Amsterdam

This past weekend I went to Amsterdam to visit Andrew and did all the typical touristy activities. We visited many of Andrew's favorite coffee shops and bummed around the Red Light District for a bit. The weather there was wicked cold, but we still rode bikes everywhere. When I got into Amsterdam Central Station, I immediately bought a bike and Andrew and I took off to his place. For most of my weekend there we rode around and he showed me the city. At night we went to many of Andrews hangouts with his friends from school. One night we even went to a Spanish girls birthday party with all her spanish friends (guess I went to Amsterdam to hang out with more spanish people). We went to the Anne Frank House and on a canal tour for 10 euros each that we immediately got off of because it was terrible. There was a light festival at night, which was pretty sweet. The best tourist attraction was the Heineken Experience where we got double the drinks because the guy at the desk was a nice guy who apologized for us waiting behind an annoying Dutch tour group. Throughout my weekend there, I ate a bunch of Stroopwafel and tried raw herring which was subpar. I tried to extend my trip because when I booked it I didn't realize I would essentially be done with school, but it was too expensive. It was a nice safe trip compared to Lisbon and I had a great time. I have 10 more days in Madrid and then am off to Rome to meet up with Andrew and his friend from home. It's crazy than in a little over two weeks I'll be wrestling twice a day, while being jetlagged, trying to unpack my stuff from storage  and trying to drop weight. I am still planning a few excursions around Spain including maybe Salamanca, Granada and a quick train ride over to another royal palace in Aranjuez. Got to get back to studying for my tests for tomorrow and Friday. Barack never blogged haha
Joey

El Escorial y Valle de los caídos

Friday I missed the excursion to San Antonio de Florida in exchange for researching and writing my econ final paper that was due that midnight and was 60% of my grade. It was a little stressful but went well. Saturday I got up early to head over to El Escorial. There we checked out a huge monastery where all the kings of Spain and their families are buried. Then we had huge steaks for lunch and hopped on the bus for 15minutes to the 'Valley of the Fallen' where Fransisco Franco is buried. Despite the cold, it was a very cool place to check out for day on our last program excursion. I have finals this week in my Cursos Estudios Hispanicos and then will have one class left that ends in a couple weeks. Thursday I leave in the afternoon for Amsterdam to visit Andrew Cohen and Ilir is tagging along now on a last minute. It should be a good weekend to celebrate the end of finals and get ready for the home stretch of the semester abroad. 3 weeks left and going to make them count.