Gosh it has been a long time since I've written. I've been so busy with school and friends and traveling its hard to get a moment to myself. I finally have quite a good social network so the times are few when I am alone or have nothing to do!
The past few weeks I have spent in Ljubljana on the weekdays. Going to school and partying in the dormitories at night have been my frequent habits. There is a big party every night so if I don't have homework you can find me there. A few weekends ago I went on a day trip with the school to the region of Karst. It is famous for its limestone and its wine. We explored a big cave, participated in wine and honey tasting, and toured a small town with a beautiful view of the mountains. It was so nice and the student organization organized it so well. The next day I had a good look at Lake Bled, finally! I went with a group of friends and we took a massive hike around the entire lake. We also did a bit of rowing on the lake, it was very challenging yet very rewarding. When we weren't exerting energy we spent some time having a picnic lunch and playing cards, it was perfect!
This past weekend I celebrated my 21st birthday in Amsterdam. It was so wonderful I don't know where to begin! Well I suppose the party started the night before we left! Our flight was at 6:00 am so we decided to just stay up from the night before. There was a fiesta in my dorm with good Spanish food, drinks and music, my travelmate Sam and I then proceeded to go to a local club for live Serbian music and dancing and more drinks. Oi! Around 5:30 in the morning we came back to the dorms and waited for our flight. I figured it was a bad idea to sleep in my bed so I improvised and slept on the table while Sam ate pretzels. :P
after a lovely transit to the airport we got on the plane and had a nice 4 hour layover in Prague sleeping in uncomfortable chairs. After another short flight, we landed in Amsterdam! We met up with my friend Tom from the UK and proceeded to head into the city from the airport. It is so much busier than Ljubljana, and tons of bikes. I think I almost got ran over a few times. I can't even imagine driving a car through the city. The cyclists and pedestrians own the city! We then went to a bar for a while. We had to wait for our couchsurfing host to come so we passed the time drinking wine and chilling. We then met our host Simon at his house! He was so nice :) He was a student at the university and lived in Amsterdam his whole life. As soon as we got there he took us to a museum opening that was all about the history of Amsterdam. We got free food and drinks and got to see a really nice fancy house. We looked gross from our plane ride but it didn't matter too much. We then had a ride around Amsterdam on some bikes, sitting on the back while some guy drove it! Our host took us to a nice student bar where we hung out by the canals and then we came home early to get some sleep we desperately needed.
The next day we set off from our host's house and walked around the city! The canals are so beautiful and the architecture reminds me of the east coast in the USA. We took a lot of pictures and had some good Dutch food! We went to see the Anne Frank house which was quite depressing but definitely worth it! I was able to see what she saw while she was in hiding for so long! We then went to the famous flower market in the city and bought random tulip bulbs and other things to plant when we get back home :) After a long day of exploring, we went back to Simon's house to cook him spaghetti and bread. We played some drinking games and got ready to go out to wish me a happy birthday at precisely midnight. We went to Rembrandt square to ring in the celebration and went barhopping trying to find absinthe to no avail. We did however find 10 Yeager shots for 10 euros so that worked out really nicely ;) After a fun night of dancing and drinking we went home.
Waking up to my birthday was good too! Simon made me a nice heart shaped birthday egg and then we ate raw fish, a typical dutch dish, not so nice as you can see by my facial expression :P
After breakfast we tried to go to the Heineken brewery but it was really full and really expensive, we settled for the museum of cruel and unusual torture instead. We saw all kinds of mideval creations that would surely cause a lot of pain! After that we visited a few coffee shops and had a nice picnic in the park. It was overlooking the canals and a lot of party goers were also out celebrating. Then we decided to walk through the red light district. Boy oh boy was that an experience, the alley ways were small dark and narrow and the girls there came in all shapes and sizes! It felt like I was in another world. Definitely something I'm glad I experienced but I think once is enough! heh.
After a day of excitement in the city we went to a Greek restaurant to celebrate my day of birth and then back to the house to play cards! We attempted to play hearts and a few drinking games but we were all pretty tired...did we sleep? heck no! We decided to go out! Simon knew of a good student party where you could get in for 10 euros all you could drink. Of course we went there and took full advantage! Dancing and drinking till about 5 am woo! We then bid adieu to our awesome host and headed back to the airport! What a weekend! I got back at 1 p.m. that day and went directly to sleep to wake up at 9 a.m. the next day! Well that was my great birthday, I couldn't have had a better one! I'm back home now and busy with school but looking forward to the next week, spring break!!!! woowooo!
well thats enough updating for now! time for sleep!
night!
Millie
