Museums!!

So like I said in my last post, I'm kind of sick right now so I'm just gonna sit in bed and blog for a while. So I've now seen Rotterdam also, because the Sunday I posted about the November weekend was the day before Sinterklaas, and my Mom and I went shopping in Rotterdam for some Christmas presents. Yesterday Brian and I went to Amsterdam to meet up with some of the other exchange students for a museum day. The plan originally was (this was all planned out by me, because otherwise we would have spent time arguing over which museum to go to, and spending all day navigating trying to get to one museum.) to go to NEMO, the Maritime Museum and then the Rijksmuseum last before Brian and I had to leave. But people were late and had missed trains, so instead of getting started at ten like we had planned, we ended up getting started about ten thirty or eleven. We only ended up seeing NEMO (which is a science museum for children mostly and the one in the picture here) and the National Maritime Museum because we spent a long time in NEMO. But first I have to thank someone from AFS.

Dear AFS Returnee from the Departure Camp in New York, Thank you so much for telling me about the Museum Kaart they sell in the Netherlands. Without you, I would have never discovered this exists, as they hardly advertise how important this card is. I also would not have been able to tell all my other exchange student friends how for Twenty euros, you can buy a card that works in over 400 museums all throughout the Netherlands, saving them all future money that they would have spent going to Museums that cost any where from 7 to 15 euros to enter one single museum. So thank you. I thank you, and my friends who came with me to the museum indirectly thank you too.

So now to the museums. NEMO is a really interesting science center that we all had far too much fun inside, but I'm glad we went there. The National Maritime Museum is supposed to be one of the greatest museums in Amsterdam right now, and I'm also glad we went there. After NEMO, no one wanted to go there because they didn't think it would be good and didn't believe me that it's one of the best in Amsterdam but everyone enjoyed that one also. This picture is of my friend Romina from Turkey inside of NEMO. After NEMO we went to the National Maritime Museum which is right across the water from NEMO. So, very close. I think the Maritime Museum is one that has things constantly changing because it is so big. Below is a picture of it.

This is the middle of the museum, and it has three wings. We only had time to fully see one, and partly see another, because by that time everyone was just starving and tired. This museum had some exhibits that were really interesting, like one all about the old globes they used to make which were very beautiful. But it also had some really fun ones, like this one about whales. Which had a whale tail you could play on and stuff... haha I plan on going back to this museum, because there was a lot more we could have seen that day, but it doesn't matter, I have my museum kaart!

This is my host brother Brian and I, sitting on a whale's fin in the whale exhibit I talked about above. I always get really distracted when I'm blogging, and the same thing happens everytime. I always want to see if AFS has put up our blogs from this year on their website. (They still have not) I always check this because I want to read other kids blogs and see how they are doing now, and what they are up to. Then I see that they are not up yet, so then I want to read other kids blogs from last year and see what they were thinking about at this time. And let me tell you, even in other countries, it is a lot of the same. Some complain more than others, or have more trouble adjusting, but a lot of them change families! I have no idea why it is such a normal part of being an exchange student, but it happens, and usually works out for the best. So the next blog (or blogs, we'll see if I run out of things to say) is going to be probably only writing, because I don't have any more things I've done recently with pictures. It's almost Christmas!! I don't know if I am going to get home sick or not during it, but so far I have not. It did feel really weird to send presents in the mail home to my parents and to send cards to family, but I don't know how it will feel to wake up on Christmas Day here with my new family. I think it will be nice, but we will have to see I guess!