Lost in Amsterdam.

Dear all,

Lost in Amsterdam?! How could a Dutch person ever be lost in her own country? Well people, let me explain.

Yesterday, I was on a trip to Amsterdam with a couple of classmates and some random people from other classes that I didn't know (yet). It was voluntary, this trip. But, the things that we would do and visit that day would count as points for CKV ('cultural arts'). The only thing we really have to do for this class is visit museums, theaters, movies, etc. and write a report about it. It was free so I decided to go to Amsterdam instead of school.

Together with 19 other students and 2 CulturalArts teachers, we took the train to A'dam. The first thing we did when we arrived was have a tour with a guide through the city. She showed us a lot of historical places and explained about several things that happened in the past, how life was for nuns, for shelterless kids, for rich people, etc.

Yea, you know what I'm thinking. booooooooring. We walked for an hour and a half, I was so done with it!

We had to walk all the way to the Van Gogh museum from the point where the tour ended. Apparently we arrived way too late so we only had 30 minutes to look around the museum. Which was kinda a good thing haha... I hate museums. And Van Gogh isn't that amazing either, sorry. haha :) He wasn't even famous until years after his death....

At 1, we had a break for 1 and a half hour. The four of us realized it would be better if we first walked to the next destination before we'd have lunch. We were planning on getting there in 10 minutes.... apparently we needed to go to the OTHER side of Amsterdam! Nobody had told us anything. We were so pissed. Lost...yes that's the word. To brighten up the freakin' walk, we asked several passing people in English if they knew how to get to Waterlooplein. Haha, so I put on my American accent and so did the other girls :) some stupid ladies were talking to each other in Dutch like; 'no Tina, it's the other way I'm sure!' Hahaha. I was just looking at them like I didn't understand. What a joy! The walk was 45 minutes by the way...

Exhausted and mad, we arrived at the MacDonald's, had our lunch and went to the MusicTheater a block away. We had a tour in the theater itself, but also 'behind the scenes' stuff. The lady who toured us didn't speak that loud so I have no idea what she told us. Yea, it was pretty boring once again.

Thank goodness for the best part of that day; the workshop! Together with another school, we had to act out scenes and sing and introduce ourselves to each other. It was pretty fun. I'm not that into acting, but the people who really know me know I love to fake a cry once in a while haha. It was fun! Especially because the guy who led us was British and he didn't understand any Dutch. The perfect opportunity for me to hear and speak some 'real' English again! :)

The workshop lasted about 2 hours. Afterwards, three girls and me went to get pizza across from the theater building. We had a nice time! :)

We walked around town a bit, got some ice cream and watched the opera. Gosh it was boring! I mean, opera. They constantly sing everything. Even the word 'yes'. Yeeeeeeeeees. And the story didn't contain a story, if ya know what I'm saying. It was about a fox and a hunter. They fell in love. He shot the fox?! I'm not quite sure what happened, haha. All I know is, it took too long, I was tired and I wanted to go home after the teachers made this day such a bad organised one!

So, finally the opera was finished. The applause lasted about.... 10-15 minutes?! We decided to run out to get our jackets and get ready to hit to the stationnnn. But, the rest of the group held us up -sigh-. I wanted to go home! Locking arms with another girl who could barely walk, we strolled to the metro station and were there just in time. The teacher made a bad move by saying 'are you sure you can stroll down to the train in 6 minutes with feet like that?'. Oh, we were mad. We made it to the train 20 minutes early and we had to wait in the cold. Talking about submitting complaints about the teachers because they took off, without letting us know, to get something hot to drink?! Riiiiight.

Okay, so confusing long sunny but somehow fun day?

I love Amsterdam, not if you have to rush to see everything.

Love,Rachelle