Weekend in Amsterdam

The famous IAMSTERDAM sign

      I was really unsure of what to expect from our weekend trip to Amsterdam. It was something the group had talked about since the first days we were all gathered in a friend’s room playing card games. I was probably the only person who was not aware that so many taboo things were legal there. Nevertheless, I was excited to visit the Netherlands. It was a rollercoaster trip - all of the logistics were very inconvenient, but our time out on the town was fascinating. On the way to Amsterdam we had to change trains in Belgium. It was a nine hour trip but it passed quickly. There were 21 of us, and also a big group of students from Georgia Tech. Even though we were spread out throughout two train carts, it was fun to see everyone playing games and hear English being spoken all over. From the train station we took a TRAM to our tiny little hostel. A tram is like a bus but runs on electricity. I have taken much smaller trams in Bulgaria. Since there were so many of us, we were spread out among 4 different hostels.
     When we arrived to our hostel we were in for a treat. Online we had booked one 10 person room for 2 nights - Friday and Saturday. We had paid a deposit and let the hostel know that we would be arriving later on at night. This in the United States would guarantee the 10 person room we had booked. When we were checking in we found out that that isn’t necessarily the case in Amsterdam. For Friday night, we had for us one room with six beds, and a second room with three beds. There would be one mattress put on the floor of the six people room for the 10^th person to sleep. On Saturday night they only had the six people room available. This meant that they would just add one extra mattress on the floor and all ten of us would be expected to fit and sleep in there. It sounds outrageous right? Well it was, but we also knew that we had no option. Complaining in Europe does not get the customer anywhere, since here the business is king unlike the US where the customer is always right. We suffered through it. The room smelled horrible, the shower was in the middle of the bathroom without a curtain or cabin around it, which meant that the bathroom flooded every time someone showered. With the two mattresses on the floor there was no room to keep our backpacks on the ground, they had to be stashed underneath the bottom bunk beds. The hostel had a cat that would dive into our room whenever the door was open and hide in the already clustered room. This weekend made us all probably a little too close than we were hoping.
     Friday night we discovered a center of the town - two streets full of cafes, bars, and clubs. Since most of them were free of a cover charge we hoped around a bunch of them. They were mostly filled with tourists. There were people of all ages and nationalities. You could definitely tell when someone was European versus when you spotted other college students from the States. The music was a combination of techno and popular radio music that we listen to in the US. We were having a really good time - definitely not expecting most of the places to shut down at 4am. We found out that all of the food places closed at 4 as well, which was inconvenient since we all had the munchies. There were many American food places in the area - McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Domino’s, New York style pizza. I was really craving some good ol’ American pizza but I was out of luck. Then just our luck - it started pouring. I was the only one of our group that had brought an umbrella so I did not get too wet.
      Saturday we woke up early. Well actually, one of the girls felt a spider and freaked out. The tight quarters left no choice but for the rest of us to wake up as well. The room was so disgusting we just had to get out of there. We stumbled upon an open air market nearby our hostel. There was everything you could imagine there - fruits, clothes, cheese, make-up, shoes, waffles, smoothies. It was heaven for the girls. It was an easy way to buy souvenirs. The waffle stand was delicious. For 2-3 euros, you could get a freshly made waffle with a variety of toppings - white chocolate, cinnamon and powder sugar, milk chocolate, M&Ms, sprinkles, or a combination of any of the above. I enjoyed a white chocolate waffle - it was amazing! We eventually separated into little groups because it was too hard to keep together on the busy streets. Nicole, Adam, Benard, and I ended up wondering all over town. We discovered the IAMSTERDAM sign. I am embarrassed to say I could not climb on top of the letters for a picture, so I posed next to an M & a T instead. We also walked past the Heineken brewery/museum. It looked like a fun place to visit but we were trying to save money and did not want to splurge on a tour. The Van Goth museum also looked fascinating, but we only looked from the outside. The city had canals running all through it. There were many houses on the canals, and as well tourists cruising on little boats. That is one of the things I would love to do if I could go back to Amsterdam. We also, accidentally, stumbled upon the Red Light District. It was during the day, so there weren’t any ‘attractions’ out yet so it took us a while to recognize it. It was swarmed of tourists but also many people that looked like locals who had young children with them. It was very strange for me to see parents take their child to a place full of prostitutes and drugs - that is definitely something that would be frown upon in the US and the rest of the world actually. 

There were canals throughout the whole city

       Another thing that stood out about Amsterdam was the use of bicycles. The bike lanes were very wide. At first we were very confused because we could not tell the difference between bike lanes and pedestrian side walks. We all had our problems with the bikes, but I think I struggled the most. I almost got hit by a bike two times, and I accidentally knocked a parked bike down as well. The one good thing about bikes is that it was usually locals who were riding them. Whenever we needed directions, we would ask someone on a bike since it seemed like most people walking were tourists like ourselves. A group of people from our program rented bikes on Sunday, and they only paid 7 euros for three hours. They said it was definitely fun and a much easier way to get around town.
     At night time we returned to the Red Light district again to see it in full action. It was something that I could have never imagined. Someone from the group had went on a guided tour earlier that day, and explained to us that most of the women were freelancers and just rented window space. The guys were acting like guys, but me and the girls could not help but notice the sad look on the women’s faces. Some of them looked very young, much younger than us and we were surprised they were allowed to be working. You could see the devastation and fear on their faces.
     We ended up making our way back to the little center that we had discovered Friday night to spend the rest of our night. Most of us headed back earlier than the previous night since we were exhausted from a long day of walking. Also we wanted to get first picks from the limited amount of pillows and blankets. The girls ended up crashing on the two mattresses on the floor, and the boys each had a bed.
The trip home was much more exhausting and annoying than the one on Friday. To start off our train from Amsterdam was canceled, so we had to wait an extra hour at the train station for the next train. From there we changed trains twice in Belgium, and once in Luxembourg. It was a very long trip. I wish I could sleep on trains, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to even take a 20 minute nap. We were all very excited to finally have some privacy, shower normally, and sleep in a clean bed.
     As unpleasant as some part of the trip were, overall I really enjoyed it. Amsterdam was a huge city - filled with so many people. The biggest city I have ever been to before was Chicago, and I think Amsterdam made it look like a joke. I do not know if Amsterdam does have a bigger population or if it is bigger size wise but it sure seemed like it. The streets were full of people, there was not a quiet area in sight. The streets and canals seemed to never end. There were much more Asian people in Amsterdam, than I have seem so far in France or Luxembourg. Come to think of it, the diversity of people was much broader than in France. I would definitely go back to Amsterdam but in a smaller group. I would like to spend more time there, so that I am not in such a rush. It would be nice to take a 4-5 day vacation there so I can rent a bike and not have to rush everywhere. One day, I will be back!