Capital: Amsterdam … 17,080,000 People … 42,508 km² 
The Country
The Netherlands, informally known as Holland, is a country filled with fields of tulips, windmills, and progressive laws regarding drugs and prostitution. Home to the Dutch East-India Company, the Netherlands has rich history of commerce and technology. Even to this day, the Netherlands has brought the world many important inventions including the microscope, stock markets, and CD’s, DVD’s, and Blu-Ray disc. The Netherlands has a rich history but also has scenic beauty, with 25% of its land being at or below sea level.
Fun Facts:
The Netherlands has over 15,000km of bike lanes
The Dutch eat more liquorice per capita than any other country in the world.
Gin (known by myself to be the worst drink in the world) was based on Dutch liquor
My Experience
After a 16 hour bus trip from Denmark, a journey filled with drunk Germans, vague threats, and a subway station filled with blood, my roommates and I arrived in Amsterdam. After we checked into our hotel, we immediately went to Prinsengracht, one of the three main canals of Amsterdam. We eventually found ourselves in Dam Square, and after getting briefly lost, we ended up in the Venustempel Sex Museum, the worlds first and oldest museum of sex. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Amsterdam before heading back to our hotel to get prepared for the night ahead of us. We went to a few nightclubs, in which none of us can remember exactly what happened (but it was probably a great time).
After a late start to the next morning, we went to Amsterdam Centraal Station to catch a ferry to Buiksloterweg. My friend was studying in Maastricht and took a train to meet us, but she had no idea that a surprise was waiting for her. She has always had a fear of heights, and on the previous day someone mentioned that we should check out the A’DAM Tower; a building that has the tallest swing in Europe. After we got off the ferry and were walking towards the tower, I had a noticeable grin on my face. I did not tell her where we were going, but when she looked at the tower and saw the swing, then noticed my smile, I got a well deserved punch in the arm.
We all survived the swing (including her), and we decided to to the Heineken Brewery to unwind. There was a pint pouring competition (where I got second place, not too bad), and we all started to feel relaxed. The night wasn’t over though, because afterwards we went to the Amsterdam Ice Bar. It was one of the coolest places in Amsterdam (literally, staying at -10 degrees). After a few shots of vodka, we stumbled out of the Ice Bar and found ourselves walking to find more nightclubs. Someone gifted us a bottle of Champagne in an alley, which seemed completely normal at the time. We unfortunately got separated when walking into a nightclub, since we had more men than woman in our group. While my roommates went into the club, my friend who was studying in Maastricht and I wandered around the red light district at around 1am in the morning. Words truly can’t describe what we saw that night, but it was… an eyeopening experience.
The next day we decided we wanted a bit more of a relaxing day, so we went to Sloterpark, a beautiful park near the hotel we were staying in. We walked for a while inside the park, before deciding to walk to the bus terminal instead of taking a bus or Uber. What was supposed to take an hour took about 4, since we were stopping often for snacks (including hummus, pastries, chips, all the dutch specialities of course). We arrived at the bus terminal, said goodbye to our friend, and hopped on the next 16 hour bus back to Denmark.
Photos of Netherlands