Since Ethan was here for such a long time (7 days), and we didnt really have any specific plans, i didnt keep track of what we did day to day. So i forgot most of the details, but here is what i can remember from it.
Friday morning i picked him up at Schipol. Super happy to see him. Obviously I hadnt seen him (or anyone else from Madison) since I left in December. He had an overnight flight, so once we got back to Utrecht he passed out for a while. Made some dinner and then just hung around in Utrecht for the rest of the day. Saturday we went to Amsterdam to take the free walking tour. We just made it right before they were about to leave, and we also got the last two spots. It was nice actually learning about stuff in Amsterdam rather then just walking around it aimlessly. We actually lost our tour by accident. There was probably 30-45 minutes left and we kept on walking straight along a street and we later figured out that our tour group turned a few blocks before us. O well. Then we walked around the red light district for a while. Then we walked to leidseplein and museumplein and through the albert cuypmarket.. the market actually kinda sucked. it wasnt that fantastic. Then we headed back up to the red light district and chilled there until late.
On Sunday we did Utrecht. Took him to Dom tower, the boat, the oudegracht, etc etc. … i also bought a travel backgammon game that we both became obsessed with. I def need to buy a normal size wooden one when i get home/back to madison. Hung around Utrecht the rest of the night.
Monday we went back to Amsterdam. This time with our mini back gammon board so we could play pretty much whereever we wanted too. Walked around the windows for a while. We actually found the indoor part of the red light district and its super creepy…because the girls can stand outside of their windows and try to grab you and stuff. pretty creepy. we didnt stay in there for long. Tuesday we also hung around Utrecht. I had class from 5-7 so we couldnt go too far. After class we went to see The Hangover. It is absolutely hilarious! Serisouly so funny. I really really need to see it again. Funny thing about movies in europe: there is an intermission in the middle of the movie. Basically they just stop the movie right in the middle for 10-15 minutes. Ethan said that happened when he saw a movie in Greece too. wierd. and pointless. everyone around us got up and got more to drink/eat. Went back to my apartment and we had a arty in my kitchen for one of my roommates, Karina, because it was her last night. We had some Ouzo, some Greek alcohol that Ethan really likes since he got back from Greece. O yea… i dont know when, i think at this party 2 of my roommates are finally back from Turkey. David and Lucia. I missed them so much. I havent seen them since my fake birthday. It was so nice to finally see both of them. I missed them and they missed me too
the next day i had class 11-1. my last class before my final exam. This time around finals isnt as stressed out because im only in one class. And the paper isnt too difficult because we have 4 students all working on it together…unlike last semester. We actually finished the paper today. After class on Tuesday me and Ethan planned to leave for Bruges at 2:45…but because we both had to pack and he had to book one of his trains things took a little longer than expected and we were 2 hours behind schedule. Took the train from Utrecht>Rotterdam>Antwerp>Bruges. It was still daylight when we were there. The hostel was like a 10 minute walk from the center, so we just walked around the city at night. We were both not feeling so great, so we hung outside this one bar for a while. It probably took us two hours to drink our first and only beer. Got some fries on our way back to the hostel and passed out. Bruges is really pretty. Super old. Its really small too. I need to see the movie In Bruges now. The next day we woke up pretty early to get the free hostel breakfast and then we were off the Brussels. We got to Brussels around 12. We walked around the city all day. We saw the Mannekin Pis fountain, the Royal Palace, Royal Park, the Grand Place square..etc etc. pretty much all the tourist attractions. We got some pretty nice view of the whole city. Not intentionall..but we got up this big hilly part of the city where you can see a whole panorama. We even got to see the Atomium from a far. The Atomium is this big giant futuristic sculpture that is left over from a worlds fair in the 1950. We didnt go to it because its a few kms out of the city, but we did get to see it. Walked around some more, got lost…well not really. but we definitly walked in circles for a while before I asked someone how to get to the train station. I chilled with Ethan for a while before his bus to Paris left. And then at 6 we said goodbye. I was sad to see him go. the 7 days went super fast. But we both get back to Madison at the same time so I will see him again in about a month. Then i hopped on a train and got back to Utrecht around 10pm.
Now its Friday.. and im having my first lazy day pretty much since i left for Vienna in May. And the next few days are going to be mixed with studying for my final on tuesday and packing and saying goodbye. Im not excited for the goodbye part. Its so sad. We are down to 7 people in my apartment.. we started at 12. And i am the next one to go… on the 25th.. Less than one week in Utrecht left.
