Well this has been a big week for me! I finally attended all my classes and got my schedule straightened out. Here's one more funny story about a class mishap:
On Thursday morning I had a class at 8:30 am. I went to this class, on time, sat down and the professor started speaking. Unfortunately, he was speaking only in Dutch. Obviously, I knew I could not be in that class, so I got on the computer and dropped the class, moving into another one that began at 9:15. As discreetly as possible, I left the first class to get to another. Upon opening my schedule, I realized I had been in the wrong classroom all along. I was in the classroom that holds my Wednesday 8:30 am class....but I enjoyed the new class so much that I decided to stay. That was my last class for the week.
This week, I tried to do a few touristy things. On Thursday, we had our first sunny day, so we trekked down to Vondelpark. Vondelpark is a huge, famous park here that many compare to Central Park in New York. It was very beautiful and we are hoping to go back when the trees are blooming. We will probably be there a lot because it's free!
I also went to my first museum this week, The Sex Museum. It wasn't the top of our list, but we want to take in all the museums and this was the first one we saw. Plus, I am trying to save some of the more famous ones for when my parents are visiting; I didn't think the Sex Museum would be on their list. Anyway, it is advertised as "Sex through the Ages". My friends and I thought this would be a historical walk through sex and culture, information about rituals and things in other centuries, possibly highlighting how women have been treated in regards to sex, etc. That was not quite the case. The museum was less of a "museum" and more along the lines of pornography. It was not informative at all and was just kind of weird. We felt extremely uncomfortable and giggled like 13 year olds. I would not recommend it as a must-see, but it was something to see and now we can check one museum off our list.
After the museum, we proceeded as tourists and went to see the Red Light District. Again, not something I would recommend, but something you have to see in Amsterdam. I expected the women to be different than prostitutes in the States, seeing as how it is a legitimate profession here. Instead, I saw women who looked genuinely sad. Many of them appeared to be on drugs. The whole experience made me feel very sad and I wondered how men can bring themselves to patronize these places. The girls looked just as desperate here as they do in the States. I found myself wondering, as I do when I see a prostitute at home, "What went wrong in her life that this is the outcome?"
After all of this, we went out to dinner because it was our friend Matilda's birthday. After dinner, we bought cake and A LOT of ice cream to celebrate her birthday.
Friday, I got all my hair cut off. I have been having a lot of trouble with my hair because it is so windy here and we do so much walking outside. I was nervous to cut it, but I LOVE it!! I think I was meant to have short hair! There are a few pictures posted on Facebook.
Also on Friday, it was my friend Kathy's birthday. Instead of going out to dinner, we all brought ingredients and made a big, Mexican dinner. It was wonderful! We have all been craving Mexican food and you can't really find it here. After dinner, we went out to the ISN social. Apparently, the door men were unhappy with such a large group and would not let us in. Instead we went to the dance club Paridiso. This is a place that has multiple DJs spinning records, playing music, and a light show. It is a converted church, so it is beautiful and the acoustics are great. I was having such a good time and enjoying the light show so much, that a Dutch boy asked if I was hypnotized (I think he was asking if I was on drugs, but didn't know English well). Don't worry family, I was not on drugs. I was just having such a great time with my friends, enjoying the lights, and dancing. I was sweating a lot from all the dancing, probably further leading to my "drugged" look. I was simply high on life-the best way to be! After leaving the dance party, we found a very crowded local burger joint and had a bite to eat. Two Dutch boys sat down with us and we had a very odd interaction. They kept making Jewish jokes and we were very confused....I'm still confused actually. Weird interaction. Sidenote: People here have no problem joking about Hitler or WW2. The girl from Germany thinks it's hilarious to do the Nazi salute. I really don't know how to take that-I think it's just not offensive or a sensitive issue to them. It's very interesting and slightly confusing. After eating, we had our first successful cab ride that did not end in getting ripped off or in an argument with the cab driver. Success!!
Today was a lazy day. We had a pancake breakfast, tried to do laundry, bought groceries, and I updated all my web sites. Check out Facbook for new pictures. Also, if you like this blog and want to read more, you can check out my friend Chad's blog at chadhaertling.com. He is also a really good photographer and has many nice pictures!
Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment