Amsterdam

This past week Sydney and I took a trip to Amsterdam.  We had off of school on Wednesday because it is the feast of Saint Ambrogio, the patron saint of Milan.  On top of that, we had off on Thursday and Friday for the feast of the Immaculate Conception.  We decided to take advantage of this long weekend by taking a trip!  It was the best decision we could have  ever made.  The city of Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful and quaint cities I have ever been too.  The people of Holland are extremely nice and tourism seems to blend right into their culture rather than interrupting it.  They are so welcoming and eager to show you around their city.  We stayed at an amazing youth hostel called the Flying Pig Uptown.  Walking into the hostel felt like walking into summer camp.  There was a lounge/bar/common area downstairs where everyone would hang out.  The hostel was clean, organized, and filled completely with students like us from around the world.  Because it was about 6 degrees Celsius and rainy outside, we spent a bit of our time drinking hot chocolate and hanging out at the hostel.  It was a much needed relaxing 4 days where I was able to escape from school and stress and just enjoy myself and explore a new culture.  Get ready, there are a lot of pictures in this post...

Wandering around the beautiful streets of Amsterdam

We got stuck in the middle of a hail storm! It was so cold the entire time we were there.

One of the walls of the Flying Pig lounge area. All of the walls are decorated in art done by people who have stayed at the Flying Pig.

Standing on the street that our hostel was on. It reminded me a lot of the streets of New York

All of Amsterdam looked like a scene out of a Disney fairy tale.

Christmas Square!

Most amazing waffle EVER!  Amsterdam is famous for them.

Starbucks for the first time in 4 months!!

Night time was even more beautiful than day.  Amsterdam is filled with canals, a local told me that it sits on more water than Venice....

Outside the Van Gogh Museum, my favorite part of the trip! Unfortunately you could not take pictures inside the museum,  but click above and check out the website!  It was an incredibly inspiring museum. 

The Christmas decorations were incredible throughout the entire city. 

There is one canal in the Red Light District where tons of swans gather.  They can only be found in this one canal in Amsterdam. 

So many Bikes!!!!

They were beginning to decorate at the hostel for Christmas!

Art Nouveau Theater from the 1920's