On Monday, we docked in Antwerp. Shortly after, I left on a FDP trip to Brussels for my class, Business, Politics and Culture of the E.U. First, we went to the European Economic and Social Committee where we had a debriefing about the E.U. The man who spoke to us told us a lot about the history and foundation of the E.U. Afterwards, we headed to a park where we had some free time to wander around Brussels, where lots of students bought Belgian chocolate. Our next meeting was at the American Mission in Belgium. After going through an intense security process, we met with a U.S. foreign service officer there who ironically was a S.A.S. alumnus from 2002, and had given us our debriefing that morning on-ship. It was really interesting to hear the stories and viewpoints from someone who could relate exactly to our program. After this meeting, Professor Wilkerson had the bus take us to the Grand Place in Brussels (not on our itinerary but an added bonus), where we had about an hour to try some Belgian waffles, frites, chocolate, and beer for a few adventurous students. After this experience, I would say it's completely justifiable to take a trip to Belgium just to have a waffle. We headed back to the ship around 5, and later that night I met up with my friend from grade school who is not on SAS. He is doing an internship in France this summer and was able to take a few days off of work to meet up with myself and Joel, another SAS student who is coincidentally my friend's roommate at Penn State. We checked out some of the Antwerp nightlife but had a pretty early night since we planned to wake up early on Tuesday to go to Amsterdam.
Tuesday morning we headed to the Antwerp train station where we ran into just about everyone else from SAS, and caught a train to Amsterdam. The ride there was really picturesque, and yes, Holland does still have a bunch of windmills. Upon arrival in Amsterdam we checked in at our hotel, the Golden Tulip, which was quite upscale for a bunch of college kids (I had booked it in April so I luckily didn't get overcharged like some students). Later that day, the rest of our group met up with us- Zach, Sam and Josh from Iowa, who really made my trip to Amsterdam worthwhile; they are probably the funniest and nicest people I've met so far on SAS. Of all the places I've been so far on SAS, Amsterdam is hands down my favorite. Once you get past the extremely touristy areas (which reminded me of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco), it really is a beautiful city and everyone there is beyond friendly and helpful, not to mention almost everyone knows English. We stopped by the Anne Frank house but didn't go in because of the ridiculously long line. Much to our dismay, the Heineken brewery was closed for renovations- it's a must-see tour in Amsterdam- but we found plenty of other sights to keep us occupied. Moreover, Amsterdam is such a scenic city that you don't really need to find things to do- just walking around is an experience in and of itself. Of course, no trip to Amsterdam would be complete without a trip to the Red Light District, where we briefly strolled through, had a few awkward laughs, and headed back to our hotel.
Wednesday we walked around Amsterdam a bit more before hopping on an afternoon train (which was cancelled, pushing our plans back an hour) and got back to Antwerp around 5. On the walk back from the train station to the ship we ran into Professor Lynch, who gave us a quick spiel on Belgian food and then offered us some of his pizza. After arriving at the ship, we all took a muchly-needed nap before strolling around Antwerp. I was surprised at how big it is; I was half-expecting a small town similar to Korsor (where we docked in Denmark) but there is definitely enough just in Antwerp to keep busy for several days. Lots of SAS girls seemed to spend a lot of time there shopping, as it is one of Europe's fashion centers. I brought more than enough clothes to begin with (sidenote for future SAS students- really take it seriously when they tell you to only bring ¼ of the clothes you think you need), so even if I had wanted to go shopping I wouldn't have room in my bags to take stuff home. I spent Wednesday night wandering around Antwerp with Sam, one of my neighbors/classmates who is from Buffalo, NY where I lived for a few years. We ended up exploring a castle which was right near our ship before calling it an early night.
Thursday, our last day in Belgium, I took a SAS trip to Ghent, a medieval town with several castles. It was an interesting place to see but it came to a point when the tour guide told us sooooo much I thought I was going to explode. It would have been nice to have a little more time there to explore independently of the tour, but either way it was a nice change of pace from Antwerp and Amsterdam to head to a smaller, more laid-back time and learn about Belgian history.
All in all, I loved Belgium and it would be the first place from our itinerary I would go back to (so far) if given the chance because there is so much to see there. I apologize for this entry being somewhat spiritless, but I'm rushing to finish it up as I am currently on the train from Naples to Rome!!
So far, Italy is beautiful. The train is surprisingly nice and you can see the coastline, which is amazing. It is a sunny day and we have 85+ degree weather (not so nice for our hour-long walk to the train station this morning carrying all of our stuff). It's hard to not be happy here - there are palm trees everywhere and everyone just seems to be having a good time, locals and SAS students alike. Last night in our logistical pre-port, our ship doctor's warning for us in regards to health issues was: "The water is fine. You can drink it, you can drink beer and wine, and you can eat spaghetti and cannoli and gelato. But I have to warn you, the ship's scales do work."
Well, we are almost to Rome, so I have to shut down this laptop (which I was able to borrow from the SAS computer lab). I'll write again when we are back on ship.... Provided it can still float after everyone's time in Italy J
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