Saturday in Amsterdam

We headed out pretty early yesterday to journey into Amsterdam. A group of us went for a really big flea market that happens in two really old warehouses on a warf-ish area. After sprinting to the train and hopping on as the doors were closing, we got to Amsterdam and took a free ferry over to the flea market, Ij Hallen. It was two giant warehouses filled with more junk than anyone could ever want. I ended up buying a pretty cheap jacket and a little Easter Island Head. The photo doesn't quite do him justice. He was an awesome find.

 

We then went to have lunch at Wok to Walk and experiences a really intense hail storm on the way, which of course stopped as soon as we got into the restaurant. After some yummy udon noodles, we headed to Leidseplein to buy tickets for a Dispatch concert that night.

Our group split up after that. Some people went to take a tour of the Heineken factory and Anton, Abi, and I went off to explore the city. We walked down some shopping streets and had a really fun time going into stores, trying on makeup samples, browsing through random shops and things. once everything started to close, we found a cute little cafe inside a bookstore and I ordered the most amazing hot cocoa I've ever had. They gave it to me as scalding milk and little chocolate chips and whipped cream and I mixed it myself. It was indescribably good. The bookstore eventually closed too, so we headed back to find the others for dinner. There were some really great street performers in Leidseplein all day and they made the place really enjoyable.

Half of us ended up eating in this really obnoxious, crowded sports bar with really strict rules about dinner. It wasn't the best atmosphere, but at least the food was cheap and tasty. We headed to the concert right from dinner and ran into someone we knew from school. We got stuck towards the back kinda, but it was such a small venue that it didn't even matter. The only thing that wasn't cool was that both the people standing in front of me were really tall guys, so I spent a few songs just staring at the back of some heads. One of the guys turned around and noticed that I couldn't see anything, so he let me go in front of him and I got pretty close to the front. I was so disappointed that they didn't play my absolute favorite song, but the concert was so good that I didn't mind too much. After they finished their amazing set, they came back out for an encore after a big uproar from the audience. They did the most entertaining rap skit ever and finally segued into my favorite song ("The General"). Everyone there got so excited that it turned into a mini mosh pit. Luckily I wasn't trampled to death and it was so much fun. 

The video on the top is the video I took at the concert. And that's totally not me that you hear yelling the song at the top of my lungs. That was definitely someone else. Yeahhhhh...And the video on the bottom is what the song sounds like in real life. It is a great song. 

After a quick walk through the Red Light District so that Abi could see it for the first time, we got back on a train to Utrecht. Abi and I got back to Utrecht Centraal, but there was only one bike between the two of us. Abi, being the champion that she is, rode with me sitting on the back of her bike all the way home. It was so awkward that I couldn't help but belly laugh the entire ride home. 

Side-note: I got a wonderful package from my grandparents the other day and now I am fully stocked with all the art supplies I need to have some crafty fun this semester :) thanks Grandpa and Donna.