Amsterdam is my new favorite city.

Okay, that may be a bit of a rushed statement considering I’ve only been to three other towns in Europe and I still have many more locations to go to this semester, but, so far, Amsterdam is the clear winner.

I fell in love as soon as I got off the airplane last Thursday. First of all, the Amsterdam airport has FREE WIFI. They don’t even make you register and surrender your first born child like the Istanbul airport practically had me do.

Tangent: Now that I’m a seasoned traveler, I wholeheartedly believe that you can instantly tell how good a city will be based off of its airport amenities. As if the free WiFi wasn’t enough to make me swoon, the Amsterdam airport also had a Starbucks. They even sold Pumpkin Spice Frappuccinos (I know, I know. I shouldn’t miss Starbucks. I live in Italy. I should only like genuine Italian coffee. Whatever. I miss Starbucks and am not ashamed to unleash my inner stereotypical American by admitting so). Naturally, I gleefully got in line and happily paid the equivalent of $6 for my slushy treat.

Amsterdam was a great little city. They have cheese shops you can go into and just spend a half-hour practically getting a free lunch nibbling away at all of the cheese samples they have laying out. They are also extremely fond of French fries there. These tiny stands all over town sell these giant cups of French fries for two Euros and they smother them with sweet ketchup. I can respect that lifestyle.

Well, now that I’ve devoted most of my blog post so far to food, I guess I could talk about other aspects of my trip. I know I’ve mentioned my fondness for history in previous posts, so it should come as no surprise that this trip I took the AMAZING opportunity to see the Anne Frank house. Being in the same space Anne Frank breathed in was extremely eerie, but completely moving. It was definitely something that was on my bucket list, and I am so stoked I got the chance to go there.

(I’m trying really hard at this point to not to mention food again. But I have to talk about the amazing pancake shop that was by the Anne Frank House. I just have to mention Sara’s Pancake House. I had the best blueberry pancake the size of a pizza and I am proud to say I ate it all in about seven bites.)

Amsterdam will always have a place in my heart. The people were so extremely kind, the food was delicious, and the atmosphere was just so inviting, I could’ve stayed a week and still have found things to do.

And a million more things to eat.