Steep staircases, coffee shops, and a sea of orange

Finally!  My finals were complete, I said "hasta pronto" to Carlos III, packed up my life in Spain, hugged my senora goodbye, and embarked on what we have been calling Maycation. 

First stop-Amsterdam.

After yet another way too early plane flight, Emily, Olivia, Jessie, and I  landed in Amsterdam and found the apartment that we had rented right in the middle of the city.  This place was so cool.  The apartment belongs to a 20 something guy from Atlanta who lives in the building and rents the other place out.  After a slightly treacherous stair case, we found ourselves in a fully stocked place with a couch, beds, a tv, a playstation (ok, I don't know how to play but the idea was cool), left over snacks from the last visitors, and everything else that we could possibly need for our Amsterdam vaction.  A few blocks away, there was a carnival set up in honor of Queen's Day.  A few blocks the other way was the Red Light District.  Every store was selling orange, the color of Queen's Day.  We seemed to have arrived just in time to enjoy the festivities.  We wandered into the Palace, which was pretty different from the Spanish and French ones, but not overwhelmingly awesome.  Right outside of the palace doors was the carnival with some very tempting looking cotton candy.  But, before we started celebrating the former queen's birthay (not sure why, just go with it), we made a more solemn stop at Anne Frank's house where she and her family hid during the Holocaust.  If you've ever been to a Holocaust museum with me or tried to assign me a Holocaust book to read or kept me home from school on Yom Ha'Shoah, you know that I'm not the best at handling the horror of Europe's past.  The Anne Frank house, however, was very well done with a balance of history, her own quotes, and videos of her childhood classmates.  I found out that she always planned on writing a book about her time in hiding after the war, and I think it is incredible that her dream came to fruition, although tragic that she didn't get to see it.  Her father, the family's only survivor, found her diary and published it soon after.  It might be time for me to start reading.
After the museum, we meandered back to our apartment to prepare for erev Queen's Day.  Another group of friends from Berkeley/Madrid joined us and the 8 of us took to the streets.  We went on a very high up, very frightening, and VERY fun carnival ride, danced in a bar/club situation, and roamed the crowded city center.  It was merely a preview of the day ahead.  On Monday, the festivities were in full swing.  People dancing in the streets, vendors everywhere, and an overwhelming amount of orange.  Elle Woods would've been horrified, considering orange is not the new pink.  The day was intercepted by a nap, followed by dinner and some more wandering and fun.  Overall, Queen's Day was quite a success.

Then, we entered a more normal day in Amsterdam.  After much needed sleeping in, we made our way over to the famous Van Gogh museum.  Surprisingly, the streets were fairly clean considering the trashed nature of the previous day.  Something to be said for socialism...?  (Get me back to American democracy Europe is brainwashing me)  Anyway, the museum.  It's amazing how much art one man produced.  It's also super unfortunate that Van Gogh had such a depressing life.  Hopefully he knows how celebrated he is these days.  The museum was a very manageable size and was definitely worth a visit.  After fully taking in the post-impressionist glory, Jessie and I trecked across the street to a cocktail museum about this really old liquor company based in Amsterdam.  Pretty random but super fun.  And yes, you get to sample some very colorful and very pretty drinks.  Finally, we participated in the obligatory "take pictures with the huge Amsterdam sign."  Touristy and necessary.  That night we ate some delicious thai food, hung out a graffitti covered cafe, and chilled.  Another early trip awaited us the next morning.  I was sad to leave the fun and adorable city that is Amsterdam, but excited to continue on my 5 country adventure.  Sometimes I can't believe this is real life.