Why not?

So the next trip I had planned to take was to Amsterdam with about 8 other people from my program. Everything looked like it was going to go smoothly... until that volcano started erupting. Ugh. The mess that this eruption caused throughout Europe was ridiculous. I'd never seen or heard of anything like it. Basically the entire European sky was shut down. However, I have to say, the sky was more blue than I had ever seen it before because there were no planes and no streaks. It was beautiful and quiet.

Anyways, so everyone's flight to Amsterdam from wherever they were coming from ended up being cancelled. One of my friends never made it to Copenhagen, and some others never got to Belfast. We were all still in Switzerland when Sunday night came around (we were supposed to get to Amsterdam the next day, but our flights had all been cancelled.. not a surprise). A few people in our group decided to throw out the idea to rent a car and road trip to Amsterdam. Well. If you know me, I'm the last person in the world to jump on this boat. We had so much work to do that not going to Amsterdam seemed like the perfect excuse to give me more reading time. BUT, for some reason, a handful of my friends convinced me to get up at some ungodly hour the next morning to train to the airport to see if we could rent a car.

Obviously, we did. No hesitation. By 9am on Monday morning, 8 of us rented 2 cars for 3 days. We waited for everyone to get to the airport and ended up taking off around 11am. I was freaking out. Actually, I think we all were but I just showed it a little more. Eventually though I realized that this was one of the best decisions of my life. I've never had so much fun. It took about 9 hours to get from Geneva to Amsterdam, but it didn't feel like it. Obviously we got to drive through Germany, aka we got to drive super fast. The boys were pumped. The music was great, and we were all just so amazed that we actually went through with our crazy plan.

We finally got to Amsterdam around 9pm, parked the car and walked around the city. "Coffee shops" were obviously a must. Weed is legal. People take advantage. It was interesting, and definitely a huuuuuge culture shock. When I think about it though, the culture shock was definitely in a good way.... Weed really isn't that big of a deal, and since it's legal there, my friends who were smoking weren't all stressed out or trying to buy in sketchy places like they have to do everywhere else. It was definitely safer.

In terms of Amsterdam as a city, it is BEAUTIFUL. Of course, another gorgeous european city. It had canals going through it everhwere, and the architecture was fantastic. We went to the Anne Frank House, where you really can't be anything other than humbled. After that, we wandered over to the Heineken Museum. You pay 15 euros for entry and two beers at the end of the visit. I wasn't super pumped about it because the taste isn't my favorite, but the museum ended up being really fun. I had a great time, and then at the end, they served the beer cold enough that I really couldn't taste that much of the (icky) flavor haha. That night the FC Barcelona game was playing in the bars, so we ended up watching that and hanging out in the city. I had a great time, soccer+friends+drinks = awesome.

If you haven't figured it out already, we only spent one full day in Amsterdam, aka Tuesday. By Wednesday, it was already time for us to get back into our little Nissan and hit the road. The driver of my car wanted a break, so I took over for about 6 hours. While they slept, I got to cruise along the autobahn.

Even though the trip was a little more expensive than flying, we made the best of it with what we had. Driving was our only option, so why not?? I'm going to remember these three days for the rest of my life. How many times would I ever get in my lifetime to take a eurotrip with my friends in college?! Well... just once. No regrets.

I'm in Zagreb, Croatia now for the last two weeks of my program. We got here on Tuesday because our 90 days in Switzerland/the Schengen Zone were up. I'm in a new homestay and it has been pretty good so far. I'll give you more deets in the next few days. Be back soon :)