Netherlands
De Wallen

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    • Day 10

      On the go

      June 16, 2022 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

      What a week! Tuesday I had no class so I got to explore a bit, relax, and join IES staff and students for a borrel! Wednesday we got to go to an art museum and see some really beautiful pieces of work, bonus with the silent library that is STUNNING!! I also don’t have classes on Thursdays so I was able to relax some more then to prepare for a busy weekend! Friday was the IES trip to Delft which is a city very close to Amsterdam, with all of the beautiful history displayed just like Amsterdam. We did a workshop where we painted our own tiles and learned all about the process of making porcelain masterpieces. Once again, the architecture is just insane! Saturday, me and some friends got on a decently early train to Rotterdam to explore around there as well! We got to see some of the coolest apartments I have ever seen, pictured here the cubes that are completely slanted and just so cool! After we got home, me and Elena joined Violet and her friends for a canal boat tour which was also beautiful! After that we went out and celebrated being in Amsterdam and getting to explore! Today, I’m giving all my updates to those of you back home and getting started on some homework for class tomorrow! Can’t wait for the rest of what is to come 🤩Read more

    • Day 7

      new normals

      June 13, 2022 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      I LOVE my classes so far. My first class is my “sex and science: Dutch medicine and intersexuality” course. Just as expected, its SO interesting and so eye-opening as well. Our classes are in, natural sunlit rooms, windows open, circle desk set up. It feels like book club or an open academic discussion. The classes are 3 hours long, but we are given breaks. There’s a kitchen with tea and coffee that’s free for us to use as well. These first few days, I’m feeling anxious to get into a routine and feeling anxious to just get going and “experiencing”. After my first day of class, a few friends and I went and did some shopping which was just a short walk away. The city still feels so big to me, but it’s definitely beneficial having classes right in de wallen. After school and shopping, I was mentally drained and honestly feeling a little overwhelmed. So I ran around where I am living. It’s so odd to have sights of pigeons and seagulls all in the same run. The area I live in is very “up and coming” so it has notes of industrial vibes but a 5 min walk away and you are in the heart of houthavens. A park, lots of families with lots of children, groceries, small shops, active people. It’s all SO clean and public transportation is so nice. The days here are so long and I love being able to exhaust all the daylight. “Hot girl walks” are a daily thing :)Read more

    • Day 26

      It's 'Boat Day"!!

      August 26, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

      Not sure why it’s showing us in the Netherlands?? Oh well. A little review of last night before we hop on the AMASonata.
      On our second last night in Budapest we had the opportunity to try a langos. Delicious. Lángos is famous Hungarian street food, which is basically a fried bread dough. The basic dough is made of water (or milk), yeast, flour and salt. Lángos is fried in oil and usually served with toppings. For Hungarians, the most popular topping is cheese and sour cream and that was our choice. Deep fried pizza. Amazing.

      Well, we got brave and worked our way into a RUIN BAR. “Back in 2004, a run down building on Kazinczy Street in District VII was saved from demolition by a group of entrepreneurs looking to open up a bar/community space. Rather than redeveloping they chose to work with the building’s ramshackle state, adding quirky furniture and decorations, creating a mix’n’match aesthetic and making use of a space otherwise destined for ruin.
      The venture was a success and provided the template for a new generation of bars. The ruin pub was born, with Budapest’s Jewish District district the focal point for this new nightlife trend. Buildings in varying states of decay were rescued and, rather than being totally renovated, ruin bars worked with their natural surroundings to create quirky and unique spaces”. We chose the Red Ruin Bar. Located in the heart of Budapest and not far from our condo, the RRB is a communism theme bar with red lights and a sense of humour about the political past. When you walk in, the first thing to see is a mural of Karl Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong celebrating in birthday hats. Definitely a different vibe. After 2 beer, one wine and a sparkling water, we were out the door… after spending only $12.00CDN. At least we can say we did it.

      Our beer of choice in Budapest has been the Soporoni brand. It doesn’t take much to develop a loyalty to a product. A great waitress on our first night was more than willing to share a few local facts with us and it really created a nice experience. Soporoni is named after the city of Soporon. Sopron is situated near the western borders of Hungary, at the foot of the Alps, 60 km from Vienna and 220 km from Budapest. It is known as the city of loyalty. In 1921, the residents had a choice to leave the monarchy or stay as part of Hungary. They chose Hungary and now we enjoy the beer.

      And now, we are off to our boat. Checked out of our condo in the morning and grabbed a tram to our boat to drop off our luggage. As boat check-in is not until 3:00PM, we’re off to check out another area of the city.
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    • Day 61

      Bus-y day

      November 3, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

      Our original bus out of Brussels was supposed to be at 8:45 and take 3 hours, instead we left at 11:30 and got to Amsterdam just before 4 and they dropped us off at a different stop. But we got here 🎉

      We decided to take the train to the city center to get to our accommodation rather than braving a 2 hour walk in the rain with our packs. Our accommodation this time is similar to the space pod hostel - it's a pod type room with just a bed and a little walkway.

      After checking in we decided to get lost and just wander, we somehow made a wrong turn and ended up in the red light district, which was "interesting", after escaping the strange street we ended up at a hot food vending machine shop, where we grabbed some snacks.

      We strolled for a while longer before getting some fresh stroopwafles and heading back to the accommodation to sleep.

      Step count: 14k
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    • Day 5

      4 am bedtimes

      June 11, 2022 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

      Friday night I accidentally went to bed at 4am (worked out at 3am though thanks to the 24/7 gym!) and then woke up Saturday to avrey knocking on my door telling me it was 2:30 pm! Oops! Jet lag got me I guess… late start to the day but ave vi and I went into the city to find the ies center and grab some coffee and food. We honestly did get lost in the city, but it was seriously so fun and BEAUTIFUL. Once we decided we were just hungry and ready to eat we started to focus haha. We REALLY just wanted to find a place that had both- iced coffee and food. Iced coffee alone is just really tough to find here, but when you do find it, it’s VERY good. So we ended up cutting our loses and eating some Chinese in Chinatown and then went for boba tea with espresso after. Love that tipping isn’t really a thing here, but hate that free water isn’t 😭 On our way back we stopped at a few stores- picked up some shampoo and conditioner from a shop in Amsterdam Centraal and got off the bus a stop early to run into Albert Heijn (the grocery store) to get a few things I forgot about. We walked back and started to get ready for the evening! A big group of people in my program all made plans to go to a club. It opened at 10 so at about 10 we caught a bus and took the metro to Coco’s!! Coco’s was very fun and we met people from Germany, UK, and even ran into some fellow Americans. Details of the night are blurry hahha but it was fun to get to know the people in my program!!Read more

    • Day 3

      25.000 stappendag

      September 20, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

      🎶De ochtendstond heeeeft goud in de mooond🎶

      Alleen was de ochtend voor ons wel een beetje de middag. 💤Dag begonnen met lekker broodje salami en een iced coffe die ik (weeral) op de grond heb laten vallen.🙁 Even sip momentje😿
      Maar daarna al snel terug opgefleurd 😁door de prachtige stad Amsterdam met haar mooie mooie huisjes. 🏠We hebben vooral vandaag wa rondgeslenterd en minstens 3 snoepwinkels bezocht, 🍭ni omda we iets wilde kopen, 💸ma omda ze er toch o-zo mooi uitzagen. 😍
      Na veel wandelen 🥾hebben we ons gedeplaceerd aan de kant van het water 🌊met een aperitiefje en daarna een frietjes van zogezegd “de beste frituur” hier. 🍟

      De zonsondergang was ook geweldig, stad stond precies in brand. 🌅

      Om de laatste avond te vieren zijn we nog een theetje ☕️gaan drinken met een red-velvet taart. 🍰Ook de terugtocht was red want we moesten terug via de redlight district. 🚨Ben daarna dan ook maar eventjes voor een raam gaan staan om deze reis terug te kunne betalen. 😌NEEEE MOPJE MAMA, ben een bescheiden dame. ⚠️⚠️⚠️

      We hebben de laatste avond wel in stijl afgesloten met een tekensessie. ✏️

      Nou slaapwel he 🛌
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    • Day 8

      red light district- TW// sex

      June 14, 2022 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      after some liquid courage we decided it was only right for us to explore the red light district. I mean we have to do it at some point… what are we waiting on? So we start out stroll, even though it’s later in the evening, it’s still not really late enough for the true window girls to be out but there’s definitely some there! We went into the erotic museum, which weirdly enough was a great intro into the red light district. It was all just art about sex which is a little easier to digest than just sex alone. Unfortunately they did not take museumkaart’s and no student discounts. So we PAID to see the historical erotic art. After that, we went next door and read the sign of “live sex show”. The ticket was 50€ but included 2 drinks. Before we could even logically think about it we all just said “oh my gosh let’s do it”. We ended up getting 3 drinks thanks to the drink tickets found on the bathroom floor. Watched the show and decided that we will never go back, but glad to say I’ve done it!! One time is enough for those types of things!! Welcome to Amsterdam xxxRead more

    • Day 108

      117ème étape ~ Amsterdam (jour 1)

      November 18, 2022 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

      Après avoir récupéré Mél et John à l’aéroport, nous commençons notre découverte d’Amsterdam.
      Notre premier arrêt est le musée Wondr, quelle expérience rigolote. 🤣
      Nous avons beaucoup rigolé.
      Puis nous avons découvert la ville à bord d’un bateau mouche, à travers les canaux. Nous avons eu les explications en français.
      Ensuite nous avons mangé un bon repas traditionnel hollandais dont on serait incapable de prononcer le nom, suivi d’un super dessert.
      Pour finir la journée, nous avons découvert le quartier rouge, ses fameuses vitrines et ses fameux coffeeshop. 🙊
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    • Day 17

      On the move again to Amsterdam

      October 2, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      Left Paris hotel quite early. Lugging all the bags down the 5 flights of spiral staircase wasn't as bad as I dreaded (Paul did most)
      Walked to Gare du Nord train station and hopped on the Eurostar which sped us to Amsterdam, took the city tram to our hotel.
      Went for an afternoon wander around to check out the city and spotted some things for revisiting tomorrow. So many ppl travelling on bikes, commuters, ppl out shopping, you have to keep your wits about you so you don't get in their way!
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    • Day 111

      117ème étape ~ Amsterdam (jour 4)

      November 21, 2022 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

      Dernier jour à Amsterdam, nous ne pouvions pas quitter la ville sans faire un arrêt dans son fameux port. Bien qu’il soit plus petit que celui de Rotterdam, il est quand même très grand.
      La vidéo c’est cadeau. 🥰
      Flo a dégusté les frites avec la fameuse sauce hollandaise dont on ne saurait pas prononcer le nom. 😂
      Nous avons partagé un dernier verre et on a redéposé Mél et John à l’aéroport avant de reprendre notre route. 🛣️
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    De Wallen

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