Giant Massive Update Because I'm 3 weeks Behind: Part 2

The Week of November 17th

On Monday of this week we had our movement final. All semester, we have had movement for the actor which has been a struggle for me because I want to turn everything into dancing for the Tim. It's hard to ignore the training that you have beat into your body over a number of years just to do something totally different that is contra to everything that you have been taught. Additionally this week we had our last audition tutorial classes, which was actually so sad! My audition tutor was this stereotypically British lady who was so encouraging and warm. I'm probably going to miss her the most out of all of my teachers. 

On Tuesday of this week I saw the ballet company Rambert perform. This was very exciting, as they are one of the UK's oldest dance companies that was started way back in 1926. They have obviously grown and changed over the years, but seeing them perform proved that you can teach an old dog new tricks, and they are still kickin it and kickin it well after almost 90 years. Also on Thursday David and I saw King Charles III, a play about the hypothetical situation that Queen Elizabeth dies and Charles, her successor, goes crazy and abolishes Parliament. Is was very interesting to see characters like Will and Kate being portrayed on stage. Additionally I learned a great deal in this show about the complex relationship that exists between the crown and the parliament and how there are many people who have very mixed fixed feelings on whether or not the UK should have a queen. 

On Friday we left for a last minute trip to Amsterdam! Yep. A few weeks ago, some of us decided that we really wanted to visit Amsterdam, but we haven't had a weekend free to go yet, so we took advantage of this free weekend and went for it. 

So this is all of us before the 10 hour bus ride FROM HELL took place. We decided that it would be a good idea to take the National Express bus from London to Amsterdam because it was only £50 a person. The bus was overnight, and it was 10 HOURS. We didn't realize that we would't be able to sleep the whole way through because the bus went from London to Dover, then we had to get off the bus to get on a ferry, and then we drove 5 more hours from Northern France to Amsterdam. To top it all off, there was a super drunk and terribly trashy family that decided to start a bunch of drama on the bus by taking people's seats after we re-boarded to leave the ferry. God bless. 

We arrived in Amsterdam at 8 am on Saturday morning with little sleep, but ready to see some sights! 

Comin at you live from the Van Gogh Museum 

One of the million canal views that we saw 

House Boats are all the rage in Amsterdam

After checking out the Van Gogh Museum and taking some pictures of the canal we sort of wandered around Amsterdam half-asleep because of the bus ride, but still enjoyed taking good pictures and drinking lots of coffee. We also took a canal cruise at night to see the city all lit up, and did not regret that decision. 

Dam Square

After checking into our hostel (WHICH WAS A LITERAL HOTEL) we cried tears of joy to be sleeping in a real bed (good work, WOW Hostel). We then got up super early to get to the Anne Frank House. If you do not get there an hour before it opens, you can wait in line for up to 3 hours... so to avoid that we got our butts out of bed immediately. We got to see the sunrise amidst all of the canals on  our walk to the house. The Anne Frank House was probably my favorite thing that I did while in Europe. It is incredible to see the house and to feel the heaviness of her narrative. What really touched me was the fact that her bedroom in the annex still had the posters that she glued up. She was a 13 year old girl who put posters of movie stars on her bedroom walls. Something about that touched me very much. 

The line for the Anne Frank house at 10 am 

Following the Anne Frank house, we went to the Rijskmuseum that holds many of the Netherlands' great art works from the ages. The Dutch (umbrellaed under the Flemish) are known for their painting techniques. This museum is massive and takes hours to go through, so we took more of an abbreviated tour. It is also right by the "I amsterdam" sign... so of course we had to get some pics. 

The gang's all here- shout out to Julia for the photo cred

Rembrant's Night Watch

So conclusions about Amsterdam: 

Although I only spent about 36 hours in Amsterdam this is what I observed

• Everyone bikes places, the bike lanes are often as big as the car lanes, in addition, everyone is very trusting of their bikes' safety and people often leave them unlocked 
• A common misconception is that Amsterdam is all about weed and prostitutes. Most people do not realize that these things are kept in one part of Amsterdam, and the rest of the city is largely free of them. Don't let the red light district deter you from seeing the beautiful city that is Amsterdam
• Amsterdam is a very beautiful city that is full of complex history (like any other major European city)
• Dutch people are very friendly to tourists, and most people speak very clear English 

I hope that I get the chance to visit Amsterdam again in the future. I would love to see the Dutch country side (preferably not by overnight National Express bus though). Even though it was a hot mess getting here and back, it was still well worth it to see this city, and I only wish that I was able to take more trips like this while I was here. I guess I'll just have to come back!