Amsterdam

Today, if I can actually use that word, I started the three month internship I will be doing this summer by flying to Amsterdam.  I am still waiting for the reality of this trip to sink in, and so far it hasn’t.  The cab arrived to take me (and my 200 pounds of gear) earlier this evening, I said goodbye to Darren and just got in.  I thought “This is it!”, but it didn’t really make me feel different.

The flight was strange, because as we flew so north to get here that the sun never set and I kept slipping in and out of sleep.  And we were gaining time like crazy, so I landed at noon in Amsterdam the next day, and since it was so bright and sunny, it felt oddly enough like noon.  I took a train and then a metro to get to my hotel that I didn’t have the address of, but luckily enough after about 8 seconds of looking confused at my stop I saw the sign for it down the street.

I must say I really like my 100 Euro closet.  It’s nice.  The bathroom is out in the hall, I’m not sure if it’s communal or not.  It is clean though.  The stairs up to the room were practically a ladder it was so steep.

I’d say all of Amsterdam, as far as I can tell, is expensive.  Every menu I ever looked at was at LEAST 15 Euro, and sometimes 50, per person.  Since it cost so much I decided I didn’t want to eat, I just wanted to sit in a park.  While I was, there was a group of people speaking English with obvious North American accents.  I went over and asked to join them.  They were five friendly young students from Cornell University in Iowa.  They gave me their last beer and I sat and talked with them for an hour or so, and then we parted ways as we were headed in different directions.

I walked around a couple hours, took some photos, eventually found this cool neighborhood for restaurants and shops and ate alone and read at this Italian cafe.  I got a three course meal (including delicious homemade ice cream!) for 14 Euro, so that felt like somewhat of a deal.

I came back exhausted at around 12:30 am Amsterdam time, and my flight leaves at 10 am for Nairobi.  There is no phone or alarm clock in the room, and the desk clerk said they wouldn’t wake me up.  I was terrified I’d miss my flight, and since my cell phone doesn’t get service overseas and I can’t even use it as an alarm clock, the best I could do was set my Ipod’s alarm clock and aim my headphones right at my head as loud as possible, hoping that the quiet, distorted music would be enough to wake me up.  I ended up just waking up 2 hours earlier than I wanted (only 4 hours of sleep total) and decided not to risk it, so I’m staying up.

Amateur travelling mistakes I’ve made already that I won’t in the future: I packed all my power converters in my checked luggage that is meeting me in Nairobi, therefore I am running off of battery life only.  If I don’t finish this writing in the next 13% of my laptop battery, it won’t be posted today.  I also didn’t carry a change of clothes on my person, and all my clothes will also be meeting me in Nairobi tomorrow as well.  Therefore I am dirty, perhaps slightly smelly, and my socks are crusty and I don’t want to put them back on.

That was Amsterdam.