Cycle Awayyy / Part 1 / Alley comes for a visit!

Hello all. I've been wanting to update my blog because a lot has happened in the past few months. I know that I've written about a lot of the bad stuff but honestly I had some of the best times right before leaving. Alley and Vanessa were there. Yvonne was (and is) there for me. So even though it's slightly bittersweet writing about it, I know I still need to do it. That  it will help me heal. Anyways, here goes, enjoy! <3

So the day before Alley was due to arrive- the relationship I was in was abruptly ended in a very very dramatic and horrible way. I was SO nervous because here I was about to have my first American guests and I was also dealing with this other horrible thing. I'm such a Southern Hospitality kind of person too, so there was no way I was going to not be fun. I HAVE TO BE FUN. hahah. The ex, whom I now call Voldemort (I am the Horcrux aka Harry Potter) and I were still living in the same space. I wanted to just put the breakup shit to the side and deal with it all after my friends left. 

So, ALLEY arrived!!! This specific blog post will be a compilation of the first few days she was here. (Find her online here and here.) 

Touristy things and brunch at Greenwoods Keizersgracht. 

Yep, that is indeed a story about a Rainbow Dildo. Just my kinda thang. 

Alley took me to a little dyke bar called   Saarein. This is  where the rainbow stuff was at. I unfortunately missed Pride in Amsterdam the weekend before as I was dealing with TONS of anxiety and agoraphobia and being in a crowd just wasn't my vibe. Especially since I probably would have been alone. I'm so incredibely happy Alley was there because there were SO many things and museums I hadn't seen yet and she was willing to do it all! 

Here's a quick slideshow of some photos from the times we were running around the city. We went to the Stedilijk Museum and the FOAM Photography Museum.

And then we went to the CAT MUSEUM. (Kattenkabinet)

This was a thing... inside the museum. 

Actual cat going underneath a table. Haha. Along with being an enormous house/hotel filled with cat memorabilia/sculptures/art/movies/etc etc etc there was quite a few actual real life cats. 

Okay so I realize that this blog post is a little all over the place and is basically just a photo album, but who doesn't like seeing photographs?? C'mon. Bear with me plz. Hehe. 

So at one point that first week she was here we went to one of my favorite food spots called De Foodhallen. This is a little excerpt from there "About Us" section on their website. 

"The ‘Foodhallen’ opened in ‘De Hallen Amsterdam’ – a newly renovated tram depot – in October 2014. The concept was inspired by indoor food markets like the ‘Torvehallerne’ in Copenhagen, ‘Mercado de San Miguel’ in Madrid and the ‘Borough Market’ in London. Wander around in the large loft-like space of the ‘Foodhallen’ and discover the very best “culinary Amsterdam” has to offer. Various hospitality concepts will serve a selection of small (signature) dishes for locals and tourists to enjoy. With over 20 different stalls, varying from Michelin star concepts to international ‘streetfoods’, the Amsterdam ‘Foodhallen’ will become an international foodie-hotspot like no other."

This is probably one of the coolest bars I've ever seen. The downstairs is a regular type of bar, everything is themed to be a "beachy" type of feel or "pool party". But if you go upstairs you see this ^ and it feels as if you're sitting at a pool relaxing. (Also, all photos taken of me are probably taken by Alley :) 

This next section is when we went on a little day trip exploring Amsterdamse Bos and its surroundings. This is one of my favorite parts about Amsterdam so I HAD to share it with Alley. 
Also, fun fact: I know that as an American the Dutch language looks SO scary and confusing. But really once you start learning it it's super interesting. So the word Amsterdamse Bos. That's hella long right? Well it's actually a simple word combo. I was told that the "se" part is similar to using 's in the English language. And then Bos means forest. So combining all of that together it means "Amsterdam Woods" or "The Woods of Amsterdam". A lot of Dutch words are just smooshing a bunch of words together, which I find fascinating. 

As much as I was emotionally unhappy with my life that I was living in Amsterdam, now that I'm away from that relationship I realize how much I absolutely loved it there. I wish it would have worked out differently or that I would have been with someone other than Voldemort, but it is what it is and I'm grateful for the time I was able to spend with friends there. 
Why am I talked about this sentimental shit right after a picture of a lady statue seeming to be peeing? Well, because that's something I loved about the NL is their sense of humor was at times very strange and I laughed SO hard at this and it's still one of my favorite things I've ever seen. It was a statue in front of a Water company (?) one our way to the park. 

I didn't realize it as I was taking a photo of this cute house that there was an old lady standing out front and I was embarrassed afterwards. lol 

SO yeah this kind of sums up the first few days after she arrived. It was beautiful and heartwarming and it was honestly one of the only things keeping my head above water.