Monday July 9-Tuesday July 10, 2012

Day 1 – USA to Amsterdam

By Shelby Seurer

Northern Lights 16-1

So far, we have been very busy! We met at the airport yesterday (Monday) at 5:30. After we all checked in and checked our bags, we went to our gate in the international part of the airport. Our plane left right on time, which was at 7:30. The plane was super big! They provided us drinks, dinner, and breakfast once we woke up, which was really cool!

Sleeping, for all of us, was quite the struggle! No one could get comfortable! Abby, Rachel, Jess, Lydia, and me all took sleeping pills, but those didn’t help that much.

There were screens in front of every seat, and there were a ton of movies to choose from for free. I think everyone did end up watching their own movie either before or after they slept, and some of us watched more than one.

We landed in Amsterdam around 10:30 am, so we lost 7 hours! Once we got off the plane, and got all of our luggage, we went to a Dutch village called Zaanse Schans, in Zaandam, which was about 30 minutes away from the airport. It was SO cute! There were lots of little cottages, and tons of little streams everywhere. There were so many windmills, and a countryside with animals like cows and sheep. There was a street on a sort of harbor type thing, with so many cute little buildings and boats everywhere. I took a lot of pictures, and I’m pretty sure I said “this is soo cute!” like 30 timesJ. It was a really awesome place to start off the trip with.   

After that, we went back to Amsterdam for lunch at a pancake corner, which was also a bar. All of us girls got huge crepes with ice cream and chocolate sauce and whipped cream. They were so good!

From the pancake house, we went sort of downtown, where there were tons of shops and people everywhere. We all did a little shopping, and we watched a group of guys perform street dances or routines which was actually really entertaining!

We did a lot of walking around in the city where there was lots of water and canals, and so many cute, old buildings. After that, we walked through the Red Light District. Let’s just say it was very interesting… and very weird!

Finally, after all that walking around and shopping and touring, we took a bus to one of the Dutch Olympic training centers in Papendal, where we are staying tonight.  When we got there we found out that we are staying with the Dutch Youth National Team tonight, and each of us is rooming with a Dutch girl.  It has been such a fun and crazy day!