Amsterdam.

Amsterdam… One day I’ll look back on my trip to Amsterdam as a funny story to tell my grandma when she asks how my trip went, but that day is very, very, very far away. In hindsight, I learned a lot of valuable lessons this weekend:

•  If it seems to good to be true, there’s a 99.9999% chance it probably is – We used a very popular traveling app to book a penthouse for ten people to stay. The pictures looked amazing, it had enough space for everyone to feel comfortable, it had a perfect location. Basically, it was too good to be true. Turns out the guy who sold us the penthouse was a scammer. He posted a false ad, the building didn’t exist, and the company we used couldn’t even find the account order. Luckily, we were able to find a hostel for us to sleep in that fits all ten of us.

• When people say everything in Amsterdam is legal, they aren’t emphasizing -- Coming into this trip I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and Amsterdam definitely catapulted me 100 miles out of my comfort zone. All I have to say about Amsterdam is that everyone should experience it at least once in their life. It’s a sight to see and it’s important to keep an open-mind while walking down the Red Light District.

• Anne Frank is “da bomb” – I was fortunate enough to visit the Anne Frank museum. I’m not really a museum type of person, but the Anne Frank museum was incredible. You feel so many different emotions walking through a house where people used to live in constant fear of death and being forced to live in the shadows of life. It’s hard not to feel a sense of appreciation for the life you have regardless of all the bad things that may sometimes happen.

• Never ever book connecting trains 2 minutes apart – All I have to say about this is: We were supposed to get back to Bonn by 10 pm…. I didn’t end up getting back to my house until 1:00 a.m. So the moral of the story: pay the extra 30 bucks to get a nonstop train.

• All and all, Amsterdam is a pretty cool town – I probably would never live in Amsterdam, but it was a cool place to visit. The canals are pretty, especially at night, and there were so many different cultures there.