Amsterdam!

I was originally supposed to meet my friend, Eileen, in Amsterdam. I landed at the airport after my three hour flight, turned on my phone, and there were texts and messages from Eileen saying how she had missed her flight and wouldn't be able to make it to Amsterdam. I panicked at first. I called my mom who didn't pick up, texted my friends for advice, and walked around the airport aimlessly, deciding if I wanted to just get the next plane back to Rome. After all, I was in a totally new city, where people speak a different language and all of the signs have strange words on them. But I decided to stay and it was the best decision!

I found my bus and hostel successfully and headed to the Anne Frank House, which was the top site on my list. I waited in line for about an hour, but it was not so bad. I talked to the people in line, who were very nice. Plus the Anne Frank House has free wifi for people standing in line. The Anne Frank House was amazing. It was so powerful and emotional. It was so strange seeing the place described in Anne Frank's diary. It really made me realize that Anne was a real girl, living here in these rooms behind a bookcase, and not just a character in a book. There is no furniture inside the house because they want the emptiness to remind people of the void left by the Jews. 

The church next to the Anne Frank House

After going on a sub-par canal cruise with a bunch of rowdy Portuguese teenagers, I walked around Amsterdam and headed back to my hostel. 

The next day, I went on a walking tour and met more nice people. We walked through a lot of Amsterdam, which is not too big of a city. We saw the Red Light District, which is very interesting. There's a church right in the middle of it.

We also saw the former headquarters of the Dutch East India Company.

Amsterdam is the perfect city to just walk around. All of the buildings are so pretty. We learned that the canal houses actually lean forward so they can move the furniture up to the higher floors since the staircases are so steep. The can hoist the furniture up and the houses lean forward so it doesn't hurt the walls or windows.

This is a shopping mall, but still a cool building

We saw the thinnest house in Amsterdam. The width is shorter than the height of the owner.

I didn't get to see the tulips, but apparently they aren't blooming yet anyway. We passed some on our walk, though.

I also tried some Dutch food, like Dutch pancakes, the fries, and a croquette (which was described to me as deep-fried beef stew).

I later went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was fantastic! Since the museum is closed, I went to the exhibit in the museum where his works had been moved. I saw some of the famous works by Van Gogh and also some beautiful ones that I had not seen before. It was very interesting to go through the life of Van Gogh and see how his style evolved.

Later, I went to dinner and walked around Amsterdam. There was a carnival in Dam Square, so I went on the ferris wheel to get a view of the city from above. It was definitely worth it, just for the view of the palace.

Amsterdam was a beautiful city and totally different from anything I had seen before. I would love to go back and explore it more one day. I suppose my love of Amsterdam is also influenced by my favorite author, John Green. Here's a video of him traveling to Amsterdam:

This was my first time travelling completely by myself and it went well! It was a little lonely on the first day before I had met anyone, but after that it was fine. I met nice people from all over the world - Germany, France, Scotland, Canada, Hungary, Togo, Japan, Finland, England, China, Korea, Spain, and Argentina. I practiced my Spanish! If I had travelled with someone else, then I probably would not have talked to nearly as many people.

Mom's Visit and Venice

For Spring Break, my mom came to visit! It was a lot of fun and I loved showing her around Rome.



We went to St. Peter's and actually attended Mass there, which was very nice. We walked around St. Peter's and saw the Pieta and the tomb of St. Peter.

We also went to the Catacombs of San Callisto. I had not been to the catacombs in Rome yet and it was interesting to compare them with the ones we saw in Naples. In Rome, the catacombs are less spacious and we saw less frescoes. It was still very interesting, though. The catacombs are near the Via Appia, so we walked over to find the beginning of the original Via Appia.

We also visited the Vatican Museums. It was so crowded in the museums! It was very cool to see all of the artwork, including the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel was very beautiful. It is hard to believe that just recently the conclave was meeting in there. When we visited, it was full of visitors and guards who kept telling people to be quiet and stop taking photos.

The entrance to the Vatican Museums

I gave a presentation on this statue, the Laocoon, for one of my classes. It really is an amazing piece.

School of Athens

The staircase at the end of the museum

We also went to the Palazzo del Quirinale (the residence of the Italian president), the Colosseum, the Forum, the Palatine Hill, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and the Spanish Steps.

At the Roman Forum

Trevi Fountain

My mom and I also went to Venice. Venice is absolutely beautiful! It was still cold when we went and while it was sunny when we arrived, it rained during the next day. We walked around Venice and went to Murano, an island known for its glass.

We returned to Rome on Good Friday and went to the Via Crucis with the Pope at the Colosseum. Unfortunately, my mom's phone was stolen on the subway, but we were able to see most of the stations. The Colosseum was lit up with candles and there was a cross lit up also across from the Colosseum. It was a very impressive sight. Because the meditations were written by two people from Lebanon, we saw a lot of Lebanese flags.

On Saturday, we had planned to go to Easter Vigil at St. Peter's, but after waiting in line for four hours in the rain, we did not get seats. We decided to go out to dinner and buy a big chocolate egg. It was nice to just have a calm night since my mom was leaving early the next morning.

It was so nice to have my mom here and show her where I've been living for the past couple of months. But we saw a lot of Rome and Venice and ate some good food. It was sad to see her go, but I'll be home at the end of May. It is hard to believe that I am more than halfway through the semester!