We made it to Madrid yesterday. The heat is very intense here, but the beer is cold and cheap. Aaron and I are modestly working on our Spanish (he is doing better than I am). We enjoyed our afternoon walking throughout Opera, Sol, Plaza del Prado, and Atocha’s incredible train station complete with turtles. We spent an hour or so in a beautiful botanical garden taking dozens of pictures. We spent our evening in Pinto with our host Max, his daughter Sammy, friends Vanessa and Thomas. He had a barbeque in our honor. We enjoyed great conversation as each of them knew English as well as German and Spanish (that pretty much makes Aaron and I slackers!). Till next time.

Amsterdam is amazing. The city is absolutely breath-taking, clean, and quiet. With a population of roughly 700,000, relatively few cars scatter the streets bustling with bikes as far as the eye can see. While in Amsterdam for the day, we saw Dam Square, Reimbradtplein, the Red Light District, the Opera House, the canals of course, and Amsterdam Central Station. Aaron and I are embarking on a three and a half week journey across Western Europe. While we are traveling, we are using a site called couchsurfing.com to manage our stay in each city. Through this website, you meet people online and request to stay on their couches. Our host Enrico was an incredible first experience to the world of couchsurfing. We went around the whole city, laughed and shared stories of our lives, family, and friends. He helped us finalize some details for our journey in Italy and he even made us sandwiches for the road! All is well in Amsterdam.

Aaron and Enrico

Everything is new. Trains are a foreign language. Food is an incredible experience of curious yet deliciously edible combinations. Aaron and I arrived in Amsterdam, made our way to campus (Den Haag) and back, and ordered some sort of hamburger with egg, pineapple, ketchup, mayo, and cucumber, surprisingly tasty. While enjoying the sites of Amsterdam we realized how tired we were and spent a couple of hours napping in the park. I awoke to the laughter of Dutch children as the crawled behind Aaron to retrieve the ball they were playing with…of course he was completely incoherent. We are now enjoying the Pride Festival in Rembrandtplein Park, the weather, and our new home in Holland.