Blog 3: So Many Countries to See!

This weekend I got to travel to both Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam in the Netherlands! I greatly enjoyed the time I spent in both of these cities. They each very clearly felt like different countries. Brussels had far more impressive, grand architecture, but Amsterdam had a younger more laid-back vibe.
I realized this weekend that I only really know stereotypes about Europe. In Brussels I expected to see chocolate all over the place, because of the phrase "Belgian chocolate". Also it probably goes with out saying the first two things I thought of when it came to Amsterdam were "red light district" and "Mary Jane". Although I did manage to see the presence of some of these associations, each city definitely had more to offer. I was a little disappointed we only got to spend a few hours in each of these cities. There were so many parks and shops and other points of interest that I would have loved to explore.
Brussels was our Friday night destination. This was the first central station outside of Germany that I had to navigate. Thankfully it wasn't too different from the Hauptbahnhof back in Bonn. Ultimately, considering our limited time, our group decided to Uber to our hostel. We actually ended up ubering the whole trip in Brussels, which was pricey, but less time consuming, and more straight forward than trying to figure out the local public transportation system. When we made our way to the city center we discovered a free outdoor music festival in the middle of all the shops and restaurants. We wanted to find a place to eat nearby but everything was full. We eventually found a nice restaurant just a few blocks away from the city center where we were able to sit and relax and admire the decades old buildings all around us.
The next morning we made our way to Amsterdam. I learned an important lesson that morning. If you plan on taking a train in the morning either 1) get lots of sleep the night before or 2) have a direct train. Hopping on and off trains was extra stress that would of been nice to do without. Thankfully between the 4 of us we managed to get to Amsterdam around noon, As soon as we left the central station I was reminded of home. Women dressed as lady bugs, advertisements for an techno Forrest concert, this city was a larger European version of ATX. We didn't get to do too many day time activities but, even just walking around Amsterdam was an experience. Sunday we did get the opportunity to visit the Rijksmuseum, It was massive and had simply too much to see and learn about than we had time for.
Today is Monday, and we just had our pre-departure meeting for Vienna. I'm excited to be able to experience a city with the whole class. Everyone has a different perspective, and enjoy sharing with my fellow Aggies!
- May 29