Hallo! That means hello in Dutch- woah!

So I failed to write, big surprise, but it has been mostly because we haven't had internet. So I'll take us back in time to July 23....

We arrived in amsterdam on thursday. i flew, separately from the rest of the family which was sad, and had a stopover in iceland. we landed in reykjavik at about 3 am but it was completelysunny and bright. i tried to stay awake so could see the view from the window when the plane took off but i kept falling asleep, so the only thing i can say is that iceland is cold, oh well.
when i got to amsterdam i was met by ima at the train station- thank god because i had no idea where i was going despite abba's 20 page trip overview handout. She took me to Ima's cousins' (Ami and Ina) house downtown which is really nice and cozy. after wwii, Zayde moved to the US while his sister Rozie moved to the Netherlands so the family is fully dutch. i have met them a few times before but it is weird and cool to have these relatives who can show us aroundthe city and translate. we have been walking around amsterdam which is really nice andeuropean. the architechture is very pretty and old and eveything looks so cute. there is so much history to this place that everything looks like a castle or old palace.i t definitely feels very foreign anddifferent- everyone is blonde for one and speaking dutch- but everyone rides bikes or tiny smart cars, and everyone is so friendly, unlikenew england.this week we are biking arond the countryside which although i am pretty sick is really nice because it is so flat.