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Don't Worry, Be Happy 

And so began our trip in Amsterdam; Bobby McFerrin blaring over the loud speakers as the crew announced that it was time to get up.

overnight ferry

Drew, me, and Eric on the ferry

In the end, the ferry was the absolute best way to travel with a group of fourteen.  After the panic of how to get to the docks subsided it was nice to just sit back and enjoy the ride. We went to bed Thursday night in England and woke up early Friday morning in Amsterdam. Once off the ship however, chaos erupted with the realization that no one knew how to get to Amsterdam. All the signs for the train were in Dutch and as we scrambled to figure it out, the locals around us watched in amusement. We got on the train, then off the train, then back on again when we discovered that there is only one train that goes as far out as we were and that we'd have to transfer at some point in order to get to Amsterdam.

Things we should have figured out before we left London:
--What train to take from the ferry to the city
--Where to transfer trains
--The address of the hostel
--How to get to the hostel once at Amsterdam Centraal Station

Panic, relax, chaos, calm. Is there a pattern developing or is it just me?

We ended up at our hostel, Shelter City, just in time for lunch. The hostel was located in between Nieuwmarkt and the Red Light District...we decided to stick with Nieuwmarkt for food. Because our tickets for the Anne Frank House weren't until 5:30, we decided to go to the Heineken Factory after lunch for the 'Heineken Experience'. The tour takes you through the history of the family and company, the ingredients for their beer, and even lets you be apart of the fermentation process. 



Emily helping stir the wheat



A little tipsy from the 'free' beers that are included when you pay 14 pounds for the tour, we wandered from the Heineken Factory to the Anne Frank House where I quickly sobered up.

I knew the story, had seen the movie, had even read excerpts from her diary, but to be in that house, in their hidden apartment was an extremely emotional experience for me. For the first half I could pretend that it was like any other museum, but when I saw that bookcase that led to the secret annex, I couldn't pretend anymore. I had to literally force myself passed the door and up the steps. On the one hand I felt connected to everyone around me as we shared this experience together and collectlivly mourned the past. But at the same, I could feeling myself pulling away from the crowd, not wanting to feel rushed or touristy, all I really wanted to do was sit in the middle of the floor and cry. This was it, this is where they lived, this is where they were taken, this was real.

Traveling

Don't let anyone tell you that traveling around Europe is easy once you're there. Before I came here that's all I heard. "It's inexpensive and easy." "you can take RyanAir and Easy Jet anywhere." "You can travel from London to Rome cheaper than traveling cross-country." Of course there was that one person who warned me before I left that it wasn't as cheap or easy as I thought it was, but what's one voice against so many others?

What they don't tell you is that its not that much more expensive to fly across the United States than it is to fly across Europe, especially when you factor in hostels, food and getting to and from the airport. Oh yeah, and then don't forget that you're not just flying across Europe once, you are traveling every weekend. Other information that seems to slip through the cracks is the chaos that ensues when planning for a group and the panic you feel each time you enter those sixteen digits on your credit card.

The one thing that they did get right however, is that no matter how hard or costly it is to book a trip each weekend, it's completely worth it. Yes, we planned a trip for fourteen people to go to Amsterdam this weekend (group size not recommended) and yes, I lost my nerve several times with finding a plane or hostel that could fit all of us. Yes, it is hard to work around everyone's class schedules and yes, it was too expensive.

But in less than nine hours I will be getting on a train that will take me to the river where a night ferry is waiting to take us to Amsterdam. We have no plans of what we will be doing once we get there, but we do have many people with many ideas. All I can say is that even if I come home in May with no money left, it will be because I'm having amazing and worldly experiences with amazing and worldly people. When else will you have the time and freedom to travel to nine different countries in the span of four months?

Planning, worrying and being practical is what adults are for. Me, I'm here to break my bank account and have the most wonderful time of my life.

Friends

Eric and Drew

Elise, Kate and I

Sam, Emily, Andy and Blaine

Edinburgh In 5 Seconds

Because the prequel is a 10 day course for 3 credits, we are constantly “in class”. That being said although we do have a conference room that doubles as our “classroom,” most of the learning is done outside. We visited castles, museums, universities, parks, etc. Fifty percent of the learning is historical and the other fifty percent is cultural. Therefore when we go to a museum, for example, we don’t just learn about what the museum houses, but also about the architecture, its surroundings, how the people of Scotland view the building, etc.

Monday, January 9th, we went to go see parliament and although there still is an original building (of what actually used to be an aristocrats home), most of it is very modern. There is a motif of bamboo and stone and the windows open up in one direction towards the mountains and the Scottish land and in the other direction towards the city and the Scottish people. From there we walked the Royal Mile which reaches from the Palace of Holyrood (the Queen’s living quarters when she’s in Scotland) & Parliament to Edinburgh Castle.

 

 

Monday night we went on a tour of the Underground Vaults of Old Town Edinburgh. The vaults are a series of chambers formed in the late 18th century when the South Bridge was built to expand the growing town. The vaults were used to house taverns, cobblers and other tradesmen. When New Town was built in the turn of the century the vaults were abandoned by the businesses and where filled by the poor. The chambers became a slum for the lower class. Crime, disease and murder became common among the vaults. The vaults were also notorious for Burke and Hare, the infamous serial killers who sold corpses found in the Underground Vaults to medical schools.

While I am there, I really enjoy the vaults and the mystery and eeriness that surrounds it. I jump back and forth between being in the back of the group and racing ahead. At the times when I trail slowly behind, I duck into the dark side rooms that the group has bypassed and squint into the dark corners trying to find some lost treasure that has gone unseen by the many professional excavators that I’m sure have been down here countless amounts of times. If I don’t find a bone or ceramic chip that hasn’t been touched since the early 18^th century, I yearn to at least feel a ghostly presence. Not that I believe in ghosts, because I don’t, however I long to be, in some way, connected to the past and to history. I feel nothing however besides exhilaration as I quickly race ahead to lead the group into the next room. Whether we are standing in one room listening to the stories or if we are walking from room to room, I find myself constantly fighting the urge to blow out the candles. For fear of being caught (although what can happen besides being told I shouldn’t do that?) I settle with teasing the lights instead, lightly blowing them until they flare and flicker.

"you may think that these were the good 'ole days, but not down here they weren't"

And then there was internet....

January 7, 2011 I stepped onto the airport in Newark for my spring semester abroad. One month later, here I am, sitting in my London flat in Marble Arch on the West End. A month ago you could have asked me where abouts London I was going to be studying and I would have had no idea. Two weeks ago you could have asked me where I would be living, and again I would have had no idea. Now, a month after leaving the US and three weeks after arriving in London I feel like I've been here forever. I know which side of the street the cars drive on (left), which way to look first when crossing the street (right), and how to use tube without staring at the map like an obnoxious tourist (glad that stage is over...).

But before I start describing my time in London, let me rewind to 30 days ago when I stepped off the plane in Heathrow airport to my professor, Forbes Morlock. "Please, call me Forbes."

There are 25 of us gathered with our luggage eying each other suspiciously. Who's alone? Who knows someone else on the trip? Who else still needs roommates for London? Who will I be spending the next ten days with? Who wants to be my new best friend?

Fast forward to 3:30 in the afternoon when we arrive at the Nelson Monument on the top of Calton Hill. Although we arrived in London early in the morning it is only now, after running through the airport to catch the flight to Glasgow and taking a long bus ride, that we arrive in Edinburgh. Making a bunch of sleep deprived, dehydrated college students climb a steep and icy hill is probably not the best idea. But as we pull ourselves up the slippery path and then climb the winding stairs to the top of the Nelson Monument it's clearly worth it. If nothing else this first excursion enables us to break the ice with one another as we laugh at each other trying to dizzily climb the stairs and then later, going back to the bus, sliding down the frozen hill on our bottoms.

Nelson Monument from the bottom

Just one of the many gorgeous views from the top