Home again, home again

Hello my friends,

This morning I come to you from a very warm Barcelona. My window is wide open and I am taking in the bustling sounds of the alley as I write.

I spent this past weekend in Amsterdam and I can hardly express how in love with it I fell. Such a clean, historical and friendly city provided the perfect location to regroup and clear my head. I am loving Barcelona, but it was nice to be somewhere else for a change. About 28 people from my program joined in the journey that began with a 4:30 a.m. wake up call and a cancelled flight. Upon finally arriving in the city we took an overpriced cab to a lovely one bedroom flat that seven of us would be sharing. The flat was in the middle of a quaint and safe area a little outside of the main area of town and from here we walked to meet the group for a bike tour of the city. An English man named Karl would be out tour guide for the day and really taught me a lot, everything from historical facts to a brief tour of the red-light district was covered. The night was capped off with some lovely Italian food and more exploring.

The next day was a busy one. We started with a wine and cheese tasting. This was both enjoyable and comical for me. They had amazing goat cheese and gouda, but I also felt like I should be way more mature to be taking part. Following the tasting we found a shady spot on one of the canal boats and embarked on a water tour of the lovely city. Good conversation and even better sites made this one of the highlights of the trip. From here a small group of us did some more adventuring. We stopped by Anne Frank house which truly did bring out a lot of emotions and self-relection. We took photos at the "I Amsterdam" sign and we took in the sights and sounds of this envrionment.

After I said my goodbyes from the smaller group I walked back to the flat by myself and as miniscule as it sounds, it was one of the best things I have ever done. I moved slowly down the cobblestone street and soaked in as many vivid memories as I could. I could finally understand why people walked so slow, these were the people who were truly taking in lige. Observing everything around them. Letting the truly wonderful and fortuitous things sink in. In such a quiet city, I was truly able to be one with my thoughts. I felt like any foreign sound would disturb the peace of this silent daydream.

The trip was finished off with more incredible food, a night in the Leideseplein with a British bachelor party and another delayed flight.

I have friends coming to Barcelona this week and can hardly wait! I am also missing my friends and family a lot. Stay tuned for more.

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