Amsterdam and Volendam

Hello! Long time no see. Last weekend (as in two days ago) I went back to Amsterdam. Apart from visiting Daniel, I really loved the city when I first went and plane tickets were fairly cheap, so I thought why not. This weekend was much more low key than the first time I visited because I had already done all of the touristy things like go to the Rijksmuseum and go on a canal cruise. However, this time we got the opportunity to go to the Anne Frank House, which I'm really thankful for. I was pretty bummed when I found out tickets were all sold out for the first time I was in Amsterdam.

This is the number one reason I came back to Amsterdam. To get a picture in one of these damn letter holes (since I can't climb them).

They set up an ice skating rink on Museumplein! It was really cool, but the skates were so dull that I kept sliding on the ice. Or maybe I'm just a bad ice skater...

You can tell that it wasn't cold enough for the ice to stay frozen

After that, we just walked around Amsterdam and window shopped.

FEBO!!! I LOVE FEBO. FEBO IS LOVE. I only got it twice this weekend but both times were so good. This is the fast food of the future. Taco Bell needs to get on this, pronto. If you didn't read my other post about Amsterdam, you basically choose what you want and put coins in the corresponding slots and then you get your hot, deep fried goodness. My favorite is basically a breaded and deep fried block of cheese. Now do you understand why I only got it twice?

The next day, we went on a day trip to Volendam, a neighboring city in the Netherlands. I actually discovered it on Instagram, and then I realized that it was so close to Amsterdam so I really wanted to go. The bus ride took like 35 minutes and cost 10 euros round trip.

Fried cod! It was so good and fresh. Minus the tartar sauce, which I really don't like. Funny story, when we ordered it the man put it out on the counter which was taller than my line of sight, so I couldn't see the container and just grabbed it and my thumb got covered in tartar sauce. At the time I just said "Ewwww", but I should have said "Tartar sauce!" Yeah? No? Spongebob reference? No one's laughing? Okay, I'll stop.

Volendam is the cutest city ever.

Swans! Not geese, but real swans!

    

The ice skating rink all lit up at night. Although I don't know why they bother if it's going to be closed...

So apparently, the Amsterdam Light Festival was going on while I was there, and I got to see some of the pieces of artwork that had been set up. The only thing is, it's not like a leisurely stroll to see all of them. They are widely spread out throughout the canals in Amsterdam, and if you want to see all of them, you have to either pay for a canal cruise that is specifically designed for that festival (as you can see in the above picture, you can't really see the lights unless you're up really close in a boat), or walk a LOT. So I didn't see a lot of them, but that's okay.

Another part of the Light Festival

For some reason, it never rains when I'm in Amsterdam. I've been there a total of ten days now, and it's only rained for a couple hours on ONE day. Can you believe that? Apparently it rains all the time there, and it's not just a light drizzle, it's a freezing torrential downpour. I guess I just got lucky.

Same. Except not really because I would hate to be famous

We went back to the Albert Cuyp Markt one more time because these Youtubers that we really love said they got the best stroopwafels there, but we walked up and down the market and couldn't find the stall. So I just bought a package of premade stroopwafels, but it just isn't the same...

Other than that and some things I didn't take pictures of (I was really lazy this weekend and the fact that I'd already been here contributed to me only taking 324 pictures. Can you believe that? ONLY THREE HUNDRED? To put that into perspective, I usually take around 700-1000 pictures when I go on a weekend trip...), it was a really nice, relaxing weekend away from Barcelona. If it came down to choosing between Amsterdam and Barcelona as a semi-permanent place to live, I would choose Amsterdam. But first, they need to get some better weather. Amsterdam with Barcelona's weather and Rome's food would just be too good to be true.

Other than working on my final assignments, I've been planning for my end-of-semester Europe trip, booking flights and bus rides and AirBNBs and all that. I will be flying to Prague to meet up with Daniel after leaving my apartment, and then we are going to Munich, Strasbourg for Christmas (home to the oldest Christmas market in France), Paris after that, and then London for New Year's. RIP bank account. After London, I'm flying back to Barcelona by myself to catch my flight home. I got myself an AirBNB (Seriously, thank GOD for AirBNB's existence. The best thing ever!!! It has saved me hundreds and hundreds of euros this semester) because my housing contract will be over by then, so I'll just be chilling and saying goodbye to my favorite places for two days before I leave. So yeah, I'm going to be pretty much running on caffeine and adrenaline when it gets to be around that time. But I'm still really, really excited! It's going to be really nice to just travel and not worry about school or anything for a while before going back to real life. Because at the end of the day, none of this is real life... or at least that's what I think.

I know finals week is quickly approaching back in College Park, so I hope my post was a decent study break. I have final exams/presentations/papers coming up as well, but I'd much rather be doing this than studying for a brutal biochem final like I did last semester. Good luck on your finals everyone! See you in January :)

Rome and Home

Hello! Today I'm posting some pictures from Rome, and about some of the touristy and not-so-touristy things Daniel and I did while we were there. I'm going to keep it brief, because there's more things I want to talk about afterwards.

We stayed in Trastevere, which is a neighborhood in central Rome, but across the Tiber river from all of the tourist attractions, so it's very quiet. It's also known as the restaurant district so we ate most of our meals there for really cheap, and they were DELICIOUS.

Our first full day, we went to the Vatican at about 9 in the morning. The first time I was in Rome with my family, we didn't buy tickets online (WHY MOM??? WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO US) and we had to wait outside for 2.5 hours in that blistering hot Roman summer sun. It was awful. But no, I refused to do that to Daniel and myself again (even though it's not hot anymore) so we bought tickets online and just walked right in.

St. Peter's Basilica! This was taken while standing in line. It's super long but it moves pretty quickly, plus you can't complain about that free entry. However, if you want to do the dome climb, you have to pay. It's 6 euros to take the stairs and 8 euros to take the elevator.

We took the stairs... it was much more difficult than I anticipated. I had to take multiple breaks haha

Overlooking the Vatican museums

This is the view I've been waiting for! It's the picture that goes on all the Rome postcards!

Do I even have to caption this picture? Also, Daniel, if you're reading this, you look very cute in this picture

An awesome feature of our AirBNB was that they gave us vouchers for breakfast at a nearby cafe, so we were able to do this every morning for free! Shoutout to Pietro.

The last thing we did in Rome was go to the Porta Portese flea market. It's named after Porta Portese, one of the old city gates of Rome. It's also in Trastevere, so we walked through it on the way to the train station to go back to the airport. I totally skimped on the pictures in this post, but there are more on Facebook and on my instagram if you're really that interested. We eventually made it to the airport, but then we had to wait in the ridiculously long security line. They had amped up the security checks because of Paris, and I really thought I was going to miss my flight. I started seriously freaking out and once we got through security we BOOKED IT for our gates. In the end, it didn't even matter because my flight was delayed...

But Gyyoung, why is this post called "Rome and home"? Because, my friend, I'm also writing about the things I have come to really miss about good old Maryland. I'm also going to write about some things that I know I will miss once I'm back in the United States. I only have a few weeks left in my semester here, so I've started to contemplate things like that more often.

What do I miss from home?

1) KOREAN FOOD. Oh god, Korean food, how I miss you. So delicious and abundant and (relatively) healthy. I will never again take my mom's cooking for granted. This is, in fact, the longest time I have been away from Korean food in my ENTIRE life, and I hope I never have to do it again.

2) Chain restaurants, namely, Chipotle. I miss Chipotle SOOOOO much. I could list so many more... Blaze, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Cafe Rio... it never ends. I guess what I miss is being able to hop in my car, go through the drive-thru, get my food, and be back at home in less than twenty minutes. Plus, take-out is a new concept in Europe, and only a handful of restaurants actually offer it. If you want to eat out, you gotta commit to finding a place, going all the way over there, and sitting down for a 1.5-2 hour meal. But I guess that just shows that I'm not made for the relaxed, take-it-slow lifestyle that Spaniards are accustomed to. I want my food now! And I possibly want to eat it at home while watching Netflix!

3) Spicy food! Yeah, I know, all I've mentioned are food-related things... I just love food. But yeah, the Spanish don't have the word "spicy" in their culinary vocabulary. You would think so, right? Wrong. Turns out it's just a Central/South American thing. I have yet to have anything spicy in Barcelona, and when it is spicy, it's Mexican or Cuban. I kid you not, I had to ask my mom to bring me a Costco sized bottle of crushed red pepper flakes because you just cannot easily access that stuff here. It was the funniest thing when she was like "Alright, here's the stuff you asked for... your favorite lipstick that you left in your room... some more socks... some deodorant... and.... crushed red pepper flakes...."

4) Which brings me to my next point, I really miss American grocery shopping. It's just not the same here. There is no such thing as Costco here. Even the Safeway in Olney would seem enormous to Europeans. Also, I cannot wait until I'm back home and my parents do the grocery shopping and I just wake up one day and there's magically more food in the fridge. 

5) I really miss driving. I feel like when it comes to driving, it's either something you just do, or something that you LOVE to do. I am one of the latter. For me, driving to a place is just as enjoyable as the place itself, whether it's the mall or someone's house, etc.

6) TV! I haven't watched TV in forever. I'm seriously behind on all my shows! Grey's Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder (although people have been telling me that the second season is bad...) etc. I'm just really glad Game of Thrones is coming back when I'm back in the US. Not that it really matters because I watch that online anyway... I also miss Food Network.

7) Free water with meals... there is no such thing here. On the other hand, there's no tipping here, either. You win some, you lose some!

Alright, now what will I miss about Barcelona/Europe?

1) The food. I'm just gonna list all the food items I'm going to miss that I can think of right now...

Patatas bravas (Spain)

Milka products, especially the oreo chocolate bar (Europe)

Real stroopwafels (Netherlands)

Paella (Spain), although I'm determined to learn how to make it

2) Accessibility. It's so easy to get anywhere because the public transport in every city is extensive and affordable. I'll take any chance I get to stick up a big middle finger at the DC Metro. I've definitely gained weight, but my legs are much stronger than they were a few months ago because of all the walking and stair climbing I do now.

3) Independence. This is the most self-sufficient I've been in a long time. It was terrifying at first but now it's kind of nice.

4) How easy it is to pay for your meals as a group. They come to your table with the credit card reader, and if you want to pay cash you just give them your money, but if you want to pay with a card you just give your cards to them and tell them how much to charge on each one. That way people can split the bill but still use their card and not have to Venmo each other any owed amounts! It's awesome.

I think it's obvious that I miss more things about the US right now... but I'm sure that when I'm back, I'll start to think of more things that I miss.