In case you are wondering, NO ONE is at the train station that early, I repeat NO ONE. It's freezing cold and while our train is on the board, not even the first train at 5:50 has its platform number listed. We huddle together, afraid of the random French sketchos (French seems to be a good language for people who want to be sketchy, just a personal opinion!) that happen to be wandering around the empty station, possibly homeless people trying to warm up a little around the weird, permanent space-heater things throughout the station. I wish we'd known the system for trains... it's nothing like the system for planes! Everyone arrives approximately 15 minutes before departure time; I could have had an extra hour of sleep!
Anyways, we get onto the train without problems and I even got to sit in at a table seat, where you share a central table with 4 people. It felt a little less claustrophobic which was nice. The train ride was absolutely beautiful. Trains are much quieter than airplanes and the scenery was amazing. We were headed east through France, Belgium and the Netherlands as the sun was rising over the green fields and misty valleys. Already I started to enjoy my visit in the Netherlands! After about 4 hours of train we arrived in the Centra(a)l Station in Amsterdam. Everything is hustle and bustle there as the train was packed. It seems like people in the Low Countries just have a different perspective on life, seems to me like people love using the train and for my first view of bicycles, there's a 3-story, bicycle-only, parking garage at the station! How cool!
At the airport we picked up a taxi to our hotel, Bema Hotel, which is located just across the park
from the Rijkmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. 
I put a hyperlink to it because for 30 euros a night per person (which includes an amazing breakfast!) I would put it as one of my favorite hotels I've ever stayed in. You walk in the front door and up a long flight of steps to the main office/lobby/living room. The owner, I forget her name sadly, greeted us and welcomed us in. I was sure we would be turned away for being early, but we were perfectly fine. She laid out the rules (mostly just no smoking in rooms) and took our beverage orders for breakfast (coffee for me) and gave us the keys. Check out these pictures! What a beautiful and unique hotel! The beds were wonderful, too!After laying our stuff down and resting for a minute, we left for the Anne Frank House Museum. I have wanted to see this museum ever since I read her published diary
in 8th grade. The museum had a long line, but we waited, and the 8.50 euros to get in was well worth it. The house and adjacent offices of Mr. Frank and his partners still look almost exactly like they did when the house was raided during WWII. The house remains completely unfurnished, per the requests of Mr. Frank when designing the museum; the impact is incredible. Seeing the postcard and photograph-pasted walls of Anne Frank's tiny bedroom, looking at the worn kitchen counter, hearing the voice of Mr. Frank describe the emotions of reading his daughter's writings... all these experiences affected me significantly. I have always had an interest in human rights and international justice and this visit emphasized that to me even more.
The visit to the museum did not take very long and afterwards everyone 
was a bit hungry. I decided to separate from the group and I ventured off on my own to contemplate a little and explore the city. Let me just say that Amsterdam must be the most beautiful city in the world. The whole city revolves around semi-circle rings of canals and the tall townhouses that line them are all unique and colorful. Bicycles run all over the narrow streets and I especially like the "barrow-cycle" as I've named it, a bicycle with a small wheelbarrow-like box in front of the cyclist where they typically put their toddlers in for the ride! It's very cute! I couldn't stop taking photos of the canals, the houses, and the bikes.
I ended up wandering north, to a street called Haarlemer Dijk/Haarlemer Strait. This street is my favorite in the world as it's lined with scores of unique shops: bakers, butchers, print-makers, toy-stores (that sell absolutely no plastic junk, no barbies or mattel in sight!), antiques, porcelain, etc. Each store is independently owned and each one has a unique flavor. I could spend forever on this street and I definitely spent a good share of my budget on all sorts of neat things. This picture is of everything (minus the sandwiches I ate on the way home!) t
hat I bought with about 50 euros: loaf of fresh bread (soooooo good!), fresh cheddar cheese, 2 fresh-meat sausages I couldn't pronounce (Gekooktewurst and Wijncervelaat), 2 absolutely amazing Italian sandwiches (gorgonzola and roast beef was one, the other had a chicken, pesto, and pepper filling), 10 hand-pressed (on old, wooden printing presses) postcards, a fair-trade gift for a friend, a Dutch greeting card for my family, and a box of handmade truffles. Wow. Could life get any better? I think not. After I was all done, I walked my tired little feet back to my hotel for a relaxing meal with my windows open and the cool, fresh, spring breeze blowing in gently.In the evening, full from my fresh feast, my friend Chelsi and I decided to explore the "down-town" area of Amsterdam. No office buildings or towers of any type, just lots of beautiful architecture, especially in the Dam Square, which is the center of town. We grabbed a cup of coffee and did some tourist shopping- she was looking for a t-shirt for a friend. After wandering with no destination in mind we wound up in Amsterdam's "infamous" Red-Light District. To be honest, I was terrified of going to Amsterdam because of it's reputation for drugs and prostitution. In the end, I felt like the Red-Light District was thoroughly laughable. Indeed, the streetlights are red and the narrow canal is lined with walls of windows with scantily-clad women enticing you to come join them, but it reminded me of a trashy boardwalk on New Jersey. I felt totally safe (this area actually has the largest police presence in the city, go figure). It's funny because the true Amsterdam has nothing to do with this goofy, tourist-trap area!
In the end, we headed home, absolutely exhausted from a busy day in Amsterdam. I also officially concluded that I will be living here next summer between undergraduate and grad schools. I also started looking up programs for learning Dutch in the U.S. Everyone in Amsterdam speaks English, but I'm all about fitting in, especially since I think Dutch sounds really cool!
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