Amsterdam!

Okay finally getting around to documenting my recent travels! Crazy, have already been at it for ONE WEEK! I don´t think these will be quite as detailed as my normal posts. Mostly because I see A LOT in quite not a lot of time and a lot of is more seeing the touristy things than random [drunk] adventures so I think pictures will be more or less self-explanatory.

My getting to Amsterdam was quite a story actually… First of all, when I left VLC, I had packed 2 bags: my big backpack containing the clothes that I have been wearing the last few weeks, and my miniature suitcase that contained everything else which my dad and brother were taking back to the states.

Two interesting things happened while I was traveling with the fam:

1)      I came to the disheartening realization that the reset of Europe is not as warm and nice as Spain. It actually rained the last like 4 days we were in France-the two last days of the biking tour where therefor very wet and very cold. S’cool though. Felt like a badass biking 60k a day in pouring rain J seriously I am doing this for fall break. DO IT WITH ME. Anyways, so coming to this realization, I actually had to like repack my backpack because most of the clothes I had packed was summer clothes-shorts, short sleeve shirts, no jacket… would have been a rookie mistake.

2)      I wore a lot of my clothes the weeks I was traveling, so most of my clothes was dirty or at that place where it may or may not be able to be worn another time. Taking into account that I would be hostal hopping, I wanted to wash my clothes before embarking. So I spent my last day in Paris  doing laundry and preparing for my adventure. Unfortunately, my father took it very personally that I had to do these things… oh well

I think I may have mentioned that I have a Eurail pass and reservations for long distances, aka overnight trains, are basically all full-consequences of backpacking during peak season. Well Paris is.. well part of France.. so they make everything as difficult for tourists as possible and it was actually impossible to get out of Paris with the trains unless I wanted to pay the full ticket. Even Belgium, which they have like 16 trains daily requiring reservation, ALL FULL. PARIS YOU”RE NOT THAT COOL sheesh.

 Just kidding, love France, but since I was unable to book a train, I had to take bus. I knew it was going to be a little less “comfortable” and “efficient,” but barely covers it.. I left at 1330. I did not arrive until 22. BOOOO it took like 3 hours more than it originally said. We stopped in Belgium TWICE. That country is tiny like wtf?! And then in Rotterdam (Nederlands) and then somewhere else. I was seriously considering getting off the bus and taking a train haha but the bus drive was quite scenic and I slept some such. Still.. just got to Amsterdam muchhhh later than originally planned.

Lucky for me, I was meeting Fleur. The unlucky thing… she didn’t have a phone yet since she had just arrived from VLC the weekend before or something like this. It was quite difficult to contact her. I was very lucky to have found a hostal, although it was shit, but after putting my stuff there and waiting for Fleur to tell me where to meet, decided to walk around. Got offered weed about 3 different times within half an hour. Welcome to Amsterdam!

Finally met up with here round midnight or so and we were at this brown café (bars that you can smoke in-not coffee shops where they sell weed. Just normal cafes that people can smoke tabacco, among other things of course). Fleur has a dual personality and skates competitively so it was the post skate competition party at this bar. It had like combat boots hanging from the ceiling, posters of rock bands, and playing screamo music with a thick cloud of smoke making the atmosphere really different for me but really cool. The two people she introduced me to were Frobbie and Jack-two guys from London (Yioo sawnd lyk yer frm LAWNDN) which I ended up hanging out with the rest of my time in Amsterdam.

Jack´s face in every picture is wonderful (guess which)

My time in Amsterdam was really fun. Unfortunately it was raining a lot so outdoor activities, aka my picture taking, was a little limited. But I did all the crucial things: Red light, Anne Frank, Dam square, WOULD of gone to Van Gogh but the line was so long outside of Anne Frank I figured it would be as long, or longer, at that museum, and of course walked around the canals.

It is so pretty! I love cities with canals! And people in the Nederlands are super friendly! While waiting for the tram, this guy starts talking to me. Normally in Spain if this were to happen, they were just trying to get my number or something, so at first I was a little hesitant kind of waiting for the punch line. To my delight, we just talked. He was a student in Rotterdam and was there for a concert. He wished me a great journey through Europe and then we parted ways. This happened to me a number of times while in Amsterdam. It’s kind of funny to think of all the small interactions that you have with people you will never meet again. It’s interesting that these small encounters can really make your day.

But yeah so Amsterdam was quite fun. Hanging out with two skater Brits and Fleur around canals and noming on delicious Dutch pastries ;)

Fleur if you are reading this: Thank you so much for hanging out with meeee. Next time I will have to go to your home city. It has been a wonderfulllll semester and I LOVED getting to know you. You should def come to Croatia to hang out with Neva and I. If not, see you in the USA soon for our roadtrip! I’m not sure who will be my cig or peeing buddy… Know everytime I pop a squat I will think back on all our “bathrooms.” Love you GUAPA!

Anne, I am sad we couldn’t meet you in Amsterdam. But likewise I loveee you and look forward to seeing you again very soon J Wonderful times in Ibiza and VLC. It’s almost too painful to look at picures from Ibiza partially because I miss it so much and partially because we look drunk as shit. I will have to come back to the Nederlands soon to kiss a Dutch guy ;) Oh and P.S. you were right about the cheese.