Happy New Year

We happily rang in the new year last night Amsterdam style. We are staying in the dorm that Erin's cousin Scott lives in. Fortunately, he has a friend who is out of town for the holidays, so we get to share one single bed with only two of us (rather than three in one if we were bunking with Scott). It's close quarters, but the price is right.

Scott lives with about 8 other people on his floor from all around the world who are very interesting, smart and fun. We met them last night while having an international feast. With all the other guests and friends visiting last night, there were about 8 Germans, 10 Swedes and our three Americans. Everyone cooked something and we sat around and drank pints of warm Grolsch beer for hours. We contributed good-ole american guacamole and chips to the party, but I'm not sure people really understood it.

At about 11pm, everyone from the party dressed warmly and headed for one of the main squares in town to watch the fireworks. Little did we know when we departed, but there was no organized fireworks show. Instead there were about 10,000 people in a small square standing around swilling beers, vodka and champagne, while the drunkest thousand people lit fireworks in the middle of everyone. There were some of the loudest fireworks I've ever heard exploding around us. There were also some amazing fireworks that seemed like professional quality, but there were certainly no professionals around. It was really quite scary and dangerous, but mesmerizing and exciting as well. We tried to stay on the periphery and out of the way, but it was hard to miss. I'm sure if you read the Amsterdam paper today you would read about lots of injuries. None in our group though.

Now we are just wandering the streets and soaking up as much of Europe as we can before heading back to the US. I can hardly believe it, but there are only a few days left.

Hope everyone had a happy new year. See you soon.

Ted and Erin