After having our flights cancelled and rescheduling another flight we left Oxford at 2 am and arrived in Amsterdam around 10 am. I went w/ three of my fraternity brothers, and two TKE's and one of their girlfriends then we stayed at the same hostel w/ 3 of our other fraternity brothers who were on the Lorraine program. That Friday we went to the Heineken Brewery, checked out some coffee shops, which was really interesting b/c none of the guys had any clue what they were doing, and that was about the extent of the day for me b/c I was dead tired from not getting much sleep. The next day I rented a bike and rode into the countryside north of Amsterdam. I rode forever, going into three small towns, one of which had a festival going on. The towns are so cool b/c they are all situated around little canals and each house sits right on the edge of the water. Coming back, I rode along the shore and then rode around the city a little to check out the south side of the city, which is the other main coffee shop, bar, restaurant area. It was much cleaner than the area we stayed at. We were right on the border of the red light district, near the central station. After riding around I met up w/ our guys at our hostel and we watched England loose to Portugal-sucks b/c now we can't cheer for them in Oxford. After that we went walking around to some more coffee shops, then into the red light district. It literally is buildings w/ girls standing in the windows w/ neon red lights in lingerie. Sunday we went to the sex museum, very interesting seeing the history of sex and porn. Then we went on a boat tour, which would have been better if it wasn't blazing hot, but still was good b/c we got some areas of the city explained to us. Then we went to this tower that I wanted to climb, but it was closed. It was right next to the Anne Frank House, which had a ridiculous line and we were pressed for time so we didn't go in it. That was about the extent of Amsterdam. It's kind of like Venice w/ a lot of canals, but they are bigger and lined w/ houseboats b/c there isn't enough room in the apartments for living space. Also the water appears to be cleaner. There's people riding bikes all over the place, and the smell of pot is all over the place. A very unique place.