This is why au pairing was so ideal for me, it allowed me to escape my hometown, see the world, and have a steady and reliable income. 

Recently I've received a lot of messages from you guys saying how you've have booked trips to Amsterdam and were wondering if I would be able to give some tips on what to do in the city. Considering I've lived here for about seven months now I thought I would put together a little list of the must see places, best restaurants and my favourite spots.





ACCOMODATION 

I've done Amsterdam in three ways, I've stayed in a hostel, I've stayed in a hotel and I've moved here and live in he suburbs in a home (duh). For this reason I thought I would give you a little rundown of where I've stayed and my thoughts on the places first, after all if you're on a budget then this is always helpful to know!

Okay so, let's start with hostels. There tends to be this stigma around them that they are dirty and annoying but they are the most affordable way to travel and you will meet so many people there. I literally went and sat outside at mine for about five minutes while having a cigarette and met a lovely Canadian who I befriended. It is such a fun way to explore on a budget and you will always get a locker to keep your valuables safe if that is something you are concerned about. The only downside of the shared dorm style ones are the fact you have one bathroom which can be an issue if you are waiting for ages for someone to shower and you're running on a tight schedule.

I use Hostel World to book all my hostels and do all my research and ended up going with Hostel Van Gogh  which was cheap and cheerful (at  €25 a night you can't go wrong) and gave us everything we needed. The central location was perfect and stopped us having to fork out for tram travel as we were able to walk everywhere we needed and we were right by the Museumplein too.

Hotel wise you expect a bit more than a hostel, I loved my hotel and was lucky enough to not have to worry about prices as this was a family holiday meaning my parents kindly paid for it. We stayed in the Ibis Styles Amsterdam City hotel which was on the more affordable side of the hotels within the city but was more homely than a hostel for sure, I think this came to about €120 a night.

Personally I don't see much difference between the two, though if you're on a budget for sure give Hostel World a search!





FOOD AND DRINK 
(all places offer vegetarian options and are centrally based)

Asian food is my weakness and you can find some of the best Ramen over at Ramen-Ya Amsterdam which is a place that I often find myself on a Saturday night with friends. They have some lovely vegetarian options which is easily why it is one of my favourite places to go and grab dinner. Located a five minute walk from Dam Square it is right in the hub of the city and is always super busy, I tend to get there at about 5pm to ensure a space or you can alw
ays make a reservation too!

If you're from England and like me are Wagamama obsessed then you will be happy to know that there are a few of the restaurants in the city too, I tend to go to the one based near Leidseplein as it is along my tram route and I have converted several of my Dutch friends into Wagamama fans.

If Asian food isn't really your thing or you're looking for a Brunch/Lunch spot then I recommend Blue Amsterdam which is one of the prettiest restaurants that I have ever come across. The whole place is built of glass and you are given the most spectacular view of the city as you sit and eat your lunch. Again, the menu features a lot of vegetarian options and this place even goes as far as offering vegan options too!

One of the biggest parts of Dutch food are pancakes and waffles, so I suggest you head out and find yourself a pancake restaurant (there are so many across the city) or grab yourself a waffle.







MUSEUMS 

If you're into art and culture then the museums will for sure be a go to place for you at some point in your trip, have a look into the ones that appeal to you and perhaps only do one or two considering you will end up spending all weekend in museums and not exploring the rest of the city!

The Van Gogh Museum is the place that I immediately tell everyone to go to, purely because Vincent is my all time favourite artist and this place fully encapsulates his experience and journey as a creative in such a beautiful manner. My little trick is if you can pass as an under 18 book your tickets online and claim to be a child, nobody checks you and it's a free museum trip instead of spending on it instead.

For photography there is the FOAM museum which isn't in the Museumplein area but is simple enough to get to with the help of Google Maps, this is always really exciting to go to (though this could just be very biased considering I'm a photography student). It also tends to be quieter than the busy Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum which are constantly packed with their tourist target audience.

If it isn't fully booked then the Anne Frank house is a must see, it makes you value everything you have and gives you such a harsh reminder of the reality of the way the world was not even 100 years ago. This is one of the mot beautiful places and is so worth taking time out of your day to see, I was brought to tears when exploring it.

There's also the sex museum which is always a laugh, take a photo with a massive penis sculpture and learn all about sex. You have to be over sixteen to visit the museum and it costs about €4 to enter which is super cheap in comparison to the prices of some other museums.





OTHER ACTIVITIES 


Rent a bike and pack a picnic, take a cycle through Vondelpark and enjoy the sunny summer weather. There's something so lovely about cycling round this park and you will always see tourists and locals alike cycling round on sunny days.

Canal Cruises are the best way to see the parts of the city that would perhaps of otherwise gone amiss in your visit. There are so many different ones so doing some research in what you want from your cruise would be a good idea; some come with meals and drinks; others are just simply cruises around the city; some take ages and some are much shorter. They're lovely on sunny days but can be equally fun in the rain too.

Thrifting and Flea Markets are always fun to walk around, you can find some complete gems for unbelievably affordable prices. I picked up a winter coat that I always get complemented on for €5 at the Waterlooplein market. I also love the various Episode vintage stores that are scattered around the city as well as Bij Ons Vintage!

The infamous I Amsterdam sign is located in the Museumplein area and is always surrounded by hundreds of tourists trying to get photos at it. This is super fun to go have a look at, and tends to be much quieter and easier to get photos at late at night or in early morning.

I haven't really sat down and written update wise about my life for the past few months fully other than in my journal, and if you are anything like me you are nosey as hell and love reading about what people are up to. Considering my last gap year update post has become one of my most viewed posts it seemed fitting to let you all know what I have been up to since then.

November was a months of settling into my new life and finding my way around the surroundings, constantly telling people that I don't speak Dutch, and seeing friends I hadn't for a while. It was the month that I really began to feel confident in who I am.

It was also filled with countless shopping trips to get things that I didn't realise I needed or had forgotten when I moved over (I think I managed to win the award for biggest idiot by moving to The Netherlands without a winter coat despite having five back in England). I also had a day out shopping with an old friend, we went thrifting and it was just generally a good day.

My weekend ritual was also born in November. I meet my best friend Laura for coffee and dinner every Saturday rain or shine, we are somehow slowly making our way round all the Asian food restaurants in Amsterdam.

Three weeks into moving here I somehow managed to make my way across the country without dying or having a meltdown over how confusing (and expensive) the Dutch travel system is to stay at a friends and had a night of movies and catching up which was, again, lovely.

Then December came. The month of heartbreak and hiding in cafes with books as I wrote far too much in my journal and refused to let go of any of my feelings. I spent a lot of money on coffee, a lot of money on wine, and a lot more on books and clothes. Anything to get me through the bottomless void that my heart was feeling.

Luckily enough I was able to go home for Christmas and so I spent a week and a half surrounded by my friends and family avoiding the crippling sense of loneliness that was pushing itself down on me in the wake of the absense of the person I cared for (and getting far too drunk off Spoons 2 for £12 pitchers).

The day after I landed in England I woke up to a text from my friend asking if I could get into London which was then followed a few minutes later by a text from my boss saying we were overstaffed and I didn't have to work if I didn't want to. I replied to Em that I would be in central in an hour and a half and my boss that I was taking advantage of his offer and wouldn't be coming to work. London with Em was lovely, we had a photoshoot and explored parts of the city that we didn't tend to go to.

Christmas was spent at mums, boxing day at my grandparents and then I had another mini Christmas at dads the day after boxing day.

There were more days in London with Em, taking photos with friends and getting rather drunk at Spoons. New Years was spent at my best friend Sammi's boyfriends and it was lovely to see the new year in with one of my closest friends and the cutest dog in the world.

January was a relatively slow month when it came to life, I had eaten away at a lot more of my bank balance than I realised when in England and decided to focus on my blog. After setting myself the goal of four blog posts a week I slowly started to realise this wasn't a realistic goal and that I should probably go back to the old style. It was relieving to take the pressure of writing, taking photos for and posting four posts a week and I began to fall back in love with blogging again because of this,

At the beginning of February a friend surprised me with tickets to see Pale Waves, who are one of my favourite band and their short but sweet set reminded me why I love live music so much. It was the first concert in a while that I had attended as a member of the audience instead of as a photographer and so it felt strange thinking about the shots I needed to get and then remembering that this was my night to live in the moment instead.

The week after Pale Waves I shot the lovely Canadian band Peach Pit's gig, this was such a fun experience and helped me tick a band off my bucket list of artists I wanted to shoot. The band were such lovely people to work with and so easy to work with too which was a dream all in all.

At the end of February my host family gave me a week off my work schedule and let me take a trip back home which was super lovely. I only told my dad and sister that I was coming home and managed to surprise a heap of people which lead to reactions that everyone wished had been filmed and multiple hugs. Because of this I also got to see a heap of friends I didn't manage to make it out to at Christmas and generally had bonding time with family too. It's strange how much living away from home makes you appreciate the small things like sitting in the living room watching a movie with pizza and your sister to keep you company.

The first week back in Amsterdam I decided to get a train halfway across the country after work and go see one of my favourite bands (by now you can probably tell that I have a lot of favourite bands) As It Is at their Dutch headline show. €50 and a stressful train journey later I arrived at the venue just as they got on stage, I moshed, I sung and I danced to my favourite songs in the world. There is no better place than as As It Is gig in my opinion, so many of my most loved memories come from watching them live.

Throughout the month I was emailing various managers, venues and everything in between in the attempts of getting more gig photography opportunities in order to expand my portfolio and have a head start when it came to uni in September. I was super lucky to have an email about three days before the Tonight Alive show in Amsterdam allowing me a photopass and so off I went with my camera and shot the show. Then I decided to stay and attempt to meet the band afterwards however it was a mad rush and that didn't really happen the way I hoped it would (but that's okay)!

That's it for my update, I've basically been to a lot of gigs and England a couple of times. Are you guys taking a gap year or have you taken a gap year? What did you get up to?

At the end of June we also had my final art exhibition at my school, after five years of having both my fine art and photography work displayed at the schools exhibit it finally came to an end. Seeing my development in the quality of the work that I had been creating over the five years these exhibitions was a little overwhelming to say the least, especially as it was the last time I would definitely be seeing my art departments teachers for a while. That evening my friends and I also celebrated mine and a few other friends eighteenth birthdays with a meal and a night out clubbing.