Things I Miss About Amsterdam

in no particular order :)

1. Public Transportation - At times like this when i'm stranded at home and begging my brother to buy me a car for next school year, this is what I miss this the most. You have no idea how good life is when you don't have to drive everywhere. no need to worry about gas, designated drivers, traffic. just walk outside and hop on! san diego really needs to work on a tram/metro system IMMEDIATELY because i am not looking forward to walking to UTC (the mall) just to catch the bus to campus.

2. Bicycles - Not that i biked when i was there. haha. but its sooo cute seeing thousands of bikes everywhere. all the dutch people rode with such skill. they could push their kids around, carry furniture, and even hold hands. 
3. Being Legal - I don't think i really need to expand on this, but it was just very free. expensive, yes. but free nonetheless.

4. my roomie, Marcella - I fucking lucked out getting this girl as a roommate (thank you jonlee for being our mutual friend). she seriously made my trip. everything from our adventures navigating around the city without Papa Jack to just sitting around our dorm room watching sex and the city on our laptops was priceless to me. 

5. i especially miss blowing o's laying on our beds listening to the beatles.
6. The Roof - For five weeks, my classmates and I lived in a building called Funen (yeah, dutch isn't the prettiest language). it was summer vacation, so there were no other students and we pretty much had the entire building to ourselves. During the first week after a long night of beerpong we discovered that the roof had the most SPECTACULAR view. You could see the entire city from there! After awhile, I'd escape up there during sunsets (around 11pm) to write in my journal. it was so serene and so amazing. 

7. Beerpong - We played in the hallway of our apartment every school night for hours during the first half of our trip. haha. The guy on the left and 2 other guys would bring cartloads of cases home from the grocery store every couple of days, and the girl on the left prior to Amsterdam had never played beerpong in her life but was seriously a BOSS at the game. they didn't seem to sell red cups in the Netherlands so we had to play with tiny clear ones. 
8. The Red Room - Always good times in the red room. It was this room at the end of the hallway in our building used to store a vacuum, but for the 5 weeks that i lived there, i only saw the vacuum once. we did everything in there from typical amsterdam-ian activities (ahem, ahem), one on ones, a strange game night when kerri and lana came to visit, and i even locked myself in here to write papers. haha
9. The Waterhole - The most charming little pub in the city, if you ask me. Live music every night, usually 80's cover bands and 6 euro pints of beer. I was here at least twice a week with my classmates for happy hour. In the Netherlands, you have to pay 50 euro cents to just go to the bathroom (this REALLY adds up!) and we were here so often that I made a deal with the Moroccan guy in charge of the bathroom.. if he let me pee for free, i would dance with him next time. hahaha. it never happened, but i got a lot of free bathrooms!

10. The Art - not just the art, mostly the inspiration. since i've gotten back, i haven't had the urge to write or sketch anything. I found this one on the steps outside of a christian church that was shut down because the neighborhood it was located in had a bigger population of muslims, so its services were no longer being attended. makes you think, right?

everyone should study abroad at least once in their life. its worth it, i promise.