Amsterdam

Where to begin? It's been a crazy weekend. On Thursday, Meg and I woke up and headed to the bus station to catch our bus from Granada to Madrid. Unfortunately, we were not paying attention and ended up leaving a little to late and missed our bus. The next bus to Madrid wasn't until 1:30, so we would have missed our flight to Amsterdam which was at 7:20. We spent two frantic hours in the bus station trying to find another way to get to Madrid before our flight left. Most options to Madrid would cost us more than $300, which was out of the question. Luckily, I found a bus to Malaga, a town on the southern coast, and then a speed train from Malaga to Madrid that would get us to the airport with minutes to spare. It was a lot cheaper and we were so thankful we didn't have to cancel our trip. The train ride was beautiful and a lot of fun. I am thankful we got to experience a speed train here and that it got us to Madrid in time.
We arrived in Amsterdam pretty late, so we only had time to check into our hostel and grab some pizza. We ran into some of our friends from Granada, but we were so tired we went to bed pretty early. Meg and I shared a top bunk in a room with about 26 other people. Our hostel was called The Flying Pig and is pretty famous in Europe. I liked it a lot, but I didn't like sharing such small space with so many people. On Friday we woke up around 9 am and got free breakfast from the hostel before going on a walking tour of Granada. Our tour guide was a young Australian who had lived in Amsterdam for 7 years. He spent 4 hours showing us some of the most interesting spots in Amsterdam and telling us funny stories about the city's past. It was one of the best things we did in Amsterdam.
At the end of the tour, Meg and I went to Anne Frank's house. A lot of people we were with didn't go because they heard it wasn't worth it, but it was one of the most moving exhibits I've been too. Just to walk in the space and hear personal stories from Anne Frank's father and friends made it all seem real to me in a way the book failed to. After that, we hung out with some new friends in the city and eventually made our way back to the hostel.
On Saturday, we slept in a little and then got up and walked to the Van Gogh museum. The walk was pretty cold and rainy, but we passed an adorable ice rink and a bakery where we bought a delicious apple tart. The Van Gogh museum was fantastic, but I wasn't feeling really well, so when we were done we took a cable car back to the hostel and slept for a few hours. That night we walked around the city and explored the Red Light District, which was fascinating but creepy.
Sunday we checked out of the hostel and went in search of the famous Dutch pancakes. We finally found a pancake house and had the best Dutch pancakes. Meg had nutella and banana and I had chocolate and ice cream pancakes. It was basically dessert for breakfast. After that, we caught the train to the airport and flew to Madrid. From there we caught a bus to Granada. We got in around 2 am and were exhausted.
I slept all day today and discovered that I have strep throat (which explains the exhaustion and intense sore throat). I caught it from Meg, who had it a few weeks ago. Luckily, she has enough antibiotics left over for me to take, so I hope to feel better in a few days. It was definitely a good thing that we came back to Granada a few days earlier than everyone else. I can't imagine being there while feeling so badly.
I can't believe I only have 11 more days in Spain. Tomorrow we get our numbers for the housing lottery at Denison and next week we have finals. Everything is just happening so quickly!

I love you all,
Em