March 13, 2011

It has been so long since my last entry.  I partly apologize for not keeping all of you updating you on how I have been doing, I have been really stressed with school projects and just busy living my life.  I think that every time I go out here in Amsterdam I fall in love with the city over and over again.  The past three weeks have been truly amazing and just as busy and stressful.  I went to Paris the week after spring break, it was just about exactly what I imagined it would be.  Seeing the efile tower on the metro into the city was so crazy and seemed almost like it was fake.  Helen was so nice and met me at the air port so that I didn’t have to go to her place alone.  We went to all the typical tourist places and got to go around the city.  We went to this crazy church on this hill that you can see the whole city of Paris.  The church was amazing, but no pictures of the inside are allowed so I was pretty bummed about that.  The church was right next to the art district was, where all the famous painters got started.  Helen showed me around and I got to see a bunch of painters and got to eat some amazing gelato.  After our time on the hill we spit up because she had work to do and I went to the Louvre after 6 because it was free.  It was so cool to see all the things they had in there.  I got to an Americano from the Starbucks and it was amazing and reminded me of the last one that I had, my last perfect morning in sunny San Diego.  Then I went to this really cool pizzeria and got some amazing pizza in a three course meal that included soup and some chocolate mousse after wards.   It was really relaxing enjoying a great dinner in Paris.  That night Helen threw me a party with all the exchange students she knew from her school and it was really cool getting to know them and party with the French.  After a good night’s rest we started out again and got to see her favorite park in Paris, beautiful, and then we went to the Institut Demonde Arabe.  It is the biggest library of Arabic literature and had a small museum inside of it.  It was really cool to learn about the culture and the view from the top was amazing and you could see Notre Dame so well.  After that we headed over to Notre Dame and it was such a beautiful church.  My only complaint was that there were way too many people walking inside of the church.  After that we split up again and I got to see the giant arch and then walked from there to the Effile Tower.  After waiting in line for about an hour I got to go up the tower.  The view was absolutely amazing and just so happened to be sunset when I got up to the top.  Cappuccino and waffle in hand, I enjoyed one of the most amazing sun sets I have ever seen.  That night Helen and I enjoyed a nice Italian dinner at her favorite place and went out to a bar after with some of her friends.  It is very expensive in Paris.  We did not stay out too late because my flight was in the morning and I’m glad that we didn’t because I would have been broke if we did.  All in all my trip to Paris was awesome and I had a great time being there.  Other than that not a whole lot has happened in Amsterdam besides the usual partying and going out to clubs here.  We have been getting really fancy about our dinners because my friends have an oven so we can expand upon our usual pasta and college foods.  We made some sweet homemade pizza straight from Pepe’s cooking (thanks Sean)  it was cream cheese, jalapeños, and peperone pizza.  Needless to say it was pretty awesome.  My Berroa (inside joke with my coworker) came out to visit for the day because he is studding in Germany.  So I spent the day showing him around the city and then the next day my friend’s friends were here and we showed them around the city.  So I am pretty much a certified tour guide now, so if anyone wants to come out and get an amazing tour of Amsterdam let me know.  I am defiantly getting accustomed to the life out here and being on my own here.  It is really growing on me and I enjoy walking around the city and doing things here.  We planned our spring break trip for May, drum roll please.  We are going to Greece and going island hopping for the week!  It is going to be such an amazing trip with some great friends.  I cannot wait to have great weather and sandy beaches.  Tonight we are making some good fish tacos and drinking some coronas so I will feel like I am in San Diego for the night.  In two days it will mark 3 months till I go back to states, the time here is truly flying by and I cannot believe that my time in Amsterdam is already at the half way point.  For the next week I still have a lot of group assignments and things I need to do, but the weekends and Wednesday nights are what I work for and I cannot wait to see what is around the next corner in this crazy city.

February 21, 2011

                   

When I wrote my last entry I did not know that that breakfast was defiantly needed for the night to come.  After breakfast my friends and I went down town to do some sightseeing, and ended up eating at a really authentic Dutch place, New York Pizza.  Gosh I miss pizza a lot!  Followed up by a visit to a French fry stand and much more walking around the canals of Amsterdam it was time to head home.  So as always we began to hang out and drink at our apartments before leaving for downtown.  When we got off at the train station, 4 people grabbed one of my friends and I ran over to her.  After pushing one guy with my arm to try and see what was going on, he flashed a badge in my face.  I guess they have undercover cops that go on trains to see if people try and leave without checking in or out of the system.  To the misfortune of my Canadian friend she did neither of these things.  After a 30 minute debate between her and the cops, the cops themselves, and the Dutch friends we brought they arrested her for not having registered with the city of Amsterdam police dept.  After everyone freaked out we went to the club and tried to continue our night with our friend in our thoughts.  After 20 minutes of being there, she walks in.  I guess they didn’t think she would run from them and just told  her to come back the next day to register with them.  Talk about a close call, we of course celebrated her good luck.  Friday began at 12 pm after a long night of being out, noon seemed like a good time to wake up.  My friend Julia’s school mate was in town so we decided to go and check out the cool market that is in the city.  It was so cool, the venders would have everything from old TVs to clogs, from tools to cloths that looked like they were shipped in from the 80’s, and from the most gas masks I have ever seen, to tubs full of scissors.  It was really fun to walk around and see all of the things they were selling though.  After wards we went to this really cool place that served bagels and coffee.  It kind of reminds me of Panera, so delicious.  There motto is breakfast slow, not fast.  It was really weird because the people working there were really slow moving.  It all was worth it in the end because the bagels were awesome.   And you could order and extra bagel for only one euro, which I did of course, to finish your cream cheese.  After a super good time out by the time that we got back it was time to get ready for the night time.  We all got together to make some omelets for dinner and to start partying.  Too bad we forgot about time and got sucked into watching hilarious YouTube videos and drinking from a box of wine that we didn’t end up going out.  Another late wake up and I was ready for another day of touristy things with my friends.  We dedicated Saturday for the Heineken Experience.  It was an awesome time getting to see how they do things.  They walk you through a brewery and then how to taste test their beer.  Next you get to watch commercial from the past 50 years and walk threw a room that has a ceiling made of bottles!  Last you get to hang out in a bar that looks like a party in one of their commercials and enjoy a couple of their beers.  All in all it was completely worth the 15 euro that I paid for it.  One really cool club is free on Saturday for college kids so that was not even a question.  We went in a smaller group because a lot of people had left go explore other parts of Europe for their spring breaks.  The club was very fun as always and we had a great time.  Yesterday and today seemed to be the same exact day,  I just did laundry, dishes, went shopping, read a little bit, watched a few movies and hung out in my apartment being content at a few days of being able to unwind.  The only difference was that when I tried to go to church yesterday, I finally found the right bus stop after 20 minutes of looking.  Then I sat for 30 minutes waiting for it to get to the stop I was at and when the bus I needed finally came to the stop I could not believe what happened.  I got up and waved at the bus driver that I was going to get on and he just shafted me and kept driving.  I could not believe he did not see me, but I just went home mad that I missed the only English mass of the day.  The weekend was a definite success and now I need to get some school work done tomorrow.

February 17, 2011

So I waited a long time since my last entry.  Partially this was due to the fact that for the past 3 days I have been enjoying being in my room again.  I ran into my caretaker on the way to school (completely lucky because he isn’t usually here on Mondays!) and he let me into my room.  So this week has just been staying in and hanging out.  On Tuesday night I played Kings Cup with my friends and that was fun, but decided that I didn’t want to go out after we were hanging out.  The group work is ridiculous in my classes right now, I have a group in all 6 of my classes and I am the group leader in 5 of those classes.  Talk about confusing, I cannot recall a single name in 2 of my groups.  Wednesday are my days off from class and I am going to declare them my exploring days.  After some solid skyping to cure my home sick for the time being, I went on an adventure.  I decided to go down town on a solo trip and just wander for a good while.  That is exactly what ended up happening because I was there for 4 ½ hours.  It was awesome to be able to just enjoy the buildings and canals without people wanting to go somewhere you don’t want to go.  I found the coolest cigar shop, it was huge!  It had 2 rooms for cigars, and 4 places to smoke.   Then I was wandering around and found a place that claimed they had the best pancakes in all of Amsterdam.  So naturally I pulled a ‘ELF’ move and ran in and said CONGRADULATIONS,  YOU DID IT!  Though I kind of forgot that they don’t want as many movies as we do in the states.  By the way there was just one guy in there who worked there and he just stared at me.  But I ordered these amazing pancakes; my reaction was similar to Buddy’s with the coffee.  The pancakes here are like really thin and not so cooked in the middle, the syrup tastes more like molasses, and they didn’t have any freaking whip cream needless to say I was pissed because that and a bottle of water cost nine euros.  As I finished eating my crap pancakes, I looked at the store next to the one I went to….. and on their windows they had printed “Amsterdam’s best pancakes”…. I was so pissed! My adventure continued even through my set back and I found the coolest store.  It was a store that sold all American foods that were imported!  It was expensive but they had the sweetest things.  Julie was pumped when I told her they had mac and cheese.  After wandering for a bit more, I found some sweet fries and grubbed on them with some American sauce (pretty much just a spicy thousand island sauce).  On my way home I got some bike repair stuff so I could fix my flat tire, break, and light correctly this time.  So now my bike is ready to go all around Amsterdam.   At night I planned my trip for next week, I will be training all-round the Netherlands and seeing all it has to offer.   I am really excited to do it and get around.  As for this morning I just made some awesome eggs and now I’m ready for the day.

February 13, 2011

Oh there is so much to catch up on.  Thursday night, we decided that we were going to say in and hang out here.  There were a bunch of people that were going out, but I decided that because we were playing a beer Olympic the next morning, that sleep would be crucial.  Turns out I was right, but the problem was that my keys got locked in my room.  So I had no way of getting them out and ended up having to sleep on Julie’s floor.  It really sucks getting locked out here because you either have to wait till the caretaker is here or go all the way to their office down town.  So the next morning I was getting ready to make the trek down to their office when I asked Julie if she wanted to join I noticed that there were two pea coats on her coat rack.  Knowing that she only had one I nearly lost it, my coat was in her room the entire time and I could have just gone into my room to sleep.  Oh well, adventures of Amsterdam continue.  So that day, everyone just took their time getting ready for the beer Olympics, that were doing down in the basement of our apartment building, but Parker and I wanted to find some really good food downtown.  We ended up stumbling upon a Burger Bar; it was the most American things we had seen in awhile so we went in.  The burger was fantastic and tasted just like a good burger back in the States.   After digesting the huge burger it was time to whoop on some countries at the Olympics.   It was super fun and Canada is really good at chugging beer but Americans are better at playing beer pong because we ended up winning the BP tournament between the 6 counties that were playing.  In the end, everyone just ended up having a great time playing all of the drinking games.  The next morning I woke up early and had a great Skype conversation that made me miss home a lot more than I have been missing it so far.  Then one of my friends came in to make some pancakes and after deciding we needed more space we moved into to someone else’s room.  Instead of grabbing my keys and closing my door, I decide it was ok for me to just leave my door open (seeing as we were just going 3 doors down).  Although Julie did not think so, and grabbed a set of keys and closed the door.  It was not till after she closed the door that she realized that it was Megan’s keys and not mine.  Because it was Saturday and their office doesn’t open on the weekend, I was locked out until Monday. Needless to say I was pissed, but everything happens for a reason.  So at this point I am locked out of my room with no wallet, shoes, phone, or metro pass knowing that this was just a start to yet another adventure in Amsterdam.  Turns out I was right, our group of friends ended up making some homemade hamburgers with fries(inspired by the burger place that Parker and I went to the day before) and watching toy story 3 (it did not disappoint me at all) Parker convinced me to go out.   There I was wearing an outfit literally pieced together from different people’s closets.  Even though it was kind of weird to have to wear other peoples cloths, it turned out to be really cool.  It is funny how when things like this happened you find out how nice people are; it is refreshing to know that I can get by with my friends over here.  It was a great choice to go out, the place we went to ended up being really good and was free to get into for students (thanks Dante for the quick swap with your student ID).   It turned out to be the most carefree night I have had here; I am glad that I got convinced to go out.  So now I am just waiting till Monday rolls around so I can go in and get my keys from the office.  I am not looking forward to that trip, my time here in Amsterdam has been nothing but one adventure after another and I love it.

February 9, 2011

School seems to go by really quick here, it may be that the teacher will stop mid-lecture and tell everyone to go get some coffee or maybe is just because what they are talking about is relevant to what I want to hear.  Either way class flew by today.  After, I went to the store to get the rest of my supplies for cooking dinner.  I ended up making a really good chicken stir fry and it was Bomb.  Between Parker, Matt, and myself we almost finished all of it.  I didn’t want to go out so I just stayed in and watched some recaps of the Super bowl.   After that I decided to turn in after reading for a while.  Tuesdays are always my fun days.  I only have one class and it is at 1 so I have plenty of time to do stuff in the morning and the afternoon.  So I decided to make some good eggs, espresso, and toast.  I love just relaxing eating and reading for a good 3 hours in the morning.  There is something about getting a good breakfast that sets the rest of my day up for success.  Class flew by today, and I was on a mission after class.  It was time that we bring Beer Pong to Amsterdam.  Solo cups are absolutely impossible to find out here.  So we went with the closest substitute that I could find.  They are these clear plastic cups that are a tad smaller but get the job done.  It was so fun to finally play some beer pong, and I found this super strong beer they sell here, and it kind of tastes like an IPA (which I miss like crazy).  So we played beer pong upstairs and let’s just say Pena would be proud (4-1) and that is after 2 weeks of not playing.  After just hanging out up there and chilln we were going to go and get out tickets for a trip this Saturday for the welcome group.  We had to go to a pick them up at this party at a bar.   So I was walking down the stairs in my apt, which was a bad idea.  I slipped and did like a side slide down half the stair.  So now my thigh and thumb really hurt, and that happened before I even started drinking.  Oh well, that’s what happens I guess.  So after that, we went to get the tickets and they were sold out! So we went to the grass hopper and hung out, but we were determined to get to the metro before it closed at 12:30 so we would not have to take a taxi back.  After a McFlurry run, we made it on time and came home.  Too bad I hurt the leg that I sleep on, oh well, nothing some Tylenol won’t help out.  After waking up this morning I definitely needed to take some Tylenol.  All in all it was yet another crazy night in Amsterdam.

February 7, 2011

The last new nights have been quite and peace full compared to the rest of my stay here in Amsterdam.  I went out on Saturday by myself to get some explore done, Fail. I went out with my camera, and I was getting some cool pictures, till I realized that it did not have the memory card in it.  Then I went to the bank to hopefully get my account opened, that didn’t work either.  But all was not lost, I had a great time walking around the city by myself.  It was really cool to walk around the town and just get to think to myself and not have to talk to anyone.  The birds here are amazing, something you don’t notice till you walk without talking and actually listen.  It is not that they just look cooler than birds in the states, it’s the noises they make and the way that you really don’t notice until you try.  And that is so true about anything in life, you never really find the true beauty in a friend or a journey till you stop and you have that time to truly listen.  After my trek down to the city I hung out with my friend Parker till it was around 8 and decided that I really just wanted to come back to my place and make some dinner and read.  So that is what I did, and it was awesome.  I made grilled cheese and some salad and enjoyed some reading of Dan Brown and even got a couple sweet Skype conversations in before I crashed super early.  Waking up yesterday I was determined to go to the grocery store first thing when I got up because I had no milk, orange juice, or milk and fruit ( my favorite drink here in Amsterdam ).  So before I did anything Sunday morning I woke up and walked to the store to stock up.  When I got back, Julie and a couple other people decided to make French toast, so glad I came back in time for that.  And after we ate and I cleaned up a little, my day that was going to be devoted to doing school work and reading quickly turned into yet another exploration of downtown Amsterdam.  Though I am not complaining, a group of 7 of us walked around and found cool shops and talked to interesting people while sipping on some great espresso from a local espresso bar.  There is just a different atmosphere when you are talking to people here.  I relate it as people in the states ask what you do for a living, and people take that as what you do for work.  Well people here ask what you are living for, they ask about your family, and your experiences in life rather than your professional life.  It is very refreshing to talk to some of these people and know that not everyone is concerned with money and material things.  After getting back and parker and I ate (his turn to cook) the night turned into a repeat of the previous night, reading and skyping, the only difference is that I finished my puzzle that i had been working on.  It is where I find my center when I can just relax and not have to worry about everyone’s problems or concerns.  But on a side note, I found some whip-cream for my pancakes in the morning, now all I need to do is figure out how to cook some eggs the perfect way (these pans and hot plates are just not cutting it in the culinary department).  Now it’s off to school for the next half of my day and probably another adventure into town, which I am all for.

February 5, 2011

Yet again, another failed attempt to try and get my bank account set up in Amsterdam.  Matt and I went all the way to the bank and when we got there they could not do anything to help me transfer my accounts.  Yet another obstacle, though the trip was not all bad.  Matt and I stumbled upon a sweet cheese shop, best decision ever.  We got to walk around and try all the cheese while a lady told us about the cheeses.  I can’t remember one thing about the cheeses besides the fact that they were so tasty.  Walking around Amsterdam is not like walking around other places, you can just pick a direction and find cool things that you can just hang out and do stuff.  When we got back we went to Kathy’s birthday dinner.  We made a Mexican feast; it defiantly made me miss back home a lot.  I don’t think I’m getting home sick, just missing certain parts of back home.  I am defiantly missing making pancakes whenever I want.  Oh well, I suppose I must get used to it out here, six months is quite the amount of time.  I was thinking about this the other day with my friend Megan, we were so sad to leave home and all our friends but after these six months we are going to be even sadder to leave Amsterdam and all our friends here.  After Kathy’s birthday we went out to the Sugar Factory.  We had our tickets pre printed on the internet and they didn’t let us in.   Just because we were from America/Canada, as soon as I spoke English in front of the bouncer he told me to get the refund.  It was actually quite amazing how just that little bit of racism got my blood boiling.  I could not imagine how people must feel when it is actual racism that they are confronted with.  After that big ordeal we went to Paridiso, the club that used to be a church.   It was great, but expensive to get in.  The picture is from where we were dancing at the club, it is behind the DJ's, it was great.  After I grab a beer at the bar, some drunk guy wasn’t watching where he was walking and he totally knocked my beer all over me!  I was so pissed, and told him to pay me for it.  And after Parker and Matt backed me up, we got my money back and got a new one.  So much fun in Amsterdam, I don’t think I would be able to have two nights of that in one weekend.  When I woke up this morning, I started what is quickly becoming my daily routine, fill the espresso machine, pour a bowl of cereal, read and eat while the espresso makes itself, then listen to some great music while I eat and drink.  Today I decided to rediscover a bit of Temper Trap, if you have not heard them it is worth a bit of youtube-ing and listening to their stuff.  I still think that going to see them live with Pepe was by far the best concert I have been to.  Any ways I am hoping to have a productive day in this gloomy weather place, so we will see how that goes.