Fun Times in Amsterdam!

This past week has been full of adventures. Over the weekend, about 10 of my classmates and I went to Amsterdam for the weekend. We arrived late Friday night, and everyone went off to check into their hotels/airbnbs/hostels. Madison, Peyton and I took an Uber from the train station to our Airbnb, which was the start of an eventful night. We finally found the apartment door, where we then had to search on the group aimlessly on the dark streets searching for the apartment building key. This was the first sign that this Airbnb was probably not the best idea. After I stuck my hand in a hole filled with spiderwebs to finally dig a key out, we opened the apartment door only to find a huge flight of stairs with no lights. To get into the actual apartment key we had to type in a 4 digit number into a lockbox that took us about 15 minutes just to figure out. At this point, we were relieved to finally be able to go inside, but also extremely frustrated and kinda scared. Once we got inside, we were immediately disgusted at how dirty the place was. There was mold growing up the sides of the walls in the shower, and the fridge wreaked of rotting food. On the table, there was a note that said if we left them a 5 star review, that he would give us 50 euros back. I then realized that there was a reason this place had so many 5 star reviews, because this was definitely not a luxurious apartment like it said in the listing. We only had to spend one night there, thanks to Madison's parents booking us a hotel for the next night. We were also able to get a full refund on Airbnb, which was nice because it was very expensive. On Saturday, we all went on canal tour. It was absolutely beautiful! We sipped on wine and enjoyed looking at the unique architecture of the houses, boat houses, and other shops and museums. After the tour, we explored downtown and made our way to the Heineken brewery. We went on an interactive tour which was then followed by two free Heineken beers. I tried Heineken beer for the first time, which I discovered I do not like at all. Once the tour ended, we split up groups again and Madison, Peyton and I went to have dinner and go back to our hotel. The next morning we went to Body World, which was extremely cool. It had over 40 cadavers that were assembled in ways where you could see the different organs and their functions, as well as the different types of tissues and bones. That afternoon, we took a train back and immediately went home to catch up on some sleep before starting an early class that next morning. On Monday, we explored the city of Koblenz. We went to an opera house, where we learned all about how they make plays, operas, and other shows happen. We also went to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, which had a wonderful view of where the Rhine and Mosel rivers meet. On Wednesday, we explored the historical Roman city of Cologne. We took a 1.5 hour tour where we saw one of the largest Gothic cathedrals, cologne shops, and many Roman artifacts. Both of these group excursions consisted of lots of sweating and becoming dehydrated from lack of water intake. Although it was exciting to learn the history of these two fascinating cities, I was always glad to be home where I could lay in bed and relax. Although today and tomorrow will consist of long, history of medicine lectures, I am looking forward for Norderney next week!