There has been many issues between myself and the landlord I have been staying with. The main issue that is created that stems to all others is the view of her to be a mother and watch over, advise, and teach me. Given, there a lot of students out in the world that are still watched over and cared for my their parents for every step they take, however, this is not the case for me. I have always been independent and striving to have my own experiences, my own views on life, and my own morals. Every day I am eternally grateful to my wonderful parents for teaching me the values and morals that have made me the person that I am today. There is a big difference however from teaching someone the values needed to live a good life, and enforcing those values to exactly one's own viewpoint.
With Jennifer, my landlord, she felt it necessary to critique me on staying out late at night, how to setup my room, setting restrictions for when I can leave my room, and multiple other things that stem from her trying to be a mother to me. Needless to say, having such an independent lifestyle and then have it be so constrained caused me a great deal of stress and it was apparent in every conversation with her. There was a lot of resentment for how she was treating me, but I needed to a place to stay so my arguments or discussions with her were limited.
This all came to an end the day after St. Patrick's Day. Apparently she did not enjoy the fact that I had 3 days of celebration and failed to meet her regulations for when to leave and enter the house. It was when I returned from the next day from school that she bluntly informed me that I had a week to move out of her house and find a different residence. Now, we had our differences but I did not see this coming.
I agreed and contacted the college's accommodation department to arrange a different host family to live with. Then I was surprised again because Jennifer had already contacted them and said I was "unfit" to live with anyone else. The idea that someone would kick a foreign exchange student out, and willingly make their chances of getting a new residence slim is beyond me. Due to her opinion the accommodation office provided no help to me finding another residence, and merely told me to look for a new place on my own using their directory. After making multiple calls and looking up different places I was getting no where...
A week had almost gone by and my already planned out spring break trip was approaching in two days. So as a last ditch resort I went to the head of the accommodation office and explained the situation with the point that putting me on the street would not be a good thing for university relations. After an hour of me talking with her, she said that she would call the dormitories and see if they could make an exception and take me in as a temporary resident.
The next day she contacted me and said that there was a spot available in the dorms, but I had to pay the entire rent of 101 pounds per week, and must have a contract until June 27th. With one day left before spring break, I calculated the costs and found I would be losing a substantial amount of money, but my choices were limited. Therefore I accepted and moved in the same day.
I'm now living in the dormitories and found that the luxuries of bed linens, toiletries, and laundry were no longer being provided to me. More money wasted, because of my previous landlord. However, the benefits of not being in a restricting household is enormous. I now feel that I am living on my own again, can make my own rules for my "household", and may leave and enter as a wish. Therefore it is debatable if my comfort is worth the amount of money I have spent.
Either way it was an experience worth having. :)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick's Day has always been a big holiday for me since majority of my ancestral roots come from Ireland. Therefore, this holiday was especially celebrated while I was over here.
My original plans were to go to Dublin, figuring that the best place to celebrate the holiday would actually be in Ireland. I found a tour and invited all of my friends, but at the end I decided to back out due to multiple suggestions to not go. It was interesting for me to hear all of these people say "Don't go to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day... it's not celebrated." Their logic and views come from people have originally gone over and found that the holiday is celebrated more as a religious holiday instead of the green rivers of drinking as it is in America.
So instead of going to Dublin, I decided to go to the celebrations here in London, which was an amazing event. This celebration took place on the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day and a group of my friends and I traveled to central London to watch the parade and the concert going on. We were a little slow getting started and missed the parade but stayed at the concert and festival for the better part of the day. I had the wonderful experience of meeting my friend Emma who is from Belfast and so far is the most Irish person I have ever met.
As mentioned before I love my Irish heritage so I went to London supporting the green, white, and orange flag. We all bought face paint and everyone had flags on their face, but I decided to take it another step and make my entire face the flag of Ireland. =) The result was terrific, and after I dyed my hair green, I received looks from every person I walked past.
Then after the festival and celebrations we went around central London for a pub crawl. After going to a few different pubs we took the party back to our local residence in London and went to one of our favorite pubs Coronation Hall. This is due to a number of facts, one being it is the cheapest pub in our area, another because it is well designed so our group of friends may have our own almost private party. Needless to say it was a very long night and a longer morning...
However, the celebrations were not over and my friends and went out the next night to have ourselves a Guinness at the stroke of midnight on St. Patrick's Day. One Guinness turned into a few more and the celebrations continued from the night, to the morning, to the afternoon, to the night of St. Patrick's Day. It was some of the most fun I've had and I made a lot of friends in the process of the three days.
Little did I know, my celebrations were going to come to an abrupt end the next day...
My original plans were to go to Dublin, figuring that the best place to celebrate the holiday would actually be in Ireland. I found a tour and invited all of my friends, but at the end I decided to back out due to multiple suggestions to not go. It was interesting for me to hear all of these people say "Don't go to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day... it's not celebrated." Their logic and views come from people have originally gone over and found that the holiday is celebrated more as a religious holiday instead of the green rivers of drinking as it is in America.
So instead of going to Dublin, I decided to go to the celebrations here in London, which was an amazing event. This celebration took place on the Sunday before St. Patrick's Day and a group of my friends and I traveled to central London to watch the parade and the concert going on. We were a little slow getting started and missed the parade but stayed at the concert and festival for the better part of the day. I had the wonderful experience of meeting my friend Emma who is from Belfast and so far is the most Irish person I have ever met.
As mentioned before I love my Irish heritage so I went to London supporting the green, white, and orange flag. We all bought face paint and everyone had flags on their face, but I decided to take it another step and make my entire face the flag of Ireland. =) The result was terrific, and after I dyed my hair green, I received looks from every person I walked past.
Then after the festival and celebrations we went around central London for a pub crawl. After going to a few different pubs we took the party back to our local residence in London and went to one of our favorite pubs Coronation Hall. This is due to a number of facts, one being it is the cheapest pub in our area, another because it is well designed so our group of friends may have our own almost private party. Needless to say it was a very long night and a longer morning...
However, the celebrations were not over and my friends and went out the next night to have ourselves a Guinness at the stroke of midnight on St. Patrick's Day. One Guinness turned into a few more and the celebrations continued from the night, to the morning, to the afternoon, to the night of St. Patrick's Day. It was some of the most fun I've had and I made a lot of friends in the process of the three days.
Little did I know, my celebrations were going to come to an abrupt end the next day...
Procastination
Hello everyone!
Wow it has certainly been a long time since I have updated this and I have to again apologize for my tardiness. With Amsterdam alone I wanted to give as much description as I could so that everyone could get some idea of my experiences as well as a point of reference for me to go back and review later on in life. I'm finding this harder to achieve due to the massive amounts of explaining and detail that is required for each adventure.
However, I do plan on writing about all of my experiences in the next few weeks so that I don't lose the little experiences that made everything so special to me. Here is my plan for the next few blogs:
By the time all of these of done, I will have already had the following experiences that I will write about:
- Thorpe Amusement Park
- Teracia's Visit
- - Athens, Greece
- - Rome, Italy
- - Florence, Italy
- - Pisa, Italy
- - Paris, France
So like I said I have a lot of writing and detail o go into, so thank you for reading and I hope to have this completed in a reasonable time.
Wow it has certainly been a long time since I have updated this and I have to again apologize for my tardiness. With Amsterdam alone I wanted to give as much description as I could so that everyone could get some idea of my experiences as well as a point of reference for me to go back and review later on in life. I'm finding this harder to achieve due to the massive amounts of explaining and detail that is required for each adventure.
However, I do plan on writing about all of my experiences in the next few weeks so that I don't lose the little experiences that made everything so special to me. Here is my plan for the next few blogs:
- St. Patrick's Day
- Moving from my residence
- Spring break
- Athens, Greece
- The island of Mykonos off of Greece
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Vienna, Austria
- Krakow, Poland
- Berlin, Germany
- Kingston University course work
By the time all of these of done, I will have already had the following experiences that I will write about:
- Thorpe Amusement Park
- Teracia's Visit
- - Athens, Greece
- - Rome, Italy
- - Florence, Italy
- - Pisa, Italy
- - Paris, France
So like I said I have a lot of writing and detail o go into, so thank you for reading and I hope to have this completed in a reasonable time.
Amsterdam Part 2
Hello again, and welcome to the second part of my Amsterdam trip!
So I promised to mention three more things in my trip that I utterly enjoyed and those were the street performers, two Dutch chess players, the wonderful Heineken beer, and the method of transport in Amsterdam.
I'll start off with the street performers because I spent a bit of my time in Amsterdam watching them. There were a number of different types of street performers, some who just dressed up in costumes for the tourists to have pictures made with them for a donation. While others were "professional" performers doing dangerous tricks, but they still only accepted donations.
Those who dressed in costumes included Batman, Darth Vader, Aquaman, and some sea type creature. They merely stood on a booth and waited for people to come up and give them a donation. On the days I was there, the same people were in the same places every day and I believe that those donations make for a full time job.
A definite sight to see was the professionals who started their performance by just yelling really loud "Okay let's get started!" and walking around drawing peoples' attention. I watched as one street performer had to do this three times in order to get enough people to look at him and stop what they were doing, after this he lit a torch and raised it high in the air to draw even more attention. After talking for a bit explaining what he was doing and such he started the performance. Now I have seen jugglers on TV, but seeing one in person is something completely different. You are there and watching them risk their life for entertainment, and you feel a sort of responsibility if anything was to happen.
This particular act involved a sharp machete, which he used to cut an apple, a torch that was on fire, and finally an apple. He placed his briefcase vertically on the cobblestones and stood on it, which was a feet of itself. Then he had members of the audience hand him the torch, machete, and apple. The amazing thing about the juggling performance was not only did he juggle but he ate the apple when he had it in his hand!
Even though was a life risking act the performer only accepted donations for it - though they were highly encouraged. What was even more interesting was the method of donation, most donations in the States have people place money in a bin or something that leaves them anonymous; this was not the case here. The performer proudly stood and held out his hat for donations. There was a certain connection with the person then after him seeing you giving when you could walk away. I proudly gave both times I watched performances and I was surprised to see people not pay a cent.
After staying around for a while I saw the act start up again and I realized that this is their complete living, they don't do this on the side, they depend on donations. That is a very unique way to live life, purely on the hope that someone will choose to give money. I find it very admirable.
There was also a constant sound of music on the streets of Amsterdam. With many people singing, playing guitar, playing steel drums, playing anything; it conveyed a very high level of love for music. Music, for those who don't know is one of my other passions. I love playing the drums, the rhythm and beat, the whole essence of music is uplifting.
One amazing guitarist was the typical dreadlocks, baggy clothes, and laying by the street just playing music. I could tell he wasn't looking for money, or anything, just being with the people and sharing the love of music. After listening to a few songs I thanked him and gave him a couple of Euros.
These types of experiences I find are far worth more than the average donations. Most museums and shows perform for tourists, but in reality most of the actual culture never goes to the events. Therefore, by paying more for them you lose out by not paying a few Euros to listen to music, or see a street performer that people are exposed to every day.
Truly an amazing experience in such a short time.
So I promised to mention three more things in my trip that I utterly enjoyed and those were the street performers, two Dutch chess players, the wonderful Heineken beer, and the method of transport in Amsterdam.
I'll start off with the street performers because I spent a bit of my time in Amsterdam watching them. There were a number of different types of street performers, some who just dressed up in costumes for the tourists to have pictures made with them for a donation. While others were "professional" performers doing dangerous tricks, but they still only accepted donations.
Those who dressed in costumes included Batman, Darth Vader, Aquaman, and some sea type creature. They merely stood on a booth and waited for people to come up and give them a donation. On the days I was there, the same people were in the same places every day and I believe that those donations make for a full time job.
A definite sight to see was the professionals who started their performance by just yelling really loud "Okay let's get started!" and walking around drawing peoples' attention. I watched as one street performer had to do this three times in order to get enough people to look at him and stop what they were doing, after this he lit a torch and raised it high in the air to draw even more attention. After talking for a bit explaining what he was doing and such he started the performance. Now I have seen jugglers on TV, but seeing one in person is something completely different. You are there and watching them risk their life for entertainment, and you feel a sort of responsibility if anything was to happen.
This particular act involved a sharp machete, which he used to cut an apple, a torch that was on fire, and finally an apple. He placed his briefcase vertically on the cobblestones and stood on it, which was a feet of itself. Then he had members of the audience hand him the torch, machete, and apple. The amazing thing about the juggling performance was not only did he juggle but he ate the apple when he had it in his hand!
Even though was a life risking act the performer only accepted donations for it - though they were highly encouraged. What was even more interesting was the method of donation, most donations in the States have people place money in a bin or something that leaves them anonymous; this was not the case here. The performer proudly stood and held out his hat for donations. There was a certain connection with the person then after him seeing you giving when you could walk away. I proudly gave both times I watched performances and I was surprised to see people not pay a cent.
After staying around for a while I saw the act start up again and I realized that this is their complete living, they don't do this on the side, they depend on donations. That is a very unique way to live life, purely on the hope that someone will choose to give money. I find it very admirable.
There was also a constant sound of music on the streets of Amsterdam. With many people singing, playing guitar, playing steel drums, playing anything; it conveyed a very high level of love for music. Music, for those who don't know is one of my other passions. I love playing the drums, the rhythm and beat, the whole essence of music is uplifting.
One amazing guitarist was the typical dreadlocks, baggy clothes, and laying by the street just playing music. I could tell he wasn't looking for money, or anything, just being with the people and sharing the love of music. After listening to a few songs I thanked him and gave him a couple of Euros.
These types of experiences I find are far worth more than the average donations. Most museums and shows perform for tourists, but in reality most of the actual culture never goes to the events. Therefore, by paying more for them you lose out by not paying a few Euros to listen to music, or see a street performer that people are exposed to every day.
Truly an amazing experience in such a short time.
Amsterdam
Hello everyone! I hope all is going well with your lives and activities; they certainly are going well for mine. This is another long and hopefully interesting blog about my travels and activities while spending five days and four nights in the amazing city of Amsterdam.
As most of you know, the very mention of Amsterdam to any college age kid fills them with excitement, wonderment, and above all curiosity. Thus with these fillings that I certainly had I took it upon myself that while studying in London I should visit this mysterious city that some have referred to as "the city of sin".
One important note to my story is that I made this adventure alone. I originally planned out a trip with roughly eight of my friends but when push came to shove it was hard to have everyone organized and pay for the trip in time before prices shot up. So therefore the week before my intended departure, I bought my ticket through Expedia so that I would have a flight plus hotel package, and sent out a message saying that I was going, and if anyone wanted to join they were more than welcome.
The notion of experiencing another country with a different culture and language by myself was my original intention for all of my trips abroad As some of you may know from me personally, I have always been a very independent person striving to excel on my own. Sometimes this gets the better of me by not accepting help when I need it, but I would have to say in my twenty-one years of life the hardships have definitely benefited me more than hurt me.
However, the notion of going by myself was bizarre to a few of my friends here who sarcastically called me crazy for even considering it. I just smiled and said "yep". It turned out that there were a few people excited enough to pay the extra price and come for a few days, however due to circumstances I'll explain later, I was only able to be with them a few hours on Saturday.
So my journey begins in the cold, dark, and painfully early morning of Thursday, February 26th. Upon waking at 4am, I went about my normal morning routine and grabbed my pre-packed bags and headed to the bus stop.
Since I do not have a car here in London, all traveling must use public transportation. There are enormous details in the different kinds of public transportation that London has to offer, and I may touch upon them at a later date, but for now know that I buses are cheaper for me so that causes longer traveling times.
My flight to Amsterdam was at 9am at an airport that is a bit of hike from central London (thus why leaving 5 hours earlier). The traveling process involved waiting at one bus stop for about ten minutes, hoping on the bus and traveling to Tooting Train Station, which I hopped on another bus which took me to central London's Victoria Station. This took roughly two hours with wait times at the stops, and of course the driving time. Once arriving in Victoria station, I hopped on a train to the airport, which took another hour.
This is one of the big disadvantages of public transportation. For me to arrive at a destination 30 miles south, I must first take a bus 30 miles east, then another bus 30 miles north, then a train 60 miles south. Phew.
After arriving at the airport I only had carry-on luggage with clothes in one bag, and then my backpack with the essential camera and laptop. Thanks to my wonderful girlfriend Teracia, I was able to pack very lightly. She gave me a all-in-one custom made traveling pack which has pretty much every kind of emergency, hygienic, and useful tool that may be needed. So in guy terms, I just have to pack the tiny bag that she gave me, plus clothes, and then I’m all set.
Security at the airport was pretty tough since I always seem to be "randomly selected" (I have not once gone through an airport without being frisked and randomly "selected" no joke). They reviewed my lovely all-in-one bag with much worry since I just packed the bag and forgot to do the proper packing methods for liquids and such, but they saw that nothing was opened or used and let my by. It did give me a bit of a time crunch, though because normally they advertise to get there two hours before your flight in case there is a problem with security. Well since I always have a problem with security and I always get through in an hour, I usually just show up an hour before the flight.
However now after through security, I had 20 minutes to get to my flight. Not a big deal usually since all it requires is going to the gate; however I found out that my flight was in another terminal that I had to take another train to, and then also my flight was at the end of that terminal. So roughly I had to get to the train (roughly 2 blocks away), hope that it was there when I got there, take the train to the other terminal, and get to my gate (roughly 6 blocks away)... in 20 minutes.
Well I started running, and I see that my train was arriving so I slide in with all my luggage and momentum into a poor couple smiling happily and talking to each other. Of course I apologized and stood next to them awkwardly for the next 7 minutes of the train ride. Though I briefly interrupted their nice lovely conversation (which seemed to involve who loves each other more), they resumed their "argument" without hesitation.
As my train stopped, I took off running again with my backpack weighing me down and my luggage rolling along the industrial carpet. As approaching the gate the voice overtakes the mundane elevator-type music with an announcement that flight 1108 towards Amsterdam is calling any remaining members. Picking up the pace, I checked in and got on board my flight with a bright red face and huffing and puffing like I was the wolf about to blow some piglets' houses down.
British Airways has a very nice flight setup the normal "snack" served is actually a nice breakfast. Contrary to normal American flights, pretzels are not served; instead it is an all-in-one breakfast with egg and bacon in a nice French baguette, with a napkin, stirring spoon, and tiny trash bag for everything. It is usually custom to have tea in the morning and it is served similar to coffee with milk and sugar as an option. I highly recommend it.
After the short flight I finally arrived in the Netherlands. Upon leaving the gate it was an immediate change in culture because not one person in public or the voices on the speaker were speaking English. I smiled and continued out of the airport and hopped on a train to "Amsterdam Centraal Station." Which is the most northern part of downtown Amsterdam and the main transit in and out of the city.
I have a tendency to plan and try to have an understanding of what I am getting myself into, so I did a bit of research on Amsterdam and the methods of transportation. Similar to the great bus system that London has, Amsterdam apparently has an amazing tram system. I however could not find any information of how to either buy tram tickets or if I could just hop on a tram, so I stuck to walking.
For those planning on traveling to Amsterdam at some point, there is an "I Amsterdam" card which can be bought for 24, 48, or 72 hours that gives you full access to all museums as well as unlimited public transportation. I looked into getting one of the cards but since I was going to be in Amsterdam for five days I figured it would be better to start on foot and get to know the city.
So I left Centraal Station and headed for my hotel on foot, which was roughly three miles away. Unfortunately I planned out a walking route on Google Maps the night before but forgot to print it out. Unfortunately, that meant that I only knew that the hotel called "Inner Amsterdam", located at 1 Wanning, which is supposed to be near Vondelpark. Turns out that since all of the street signs are in Dutch, it is very hard to get directions let alone say the street the hotel is located on.
For example Wanning, is not pronounced "Wha-knee-ing" which I originally thought, it is pronounced "Vahk-ing".
I originally started asking people once I was near Vondelpark, however none of them had heard of the street or the hotel. So I took a very brute force approach to finding the hotel, by walking around the area of Vondelpark in a large circle, then smaller, then smaller. Eventually I found a tiny alley, which linked to another alley, which was called Wanning.
Needless to say this was an exhausting experience and it was only my first day. I put my chin up and walked in the hotel, which I found would better be named a hostel. After getting my room I was told I would be in room 108 in bed E. I thought it was strange that I had a bed name but I carried on into my room and found that I was actually staying in a room with seven other people; five other guys and two girls.
Little did I know that the experience of being in a hostel and constantly being around people that I did not know was the most rewarding experience of my trip.
Two of the guys were from Chile and I talked with them for roughly an hour about how they are studying in Germany for a semester and are just in Amsterdam for the weekend. They spoke fluent English, Spanish, and German. It was fascinating hearing them switching between languages, because if they couldn't figure out how to express what they were thinking in one language, they would switch to another language.
Unfortunately I did not get the chance to hang out with these two guys, but I did make one good friend named Lance. He was sleeping on the bunk above me and as soon as I started talking he was like “You from the states? (Apparently the accent is definitely noticeable).
Upon talking about where I was from, I was very intrigued to see the shock in his face. Normally when people ask I say, "Yes, from Michigan near Chicago". This is because most people know major cities rather than the location of the states. However Lance proceeded to ask "Where in Michigan?".
It turns out that Lance, is from Grand Rapids, Michigan and goes to GRCC for culinary arts. Also, that he works at the 1913 room where Teracia's best friend Michelle works.
...
I am utterly amazed how small a world this is.
Lance and I struck up a friendship while abroad and went on many adventures through Amsterdam. It was a great experience to meet someone completely new and just have a great time in an unknown city.
After resting for about an hour, I decided that I did not want to spend my first day in Amsterdam just relaxing in my hostel. So I asked Lance if he felt like getting something to eat and we went to a place just down the street from the hostel that he highly recommended. Now usually when I venture into a new land and culture I try to experience their everyday food as well. With London I had the normal fish and chips with a beer, but in the Netherlands it was hard to find a solid food that was commonly linked. Therefore we went to a nice Italian restaurant where I had magnificent pasta.
The service in the Netherlands is very much similar to Britain where you must go up to pay your bill, and free refills are unheard of. I assume it will be like this through most of Europe. I found out that it was actually the French who changed this concept with the idea that all a person should have to do to receive food is to sit down and everything would be provided for them. It is now expected amongst American restaurants to treat customer's this way; especially with the slogan "The customer is always right."
After the lovely dinner, we both headed off to central Amsterdam to take in some of the culture and places of interest. The culture itself has been something that I will never forget. Amsterdam of course is known for the legality of marijuana, prostitution, and pretty much anything you can think of. Often it is subject to a number of discrimination about ruining perfectly good people but I have to say I strongly disagree with that.
There is a type of acceptance in Amsterdam that is unlike anything in the world. I remember hearing one local call America as a cage that keeps people from doing what they would like to do, and as a result when the cage is unlocked people get in serious trouble. The metaphor has some actual basis to it because the locals in Amsterdam though that have the ability to get high, drunk, and do hard drugs every single day... they don't. Since it is legal, available, and accepted those who wish to have the occasional joint do, and just live about their daily lives. While on the other hand tourists and others who come into Amsterdam find it necessary to binge on everything that they could imagine.
I had this in mind when I explored Amsterdam for the following days seeing the dozens of coffee shops, sex shops, prostitutes, and drug dealers. It was an eye opening experience and certainly something I think people should see for themselves.
Since Amsterdam is not that large of a city, I have pretty much walked every street in the city's centre. This was due to me walking roughly ten hours a day. So to answer those who of course are going to ask, "Yes, I have been to the red light district." The red light district is actually a good portion of the city and stretches for a few miles.
It is important to know that the red light district may not be the safest place in the world but it is no different than any downtown street in a major city at night. One must be ready to be offered drugs constantly however, since I was offered crack, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, and speed more than hundred times in five days.
Drug offers happen in three different ways in Amsterdam that I have noticed. You have the most popular method of people walking by and saying, "Crack? Cocaine? Heroin?" in a fast paced and silent tone. Be aware that it is important to continue walking because if you stop and look at them, they view that as a form of acceptance. The next popular method is people acting sick, noticeably. Often when you walk by someone who is standing on the side of the street that will look at you, and cough or sneeze. I made the mistake of sneezing while I was walking down an alleyway and I had someone approach me and ask, "You a Tom?" - which brings me to the third and final method in drug deals: Tom's and Charlie's. When asked if you are a Charlie that is code for asking if you are a drug user, if you are asked if you are a Tom, that is code for a drug dealer. Keep that in mind.
Now it should be obvious to those who know me I did not do any hard drugs in Amsterdam, and I don't recommend that anyone should ever do them. Besides the harmful effects of the drugs on your body as well as the long term repercussions, you should know that half of the drug offers in Amsterdam are by undercover police. Therefore, if you get offered drugs, take comfort in knowing that half the people there are there to protect you. :)
This blog entry is getting quite daunting and I've been working on it for some time, so I believe I will have to make a new blog about the other aspects of Amsterdam here in the future. So stay tuned for a blog about the Amsterdam street performers, two Dutch chess players, the wonderful Heineken beer, and the method of transport in Amsterdam.
As most of you know, the very mention of Amsterdam to any college age kid fills them with excitement, wonderment, and above all curiosity. Thus with these fillings that I certainly had I took it upon myself that while studying in London I should visit this mysterious city that some have referred to as "the city of sin".
One important note to my story is that I made this adventure alone. I originally planned out a trip with roughly eight of my friends but when push came to shove it was hard to have everyone organized and pay for the trip in time before prices shot up. So therefore the week before my intended departure, I bought my ticket through Expedia so that I would have a flight plus hotel package, and sent out a message saying that I was going, and if anyone wanted to join they were more than welcome.
The notion of experiencing another country with a different culture and language by myself was my original intention for all of my trips abroad As some of you may know from me personally, I have always been a very independent person striving to excel on my own. Sometimes this gets the better of me by not accepting help when I need it, but I would have to say in my twenty-one years of life the hardships have definitely benefited me more than hurt me.
However, the notion of going by myself was bizarre to a few of my friends here who sarcastically called me crazy for even considering it. I just smiled and said "yep". It turned out that there were a few people excited enough to pay the extra price and come for a few days, however due to circumstances I'll explain later, I was only able to be with them a few hours on Saturday.
So my journey begins in the cold, dark, and painfully early morning of Thursday, February 26th. Upon waking at 4am, I went about my normal morning routine and grabbed my pre-packed bags and headed to the bus stop.
Since I do not have a car here in London, all traveling must use public transportation. There are enormous details in the different kinds of public transportation that London has to offer, and I may touch upon them at a later date, but for now know that I buses are cheaper for me so that causes longer traveling times.
My flight to Amsterdam was at 9am at an airport that is a bit of hike from central London (thus why leaving 5 hours earlier). The traveling process involved waiting at one bus stop for about ten minutes, hoping on the bus and traveling to Tooting Train Station, which I hopped on another bus which took me to central London's Victoria Station. This took roughly two hours with wait times at the stops, and of course the driving time. Once arriving in Victoria station, I hopped on a train to the airport, which took another hour.
This is one of the big disadvantages of public transportation. For me to arrive at a destination 30 miles south, I must first take a bus 30 miles east, then another bus 30 miles north, then a train 60 miles south. Phew.
After arriving at the airport I only had carry-on luggage with clothes in one bag, and then my backpack with the essential camera and laptop. Thanks to my wonderful girlfriend Teracia, I was able to pack very lightly. She gave me a all-in-one custom made traveling pack which has pretty much every kind of emergency, hygienic, and useful tool that may be needed. So in guy terms, I just have to pack the tiny bag that she gave me, plus clothes, and then I’m all set.
Security at the airport was pretty tough since I always seem to be "randomly selected" (I have not once gone through an airport without being frisked and randomly "selected" no joke). They reviewed my lovely all-in-one bag with much worry since I just packed the bag and forgot to do the proper packing methods for liquids and such, but they saw that nothing was opened or used and let my by. It did give me a bit of a time crunch, though because normally they advertise to get there two hours before your flight in case there is a problem with security. Well since I always have a problem with security and I always get through in an hour, I usually just show up an hour before the flight.
However now after through security, I had 20 minutes to get to my flight. Not a big deal usually since all it requires is going to the gate; however I found out that my flight was in another terminal that I had to take another train to, and then also my flight was at the end of that terminal. So roughly I had to get to the train (roughly 2 blocks away), hope that it was there when I got there, take the train to the other terminal, and get to my gate (roughly 6 blocks away)... in 20 minutes.
Well I started running, and I see that my train was arriving so I slide in with all my luggage and momentum into a poor couple smiling happily and talking to each other. Of course I apologized and stood next to them awkwardly for the next 7 minutes of the train ride. Though I briefly interrupted their nice lovely conversation (which seemed to involve who loves each other more), they resumed their "argument" without hesitation.
As my train stopped, I took off running again with my backpack weighing me down and my luggage rolling along the industrial carpet. As approaching the gate the voice overtakes the mundane elevator-type music with an announcement that flight 1108 towards Amsterdam is calling any remaining members. Picking up the pace, I checked in and got on board my flight with a bright red face and huffing and puffing like I was the wolf about to blow some piglets' houses down.
British Airways has a very nice flight setup the normal "snack" served is actually a nice breakfast. Contrary to normal American flights, pretzels are not served; instead it is an all-in-one breakfast with egg and bacon in a nice French baguette, with a napkin, stirring spoon, and tiny trash bag for everything. It is usually custom to have tea in the morning and it is served similar to coffee with milk and sugar as an option. I highly recommend it.
After the short flight I finally arrived in the Netherlands. Upon leaving the gate it was an immediate change in culture because not one person in public or the voices on the speaker were speaking English. I smiled and continued out of the airport and hopped on a train to "Amsterdam Centraal Station." Which is the most northern part of downtown Amsterdam and the main transit in and out of the city.
I have a tendency to plan and try to have an understanding of what I am getting myself into, so I did a bit of research on Amsterdam and the methods of transportation. Similar to the great bus system that London has, Amsterdam apparently has an amazing tram system. I however could not find any information of how to either buy tram tickets or if I could just hop on a tram, so I stuck to walking.
For those planning on traveling to Amsterdam at some point, there is an "I Amsterdam" card which can be bought for 24, 48, or 72 hours that gives you full access to all museums as well as unlimited public transportation. I looked into getting one of the cards but since I was going to be in Amsterdam for five days I figured it would be better to start on foot and get to know the city.
So I left Centraal Station and headed for my hotel on foot, which was roughly three miles away. Unfortunately I planned out a walking route on Google Maps the night before but forgot to print it out. Unfortunately, that meant that I only knew that the hotel called "Inner Amsterdam", located at 1 Wanning, which is supposed to be near Vondelpark. Turns out that since all of the street signs are in Dutch, it is very hard to get directions let alone say the street the hotel is located on.
For example Wanning, is not pronounced "Wha-knee-ing" which I originally thought, it is pronounced "Vahk-ing".
I originally started asking people once I was near Vondelpark, however none of them had heard of the street or the hotel. So I took a very brute force approach to finding the hotel, by walking around the area of Vondelpark in a large circle, then smaller, then smaller. Eventually I found a tiny alley, which linked to another alley, which was called Wanning.
Needless to say this was an exhausting experience and it was only my first day. I put my chin up and walked in the hotel, which I found would better be named a hostel. After getting my room I was told I would be in room 108 in bed E. I thought it was strange that I had a bed name but I carried on into my room and found that I was actually staying in a room with seven other people; five other guys and two girls.
Little did I know that the experience of being in a hostel and constantly being around people that I did not know was the most rewarding experience of my trip.
Two of the guys were from Chile and I talked with them for roughly an hour about how they are studying in Germany for a semester and are just in Amsterdam for the weekend. They spoke fluent English, Spanish, and German. It was fascinating hearing them switching between languages, because if they couldn't figure out how to express what they were thinking in one language, they would switch to another language.
Unfortunately I did not get the chance to hang out with these two guys, but I did make one good friend named Lance. He was sleeping on the bunk above me and as soon as I started talking he was like “You from the states? (Apparently the accent is definitely noticeable).
Upon talking about where I was from, I was very intrigued to see the shock in his face. Normally when people ask I say, "Yes, from Michigan near Chicago". This is because most people know major cities rather than the location of the states. However Lance proceeded to ask "Where in Michigan?".
It turns out that Lance, is from Grand Rapids, Michigan and goes to GRCC for culinary arts. Also, that he works at the 1913 room where Teracia's best friend Michelle works.
...
I am utterly amazed how small a world this is.
Lance and I struck up a friendship while abroad and went on many adventures through Amsterdam. It was a great experience to meet someone completely new and just have a great time in an unknown city.
After resting for about an hour, I decided that I did not want to spend my first day in Amsterdam just relaxing in my hostel. So I asked Lance if he felt like getting something to eat and we went to a place just down the street from the hostel that he highly recommended. Now usually when I venture into a new land and culture I try to experience their everyday food as well. With London I had the normal fish and chips with a beer, but in the Netherlands it was hard to find a solid food that was commonly linked. Therefore we went to a nice Italian restaurant where I had magnificent pasta.
The service in the Netherlands is very much similar to Britain where you must go up to pay your bill, and free refills are unheard of. I assume it will be like this through most of Europe. I found out that it was actually the French who changed this concept with the idea that all a person should have to do to receive food is to sit down and everything would be provided for them. It is now expected amongst American restaurants to treat customer's this way; especially with the slogan "The customer is always right."
After the lovely dinner, we both headed off to central Amsterdam to take in some of the culture and places of interest. The culture itself has been something that I will never forget. Amsterdam of course is known for the legality of marijuana, prostitution, and pretty much anything you can think of. Often it is subject to a number of discrimination about ruining perfectly good people but I have to say I strongly disagree with that.
There is a type of acceptance in Amsterdam that is unlike anything in the world. I remember hearing one local call America as a cage that keeps people from doing what they would like to do, and as a result when the cage is unlocked people get in serious trouble. The metaphor has some actual basis to it because the locals in Amsterdam though that have the ability to get high, drunk, and do hard drugs every single day... they don't. Since it is legal, available, and accepted those who wish to have the occasional joint do, and just live about their daily lives. While on the other hand tourists and others who come into Amsterdam find it necessary to binge on everything that they could imagine.
I had this in mind when I explored Amsterdam for the following days seeing the dozens of coffee shops, sex shops, prostitutes, and drug dealers. It was an eye opening experience and certainly something I think people should see for themselves.
Since Amsterdam is not that large of a city, I have pretty much walked every street in the city's centre. This was due to me walking roughly ten hours a day. So to answer those who of course are going to ask, "Yes, I have been to the red light district." The red light district is actually a good portion of the city and stretches for a few miles.
It is important to know that the red light district may not be the safest place in the world but it is no different than any downtown street in a major city at night. One must be ready to be offered drugs constantly however, since I was offered crack, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, and speed more than hundred times in five days.
Drug offers happen in three different ways in Amsterdam that I have noticed. You have the most popular method of people walking by and saying, "Crack? Cocaine? Heroin?" in a fast paced and silent tone. Be aware that it is important to continue walking because if you stop and look at them, they view that as a form of acceptance. The next popular method is people acting sick, noticeably. Often when you walk by someone who is standing on the side of the street that will look at you, and cough or sneeze. I made the mistake of sneezing while I was walking down an alleyway and I had someone approach me and ask, "You a Tom?" - which brings me to the third and final method in drug deals: Tom's and Charlie's. When asked if you are a Charlie that is code for asking if you are a drug user, if you are asked if you are a Tom, that is code for a drug dealer. Keep that in mind.
Now it should be obvious to those who know me I did not do any hard drugs in Amsterdam, and I don't recommend that anyone should ever do them. Besides the harmful effects of the drugs on your body as well as the long term repercussions, you should know that half of the drug offers in Amsterdam are by undercover police. Therefore, if you get offered drugs, take comfort in knowing that half the people there are there to protect you. :)
This blog entry is getting quite daunting and I've been working on it for some time, so I believe I will have to make a new blog about the other aspects of Amsterdam here in the future. So stay tuned for a blog about the Amsterdam street performers, two Dutch chess players, the wonderful Heineken beer, and the method of transport in Amsterdam.
Recent Events
Well this past week has certainly been a blast for me in London!
One of my classes is British Life and Culture in which we learn about different aspects of the average British life and why certain philosophies and processes in society and government go on till this day. The course is split into a weekly lecture as well as trips to key points of England.
Our first trip was on the first week of school and we went to Brighton, as detailed in my first blog, and I have to say the class started with high hopes. Well this past week I was not disappointed when we took a trip and toured the Houses of Parliament as well as the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
Parliament had a strict "No Pictures!" warning everywhere, and I'm not for sure why. My latest theory, since the Royal Pavilion did not allow pictures, is that it keeps the tourists coming into town. If everyone knows what Parliament looks like, then less would be willing to travel to England to see it.
Well I have to admit, I did sneak a few pictures and I may be deported because of it but oh well. It was amazing to see all of the art work, sculptures, and architecture inside the Parliament walls. For those who don't know, Parliament is split into two different houses, The House of Commons and The House of Lords. The House of Commons is where elected parliamentary members meet and discuss the processes of the state, they are the governing body of the United Kingdom (well not technically).
The relationship between the Monarchy and the Parliamentary Members is a very interesting one that I have never heard of. Pretty much the setup is, the Queen has all of the power, however, she only does what Parliament tells her to do. If she does anything on her own or passes her own laws, or refuses to sign on of the laws passed by Parliament, then there will be a guaranteed civil war.
The Monarchy in England has faced a lot of troubles in the past hundred years, but it is the British preservation of culture, identity, and history that allows them to coexist and run a stable government with a Monarchy.
The House of Lords in Parliament is currently only occupied by appointed members of staff (from previous Lords) as well as hereditary members. In recent years this house has been under a lot of criticism since the members are not elected by the general public, and for Britain to be a complete Democracy they would have to be.
So as our tour guide said there will be some changes to the House of Lords to come. Which will certainly change some of the customs that they have today. Right now the Queen gives the address to the state of the aspects of the future year. Like before, the Queen doesn't actually write the speech, it is made from the Prime Minister and she merely reads it.
However, there is a tradition that has been passed down year after year, and that is the Monarchy are not allowed into the House of Commons so that there is a separation of the Monarchy and the elected officials. When the Queen is ready to give the speech an official goes over to the House of Commons and knocks three times and the door is slammed in his face, symbolizing the right of the Lower House to debate without interference.
So there are a lot of British Traditions that have been passed down every year so that their culture is still preserved.
Another amazing place that we ventured to is the Globe Theatre. It is an almost exact replica of the Globe Theatre that Shakespeare wrote his plays and performed in. Unfortunately the original Globe was burnt down due to the thatched roof being caught on fire from a cannon firing as one of the props. This event was to for cast the later Great London Fire of 1666 where the majority of the city was burned down due to thatched roofs catching on fire and spreading to near by houses.
One interesting fact is that after the fire of 1666, Parliament made a new law that no building may have a thatched roof. However, the reconstructed Globe Theatre does have one. The tour guide explained that the builders and project managers of the reconstruction worked with Members of Parliament in order to change the law to allow this building.
The seats, to the stage, to the thatched roof, to even the pegs that hold the wood together are all exactly the same. It was truly remarkable to stand in almost the exact same structure as Shakespeare would of seen.
My final visit in Central London was the Westminster Abbey. This is where important events like the burial of Princess Diana and many other important figures. This church was by far the most impressive I have ever been in. The Anglo Catholic mass was terrific and the choir had seven part harmonies.
Despite one's own religious and moral beliefs, when you are in a place where the service has been done for the past 1000 years exactly as it is done now, you feel a strong connection to something. It is truly indescribable.
Well besides my Central London trips, I also have some other news. I applied for a bartending position here at a one of the largest night clubs, and I start this week!
The night club is Oceana and it has roughly 10 bars, 9 dance floors, and is 3 stories tall. I'm really looking forward to working there and experiencing what it is like to be a bartender. Should be a blast.
Well thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is doing great! I am still working on the site and I do apologize for not being faster ;)
Take care!
One of my classes is British Life and Culture in which we learn about different aspects of the average British life and why certain philosophies and processes in society and government go on till this day. The course is split into a weekly lecture as well as trips to key points of England.
Our first trip was on the first week of school and we went to Brighton, as detailed in my first blog, and I have to say the class started with high hopes. Well this past week I was not disappointed when we took a trip and toured the Houses of Parliament as well as the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
Parliament had a strict "No Pictures!" warning everywhere, and I'm not for sure why. My latest theory, since the Royal Pavilion did not allow pictures, is that it keeps the tourists coming into town. If everyone knows what Parliament looks like, then less would be willing to travel to England to see it.
Well I have to admit, I did sneak a few pictures and I may be deported because of it but oh well. It was amazing to see all of the art work, sculptures, and architecture inside the Parliament walls. For those who don't know, Parliament is split into two different houses, The House of Commons and The House of Lords. The House of Commons is where elected parliamentary members meet and discuss the processes of the state, they are the governing body of the United Kingdom (well not technically).
The relationship between the Monarchy and the Parliamentary Members is a very interesting one that I have never heard of. Pretty much the setup is, the Queen has all of the power, however, she only does what Parliament tells her to do. If she does anything on her own or passes her own laws, or refuses to sign on of the laws passed by Parliament, then there will be a guaranteed civil war.
The Monarchy in England has faced a lot of troubles in the past hundred years, but it is the British preservation of culture, identity, and history that allows them to coexist and run a stable government with a Monarchy.
The House of Lords in Parliament is currently only occupied by appointed members of staff (from previous Lords) as well as hereditary members. In recent years this house has been under a lot of criticism since the members are not elected by the general public, and for Britain to be a complete Democracy they would have to be.
So as our tour guide said there will be some changes to the House of Lords to come. Which will certainly change some of the customs that they have today. Right now the Queen gives the address to the state of the aspects of the future year. Like before, the Queen doesn't actually write the speech, it is made from the Prime Minister and she merely reads it.
However, there is a tradition that has been passed down year after year, and that is the Monarchy are not allowed into the House of Commons so that there is a separation of the Monarchy and the elected officials. When the Queen is ready to give the speech an official goes over to the House of Commons and knocks three times and the door is slammed in his face, symbolizing the right of the Lower House to debate without interference.
So there are a lot of British Traditions that have been passed down every year so that their culture is still preserved.
Another amazing place that we ventured to is the Globe Theatre. It is an almost exact replica of the Globe Theatre that Shakespeare wrote his plays and performed in. Unfortunately the original Globe was burnt down due to the thatched roof being caught on fire from a cannon firing as one of the props. This event was to for cast the later Great London Fire of 1666 where the majority of the city was burned down due to thatched roofs catching on fire and spreading to near by houses.
One interesting fact is that after the fire of 1666, Parliament made a new law that no building may have a thatched roof. However, the reconstructed Globe Theatre does have one. The tour guide explained that the builders and project managers of the reconstruction worked with Members of Parliament in order to change the law to allow this building.
The seats, to the stage, to the thatched roof, to even the pegs that hold the wood together are all exactly the same. It was truly remarkable to stand in almost the exact same structure as Shakespeare would of seen.
My final visit in Central London was the Westminster Abbey. This is where important events like the burial of Princess Diana and many other important figures. This church was by far the most impressive I have ever been in. The Anglo Catholic mass was terrific and the choir had seven part harmonies.
Despite one's own religious and moral beliefs, when you are in a place where the service has been done for the past 1000 years exactly as it is done now, you feel a strong connection to something. It is truly indescribable.
Well besides my Central London trips, I also have some other news. I applied for a bartending position here at a one of the largest night clubs, and I start this week!
The night club is Oceana and it has roughly 10 bars, 9 dance floors, and is 3 stories tall. I'm really looking forward to working there and experiencing what it is like to be a bartender. Should be a blast.
Well thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is doing great! I am still working on the site and I do apologize for not being faster ;)
Take care!
New Favorite Place
Another interesting change in American to British way of life is the numbering of floors. More measurements here are recorded under the metric system, so it would also make sense that number their floors starting with 0.
That's right, a zero-based numbering system in common life. So therefore the first floor here would be known as the second floor in the states.
Upon discovering this fact, I also discovered my new favorite place at Kingston University. It is the second floor of the library.
Why the library?
Because the second floor is the Science and Technology portion of the library. It literally has the largest section of Computer Science books over web design, artificial intelligence, parallel algorithms, data structures, computational mathematics, and more.
If I had to guess the number of books that relate to the realm of computation it would have to be in the thousands. With the majority of the books available to check out for an entire month and the newest editions able to check out for a week.
As a result of the wealth of knowledge, I now have checked out "AI for Game Developers", "Linear Algebra and its Applications", "Algorithms in Java, Graph Algorithms", "Discovering Wavelets", "Object-Oriented PHP", and "The Big Bang". All free, and I have them for a month...
I've always been interested in game development and AI. Not really as a career purpose but more of to understand the mathematical basis behind everyday games. That is why I chose to get AI for Game Developers, so it may give me an introduction to the topic.
Another intriguing book is Discovering Wavelets. Wavelets are very advanced mathematics which combines calculus, linear algebra, and discrete mathematics. Its main purpose is to analyze fingerprints and other image related material. For example, using wavelets it would be possible to pass an image of an airport and have the computer program highlight all of the airplanes automatically. Alternatively, image recognition would also give the ability to break CAPTCHAs. For those who don't know a CAPTCHA is an image on a website that has text which prompts the user to input so that a computer may not fill out the form, it requires an actual human. Since I don't know linear algebra, that is why I picked up the Linear Algebra and its Applications book.
The Object-Oriented PHP is to give me some ideas to better create the site into an expandable basis. Right now the coding for this isn't my best, and it was mainly just put together so I was able to post a blog. I'm hoping to change that soon :).
And finally, the Big Bang book is, obviously, over the theory of The Big Bang. Since my evolution class last semester I have often scoffed at the notion that matter just combined and then "created" the universe. Often times denying something is true is accompanied by ignorance. So for me to have a solid faith and understanding, I figured I'd do some research on the subject.
Thank you for the knowledge Kingston!
That's right, a zero-based numbering system in common life. So therefore the first floor here would be known as the second floor in the states.
Upon discovering this fact, I also discovered my new favorite place at Kingston University. It is the second floor of the library.
Why the library?
Because the second floor is the Science and Technology portion of the library. It literally has the largest section of Computer Science books over web design, artificial intelligence, parallel algorithms, data structures, computational mathematics, and more.
If I had to guess the number of books that relate to the realm of computation it would have to be in the thousands. With the majority of the books available to check out for an entire month and the newest editions able to check out for a week.
As a result of the wealth of knowledge, I now have checked out "AI for Game Developers", "Linear Algebra and its Applications", "Algorithms in Java, Graph Algorithms", "Discovering Wavelets", "Object-Oriented PHP", and "The Big Bang". All free, and I have them for a month...
I've always been interested in game development and AI. Not really as a career purpose but more of to understand the mathematical basis behind everyday games. That is why I chose to get AI for Game Developers, so it may give me an introduction to the topic.
Another intriguing book is Discovering Wavelets. Wavelets are very advanced mathematics which combines calculus, linear algebra, and discrete mathematics. Its main purpose is to analyze fingerprints and other image related material. For example, using wavelets it would be possible to pass an image of an airport and have the computer program highlight all of the airplanes automatically. Alternatively, image recognition would also give the ability to break CAPTCHAs. For those who don't know a CAPTCHA is an image on a website that has text which prompts the user to input so that a computer may not fill out the form, it requires an actual human. Since I don't know linear algebra, that is why I picked up the Linear Algebra and its Applications book.
The Object-Oriented PHP is to give me some ideas to better create the site into an expandable basis. Right now the coding for this isn't my best, and it was mainly just put together so I was able to post a blog. I'm hoping to change that soon :).
And finally, the Big Bang book is, obviously, over the theory of The Big Bang. Since my evolution class last semester I have often scoffed at the notion that matter just combined and then "created" the universe. Often times denying something is true is accompanied by ignorance. So for me to have a solid faith and understanding, I figured I'd do some research on the subject.
Thank you for the knowledge Kingston!
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