Amsterdam!

Ok, so from Thursday to Sunday, I went to Amsterdam with three friends! It was the first European country I've been to outside of France. And it is SUCH a WEIRD city. (And I mean that in the best possible way, because I genuinely loved it.)

I actually really, really like Dutch history, mostly because I grew up in upstate New York (which used to be New Netherland). I never really thought about the strong Dutch influence in Albany until I went to Amsterdam and it felt weirdly like home. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it really resonated with me. Also, the architecture of the city is SO different from Paris. It was so quaint and Northern European, and I constantly felt like I was living in the book, "Girl With A Pearl Earring."

The weird part is how all of the historical aspects of the city meshed with the fact that marijuana and prostitution are legal there. Not only did these aspects give the city a really funny vibe, but it also meant the entire city was flooded with tourists. All of the native Dutch people spoke fluent English, and I heard a million British and American accents filling the streets.

Apart from the city as a whole, one of my favorite things we did was the Van Gogh museum. It was definitely one of the best museum experiences I've had. Van Gogh was cool because he was never part of an artistic movement, but he toyed with all of the emerging stuff happening in the art world. He would do impressionist paintings and Japanese paintings and everything, but when it came down to it, he was an individual tortured soul, and his paintings were uniquely his.

Anyways, those are just some of my initial thoughts. To hear a more detailed account of the trip, gchat/email me. Overall, it was really fun, and it was also great that returning to Paris felt like returning home (although I do miss New York and it will always be my real home).