The Scene International catches up with Arts & Sciences junior Anne Staeheli on her Amsterdam excursion.

We arrived at the Amsterdam airport around 7 p.m. on Thursday night. We had to take a train to get to the heart of the city, but we figured it out, as always.

As my four friends jumped on the train, I went to throw away my Starbucks cup and all of the sudden, the train doors started to close fast. I literally jumped into the doorway and got stuck. I take the American safety censors for granted because these doors didn’t reopen.

After some serious pushing and pulling I eventually got inside the train, losing five years off my life from the stress. We should have known this was a red flag for the entire weekend.

Our hostel was really gross and we all decided that it was more sanitary to not shower for three days than to attempt to wash ourselves in the hostel bathroom. We looked out our window to see what kind of a view we had of the city and we kept the window closed for the rest of the time there.

We went to dinner and then decided to venture into the notorious Red Light District. When we were looking for this area, we asked a random person on the street, “Excuse me, can you point us in the direction of the Red Light District?” The completely stoned British man responded with, “Do you really want to know?” So needless to say, we went.

It was a complete and utterly disgusting experience. All of us girls came back with a feeling of sadness. It is really hard to describe, and the feelings we all had were pretty much unanimous, which rarely happens with women at our age.

The next day, we did a free walking tour through the city. It was very interesting to learn how the city was made and why the buildings were the way they were. We spent the rest of the day walking around and venturing into some coffee shops, which ironically all seemed to be named ”The Bulldog.” Every time we went in, the cashier would only look at me to ask if I was 18. Little did he know that I was the oldest of all of us.

On Saturday, we went to the Vincent Van Gogh museum and I absolutely loved it. On the way back from the museum, we caught a guy trying to pickpocket my friend Stephanie. We just yelled at him and he continued to the back of the bus.

That night was a lot of fun because we went to the bar area and did a self-made pub crawl. After seeing some dampering aspects of Amsterdam, we needed a boost and had the best time together.

On Sunday, we went to the Anne Frank house. We stood in line for about an hour in the freezing cold, but I made friends with an older British couple. It was interesting to hear their perspective of the city and how they interpreted the so-called “devil’s playground.” They just kind of shrugged their shoulders in a “that’s just the way it is” feeling of the whole place.

But the Anne Frank house was one of my favorite experiences thus far in Europe. It is hard to describe the feelings of this particular place, but it was worth the trip. Thankfully we made it back to Firenze and were all very glad to have survived the devil’s playground, and our only priority was a shower.

Hope all is well back in the States!