CANAL CITY: Amsterdam, Netherlands

If you ask any student studying abroad or traveling in Europe what one of their favorite places they've seen is, I swear they say Amsterdam EVERY TIME! And for good reason... I can't describe this quaint city any other way than by saying it seems to be out of some fairytale.

Amsterdam Canals

My FIRST recommendation for a day in Amsterdam is to walk through the center of the city at your leisure and take in the beauty of the canals and old architecture! The canals were originally built during the Golden Age in order to improve the infrastructure of Amsterdam and allow for the city to expand; they made the city approximately 4x larger and were declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 2010. Many of the canal-front houses were also made into national monuments, restricting the people that live there from making any drastic changes to the house. Some houses still have giant metal hooks protruding from the roof from the times when people used to hang a rope over the hook and send it down to be tied to furniture which was then pulled up. They needed to get the furniture into the house this way because the houses were built too tall and narrow to attempt bringing it up through the stairs (this method is still in use, I witnessed a Dutch mover doing it and I said "Crap, they still use the ropes to haul furniture up there?" under my breath, and he said "Yep we do! Wanna give me a hand!?").

NEXT recommendation is to wander through all of the beautiful museums. I honestly felt like I saw a museum on every corner -- the one's I visited were the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, and the Museum of Prostitution. The Anne Frank House is also a must see but we couldn't get tickets ahead of time, although there are new tickets released on the website each hour when people sometimes don't show up for their time slot. Amsterdam is rich with history and it's amazing to walk through the Rijksmuseum and see that history unfold through the progression of art and sculpture. Learning about the strong presence of prostitution in the city was also fascinating... there are 15 working brothels in Amsterdam! I would highly recommend walking through the Red Light District at night to see the prostitutes standing bare in the windows, enticing empty-headed men left and right.

Okay so foooood:) First I have to mention Umaimon, a tasty ramen noodle restaurant.

They had huge hearty bowls of soup and noodles, all sorts of flavors and options, a cozy vibe, and was relatively cheap. My favorite breakfast place we went to was called de Bakkerswinkel, they served English-style breakfasts with the typical jams and breads and tea. HOWEVER their fresh baked scones and homemade jam were seriously no joke. UGH I had the absolute best tangy, creamy passionfruit jam with a warm scone to accompany it. I asked if they sold the jam by the jar and they said they did but the jar was too big for me to travel with, and they wouldn't share the recipe (yes I asked, I was desperate). Okay next is van Wonderen Stroopwafels, which literally translates to "miracle syrup waffles"!! AMAZING! A stroopwafel is a nice little Dutch delicacy: two wafer-like, sugary, crunchy waffles with a kind of caramel syrup sandwiched between them, and usually kept plain or topped with melted chocolate. These are native to the Netherlands and are a must-try when you're there!

If you're the type of traveler that seeks to try everything that the place you're visiting is known for, then you need to go into a "kaas" while in Amsterdam. They're all over the city and known to us as CHEESE SHOPS (kaas being the Dutch word for cheese)! The specific one I went into was called Kaashuis Tromp Elandscgracht. The owners let me stand there quietly and sample just about every single cheese they had pre-cut samples for. It was absolutely delightful and I left with a few blocks as souvenirs :)

Kaashuis Tromp Elandscgracht

A little excursion my friends and I enjoyed was a trip by bus from Amsterdam to the Keukenhof Gardens, which are apparently the largest flower gardens in the world! They're only open 8 weeks per year, during which they welcome about 800,000 visitors! Tulips came to Holland via Turkey, in the 16th century, where sultans organized tulip parties each spring. The people of Holland are now very fond of the flower, and I felt that I saw them represented everywhere in Amsterdam; for example the name of our hostel that we stayed at was called The White Tulip.

OVERALL: 10/10 for Amsterdam... what a beautiful, unique city with such a vibrant atmosphere; from the colors of the canal-front houses, to the paintings by Rembrandt in the Rijksmuseum, to the neon lights advertising "The Dirty Chicken Club", "Smoke and Drink here!", "Fresh Baked Waffles and Crepes". On my list of places to return to for sure!