Amsterdammit

Actually, it wasn't so bad. I guess its just comparatively kind of lame when I think of the other cities I've been too lately. If I had been in party mode it probably would have been way fun, but I was in shopping and hanging out mode, so it was just alright. As if I had went to visit, I don't know, Sacramento or something. I know, I know, I just compared Amsterdam to Sacramento. Not a one-to-one, for sure, but if you've ever been to Sacramento, it's memory probably evokes in you something similar to what I feel for Amsterdam.

I am also pissed cuz my main goal of going to Amsterdam (other than shopping, which is only a self-indulgent and therefore mostly guilt-laden goal) was to ride a boat in the canals, which I didn't do. But....


There was a guy sleeping in my 10-bed dorm room when I arrived, around 6pm. He was Russian, but had been living in the states for eight years and was going into his second year at one of the Boston-area universities. He told me all about his day, flying in from Moscow, not sleeping the night before, passing out from sunstroke while getting off the bus and waking up with a killer headache. Channeling my mother, I asked if he had drinken enough water and he held up a bottle of coke. Well, she wouldn't say drinken, but I like the word. I cringed and told him that it didn't count. We chatted for a bit and in walked an Argentine guy who (said he) spoke no English. Perfect! The one thing I feel my trip has been missing is a good solid dose of Espanol. He was pretty shocked that the front desk guy, the Russian guy and myself all spoke Spanish. "Spoke" is more like it in my case. I was nearly unable to communicate. It's sad. I need a refresher course.

I did understand enough to hear that the guy's passing out was preceded by a huge joint which was preceded by a month of not smoking, and I made fun of him (as much as I could in my poor, broken Spanish, which pretty much meant pointing, laughing and saying, 'sunstroke, siiiiii') for the sunstroke crap.

Anyways, I am bored with writing about Amsterdam. I went shopping and got some shirts for school, some shampoo, a pair of sneakers and the crown jewel, the main reason I came here, a pair of jeans! They are Carhartt, go figured, and were only like 30$. Long enough too. Wow.

Well, I should mention that those guys convinced me to go on a silly pubcrawl. It was surprisingly much more terrible than I could have ever imagined. But luckily there were forty minutes between each stop, so I left to check out a whisky bar

and grab a cheese crack. (Yes, they call those things cheese cracks.)


They also got me to go to the redlight district the next night, but that wasn't hard. I was pretty curious and happy to have a couple guys to go with. Would have been a little too shady for a solo trip. It was way, well, nicer than I imagined. Some of the girls were really pretty and normal-looking. Crazy right? Most of the time I couldn't bring myself to really look at them, I felt guilty as a girl because they knew I was just checking them out and wasn't there to actually buy for anything. Seemed kind of wrong. But when they weren't looking I would take a peek. Some seemed really sad, some were more into it and flirting with the guys walking by, lots were talking on their cell phones. Given how useful cell phones are for alleviating social tension, they must have been the perfect addition to the ladies' little booths. So much better than just standing there, almost naked, and alone. I couldn't take pictures of course, but this sink was in a bar nearby.

You can't read it, but the sign says 'Work harder or get fired'.

Oh, and I went to the Van Gough museum by accident, rather than the main museum. The Dutch Masters are my favorite favorite favorite and I went to the silly Van Gough museum! It was great, but in typically European style, they didn't even go into his juicy personal history. Great stuff, of course, but I like a little background info. You could see his rather amazing progression as an artist (he started painting only ten years before he died) and it would have been great to have a little personal bent to the exhibit. He seemed to be a very interesting guy. Well, obviously....

There were as many bikes as people. The Dutch & Belgian have the coolest bikes I've seen.

I also did a little grocery shopping and much to my delight, they sold tortillas and fajita mix at the store near my hostel! I somehow managed to squeeze all this new stuff in my small little bags and headed to the airport. So I guess I did do a lot of stuff. And I had a great time wandering around with my headphones on. Having a soundtrack is a crazy-good way to make strange surroundings feel very comfortable. Off to my new home...which I have been getting quite excited about. Laundry! Kitchen! Bed!