Yogurt and seeds for breakfast again (it's so damn good). I also had a crepe with jelly and fried potatoes.
After breakfast I ran to the room and packed for the weekend in Amsterdam! I checked the weather and it was looking nice! I grabbed 2 tank tops, long jeans, 2 socks, my toothbrush and retainer, deodorant, and kindle plug. That's it. No underwear or pajamas apparently. I packed like shit but at least it all fit in my bag alright. Maria over packed I think (she says she doesn't over pack since she uses everything she packs) but she fit in all in her backpack.
We got on the bus at 8 and went back to school. Except not really. We were on campus (I think?) but we were in a brand new building that had been finished a couple weeks ago. This was Aalen's Innovation Center. We got a tour of the building and it was a little boring. Maybe I just wasn't feeling the whole "learning" thing today. I just wanted to leave for Amsterdam. But if I was interested I would say the building was very cool!
We were taken to a simulation room where they work with people who have disabilities to help them drive cars.
They're going to be building another stimulation room, but instead of a roadway it will look like a grocery store. It's to help people who can't turn their heads side to side see behind them, or what I gathered.
The building smelled nice. I love new building smell.
Then we walked to the main campus where we had a lecture on change. I didn't want to go to anymore school stuff, I just wanted to go to Amsterdam.
The lecture was informative but I thought the overall feeling made me bummed out. No one else agrees. They thought it was upbeat and great. Maybe because my workplace is going through some changes now the lecture made me anxious to return to work next week.
Our group split and half of us went into town. Maria and I had an hour before we had to catch the train. We all went to the Turkish Subway place again. Their sandwiches are pretty good.
I'm eating lamb, stop calling me a vegetarian
Then Maria and I departed for our own adventure. Amsterdam! Nearly everyone else is going to Lake Constance. Also, everyone is a wee bit nervous about us two going to Amsterdam. I think they forgot we've been doing this travel on our own thing for the past week.
We got to the station and reserved seats. It was cheap, 9 euros. Our first train didn't take reservations and that was fine because we had found seats without a problem.
We had to get off the train an hour and a half later. Here we had an hour layover and Maria and I got ice cream. I had a pretty pink raspberry Magnum and she had an espresso Magnum. We were both happy and cheery. That ice cream was good.
Then we got on our next train! This one had reserved seats and we were in a private compartment like in Harry Potter. We fell asleep.
Our next layover was 5 minutes. That was intense. We thought we saw our train pull away but it turns out all the trains were running late. The one to Amsterdam had to change gates at one point. We finally boarded 30 minutes after it was to leave.
This train was very crowded and I didn't give a damn because I had my reserved seat. Every seat was taken and Maria wanted to hang back by the doors like we have been back in our hobo train days. I said no, we had reservations and I would just kick anyone in our seats out.
"They won't speak English." She pointed out.
I retorted, "Then I'll pull out your mace and ask if they speak that." Maria brought mace along. I don't know what to make of that.
I found our seats and was polite to the people in them. They were confused and tried to argue with me and I wasn't having any of it. They left and I got my seats. I'm awesome.
This train ride was so boring. It was slow and we kept stopping on the tracks because of tech issues or something. They have speakers and tell us what's going on but with the accent and poor audio quality and monotone voice, I hear about every third to ninth word.
Holland is the prettiest country we've drove through I believe. We see lots of canals and windmills, it's all very classic and picturesque of what you imagine the country to be.
We got off in Amsterdam train station around 9 at night. I stopped by an information desk and asked how to get to the hotel. The guy was worthless and kinda pissed me off. I asked how much for a taxi and he said 20 euros. I left and went to another information desk and asked the same questions. This lady was much more helpful and told me don't take a taxi, they'll take advantage of you. She said we should take the tram. I had my iphone maps working and decided we would get off halfway to where the tram went and we would have to walk the rest of the way to the hotel.
Their train station is pretty
The hotel is kinda far away. Maria kept apologizing for reserving a hotel so fucking far outside of this city. I get anxiety when I travel and I can't listen to people complain or be sorry about their mistakes. I told her what's done is done, don't bring it up again (no forgiving, just moving on).
Maria and I had been really excited and cheerful this morning but that's nearly all gone now. Now we're back to being annoyed with each other. She's already talking about when she wants to leave Amsterdam and wishes we hadn't come (since everyone else in our group is hanging out together) and we were arguing about it several hours ago on the train here. She wants to leave early Sunday morning. I don't want to go back to Aalen where it's boring and our hotel is a 1 hour walk away from anything. So I want to leave Amsterdam Sunday night and be back early Monday morning.
Maria hates that idea and I think she's being selfish. She can't give me a reason for leaving so early Sunday morning. Finally she asked me a bit rudely "What's in Amsterdam anyways? Do you even have anything planned?"
Instead of telling her the art museums I wanted to go to and the Anne Frank House and the foods I wanted to try and the canal rides and the shopping, I said something mean back. "Why the fuck do you want to go back to Aalen? There's nothing there." And I knew I was right and won but she retorted back, the little stinker.
"There's people." She spoke to me like I was an idiot. I had played Cupid too well these past few evenings.
"And there's no one in Amsterdam?" I asked her like she was an idiot. She shut down and didn't speak to me until we got off the train.
Anyways, bitches be crazy. She apologized for booking a hotel in the middle of nowhere and I didn't want to hear it. I was a little pissed about the hotel situation and it took us a while to get there because we got confused and lost a couple times.
Eventually, however, we found our hotel.
Hello home for the next day
We checked in and the guy at the counter was very nice. He gave us a map and gave us directions to all the places I had planned. He asked what we liked doing and I said eating (I got priorities). He asked what kind of food. I said fries with mayo. He said we should go to this one place and that it was excellent. Now I'm pumped for tomorrow! Hopefully our room isn't too bad...
I'm a tired girl.
We had trouble finding our room. I got troubles. We found it and it is actually very nice.
Not bad, not bad.
It was more than not bad. This is the nicest hotel we've stayed at this entire European vacation. And the wifi was fast and efficient, just like German engineers. The only downside to this hotel is the location. I would rather stay in a dinky little hotel in the heart of Amsterdam than this very nice one a two hour walk away from the downtown.
Not packing pajamas wasn't a big issue. I could sleep in my dress.
While Maria Skyped with her family (they talk every day and text constantly), I tried to text my family and no one responded. Maria was doing the whole "I love you!" to her family and I kept checking my phone to see if anyone texted me back. It didn't make me sad, but I do feel less loved than Maria. Maybe when I get back to boring Aalen I will eat me some cool American Doritos, gummy bears, lemon and apple jellies, and German chocolate. We'll see how much my family loves me when I tell them I ate all their gifts.
I got yesterday and todays posts up. While I was typing I was a little dizzy. I expected it with the 9 hours of train time. I'm glad I don't get sick. I can stay dizzy forever but must say no to throwing up. When you're sitting down it's just swaying.
I went to bed at 2. The beds are comfy.
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