10.1.21

It is day 9 of my travels and I haven’t taken a day to relax or calm down. I think it’s because of the pressure I feel to fully experience all of these cities that I am in. I do not feel I want to waste a day or even an hour when there is so much to do. Today was very rainy and kind of forces me to slow down- well not completely!

Surprise, lol. I got a tattoo! It was very spontaneous. Joanna got one yesterday and Swane was planning on getting one today so I just decided to go it’s. I wanted to get one that represented amsterdam so a tulip was perfect. It hurt pretty bad but I am so happy with it!

Swane got a big one on her ankle so me and Joanna waited for her for a couple hours. We got really good halloumi wraps. When we were all done it was already 3 pm. I had to show them the stroopwafel place I went to yesterday and they loved it! A very nice afternoon and early morning.

It was a calm afternoon as well- that’s when the rain was pouring the hardest. I hung out in the lounge w Joanna and Swane until Swane had to say goodbye and catch her flight back to France. It was very sad, I really liked spending time with her. But we talked about staying in touch, and I may visit when I go to the South of France later in my travels!

I then began a very rainy walk to the Anne Frank museum. I loved it so much. It was incredibly sad but so crazy to see and very educational and cool. The story of Anne frank is one I have always a great interest in and even though I bet to the museum a while ago with my family, I’m glad I went again at an older age to understand it more.

After the museum, I met up with Joanna and Emily and met some more friends! Thomas from New York and Deven from Santa Cruz. We also saw Arik from Mexico. After some drinks at the bar, we decided to hit the red light District. It was very crazy to walk down the streets and see women put on display like merchandise or Barbie dolls. We ended up going to a 2 minute peep show (I mean I was in Amsterdam, I had to do it!). It was nothing special- maybe more meaningful to the guys!

We went to another bar to end the night and stayed up talking until about 1. It was another sad goodbye to Arik before all going to bed.