heard em say

Thursday - travelling is really stressful and really puts people on edge. I know I should really chill out more, but it’s just honestly in my nature to try and plan as much as possible. I truly believe that the best way not to waste money and time is by planning out what you want to do, how you’re going to do it, and how much it will cost… especially when you’re travelling on a budget. at least the big things anyway, like how to get where and what big sites to see, etc. anyway due to bad timing on our part, we didn’t make the train to the airport so we had to cab it for about 11 Euros each instead of taking a 2 Euro train ride to the airport. memo to self: leave the apartment 2.5 hours prior to departure to make it in time 1 hour before the flight (when check in ends). finally flew into Amsterdam with Anh, chatted with a fellow who actually used to work for IBM in NY on the plane and he gave us some tips as to what to check out in the city(get it IBM fambam.. it was fun trading positions, departments, and executive names). we ventured off from the airport to Central Station via the train (3-4 Euros each) about 20-25 minutes away. once at Central Station, it was easy to venture off to grab Vietnamese food since Anh was craving it. Anh said Amsterdam is one of the most diverse cities in Europe, which I can vouch for given the diversity of good ethnic dishes (Indian to Thai to Italian) and people (tons of non-Anglo looking Europeans made me feel less like an alien than in Spain!). then we found our way to the hotel, learned how to use the map a bit, and hit up the coffee shop right beside our hotel. 3 Euros for a joint which we split and was more than enough for us. ended the night well.

Friday - started the day with a trip to the coffee shop, another one on our street, then grabbed some breakfast with everyone (roommates + girls from the other apartment in our program), had a Dutch sausage which will be shown in my food blog momentarily. then we ventured off to the Heineken Experience which is a self-guided tour of the Heineken Factory to show off the process which ended with the free beers at their bar. also took home a Heineken cap, bracelet, and bottle opener fo freee! then walked around towards downtown a bit passing through some sites and snapping quick photos. ended up at another coffee shop called paradox. we then walked through the Red Light District to see what the fuss is with the legal prostitutes in glass doors. crazy. then at the end of the main RLD street we found a ton of swans swimming around in the canal! we ended the night with a pub crawl which I wish we didn’t do but decided on because we didn’t want to split the group up… vodka poured down our throats several times to chase a buzz (albeit not enough) and stealing jaegger (albeit not enough still) were a couple highlights. also watching our drunken roommate sing karaoke while giving a shout out to the west coast… I managed once again to add to my Euro bar glass collection (one plain glass and a jaegger branded test tube shot glass) though to make the price of paying for the pub crawl worth it. touche.

Saturday - me and Anh walked through town a bit, ate a a mom and pop type Dutch breakfast place for some traditional Dutch food. it was alright. see food blog soon. we also cruised down the floating flower market - LOVELY! the Dutch definitely take their flowers seriously, all gorgreous. wish we could bring them home but unfortunately not. also stumbled upon a cheese store where they had tons of huge blocks of cheese on sale ($$$) with lots of free cheese samples! apparently the Dutch enjoy their cheese with mustard on it, go figure. then met up the boys downtown to hit up a canal ride around the city for an hour. then after we grabbed some frites (french fries pretty much) with mayonaise (a bit sweeter than normal mayo actually) to enjoy frites the way the Dutch do. then we headed to the anne frank house to get my history onnn - makes me want to reread the book. met the rest of the girls up for dinner near the RLD, Thai food this time. lots of good Asian food on Zeedijk, a street over from the RLD and Amsterdam’s own Chinatown.

Sunday - FREEZING. expected it to snow but it didn’t but it was windy as fuck. could barely make it out that morning. we went to the IAMSTERDAM sign for pictures, though there were tons of other tourists with the same idea. then rested up in the hotel, layered up, hit up another coffee shop, then made a trek across the city with two of the boys to get some authentic Dutch pancakes from a well-known cozy mom and pop type shop. SOOO GOOD, look out food blog! Dutch pancakes are actually crepes, so I had a delish savory one with goat cheese! ahhh I wish I could’ve finished it up or taken it to go. I don’t want to be American and ask for a doggie bag after meals. this guy chatted us up and said he was a writer for High Times doing some correspondence in Amsterdam on foreign drug policy. not sure if he was bullshitting or not, but I kept my chatty self to a minimum in case he was actually a creeper guy telling these silly Americans a believable story before he TAKES them. yup, I’m so paranoid in Europe or when travelling around in unfamiliar territory. never know what people’s motives could be. to be honest, he could’ve just been another high guy bullshitting. ended the day with a short nap then had dinner with the group (less the two who got food poisoning from the thai place the night before). we found a sweet place with Italian food for 5 Euros! lots of affordable, delicious, and well-portioned food options in Amsterdam relative to Spain. could be because they have bigger appetites, the diverse population, or could be because of all the tourists hitting up the coffee shops. who knows, but I definitely felt full at the end of each day here. 

Monday - got up extremely early to head home. surprised to see it actually snowed over night a little bit. the first snow fall of the winter, our car driver claimed. got home safely to Barca by 9am, took the train back from the airport to our apartment in Barcelona and made it in time for class at 11am (only to find out I had a quiz at 3pm…ugh)! safe to say I think I have a good grip on my management class, much thanks to all the facilitation skills, respect for multiple perspectives, and such learned over the years at Cal. thank goodness since this is the only class that will show a letter grade on my transcripts. on the other hand, think I did poorly on my Art quiz today. woops. it’s definitely my most challenging class this semester. at least I get to do my Art presentation on origins and evolution of Graphic Design in relation to Art Nouveau. cool.

Overall - great first trip of the semester! good crowd, fun times. lots of good food choices, some good sites taken in. Amsterdam is a very quaint city with the brick roads and canals, felt like I was straight of the a movie (perhaps the Bourne Identity). the city is small enough to walk all over (despite the cold weather) and definitely reminded me of Manhattan, yet another big city with different neighborhoods and such (Jordan being the best neighborhood for Pancakes oe pannenkoken!). coffee shops and RLD aside, I would still definitely come back to revisit this place maybe in the summer time where I don’t have to bundle up in 4-5 layers of clothing. still, I am glad we were able to visit before they eventually pass a law prohibiting tourists from entering coffee shops. overall, solid weekend. unfortunately, all great trips have their downsides… Round trip flight: 100 Euro. Hotel for 4 nights: 72 Euro. Personal expenses: 150+ Euro. memo to self: need to budget more wisely for the next trip. Or need to stop eating to spend sufficiently for the weekends.

food blog post coming soon!