Hello, Hello! I am writing you from the Pension in Heidelberg…which means I made it back from the Netherlands! I’m only stating that fact because I wasn’t actually always sure that I was going to be able to do so!
What a weekend! Exhilarating, beautiful, educational, fun, aaaand of course – a bit dramatic! Of course, as is the case when Rachel travels ANYWHERE, we ran into some very sticky situations. It honestly would take so long to explain it all, but I truly am able to look back on it with laughter now. I should never, ever go into a trip expecting things to go as planned or “normally”. And really – I usually don’t! But every time it is a little bit different, and I never see it coming! ☺ I am so sorry to those of you that travel with me and are affected by the attraction that bad-travel-luck has to me! But really – God ended up blessing this weekend ABUNDANTLY! I will try to tell you the highlights of it!
My friend Nicole and I caught a train Wednesday afternoon, and about 6 hours later arrived in Amsterdam. To cut down on costs, we were doing what is called Couchsurfing. Now stick with me here☺ Couchsurfing, although sounds a bit sketchy, is actually a really great idea. I belong to this international network where you create a profile, and can meet people in EVERY part of the world. You could search for people that live in your town and just meet up for coffee (which I have also done), or you can search for people that live in cities that you are traveling to, and request to stay with them when you travel. You’re able to stay for free around the world, and the idea is that you also return the favor, and open up your couch to other couchsurfers who would be traveling in your hometown. You are able to read a lot of detail about the people, see pictures, see other people’s reviews about them, what languages they speak, what their housing is like, etc. You choose who you stay with, so you can keep searching until you find a profile that has reviews that you think sound reliable, and then you request to stay with them (and get rejected quite a bit for various reasons, so you have to put a lot of requests out!) It may not be for everyone, but I love the whole idea, because you’re able to really see cities through the eyes of locals, meet some interesting people along the way, and save a good amount of money!
In Amsterdam, we stayed with a 21 year old girl named Lotte who lives with her 23 year old boyfriend. They lived about 15 minutes outside of the city center. We had no idea what to expect, of course, because this was the first time I‘d stayed with anyone through this network. What we found was quite interesting☺ They lived in an old, abandoned school, where they lived very inexpensively because the government asks people to stay in these old buildings until they are restored, just to be sure that no one breaks in and damages it. So, she led us through all these doors and led us to our room. She opened up the door to a big empty classroom, with two mattresses on the floor with messy, DIRTY blankets on them, trash overflowing out of the trashcan, dirty clothes on the floor, a grimy, hairy sink…etc. We were…thrilled☺. Really, it wasn’t so bad – it was just funny to us. The bathroom was waaaay down the hall, and the shower facility was an old locker room that’s light was broken! I got a kick out of the whole thing. But hey – it was free! It would do for two nights! We weren’t going to complain! But we did chuckle at the whole situation…a few times☺.
Amsterdam is a great city – we tried to fit a LOT in in two days! My favorite was probably the Anne Frank house and this giant open air market that we went to. Among them, we also got to see the Van Gogh museum (sadly, overpriced and not everything I hoped it would be.), a canal cruise, a holocaust memorial, lots of cute souvenir shops, and just walked a lot around a beautiful city! I really enjoyed the city.
On Friday night, we made our way to a different city – Rotterdam. We didn’t really know what there was to do there, but we had heard of it, and figured we would just discover when we arrived! We got there about two hours after we thought we would, and found the next couchsurfer we were staying with – a lady named Maartje. I had no idea when I knocked on the door of this little townhouse that I was about to meet such an incredible lady. Talk about NIGHT AND DAY difference from out first couchsurfing experience! Maartje opened the door with a big smile and welcomed us into her adorable, clean, well decorated little home! She had prepared a nice dutch meal and even though it was late, had waited for us to arrive to eat because “dinner is something she believes should be shared”! We sat down and had a lovely meal together.She was incredibly friendly and interesting to talk to! She spent a year studying in Minnesota, so her English is great, and I think a bit of the Midwest kindness rubbed off on her ☺. She brought out some different unique dutch things to try after dinner (my favorite are called Spekulaas – SO good!). We spent the whole evening talking. Nicole and I were EXHAUSTED after a very stressful day, and so she led us up to a cute little room with clean bedding, comfortable mattresses, a heater, etc. All things for which we were so thankful!
The next morning she took me to the organic grocery store and bought all of these things to prepare a huge brunch for us! The whole time, she pointed things out to me, “ this is dutch this…”, “this is dutch that…”. She was so cute and loved to teach us about her country! We did NOT expect anything like this – she was already going so far above and beyond anything we thought! We only asked for a free bed – not a 5 star bed and breakfast!
After a delicious meal, Nicole and I took a train to another city called The Hague. Here, we met up with a guy who is from America but has been living there for the last 5 years studying, touring, and recording with a band that he formed. It’s a completely crazy story how I met him (but shortly- I sat by his dad on a plane to California. His dad completely befriended me, was incredibly kind, and we talked most of the flight. He gave me his son’s website just incase his band would ever be touring in Germany. I contacted his son randomly just a couple of days before we went, and he said he’d be more than happy to meet us and hang out for a day! Funny, huh?). It was a crazy connection, but such a blessing! In The Hague, we went to the beach, which was so much fun! We took a long walk on the beach, saw some WWII bunkers, walked through these beautiful dunes, walked all over the “city center” and saw lots of important and beautiful government buildings. Half of the city was bombed, and the other half wasn’t, so it was really neat to see the difference between the two. It was a really fun day, and I am so thankful to have had someone to show us around and get to know.
He was a lot of fun! Sunday was our last day. We had a 4:00 train to catch, so after being prepared another amazing meal by Maartje, - (Dutch pancakes - which are one of the most famous things they are known for – very different than American pancakes! Not really the same at all), we rented bikes and took a private tour of the city with Maartje☺ She led us around to all the important things to see in the city of Rotterdam. Again, we would have been clueless without her, and she gave us so much of her time to be sure that we experienced it how we should! We saw the place where the Mayflower departed from, and bought Maartje a coffee at a restaurant called “The Pilgrim” that is really famous. It was really cool – another beautiful city for it’s own reasons!
That afternoon we headed back to Heidelberg, and three trains later, we were home! The weekend was FULL. I know this entry is a novel, and I did not even include nearly all I could. But I hope if you even skimmed it, you get the most important part: God is GOOD. When we came to the point that we realized we so desperately needed him to survive the trip, he blessed us beyond what we could have imagined. I really grew to love the Dutch culture. It is so unique and actually has many things different than Germany, so I LOVED learning about it and witnessing it firsthand. There were many things I wish I could have brought home and shared with you all. But this is a country I am so thankful to have seen, and highly recommend to anyone looking for a vacation destination!
Now, real life is back in full swing! T his week is the busiest one I have had yet. But it’s good. I love being here. There is so much I want to fit in in my remaining time here to really experience this place for all it is. The end of the semester is quickly approaching…a subject I won’t even touch on now!
As the dutch say vaarwel!
3 comments:
rachel! thanks for your posts... they're so informative and paint a clear picture of your travels! i feel like i'm reading a travel mag! yay!
rachel! i feel like i just took your trip :) and it was SO enjoyable because it sounds like things i'd love to see and do and taste and experience. crazy how weird connections in foreign places work, huh? and quite adventurous---thank you for writing it! i'm sitting here in cold dreary iowa sipping tea...wishing i was on a dramatic travel experience with you :)
coupled with the pictures on facebook of the trip AND a birthday phone call from you....MY WEEK IS COMPLETE :) love you!
Yes, it's good to read the story now that I've heard it by phone and seen pictures. It's starting to sink in slowly. Glad you got through your crisis and learned the most important part- depending on God to pull you through and work out the details as you place your faith in His provision.
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