Prague, Amsterdam and Leiden

Hey everyone!

So, contrary to popular belief, I am alive. Prague was the coldest thing ever- it was unbelievable. I didn't know anything about the city before I went, other than Greg telling me it had great clubs, but it was awesome. It was so beautiful and medieval and art nouveau even though it stopped being a Communist country about 20 years ago. I'll put up some pictures of things I saw when I get a converter I promise. One thing that was really cool was going to the ski resort town Karlovy Vary. Everyone was really rich and wearing furs. The place literally looked like a fairy tale it was unreal. Other than that I loved going to the Spanish Synagogue, the Franz Kafka Cafe (really creepy basement), all the big squares, Paris Street, Charles Bridge, the Trade Fair Palace art museum, and the castle complex.

Spent a day in Amsterdam just walking around. It's only thirty minutes away from here, and I am definitely going back. Spent a lot of the day at the Albert Cuypmarket in De Pijp which was really cool. There was everything from tulips to really expensive men's underwear. The canals here are incredible- I love the fact that there just are canals and how they reflect light at night. There are so many bicycles, it's almost difficult to walk around.

Just got to Leiden today, pretty disoriented. My room is on Kaarsenmaakerstraat off of a canal. It's about the same size as a single at Clark. The bathrooms are like 3x3ft but the kitchen is nice. The place is literally on the other side of the town, so I'll either get a bike or have to do a lot of walking. I have a lot of official stuff to do before classes start in a week. Hopefully I'll figure this place out and learn some Dutch by then (everyone assumes you speak it, and I definitely don't).

I miss you all so so much.
Ashley