Amsterdam Day 2

Wow, I am behind on blog posts.

So my second day in Amsterdam had a slightly rude awakening (literally). I go to bed about 5:30am in my 10-person dorm room. The last of the people decided to get up around 10am. There were 3 American guys and they represented the asshole American stereotype perfectly. Even though some of us were still sleeping and there was natural light they turned the lights on. They talked in regular voices, yelled at times, slammed doors and were yelling down the hall to other people. Finally, a very nice Australian girl who was up said, "there are other people still sleep." One of their replies was, "well they can deal with it."

After these dicks left, I got up with a few hours sleep in me. I started talking to the Australian girl, Aly. She said, "No offense, but I run into American guys like this all over and it makes me think Americans really are assholes." I told her no offense, that they do make us look that way, but I promise we are all not that way. In fact, there are a lot of nice, respectful Americans and this guy is far from the norm (though too prominent in America).

After getting ready Aly and I grab lunch, joined by another Australian guy who, while traveling Europe, decided to just stay and got a job in the hostel as a cook. We later meet another American from Austin who is traveling and he joins us. After breakfast, we decide to go visit a local market. Now these markets sell everything. It is kind of like a giant outdoor second hand shop. Hands down the best place to get souvenirs. We hang out there for an hour or so and then head back to the hostel.

Now, the other American, David, is biking across Europe. I mean with a bicycle. That blows my mind. He carries a tent and a back pack. He bikes up to 100 miles a day on a long day.

David and I are sitting there chatting and we realize that neither of us have wandered through the famous Red Light District of Amsterdam yet. Now, for those who don't know is the Red Light District is where prostitution is legal. It is famous for many reasons, but is a big tourist attraction as well. They have red lights everywhere (thus the name). I thought it would be some mildly seeding looking hookers harassing people on corners where they take you into a brothel.

Well, let me tell you how wrong I was. This place is a complex of small streets that are lined with glass doors where the women (hookers) stand inside waiting for clients. I guess they are not allowed to harass people on the street. You have to approach them. There are 50+ "rooms" in this small block. These women are not seedy either. They are by traditional definitions extremely attractive. It was like window shopping for sex. A very weird concept.

We walk though, which went better than expected because I didn't get harassed. I have no interest in prostitutes. That is not what I am looking for in life. But I will say this place was far different than I expected. It was regulated, (security was all over) and professional. It really gives a boost in my opinion to the idea that legalization and regulation are the best ways to deal with social issues in a country.

After this David and I meet two random guys from the Netherlands that came to Amsterdam for the local Occupy protect. So there is Occupy Wallstreet. Now there are other protests world wide. One was going on at Amsterdam, so we went a checked it out. It was interesting. Some people are there with a purpose and understanding. Some people are there because they don't understand economics and want people with more money to give it to them even though those with more worked for it and those asking for it have done nothing. It's a bad mix of under education and entitlement.

That night was much, much calmer. I met back up with Aly and a new Australian friend of hers who is in love with America. She was asking me all sorts of questions, which was pretty fun to answer. We got dinner, hung out and by 10:30pm I wanted nothing more than sleep. I called it an early night and hit the hay not fully sure what I will do the next day, since tomorrow is my last in Amsterdam.

To Amsterdam!

I wake up, say my said goodbyes and head to the train station. (I feel like all my posts start with "head to the train station," but I guess that makes since). I get there pretty quickly and go to buy my ticket at the counter. The train ticket from Breda to Amsterdam is about 18 Euros. Now the regular train is 2 hours. The Fyra is only 1 hour - definetly worth the 3 euro extra. I don't want to get 20 euro in change so I just pay the 50 cent fee to get my ticket from a live human. Very friendly guy who ONLY charges me the 50 cents, not 1 euro. Also, I have my unused Fyra upgrade from yesterday with the canceled train. He just upgrades my new ticket to the Fyra for free (saving my 1.5 Euro). Nice guy!

I get to Amsterdam an hour later and figure out how to get to my hostel. After some confused wandering I finally get there (very close to train station and right in the heart of Amsterdam, Booyah!).

I get to my Hostel at about 1pm and can't check in until 2pm. I sit down, bust out the ol' iPad and start surfing the net. I notice across from me are two girls surfing the net on iPad 2 with the exact same logitech keyboard I have. I causally say, "nice setup over there." (Smooth, right?) They laugh and say they noticed the same thing. Turns out these two girls (sisters) are from California. They both got bored, quit their jobs and decided to travel the world as well. Awesome! Except they 1-up me, well 10-up me. They first spent 4-months traveling in South America and now are spending 4-months traveling Europe. Wow, now that is impressive.

After a little chit chat, they invite me to join them in renting bikes and riding around the city. Well, I am not going to reject new friends. I can finally check in, so I drop my bags off and am ready to go biking!

We get our bikes with out issue and head off through the city. Now, I can honestly say I don't think I have almost died as many times as biking through Amsterdam. Cars drive like crazy, scooters drive on bike paths, bike paths disappear and reappear at random and trams run all over it. I about got hit by a few cars, lots of other bikers, scooters and one tram.

Finally, we find the park we were looking for. It is a beautiful park for walking or biking. We bike through it, stop to take pictures and eventually get some snacks. The two sisters are Kelly and Megan. I have fun talking to them about their adventures so far, lives, future goals etc. Kelly wants to go back to school, but this time in Australia to become a Veterinarian. Megan works for a publishing house, is a grammar nut and wants to get a master in Communication or Journalism, also internationally.

After out snack we just bike around randomly. We finally end up at the I Amsterdam sign. Which is awesome, because it is on my list of things to see in the city. I get some great pictures planking it. Take some pictures of the sisters and we enjoy the beautiful weather for a bit there.

We continue biking around the city and seeing smaller sites, but nothing too exciting, just almost dying every 100 feet. We finally return our bikes and are ready for dinner. We settle on Mexican. We all miss Mexican food, so it seems fitting. We find a decent joint and keep the conversation going. The food was good and I was stuffed.

After going back to the hostel and relaxing for a bit they invite me out with them that night. They are going to try and find their Dutch friend they met in South America and go to a bar with him. While we are leaving they run into an Australian guy they met in Switzerland. He decides to join us. As we are walking HE runs into two American girls he met in Germany. They decide to join us too. Now we are a random party of 6. Awesome!

We fail to get in touch with the Dutch friend at first, so we end up at a small, local pub. We enjoy a few beers there and then finally get a hold of the Dutch friend. He is already pretty drunk, so his cousin acts as our guide to their bar. It is pretty far so we split a cab ride instead. We lose out Australian friend, but the other 5 of us make it there.

We enjoy a good time at the bar, drinking, which our generous new Dutch friend keeps buying for us (score). The bar closes at 1am though, so we decide to go to a club. Another cab ride back to the city center. We get into a club, which is packed and I mean that as literally as possible. There is no room to move. It was exactly like being in a mosh pit. We all lose each other really fast. After awhile I meet up with the Dutch and then Megan and Kelly, but we lost the other two girls, who we are pretty sure just left (they had a 5am train to catch).

We keep partying at this club till about 2:30am when the cops break it up. Wait, what? Yes, the cops. 20 of them. Not kidding. Our Dutch friend says he has heard of this, but never experienced it (it is rare). To leave, they pat you down. Now Amsterdam doesn't care about pot, but it cares A LOT about heavy drugs and cracks down extremely hard on them. Our friend points out that usually those raids are 4 or 5 cops. 20 cops probably means some sort of drug boss or kingpin is in the club with us and they got word of it. That makes it even better and more exciting. Takes 20 minutes to get out (single file line).

After we get out, we are still full of energy and our Dutch friend suggests going to his apartment and having a drink. We head there. Now this guy is 23, a pilot for the major Dutch airline and owns his own apartment in Amsterdam. And it is a sweet bachelors pad. We hang out, have a few more drinks and finally realize it is 5am and we need sleep. He gets a cab for us, makes sure the guy doesnt screw us on price and we head home. At 5:30am I finally crawl into my bed excited for some sleep.

Oh Amsterdam, what will tomorrow bring?

Rotterdam!

So, one of the major Netherlands cities, Rotterdam, is a 20 minute train ride from Breda. I thought to my self, "why not check off another city? I hear cool things about this place." So I get up the next morning and head to the train station.

At the train station, the trains run there every 20 minutes or so. There are two trains fast (Fyra) and local. Local is a 40 minute ride. The faster train is only 1.70 more, so I go for it.

I try to order a ticket at a machine, but it won't accept my visa card and doesn't take bills, only coins. The ride is 10 Euros each way ($13.21). I go down to the booth with one of those old school humans in it. I say I don't have the coins and could use change, she says I can just order here. Sounds good to me. Here is the following conversation.

Her: You want the Fyra.....to Rotterdam....11 euros - She said this very condescendingly.
Me: It is only 10 I thought
Her: 50 cent charge at booth
Me: Okay, so that is 10.50, not 11
Her: No, there is a 50 cent charge, it is 11 euros
Me: No, it is 10 euros, + the 50 cent charge is 10.50, 11 euros is a 1 euro charge.
Her (frustrated): It is 11 euros, you choose the more expensive train.
Me: Okay, well I just came here for change, can I just get the change so I can order it at the machine and not pay the extra charge you didn't tell me about till after
Her: Why didn't you just say so in the beginning?
Me: I did...that how the conversation started "I need change..."

I leave, buy my ticket at the machine for the 10 euros and feel good.

Shortly after I am in Rotterdam. Now the city isn't a party town or anything. It is a business city and port city. I found a tourist center and they had a good self-guided walking tour. I decide for that free option.

I start walking around the city and find that it is really cool. They have a very unique architectural style. They build their buildings to be unique and different, but yet they all seem to blend into the city so well. Often cities like this look weird, confusing and kind of rub me the wrong way once the "wow" factor wears off. Somehow Rotterdam got it just right. I keep going through the city, which is filled with canals and see the main sites.

Eventually I get to the river, inlet, not really sure what it is since we are so close to the sea. I find a good view, a bench and enjoy my home made meal (sandwich, candy, water). I keep walking down the river and eventually come across a beautiful park that I walk though. At the other end of the park is a giant tower. I come to learn it is an observatory. I am in. I don't like to spend money, it is only 6 euros to go to the top.

I go in and get a great view of the entire city. You can even take a ride that goes up to the very top of the needle and rotates around for even better pictures. I get my fill of the view and head down after a good 45 minutes. I feel I got a good run of the city and start heading back to the station. This is a long hike since I am on the other side of the city. Takes me about an hour, but I take some detours down cool looking shopping streets.


Eventually I get back to the train station, buy my Fyra ticket and wait. I find out that the Fyra train broke down and is canceled. Luckily, the regular local train leaves in about 5 minutes so I catch that one. The extra 20 minutes doesn't really make a difference on the ride home.

I get back and head to the house. Not sure what is going on tonight, but should be fun either way. Katja, Silvia and I end up going to the store, getting food for dinner, drinks for the night and heading back to their place. We cook and eat dinner and then sit around having different dutch beers and talking till 1 or 2 in the morning.

It was a great time just talking about our lives, philosophy, the future and anything that comes up. This is something I realized I was really missing the last year. Good, deep conversations. My favorite night is sitting around with a few good friends and discussing/arguing about some issue. It really forces you to think, develop new ideas and listen. I feel like my brain is so out of shape these days since I graduate college. I don't use it in the same way anymore. I don't go as deep into thought anymore, but this trip is getting me back there pretty fast.

We eventually all give up and go to bed. I go to Amsterdam tomorrow and this was a great send off. It is funny, Silvia and I talk about that we only really knew each other for 3 months when she lived in KC almost 6 years ago. We talked randomly after she left and then I saw her when she was in KC this last summer. But what is funny is how when you think about it we don't know each other that well, but yet we both feel like we know each other pretty well. Like there wasn't 5 to 6 years in between, like we stayed in contact the whole time. Life is funny that way sometimes.

Finally, after a long day, to sleep!

Breda Day 2!

After waking up around 11am I feel refreshed. Headache gone and I am ready for some adventure. Sadly, it is still raining (also been like this in the Netherlands). Silvia doesn't have class but has to crank away on a project for a bit. I spend my time catching up on some work, job searching and figuring out my next few days in the Netherlands.

Finally, Silvia and I head into town to get some food. We go to her favorite pizza place and it lived up to the high reputation she set for it. We then move into the main square and get a beer at her favorite pub, also a great place. I do have a little fancy for the Dutch beer so far.

Tonight we are planning meeting up with her friends to drink, hangout and then go to a bar for the Dutch Oktoberfest (pretty small, mainly an excuse to drink German beer in large quantities). We got to the store, get some supplies (which involves gummy products for me. See Harbo, the best and original gummy snack company is German based and they have cheap products all over this area, so I buy a lot).

We head to her friends and hang out for a while. It was fun getting to know the group there. Conversations keep shifting between German and English. It is funny, in America we are taught to expect dislike towards American's while in Europe, but almost everyone I have talked to has been very interested in America, its people and culture. Very little negativity. I spend more time learning about each of the different friends back story, schooling and goals. It is an interesting group. Most of them are studying similar stuff that I did. Public relations, marketing, advertising, etc. Now let me note, this picture is of about half the group there.

Around midnight we head out back to the city center to find a bar. We hang out there for about an hour. I meet a bunch of other students and have good conversations with them. People are from all over. South Africa, Spain, Brazil, etc. I still can't believe I never studied abroad. What an idiot I am, but oh well. After a good time having a German beer or two and meeting new people we head home to crash.

Tomorrow, I take a train 20 minutes to Rotterdam!

To the Netherlands!

The main difference between the Netherlands and the Neverlands, is that you can take a train there instead of needing fairy dust. But let me tell you, that train doesn't always work out ideally.

So I have a 6 hour train ride from Hamburg, Germany to Breda, Netherlands. I take 3 trains, all about 2 hours long with plenty of stops (thus the long rides). I finish my first leg of the journey and notice my next train is a little late. Finally, I notice on a board it is delayed an hour. Well, that won't work, I only had 3 minutes in-between my next connection.

I go talk to the help desk. I guess they are used to this because he asks my final destination, takes my itinerary and gives me a new one. It will only add 30 minutes to my trip, but now I have 5 trains to catch before I get there (added 3 connections). I am hopping local trains until I get there. Well, this will be interesting. My phone is out of minutes, I have no Internet, my friend is expecting my at 6:30pm and I will get there at 7pm and I can't tell her that.

One of my train rides is as short at 14 minutes. It was crazy because I was never 100% sure if I was getting off at the right stop. One major, major difference between Scandinavia and Germany is the friendliness of people. Germans are good people, but not by nature friendly. I ask a lot of questions and get more glares than not, but I get my answers either way and move on.

My last leg is the longer one, about 1.5 hours and by a sheer miracle it has free wifi on it. I was able to let my friend know I would be 30 minutes late without any issue. Success! I finally get to the station and quickly find my friend in this super cool tunnel.

We proceed to walk back to her place where I will be saying. Now Breda is a relatively small city. Roughly the size of Lawrence, maybe a little bigger. It is only 15 minute walk or so from the station to her place just outside the city center. Once there I get to meet her cool roommate Katja, also a German. Now both Silvia and Katja are in Breda going to a University there.

Since I am starving we go to the store and get some food to make. I have been living off bread pretty much for days now, so since I have access to a kitchen I buy two round cut steaks for my meal. Silvia has potatoes and adds peas and carrots to the mix. Sweet Jesus, it tastes so good. I wolf my food down and enjoy a Dutch dessert (Flau...?). It is pretty much pudding, but a little less thick. Ours is mixed chocolate and vanilla. It is good though.

Around this point one of Silvia's other friends comes over, Vanessa, also a German. We all hang out, get to know each other, have a few Dutch beers and an all around good time. At some point during this I notice that I am getting a migraine. Balls. Now, migraines are not simple for me. They are by me slowly going half blind. Then I get crazy auras in my vision that make me sick, then I get a huge headache. I have a medicine cocktail I take now that makes a huge difference though and gets me back up on my feet in about 4 hours. I take it down and say F*** this, I won't let it spoil my time. I keep hanging out with everyone till about 1am when the pain is blocking me from really interacting. At that point I go to sleep and wake of refreshed!

On to Hamburg!

I am going to sum up my two days in Hamburg into one post, mostly because it wasn't exciting at all. I happened to venture to Hamburg - one of the famous party cities of Europe - while it was freakishly cold and raining and I knew no one there, met no one at the hostels to go out with, etc.

I left From Copenhagen at 11:45am by train for a 5-hour ride to Hamburg. No problems getting there and getting on the train. I got up at 10am (about 5 hours of sleep, not bad), had my things pre-packed, said good-bye to Noelle and went to the station. I did realize at this point I didn't print off my train ticket. Searching the station I had no luck finding a printer. Luckily, there was a little internet cafe near the station and for about $2 I printed it off and checked my e-mail (double win!).

Finally getting on the train I luck out and get an empty seat next to me allowing me to sprawl out and fail at taking a nap. I just can't sleep in vehicles of any kind, but that is okay.

After about 2 hours our train stops. I am pretty confused, have no clue where we are in Denmark or how we are getting to Germany. They tell us the train stops here, we have to switch to a ferry for 45 minutes and then hop on another train. This was actually pretty cool. Ferries are decked out with shops, comfy seats and restaurants. It was a great break from the norm. I assume we are crossing from the main Copenhagen island to Jutland (the mainland Denmark). Nope, we are going straight to Germany I guess, because when I get there everything is definitely in German.

Sounds good to me! We hop on another train and 2 hours later we are rolling into Hamburg. I get there around 5pm, get a map, ask for directions to my hostel and figure out the public transportation system, pretty much the norm. I get to my hostel and on my walk there it just starts raining. It is already abnormally cold for Hamburg today, so the rain just adds a little gloom to it all.

Now let me interrupt my self and say that rain in Europe is completely different than rain in Kansas. It doesn't pour at all. It is weird. It has the rate of a heavy rain, but the drops are so small, its almost mist like. Its actually just kind of annoying. It is like the rain is mocking you. You can still go out and do stuff, but it feels like it is mocking you the whole time by just making it less enjoyable.

I go to my hostel, which is half hostel and half hotel. It is extremely nice. I am in a 8 person room with private bath. Built in curtains for each bed, very comfy bed, etc. It was a nice place. Problem is, looks like it is a popular hostel for younger people (18/19). Seemed to be a lot of huge groups there for some sort of tour. I ended up catching up on a lot of e-mail, reading and sleep instead of doing anything too exciting.

Now I only booked one night, so I have to find another hostel for night 2. I find one not too far from my current one. As I am walking there (in the rain, in my poncho looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame with my backpacks), I notice there are a lot of strip clubs, sex shops and casino's close to my place. Yep, did it again. Booked a hostel right off a cities Red Light district. Welp, it will make walking around at night interesting to say the least.

I get to my hostel and check-in. There looks to be a camera crew across the street at a hair saloon. I guess they are filming an episode of a really popular German show there. Made for good entertainment. I sit for a bit watching the filming with the staff for awhile.

I finally go to my room, as I get ready to head up, the desk attendant changes her mind. I booked a bed in a 6-person room (cheapest they had). I was going to be in there with 5 friends from Australia. She says - "Nah, take this room, it is a 4-person and you can have it to your self." I guess she had a lot of open rooms that night and when she has open rooms she divides people up if they want. Awesome. Already I know this place is getting a great review. I settle in and prepare to take off into the city.

For the first time in a city I decide to do take a tour bus. Normally I like walking around the city and seeing the sites, but its raining, so the bus seems like the better option. The tour turned out to be mostly in German because only 3 English speakers were on the tour. Oh well, I still get to see the sites right?

About half way through I notice an Apple store. Perfect! I am relying entirely on my iPad when I travel and my adapter has died on me. Charges for maybe 5 minutes and stops. I tested with other adapters and they worked fine. I go into Apple, explain the problem and they offer to replace it for free after I explain I am traveling and won't be anywhere for them to mail the replacement too. I have to go get the broken one, schedule a meeting with a Genius and wait about an hour, but totally worth it for the new adapter. This is one of the reasons I like paying a premium for Apple products. I can go to another continent and get a faulty piece replaced for free without any hassle.

I get back on another tour bus and finish the tour. I decide to walk around a nifty area I found and I stumble upon this gem. There was a post-it war in this square and someone upped the ante to recreating the Sistine Chapel God and Man part. That is entirely in post-it notes. Insane. The best part is, I saw this picture on a social news site called Reddit.com a month or two ago, where someone talked about a post-it war getting out of hand in his building. He didn't say where it was. I love how life works sometimes.

The rest of my day and night are pretty calm. I go down to the "multicultural" district to get some food and a beer. I really want a hamburger. I discovered that we call them hamburgers because they were invented in Hamburg. I found this out while telling a joke recently about how silly it is we call it a hamburger, it isn't even ham, it should be called a beefburger. My friend goes "yea....it is because they were invented in Hamburg...." Welp, way to kill my dreams friend, but thank you for the educational lesson.

The multicultural district was the wrong place to go for a burger. I can get food from anywhere else in the world though! Finally, I find a place with a burger. I order one (it as alright), get a Hamburg beer and entire a quite meal to my self while contemplating life. At this point in my trip I am really hitting hard some important questions. What do I want to do with my life? What do I want to do when my visa expires? Etc.

I go back to my hostel still thinking. When I get close I see some mildly attractive women on the street and I think "Bet they are hookers." Almost immediately they start yelling German at me. "yep, hookers." I yell back I don't speak German, in German (I know a few phrases). They keep yelling and I just chuckle and walk off. After a rather boring day I hit the hay for a good nights sleep to catch my 10am train to Breda, Netherlands where I am meeting up with my friend Silvia. She was a German exchange student at NorthWest I got to know and stayed in contact with. Should be fun!

My First European Rave

My last full day in Denmark started out pretty relaxed. Ulla, her brother-in-law and myself went to a local town to see the famous church where all the Danish Kings and Queens are buried. It was pretty cool. After that we went to the Viking Museum, which was awesome. We went here as kids and I loved it. It is great revisiting some of your best childhood memories. The museum isn't all that much different, but it was a lot of fun to see it again.

After that I hop on a train back to Copenhagen to meet up with Noelle, Kirstan's granddaughter (Ulla's niece). The last time I saw Noelle was 18 years ago and we didn't speak the same language. I am staying at her place down town and she is taking me out tonight. It will be interesting. We plan on meeting at the train station at a set time, but neither of us are entirely sure what the other one looks like. Noelle is short and has long dreads in two colors, which makes it easier. I am the out-of-place American with two back packs. We find each other pretty easily in the end.

She takes me to her apartment, I meet her boyfriend and their other house guest, a Russian girl named Lily. Noelle ran into Lily, who is back packing the world randomly while Lily was asking people about hostels. Noelle, being the incredibly nice person she is offered a spare room for Lily to stay in while she was in Copenhagen.

After a quick dinner Noelle outlines the plan. We are going to a rave, Danish style. It is in an old warehouse that isn't being used anymore. They just move in, put a bar up, add music and go for it. Luckily, the owner of this one is cool with it and doesn't even charge them rent, just utilities. Only Lily, Noelle and I are going. Her boyfriend has work at 6am or so.

We head off on bikes (its about 45 degrees out) and we have a 30 minute bike ride ahead of us. It was a little cold, but a lot of fun really. We get to the place and it does not disappoint. It was literally a worn down warehouse, holes in the walls, graffiti everywhere and it was awesome.

We got there around 10pm (very early) and partied it up. Beers were only about $2 which is the cheapest you will get in Copenhagen, but the beer is also warm, but that is how this impromptu raves roll. They find a location, post it, find some entertainment (djs, bands, etc) and go with it. My favorite part was the 60 year old guy that looked exactly like Santa Clause, white beard and all, wearing a fur pimp coat, big sunglasses, a hat, red t-shirt, red shorts and holding a 9-iron. He never once left his chair. I felt like he was the king of the rave.

Now possibly my favorite part of Europe is that no one can really dance or better, no one cares. finally I don't look like a fool dancing! I fit in! Plus we added some neon face paint for the lights. (pics to come).

Finally, at 3:30am or so Lily and I are both spent and decide to bike home. Noelle was just getting started and had a good few more hours in her (got home at 6am). Lily and I have a great time figuring out how to get back to the apartment (plenty of wrong turns), but also talking and getting to know each other. She just graduated school and wants to see the world before working. She meets people, gets suggestions of a good place to go and heads there. She is doing it right.

Once we get back to the apartment, we enjoy some cereal and stay up for awhile talking about life. It is just amazing, the people you meet and the things you learn traveling. Everyone needs to go out and travel like this. I can't imagine how people grow individually without this experience. I have learned so much about my self in such a short span that I didn't know. You can't begin to understand yourself until you throw yourself as far from your comfort zone as possible and figure out how to get home. I was always to scared to leave on this adventure and now that I did it, I don't want to come back. I want to see my family, but I want to stay on this adventure, I don't want to settle down again.