By: Jordayn Bunnell
Today we had the trip to Amsterdam. I had to get up extra early to be at the train station in Greven on time. That meant waking up at 6:45. When I came down for breakfast after I had finished getting ready, my host father was sitting at the table waiting for me with the keyboard of his computer at his fingertips. I sat down to a bowl of Special K. After a warm greating, my host dad turned the computer and showed me the weather for Amsterdam. Rain. Oh great!! I looked out the window and saw that it was sunny in Greven. So, of course I decided not to bring any rain gear. Out the door we went at about 7:25 to catch the train.
The train ride was quiet because most of us managed to sleep. We switched trains about three times. It doesn't bother me any more, I'm starting to get used to it, finaly. After about three hours, we arrived in Amsterdam. When we got off the train and walked down into the station some how Amber and I got the privelage to find the tourist information center... We walked outside and there it was, the rain.
Though we were in a whole new town and country, Amber and I managed to find it after about twenty minutes of searching for signs and maps. After all of the information was figured out, we all had time to walk around for about an hour before our tour started. Kathryn and I went to the main street with all of the tourist shops. I bought an I <3 Amsterdam shirt and some gifts for my family. We were so hungry and we only had about fifteen minutes left until we needed to be back for our tour. The only thing we found that was quick enough was McDonalds... It was so expensive and discusting. I wish we would have gotten some authenic food. We ran to the meeting point and waited for the tour guide.
Still raining, we started our tour. The guide seemed like a really nice guy. He was friendly and very outgoing. We saw some canals and some houses along the river. We went right through the Red Light District, and that was very interesting.. We saw churches and many cafes. About half way through it really started raining and most of us got really wet. The tour went on though. It was very hard to listen and focus but I tried my hardest. The guide let us stop and get some umbrellas but they were so expensive so I didnt buy one.
Once the tour finished up we all had time to go walk around and shop or eat. Since I was very distracted by the rain it was hard to find my way around the town. Thankfully we found some shops and places to get food. I was so cold by this time and wet. I really just wanted to cuddle in a bed. So, for next time I know that I really should be prepared and bring an umbrella and a rain coat even if the weather looks nice because you never know for sure.
Jake, Kathryn and I shopped around for about an hour and found that we were really tired so we went into the train station to get warm. I found a Starbucks right away. I was so happy, I got a large hot chai. Finally, a coffee shop that I can go into :)
We sat there in the train station for a while and found that we needed to meet back at our meeting point because we were about to leave. Frau Gierke almost lost her passport and that was super scary but thankfully she found where it was. So we got on the train and again, I was super tired. I tried to sleep for a bit, but everyone else was very loud. So instead we all talked and just listened to music the whole way home. We arived in Greven at about 10:30 pm. Monique was at the station waiting for me. We dropped Kathryn off at her house and came home and I went right upstairs and went to bed. I couldnt wait to get up at 7 again the next morning :)
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