Monday
This afternoon I enjoyed lunch with Emelie and her parents. I enjoyed a delicious pizza like crepe from the dutch pancake house near the centre.
I presented in class and it went really well. Afterwards to avoid rush hour I went to a place called the Grind with Riley and snacked on some almonds and did a little homework. I got to take a new route home, thanks to city mapper. I got off at Holloway Road Station and took the bus home. To top off the day I received a package from mom that included a journal I needed, super glue, and some candy. Thanks Mom!
Tuesday
Riley and I went to a new cafe called Banner’s. I liked the hash browns, though I probably won’t order them again. Before heading home I purchased a few christmas decorations for my dorm.
I decided to see the Fantastic Beasts Premiere set up and it was in Leicester Square so I walked through the christmas market set up as well. I also grabbed a ham and cheese crepe for lunch.
After class I took the tube with Kellie to Wembley Park for our soccer football game. England was playing Spain and the game was a blast! Spain scored in the last minute and then they tied it up in the added five minutes. One of the highlights of the game was when Jamie Vardy did the mannequin challenge after scoring a goal. Another highlight was someone started the wave and it went around 4 times!
Wednesday
Today marked 30 days until I return home, it’s crazy how time flies! This morning we took a quiz in Crucible (1 part was in a group, 1 part was individual). To make the quiz more bearable our professor provided us with snacks. He is awesome.
For lunch I decided to cross try Chicken Tikka Masala off my list. I picked some up with Emelie from Sainsbury’s and ate it at the centre. It was delicious, very tasty and so many good flavours. It went great with the rice.
Anna and I made tacos for dinner and it was a fun experience and they tasted almost like home. We didn’t have onion powder so we substituted using real onions cooked in the meat. I felt like a real adult problem solving that.
Thursday
Today was a bit of whirlwind. I packed for Amsterdam and headed to O2 to top up for travel data. It took all day to get it finalized because the worker was no help.
In art class we visited the National Portrait Gallery, which I enjoyed.
After class we hung out at the centre until we were supposed to leave, but I realized that I had forgotten my student visa in my dorm. So we rushed home, grabbed it, and some dinner to go that Kara (one of my flatmates) made. Emelie and I got checked in and boarded our 9pm bus to Amsterdam. We took a ferry across the English Channel this time which was very fun.
Friday
We arrived in Amsterdam, purchased transportation tickets (a two day ticket here is cheaper than single day ticket in London for all zones!), and dropped our things off at our hostel.
We had tickets for the Van Gough Museum at 11 am, so we enjoyed a Dutch pancake for breakfast at a cute cafe place called, Small Talk.
The Van Gough Museum was so fun. It was gorgeous and beautiful. My favorite was the Exhibition Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh. It had beautiful landscape paintings which I have realized are my favourite.
Afterwards we stopped by the I Amsterdam sign. It was very busy, but then it started raining/hailing so we escaped to a tourist shop and bought our souvenirs. Following that we found lunch at a place recommended to us, De Blauwe Hollander. We shared Stamppot, a traditional dutch dish that includes mashed potatoes with vegetables and a meatball (though you can have it other ways). It was delicious and tasty!
After lunch we went to Rembrandt’s House. It was very neat to see and we even got to see how paint was made back then.
We then waited in line for about an hour to go into the Anne Frank House. The house was moving to see in person. Getting to see and do all these cool things makes me incredibly grateful that I can have these experiences, even if sometimes it doesn’t even feel real.
To end the night we saw the pretty lights in Dam Square, walked around the red light district, and ate fries before heading back to the hostel.
Saturday
We ate at the Pancake Bakery for breakfast and I got my poffertjes 🙂
Then we strolled along the bloemenmarkt. Following that we took a canal tour. Amsterdam is beautiful and I loved seeing the Dutch architecture that I’m used to seeing at home. More pictures of Amsterdam will be on my Facebook.
For lunch we ate at another place recommended to us called Van Dobben. We had croquette sandwiches and they were delicious. Then we strolled through the Albert Cuyp market and had freshly made stroopwafels. I dropped my transport ticket, but thankfully found it! Then we made our way to Gassan Diamonds and enjoyed a lovely tour of their facilities and learned about the diamonds, we even tried some on.
We enjoyed one more street fry cone before we headed home by bus at 6pm.
This trip was short, but packed with fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. Sad it’s my last trip out of the country until I go home. It was a fabulous way to end my traveling adventures I’d say.
Sunday
Emelie and I arrived home at 4:30am and took an uber home where we immediately went back to bed.
When we woke up we went to the Hamley’s Christmas Toy Parade. It was a lot of fun. Then we went shopping at Liberty, Pull & Bear, a souvenir shop, and Primark. It was a fun morning. The only sad thing was that I lost my hat, last seen in the picture below.
After I wrote half my essay, Emelie and I went to dinner at Bull Gate in Kentish Town. We ate Sunday Roast and it was so filling and delicious!
Sorry for such a late update (I had an essay due Monday, needed to clean my room, and then had a theatre). I love sharing my stories and weeks, so thank you for always reading!
xoxo,
Adventurous Ally
Adventurous Ally 