It is snowing in Roma!!! Supposedly it's the first time the snow has stuck in thirty years. I have finally gotten my White Christmas..just two months later. This is the third time I have seen snow in my life. Everyone here from Chicago are already over it, but I think it's beautiful. I just got in from playing around in the snow and trying to build a snowman. :)

Speaking of snow, some friends and I went to AMSTERDAM this past weekend and it stands as one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen in my young life. And yes, there was snow! It was cold, but manageable. We stayed at the StayOkay Hostel and it was alright, not the best hostel I've ever stayed in, but not the worst.

The first night we wandered around the city exploring stores and all the food places. We had two dinners that night. As it turns out, Amsterdam, Holland has the best pancakes ever! I got a gigantic pancake with caramel sauce and powered sugar. At one of the stores I tried on the wooden iconic Holland shoes. They hurt my feet way too much to get a pair, so I settled with a shoe magnet and then bought an Amsterdam spoon, of course.

This past Saturday we got up really early so that we could get to the Anne Frank House. It's a good thing we did because as soon as we left, the line was wrapping around the side of the building. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I had actually forgotten that Amsterdam was where the Franks had hid. Seeing the actual rooms where the families had hidden together was an emotional experience. The rooms surprised me in that there was more space than I had imagined from reading Anne Frank's Diary back in high school. I never thought I would be able to visit the actual rooms. Made my trip.

Next we visited the Van Gogh Museum and saw all four floors of his amazing artwork. Some beautiful stuff. Then we went to the Heineken Experience where we saw how they make their popular beer. Every bar in Amsterdam usually had a Heineken sign outside. I got a bottle with my name on it as well as a sporty Heineken shirt which I wore last night when we watched the Superbowl! It came on at 12:30am here, so even after traveling some of us stayed up to watch it until 4am. The New York Giants beat the New England Patriots within the last minutes of the game!

Overall, it was a great trip and made me realize how great the weather really is in California. Even with all the snow, people were still riding their bikes everywhere and just leaving them in the snow. Those must get so cold. :/ We did have to wait for our flight in Amsterdam when returning home for about four hours because it never snows this much in Rome and people were going crazy. We were lucky we got a taxi back.

This weekend is skiing in Switzerland and I'm super excited and nervous. It's going to be even colder...
Here is a link to my facebook pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3068647710514.2149303.1093219883&type=1