Seeing it all: Amsterdam

Amsterdam was so much fun! I think I might have to move to this city! They even have the gnarliest bikes ever! This was my ride for the day and let me tell you...This bike could cruise.

This was our host our first night in Amsterdam. He was just like everyone else there: very friendly, helpful, and he was also very laid-back.

I could seriously live in this place. I've never seen a city with near as many bikers, and it was a blast cruising around everywhere. I managed to make it the whole day without getting into any collisions, although one time I almost hit a lady on a bike when I decided to turn around without looking or signaling. haha.

We have no idea what this statue is but we were so excited to be in Amsterdam that we just needed to get a picture together.

Amsterdam was so pretty. It was green and had gorgeous parks!

Amsterdam was great. After one day I already felt like, you know what, *I AM AMSTERDAM* It was really easy to get comfortable in.

I am Sterdam!!!

This Skate park was in the middle of the City!

I loved visiting the hide out of Anne Frank. It was a very tender place. There were many things I learned from the quotes that were on the walls of the home. My favorite was by Otto Frank, Anne Frank's father, and only survivor. He said, "We cannot change what happened anymore. The only thing we can do is learn from the past and realize what discrimination and persecution of innocent people means. I believe that it’s everyone’s responsibility to fight prejudice”.This is something that I can work on. You can always be nicer. and always less judgmental. As Uchtdorf said, we just need to STOP IT, and if we do, many great things will happen in the world.

This was one of those photos that I didn't really know what to do, because it felt kind of awkward smiling in front of Anne Frank's house. It's was really moving to visit the house, see videos of people that knew her or that helped her, and to feel how real the holocaust really was. It hits me especially hard now that I have Jewish friends that I really love. It's horrendous what happened, and it's one of those things that we just have to remember and let it remind us of the how bad it is to discriminate and treat people differently just because of their religion or their race.

"One day this terrible war will be over. The time will come when we'll be people again and not just Jews!" - Anne Frank

Woohoo!! Look at those calves!

These fries were awesome. I had the peanut sauce on mine. yum!

Want some?

I won't lie. I haven't made many comments on a lot of the buildings because I can't remember what they are or why they are there. But they are sweet!

As a nutrition major, this is disgusting. I couldn't bring myself to buy one. This is hot and ready chicken sandwiches that you pay vending machine style.

While we ate there was some free volleyball that we watched.

We should all move here as a big happy family! Jackson would love it here!

Apparently there was a time when you couldn't be a Christian in Amsterdam, so they built a pretty good-sized church inside the second floor of a few connected houses so the outside looks normal, but the inside is a church.

We went almost the entire day without seeing some coffeeshops. When we were leaving amsterdam we talked to some kids that were pretty funny. They said they bought a huge joint for 4 euro in the morning, and it didn't do too much to them. So then later they bought another one and the kid was like "I don't know what the heck was in the middle of that joint. I thought I was gonna die" So they were riding around on their bikes totally high. haha.