The Home Stretch

The studies finished in Florence so I embarked on an equally exciting adventure for the following two weeks. Classes finished, I said goodbyes to all but one, and he came with me to Paris, Barcelona, London, and we just finished in Amsterdam. An adventure of a lifetime, memories at every turn, but all good things must come to and end. I'll save you the sentimental blog post for my final addition and focus rather on my shenanigans in Amsterdam for this post.

I was taken aback by the beauty of the city. You hear many things about Amsterdam, but it's breathtaking architecture and astounding canal systems aren't usually aren't at the top of that list. The city, was such a wonderful mix. Bikes, boats, nature, and the odd assemblence of people all set it apart from any place I had visited before.

Alec, whom I've been traveling with, booked our hostel no more than 2 minutes away from the red light district of Amsterdam. This made it our civic duty to at least visit... I was pretty surprised by what I saw, but I won't go into detail. Google it if you're really interested.

Of course, everyone then asks if I visited a "coffee shop" in Amsterdam. I sure did. You can see that in the attatched picture. For some reason Alec's Americano wouldn't light though.

Someone stated, "Amsterdam is not a city of sin, it's a city of freedom. Yet, give most people freedom and they find sin".

We did do something educational I might add. The morning that we were heading back to Florence, we woke up bright and early to tour the Ann Frank house. If you are in any way interested in history associated with Nazi Germany, I highly recommend this stop. I was unaware of the story of Ann Frank, and still found myself holding back tears as I made my way through the hallways of their hideout. It was a impactful experience that I also had the pleasure of sharing with Chad Nathanson, who just happened to be in Amsterdam at the same time. Making connections pays huge dividends. Every city I visited on my trip, I knew at least one other person that would be there at the same time. I find it humbling that I literally have friends all over the world.

Oh, and we did the Hieneken experience tour while we were there because... How can you not?

One day back in Florence, then 4am hits and Alec is catching a taxi to make his flight as I watch from the sidewalk with our other roommate Donald. Simultaneous goodbyes, fighting back the lumps in our throats, we all preceded to part ways from each other over the next few hours.

Then it was just me... Everyone I've studied with, everyone I've met here in Italy is gone. I'm the very last one. I've spent most of today, and I'll spend all of tomorrow, just reflecting, taking time to myself. This is the first time Florence has ever seemed quiet to me.

I'll be home soon.

With love,

Rhett