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.