the city of amsterdam. this was where i spent the weekend. and what a weekend it was. it was a very last minute decision, made at 10pm on thursday night, but i think that's the way to do things over here. as soon as my class finished at 11am on friday i met up with sandra (one of the canadians) and we jumped on a train and made for the border. and finally i hit another country outside of belgium which was very exciting... though no one asked for passports and so i have no record of being there. then again, my passport wasn't stamped coming into belgium either, so theoretically i have no proof that i arrived here either. but what is proof anyway huh?

and then the adventures began. we made it to amsterdam in record time (under three hours) as we somehow managed to get a connecting train that left 30 seconds after our train pulled in to the station. so i looked at sandra and said "i think it is time to run, like they do in the movies", and so we did. and we jumped on just as the man blew his whistle and the doors started to close.

first impressions, or maybe just overall impressions are absolute randomness... getting off the train station we wandered towards a hostel and in a matter of minutes were thrown into amsterdam "reality". someone had thrown up all over a footpath, some guy was in the foetal position being put into an ambulance... two guys were getting into a huge fight, and then, get this, the queen of the netherlands drove past amidst a convoy off police cars. everywhere i looked i was surprised... it was like a continuous journey of confusion and amazement. you would be walking down a narrow old street and then suddenly a big oriental temple would appear, out of nowhere, and then disappear just as fast.

sandra and i ended up staying on the outskirts of the red light district (yes, the red light district in amsterdam, which has perhaps the biggest red light district in the world). but no need to worry now, seeing as i'm back 'home' in leuven now. but it was interesting... there are actually red lights that flick on and off to show where the district starts and ends.

got to check out the anne frank house which was very haunting and inspiring and nearly brought me to tears at times. very very incredible to read about how she would look out the window and see jews be taken down the street - and then for me to be able to look out the very same window and reflect on how she had been in that tiny place for over 40 months. climbing the stiars and imagining how she had clibed those very stairs and that her family were dragged down them and taken to concentration camps. hard to picture and yet at the same time, very real.

also went to the van goph museum which was awesome and it was at this point that we bumped into the boys, eric, joe and alex, who also were in town, but due to us being out of the country, our cell phones weren't working and hadn't been able to get in contact. we all wandered around together and took in all the spectacles that amsterdam has to offer.

on sunday i checked out the botanical gardens which even had some new zealand natives. and a gorgeous butterfly house and as i was wearing bright orange (typically of course) and joe had a yellow hoody - all the butterflies landed all over us. nice, as long as you don't have a phobia against butterflies!!! but a beautiful garden...

the ride home was not quite so quick as our first train somehow broke down and we had no idea as they only said it in dutch... but when everyone suddenly jumped up and stampeded out the door to another train, it seemed necessary to follow. then we got off at the wrong stop, but managed to jump back on in time before the train left again. ended up in first class i think, but no one checked out tickets or asked us to move so we made it home sfae and sound!! just slightly later than expected.

all up, amsterdam is like nothing i could ever explain. every corner was different, every street had something unusual going on. but the best part? everything was in orange!!! everything - the trains, the seats, the walls. very cool for one who has some sort of obsession with the colour. i fitted right in!!

so the plans for this week? i am very excited because jasper is coming down to visit and will be here for my birthday on thursday which i'm looking forward to. i'm having people over for dinner on thursday - but i have a little kitchen and we're already up to over 15 people... and the kitchen table here only seats 6 maximum). apart from that, i have lectures (yes i do actually do a bit of work while i'm here, though so far? not much...).

thanks to those keeping in touch. caisey and lachie - you two would love it over here so much, i seriously think you should both consider coming here in your holidays. which i don't think are too far off. start saving now...