#copenswaggin

A few highlights from Amsterdam.

I know I promised these a while ago, but with courses coming to an end and with having to deal with the aftermath of travel ( aka laundry...) I have had a lot on my plate. But now I am back in comfy little Copenhagen and ready to share about my travels!

Ill start with my four day vacation with family to The Netherlands. We flew in on a thursday afternoon just in time to catch the sunset upon landing. From there we went to our hotel that was located a few miles from the inner city of Amsterdam. The next few days were filled with meandering the touristy areas as well as a few adorably dutch parts of town. 

We saw the Happiness Project at Body Worlds, which was an extremely educational experience. There preserved (real) bodies displayed in hundreds of different ways in order to highlight what we as humans look like on the inside. It had a great common thread that tied the idea of happiness into the education on the different organs of the human body and frequently displayed how best to live a happy healthy life both physically and mentally. I was most impressed by how much in our lives (both physical and mental) are determined by our genetic makeup. Happiness is something like 40% genetic! (According to the scientists behind the Hapiness Project, that is).

The Red light district was not as wild as expected, but we also visited it during the day which could be much different than how it is expereinced at night. There were A LOT of tourists in this area given the reputation that it has. 

We were also lucky enough to go the Van Gogh Museum which was four floors and extremely impressive. I am not that into museums given their overwhelming and exhausting nature, but this was worth the time and money. I learned a lot but these are my two favorite facts: Van Gogh drank absinth almost daily (probably didn't help his mental state) and produced like thousands of pieces of artwork in just 10 years time (which means he was painting literally everyday). 

The canals were gorgeous and the city reminded me of a larger version of Copenhagen. Vondel park was gorgeous and we spend a good 3 hours basking in the sun. The weather was ideal for being outside and such a great change from the rainy cold days I had experienced prior to traveling there. We did go into a few coffee shops, which are different from what we are used to in America. I'll let you do your own research on that! 

Amsterdam is my second favorite city in Europe (Copenhagen still has the top spot). I will definitely be returning here when I get another chance. Hopefully it will be when the tulip fields are still in bloom...more updates about the cities I've explored in later posts!

Your (well-traveled) Bobcat Representative,

Adventuring in Malmö!

So far I have traveled to two countries (3 if you count my layover in Berlin) Copenhagen and now Sweden! We took a 35min train ride to Malmö this past Sunday and were even able to watch a friendly fútbol match between two Swedish teams... as well as sightsee at a few places we found on our VERY touristy map. 

I had an americano and a slice of apple pie for lunch which is somewhat customary of the Swedish culture. It is often referred to as fika, or "coffee break"...I was just really craving something sweet and needed a caffeine boost to get me through the long day of walking around.

We were able to see a cliché windmill and an authentic pair of clogs (permanently adhered to the ground, once belonged to an Edward Persson....) There was also an "American Store" that had items ranging from red solo cups to Kettle brand chips to a few select hot sauces that I recognized.

My first Malmö experience was a good one and my impression of the city is that it is a quaint despite its large size, super mellow on Sunday's and inhabited by die hard, rowdy soccer fans. Hope you enjoyed my first full description of my travels thus far...more to come!