Reunited in the Red Light District

Since Drea, Em and I have decided to study abroad we always joked about meeting up in Amsterdam for Spring Break...well we made it happen! We threw our own spring break weekend over St. Patty's Day. Emily came on a 12 hour train ride, Drea spent 10 hours in airports and flying and I spent 6 but we made it there finally! Drea and I met up in the airport and headed to our hostel where we waited for Em and Jared to get there. Finally at 10:30 they got there! We spent our first night catching up, hit the club recommend by our favorite receptionist and ended the night at the hot dog stand of course!

Reunited!!

The club 

How can you go wrong with a hot dog that looks like that!

Our second day we spent is exploring the city and dodging bikes. I've never seen so may bikes in my life! Our first stop was to find lunch Mexican of course was our first option but unfortunately it didn't open until 5 so we had to settle for some hamburgers and fish. No meal is complete without dessert so we stopped at the Ben and Jerry's shop for a waffle and ice cream. Delicious! After eating until we were content we headed towards our first stop Anne Frank's house. On the way we got to walk along all the canals and take in the scenery. Inside Anne's house we got to see where her father worked and how it led up to the Secret Annex where the Franks, the Van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer stayed in 500 square feet for 2 years and a month before they were discovered. Finally being able to see something that I've learned about since I was a child was remarkable. The Annex was set up just like when they lived there but without furniture. All the windows were blacked out just as they had to live. They were even able to preserve a penciled in growth chart and pictures Anne had cut out of magazines and posted on the walls. My favorite thing was the bookshelf that used to hid the entrance to the Annex. After leaving Anne Frank's house we experience some Amsterdam shopping before getting ready for our bar crawl. I because the typical tourist and got everything Amsterdamy. We got to meet some cool people and even some from the United States!

The canals  

The bookshelf hiding the entrance to the Annex 

We HAD to sign the visitors book 

All our my nice purchases :)

At the bar crawl! 

On St. Patrick's Day we dressed in our green attire and headed out! We hit up the IAmsterdam sign for a little photoshoot and to be reminded by every person walking by us that we were all wearing green pants. As if that's not normal on St. Patrick's day! We made our way to the Bulldog a well know coffee shop were we got chocolate space cakes and chocolate milkshakes! We walked around some more got souvenirs and made our way to a long awaited Mexican dinner! Unfortunately our trip had to end sometime. We all said goodbye and headed back to our countries but I loved being able to catch up with my friends! 

Our St. Patty's day attire 

The Bulldog Coffee Shop 

Emily comes the 20th of April to visit me and I just booked a weekend trip to Athens for the 26th of April!! I could definitely get used to this! 

I can't believe it's already been two months

 I've started missing foods from back home so Barrie and I had the brilliant idea to make some homemade cookies. Armed with only a recipe, shot glass, some mathematical equations and the ingredients Barrie and I try to tackle this challenge. With a little a improvising, surprisingly the turned out quite good and seem to be a hit with our friends. Barrie and I finally got our room all put together so it's starting to feel more and more like our place.

Our mathematical skills 

My side 

Barrie's side 

While I was here we got to celebrate our friend Matthias's birthday! We went to the girl's apartment in Avcilar to start the celebration with a couple of cakes and then we went to Taksim to celebrate. Our hourish journey there never had a dull moment! Who knew public transportation could be so much fun. Human tunnel anyone? We didn't end up getting home until 7 the next morning but it was definitely worth it! 

The birthday cakes. We added sprinkles for an American touch 

The group :) 

Look at the smile on that birthday boy!

One Tuesday afternoon Julia, Fabian, Dylan and Teyfik decided to head towards the Asian side of Istanbul to the Sapphire Tower, the tallest in Turkey. It offered great views of the city, we were even able to see part of the Black Sea! After freezing outside for awhile we warmed up inside for a 5D (didn't know there was such a thing) tour of Istanbul. It was complete with misting water, fake fish and air. Not going to lie it was pretty sweet. After we had dinner at a Turkish restaurant which was delicious. 

Julia and I 

Da boys 

852 Feet off the ground

Our super sweet glasses for our virtual tour 

On the weekend Ali planned a trip to Miniaturk, which has miniature models of the different landmarks and sights to see. Ever model contained all the intricate details that are found on the real things. I definitely now know all the places that I want to see in Turkey before I leave. After walking through Miniaturk we went next door to warm up and found a go-kart track! We had so much fun we ended up going on it twice. Although the second time they weren't so entertained when we started smashing into each other.

Barrie, Lore and I 

Our super cute hairnets 

The weather finally started to warm up so Julia and I decided to explore around our apartment, so we walked to the Marmara Sea. It was a long and steep walk down but it was worth it when we got there. The beach is filled with small shops and restaurants, we even found a place where you can swim when it gets warmer. We walked to beach and then warmed up by having some tea next to the beach. When it started to get dark we took a mini bus home although I wasn't sure we were going to make it home by the way he was driving. Minibus drivers are nuts!

My new favorite hangout  

:)

Can't wait to take these out!

The next day I got ready to head to Amsterdam to meet up with Drea and Em!! More posts coming.