Phew.

Well after a whirlwind trip that started out with zero plans and no idea what I was doing, I am back with stories to tell and new tracks on the bottoms of my shoes.

Sunday morning I anxiously arrived in Amsterdam, and while getting off the train I met a couple of grads from UT austin. They asked if I knew where I was staying, and these kids were planners. They knew what to do, what to see, and this hostel was the place to stay. Luckily I got there right as they opened, and paid to stay in a 20 person room down the hall. Went in to unpack and met a guy from New Zealand that was sharing my bunk. We did the walking tour around town so we would know where we were walking, then decided to ditch the tour and find trouble to get into. A couple of cafes later, we headed back to the Flying Pig hostel to drink some Heineken and see what else there was to do that night. Long story short, my laptop was stolen from my stuff in my hostel, which really sucked because I still had not made any plans and needed the internet. All of my programs were lost and so was my magazine that I was working on. Great. Spent the evening giggling in the Red Light District, and managed to make it home safely.

Monday I had set aside to shop and look at museums alone. After being lost in the red light district at 10 am (the day shift workers are a little less intense), I found my way to the opposite side of town at the Museumplein and the Van Gogh Museum. I had the most amazing time, and hung out in the warm lawn for the rest of the day.

Tuesday I left for Rotterdam, this cool art city Jake had told me about. Knowing nothing about it, but willing to leave to go anywhere to get out of Amsterdam, I showed up and walked around for 4 hours trying to find my hostel. Now I get it- I can't just have someone verbally give me directions. I have to see them draw it out, or I will waste all of my time in Chinatown wondering why people told me that city was so special. Rotterdam was fun, and had things that were ten times cheaper than in Germany. So I shopped and looked around for more museums. Bumped into some small galleries and walked around. Stopped at had pastries and coffee. Then I decided to head back to the hostel to make sure I knew where I was going before the sun went away, thereby taking away my precious sight.

Wednesday I checked out of the hostel and was ready to hit up another city I knew nothing about, Den Haag. Thinking back, I really booked these places with no real knowledge why I was going there, I just wanted to get the fuck out of Amsterdam. Den Haag was neat, and it kind of looked like a more Eurpean San Francisco. My hostel was decent, and upon setting my crumpled belongings on my bunk, the other girl in the room started to try to make broken conversation with me. Ah. So we had both just checked in and were staying there that night. Neat. Oh, you#re from out of town? I wasn't too curious why she had come here to "work", as she called it, but she proceeded to ask me if I could watch her expensive stuff if I was back early enough, because she had to work that night. Turns out, there is a red light district in Den Haag. Turns out, it's a pretty profitable business. And this girl was going to bank. But I didn't have time to laugh, I had to see why this city seemed to have such a smile on its face.

These dam cities started to blend together at this point, and I was beginning to feel tired of having to walk on cobblestones and streets that, to me, felt like alleyways that had been converted into makeshift cafes and places that sold European renditions of french fries. I found a neat park while I was lost, and never really made it to the museums until the next morning. I got to go to a Dutch flea market, and ended up buying old keychains that I plan to give away to people I don't like or make into unsexy jewelry. The rest of the day was consumed by the MC Escher museum, and other small museums close enough to this giant palace-thing so I knew I wouldn't get lost. Paid 15 dollars for a chicken salad thing at some point, but it was well worth biting into some actual meat. It's like what I told Sierra's sister today while her neighbor was outside grilling steaks. "Americans can always tell when you're cooking a cow," and for some reason, all I want to do is eat meat. Creep? Very much so.

And then the next 12 hours was spent drugged out and passed out on a sleeper train headed straight back for sweet and charming Ulm, Germany. Back to German rudeness. Back to having a bed of my own. Back to showering for longer than 3 minutes. Back to not getting robbed or creeped out by every person who asks with unjustified interest in why I am there, and where I am staying.

It's charming to be back, and Ulm welcomed me today with shopping at the market, beers in the old city, and art walks throughout the city. Did I mention they have cover bands of Rage Against the Machine over here? You betcha. And they dance to every single song.

Tomorrow morning we leave early for our fancy trip to Switzerland! Picnics on the hillside, drives through mountains. Ah, country life. Kinda sorta. But okay.