Amsterdam was stuck in my mind

My apologies for the delay since my return from Amsterdam/my last post... I got back on Wednesday with a sprained ankle (ouch!) and had laundry, grocery shopping, and other necessities to take care of after being gone for nearly a week. Thursday, I had a day long tutor/demonstrator training course for my lab job which was less than exciting, BUT at least we got a free lunch out of it. And yesterday, I finally made it to the doctor to have them take a look at my ankle which, if anything, was feeling worse since I first hurt it on Tuesday night, only to have it confirmed that it was indeed sprained and if the problem persisted into next week that I should come back; followed by attempting to attend the "mandatory" Biology Postgraduate Conference, which I went to for about a half hour to see the poster session and decided that it really wasn't required for masters students, just PhDs, and so returned home to sit in bed and watch Grey's Anatomy while finally resting my ankle. Busy busy, but at least I have very few plans for the weekend, so I should actually be able to keep off my foot for awhile and see if the swelling/bruising/pain goes down a little so that I don't have to go all the way out to the health centre again, which is conveniently a good half hour walk outside of town, i.e. I must find someone to drive me.

Back track a bit, Amsterdam was amazing! Sarah and I had such a fantastic time, and crammed more walking into those 5 full days that we were there than imaginable (luckily this was all pre-sprained ankle!). We went to lots of bakeries, markets, museums (ok, only 2 museums...), restaurants, etc etc. I spent far too much money, but totally worth it. Markets are my weakness apparently, but you just can't find that stuff for such a bargain in stores! We walked for hours each day, covering most corners of the city. The first couple nights we stayed in a hostel in Leidsplein, a pretty exciting part of town. It was more of a guest room in this woman's basement, with a poor excuse for a bathroom...but it was cozy and extremely convenient. Then we stayed a couple nights a bit further away from the center in a hostel that was not so convenient to do things in the city, but had a great Italian restaurant across the street and was actually the perfect location for our day out of town when we grabbed a train to Haarlem, a close suburb, which was absolutely lovely. Our last night, we booked a hostel in the museum district, which was cheap, friendly, and conveniently located around the corner from a bus stop that went directly to the airport. We couldn't have planned this out better if we had actually planned it before we arrived there! Pictures are up on facebook (the few that were taken anyway), maybe I'll put some up on here later (but for now just can't be bothered, sorry...).

Also, while I was in Amsterdam, I got some pretty exciting news. However, it involves surprising someone, who may or may not read this (probably not, but can't be too careful...), so I shall have to leave you all surprised (or just ask me and I'll tell you). Hint: I've just bought some plane tickets. The question is, to where? and when?.......