Today, Tuesday, we had to pack up and leave our hotel in Rotterdam. We spent the morning in another small town called Breda, which is an outskirt of Amsterdam, and then we went on to Amsterdam and had the whole rest of the day! So, first we saw this building that looks normal except when you go in the "courtyard" it is this special experimental material that changes colors depending on the sun angle. Breda also has this cool shopping center/district that we went to see. It is different because on the ground floors is shopping and stuff and then on the upper floors is housing all with green roofs and bridges and stuff connecting them. It i
s really cool because until you go to the roof of the mall you have no idea there is any housing or green roofs here. P.S a green roof is just roof with grass or plants on it in case that was unclear. After we looked at this, we went and had lunch. Preston, Bhavika, Greg and I ate together and just got some warm sandwiches. By the time we were done with lunch, it was time to start heading back to the bus. Preston and I really wanted to try some chocolates so we ran to the mall and just picked out a random assortment and then went to the bus. We tried the chocolates and go figure every single one i picked tasted awful. Such a let down. Anyway, we got back on the road but stopped again at this furniture mall and complex around it. There was a futbol stadium, furniture mall, and new metro/train station that were all really cool. I liked the roof of the metro station because it was made out of these really clean looking wood slats. Then we got back in the bus and stopped one last time before getting to our "hotel" in Amsterdam. The last stop was an apartment complex done by MVRDV for elderly people. It was cool because the size of the cantilevered mass was huge without any columns for support. And, the back looks totally different than the front which was interesting too. Finally we got back in the bus and arrived
at our hotel in Amsterdam. Well, it turns out this "hotel" was actually a hostel. It wasn't bad but some people had some issues with it. For me it was awesome compared to the hoste bathroom. There was no basin that the shower was in, just an extension of the flat floor, and no shower curtain. So when you showered, the entire rest of the bathroom, including the toilet sel we stayed at in London. There were six of us in a room, but we got lucky and got one of the bigger rooms with a good view and small balcony. The only really crappy part about our room was that the bathroom had no distinction whatsoever between the shower and the toilet/rest of theat, was soaking. It was pretty nasty. Everyone got situated in our rooms and then met back downstairs to decide what to do with our free afternoon. We ended up meeting these two guys in the lobby who were from Seattle and had just graduated and were traveling across Europe for two months. They were really nice and happened to have been to places we are going to go, and still planning on going to places where we have already been so we ended up staying and talking for a while about different cities and such. Eventually we headed out to go see the city of Amsterdam. It's beautiful. One of my favorite cities I have been to. There are canals
everywhere! And "coffeeshops" everywhere too(places where you can buy and smoke marijuana, not drink coffee). The plan was to just catch a tram and ride it to the city center and then get off and just walk around. We did just that, but for some reason, half our group decided they needed to go with us, and be annoying and uptight the whole time. They were like, where are we going, what are we doing, wait, let me pull out my huge map and look at it. So, pretty soon after we got off the tram, we found a little carnival, and Preston, Bhavika and I wove in and out of crowds and lost the group! Haha, we needed some space. Later that night we learned that Sloan got his wallet stolen on the tram, so all his credit cards and also 150 euros. From then on, we all watched our bags very closely. Anyway, after we left the group, we found a little pub and sat and had some cider. what else! When we were finished with our drinks, it was about the time to eat some dinner so we were just wandering down some streets and we look in this bar/restaurant and sitting there are three of the other guys from our group. We went in and talked to them and decided to meet up in the square in an hour and a half. We went on
wandering and eventually found an italian restaurant to eat at. While we were eating, those same three guys walked by. How random? amsterdam is huge. So we finished our meal, and met them in the square. We decided to go to the red light district because it is ridiculous and unlike any other in the world. And, people say you have to go there, just to see what its like and then leave. So we went. We didnt exactly know where we were going, so we got a little lost and i had to go into a hotel and ask how to get there. talk about embarrassing, i couldnt stop laughing. With the directions, we made it to the red light district and believe me, you can't miss it. Literally the whole street on both sides is full of windows lined with red lights and in these windows are women with very little clothing on dancing and trying to get "work" from the men on the streets. It is quite disturbing, and I kept my eyes down as much as possible without running into people. It is like that because in Amsterdam not only is smoking weed legal, but prostitution is as well. After we walked down the street, we went and sat in another bar and chilled and talked. Then we just headed back to the hostel and went to sleep.
s really cool because until you go to the roof of the mall you have no idea there is any housing or green roofs here. P.S a green roof is just roof with grass or plants on it in case that was unclear. After we looked at this, we went and had lunch. Preston, Bhavika, Greg and I ate together and just got some warm sandwiches. By the time we were done with lunch, it was time to start heading back to the bus. Preston and I really wanted to try some chocolates so we ran to the mall and just picked out a random assortment and then went to the bus. We tried the chocolates and go figure every single one i picked tasted awful. Such a let down. Anyway, we got back on the road but stopped again at this furniture mall and complex around it. There was a futbol stadium, furniture mall, and new metro/train station that were all really cool. I liked the roof of the metro station because it was made out of these really clean looking wood slats. Then we got back in the bus and stopped one last time before getting to our "hotel" in Amsterdam. The last stop was an apartment complex done by MVRDV for elderly people. It was cool because the size of the cantilevered mass was huge without any columns for support. And, the back looks totally different than the front which was interesting too. Finally we got back in the bus and arrived 
at our hotel in Amsterdam. Well, it turns out this "hotel" was actually a hostel. It wasn't bad but some people had some issues with it. For me it was awesome compared to the hoste bathroom. There was no basin that the shower was in, just an extension of the flat floor, and no shower curtain. So when you showered, the entire rest of the bathroom, including the toilet sel we stayed at in London. There were six of us in a room, but we got lucky and got one of the bigger rooms with a good view and small balcony. The only really crappy part about our room was that the bathroom had no distinction whatsoever between the shower and the toilet/rest of theat, was soaking. It was pretty nasty. Everyone got situated in our rooms and then met back downstairs to decide what to do with our free afternoon. We ended up meeting these two guys in the lobby who were from Seattle and had just graduated and were traveling across Europe for two months. They were really nice and happened to have been to places we are going to go, and still planning on going to places where we have already been so we ended up staying and talking for a while about different cities and such. Eventually we headed out to go see the city of Amsterdam. It's beautiful. One of my favorite cities I have been to. There are canals
everywhere! And "coffeeshops" everywhere too(places where you can buy and smoke marijuana, not drink coffee). The plan was to just catch a tram and ride it to the city center and then get off and just walk around. We did just that, but for some reason, half our group decided they needed to go with us, and be annoying and uptight the whole time. They were like, where are we going, what are we doing, wait, let me pull out my huge map and look at it. So, pretty soon after we got off the tram, we found a little carnival, and Preston, Bhavika and I wove in and out of crowds and lost the group! Haha, we needed some space. Later that night we learned that Sloan got his wallet stolen on the tram, so all his credit cards and also 150 euros. From then on, we all watched our bags very closely. Anyway, after we left the group, we found a little pub and sat and had some cider. what else! When we were finished with our drinks, it was about the time to eat some dinner so we were just wandering down some streets and we look in this bar/restaurant and sitting there are three of the other guys from our group. We went in and talked to them and decided to meet up in the square in an hour and a half. We went on
wandering and eventually found an italian restaurant to eat at. While we were eating, those same three guys walked by. How random? amsterdam is huge. So we finished our meal, and met them in the square. We decided to go to the red light district because it is ridiculous and unlike any other in the world. And, people say you have to go there, just to see what its like and then leave. So we went. We didnt exactly know where we were going, so we got a little lost and i had to go into a hotel and ask how to get there. talk about embarrassing, i couldnt stop laughing. With the directions, we made it to the red light district and believe me, you can't miss it. Literally the whole street on both sides is full of windows lined with red lights and in these windows are women with very little clothing on dancing and trying to get "work" from the men on the streets. It is quite disturbing, and I kept my eyes down as much as possible without running into people. It is like that because in Amsterdam not only is smoking weed legal, but prostitution is as well. After we walked down the street, we went and sat in another bar and chilled and talked. Then we just headed back to the hostel and went to sleep.
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