but I will try to update soon. I’m having a great time despite the fact that I am a bit homesick, but it’ll pass :)