Katie's Tour Diary!!!

Day 1: Mom, Dad, and Lib saw me off at the airport. I didn’t even cry. The flight was rather uneventful. I slept a combined total of 45 minutes, so I was super tired by the time we finally got to Amsterdam. We hopped on a bus and took a tour of the city. We went to a farm and saw a guy make cheese and wooden shoes. Then we went to a diamond cutting place and saw lots of expensive jewelry. I got to try on a lot of rings worth several thousand dollars and it was lots of fun. I ate lunch at a café in the heart of the city. Then I walked around the city for a bit and strolled through the red light district. The fountain in the shape of a penis squirted me in the face. All of the ladies just stand in their window fronts in their underwear waiting for someone to come. It was really kind of sad to watch. The people in Amsterdam all ride bikes. There are bike lanes on every street. Apparently they have the right of way too, because they’ll run into pedestrians if you walk in front of them. They don’t even slow down. None of their bikes have gears because it’s so flat there. And the canals are beautiful. They’re all over the city. Wait until you see my pictures. The places to smoke pot are called coffee houses. I walked in one but didn’t purchase anything. Finally we walked back to the hotel for dinner, where we were served some kind of ambiguous meat rolls. I respectfully declined to eat them. Then I was fast asleep by 9.

Day 2: I woke up early and headed out to the Amsterdam flower auction. There are 100 football fields worth of flowers there and they’re all so beautiful and perfect. I bought tulip bulbs but they have since disappeared. I think someone must’ve thought they were trash or something. Then we went to take a tour of the airport cargo area. It sounds boring but it was actually kind of cool. I got to hold a day old chick that was being shipped to Nigeria. I’ve decided that we need to have a chick as the apartment pet next year. After lunch I went to the Anne Frank museum. It was kind of eerie to be there in her hiding space. Definitely a cool experience. Then we went to a modern art museum that had some Van Gogh’s in it. It’s always so much better to see them in real life. Van Gogh really globbed the paint on. We ate dinner out at this pizzeria and I had a Heineken. I wasn’t particularly impressed but if you’re in Amsterdam it’s practically required that you drink a Heineken. Then we went walking through the red light district again because some of the people hadn’t seen it yet. There are a lot more half-naked ladies in the windows at night. After that we walked around some more and then went and had a drink at a café.

Day 3: Woke up early and headed to Bruges, which is in Belgium. It’s a town that hasn’t been changed since the 1500’s. We didn’t have much time there, so we just kind of wandered around and ate some chocolate. We had lunch at a café again. I think I just might live off of ham and cheese sandwiches. Then we headed off to Brussels. We didn’t get there until around 7, which was kind of sucky. I had bread and cheese for dinner. Mmmm…cheese. I also had this kick ass tart. Then we wandered the city. We ended up in their town square area. Apparently when someone is getting married they don’t give them a bachelor party. Instead, they dress them up in funny clothes and make them go around and do silly things. This one guy had a sign on him saying that he’d kiss you on the cheek for 20 francs, on the mouth for 50 francs, and with tongue for 100 francs. There are about 40 francs to the dollar. We convinced one of the girls to get him to kiss her on the cheek several times.

Day 4: I woke up at 6 to go to this open air market. Lots of a fresh fruit, vegetables, and flowers. Some man kept asking me to come back to his house with him at 3 that day. I just kept telling him it was too bad that I had to leave in an hour. He was pretty creepy. Then we headed back to the hotel because we had to be out by 8:45. We drove to Oostend, Belgium and explored the city a little. At last, we got on the boat to head over to England. It’s so windy up top. I got a wicked sun/wind burn. Then the coolest thing happened. A helicopter flew over the boat, maybe ten feet about my head. It hovered above the boat and they started lowering people down. They flew off and then came back again to pick the people back up. I think it was some kind of drill for their army. I’ve never been that close to a helicopter. We arrived at the white cliffs of Dover. Then we took a bus to Oxford. They got us pizza for dinner. For some reason they put corn on all their pizzas here. We explored the neighborhood a bit.

Day 5: We took a tour of the city, Jesus College (Oxford is made up of several different colleges), and the university union. I just did some exploring for the rest of the day. After dinner I met my Oxford teacher to find out about the class I’m taking. It’s going to be a beast. I already have a 1000 word essay due on Thursday morning at 8. We only meet for one hour every Thursday, but that means we have to be really well prepared. There are only three of us in there at one time. This Thursday I have to write that essay and be prepared to discuss/answer the other essay all by myself. Sounds pretty intimidating to me. I have a lot of reading to do. Then we went home and had a money counting party. They have so many coins here. The difference is that their coins are actually worth something so you can’t just leave them lying around. Plus, a ten pence coin can be either really big or really small. A coin of a particular value can have several different sizes.

Day 6: Classes began today. They’re 2 hours long, which is rough. My real estate teacher is from UGA and seems really cool. I don’t think that class will be too hard. We ate lunch at a pub that’s been open since the 1100’s. I had tomato soup and fries/chips. I’m not down with that sausage and mashed potatoes thing they serve at most pubs. We came back for a house meeting. I feel like I’m on the real world (by the way, how’s this season’s cast?). Dinner at the dining hall was okay. They serve you there and that’s a little weird for me. I think I’m going to head to London this Friday and spend the weekend there.