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.

February 3, 2011

So last night after an hour nap I went up stairs to celebrate our friend Matilda’s 21^st birthday.  Though since we went out the night before and drank a lot for it after midnight, she decided that we would just stay here and hang out, and that is what we did.  Though as always my plan of not drink was abandoned when the night started and everyone else started to drink.   I didn’t have class till 2 today, so it was not that much of an issue.  Because we don’t have a freezer we cannot keep ice cream, so we had to finish 5 cartons of ice-cream.  I was not complaining about this last night at all!  The only think that would have made it better would have been chocolate sauce, whip cream, and a cherry but hey you can’t be picky out here.  After a lazy wake up and a Skype date this morning, I decided that it was time for me to regain contact with the technological world and get a cell phone out here.  Though I did not know that my bike’s brake would stop work mid trip out to the store, good thing it was not busy when I went.  I came down the first hill and started to break and nothing happened when I pulled the lever on handle bars!  So I just continued straight because there was no way in hell I was about to make a turn going this fast.  Eventually I made a stop and decided to just ride like a grandma and go 5 miles an hour to the store.  After getting my phone I did a quick repair on my breaks (thanks for teaching me the in and outs of bikes Dad) and I was on my way to my last two classes of the week.  Both seem very different and I am looking forward to both for different reasons.  The first uses a system that we have at my Internship and I have a lot of practice with it, and the second class is full of underachievers and I am already able to surpass them in the teacher’s eyes.  So both classes will not be very hard, hopefully. 

February 2, 2011

After class I just went back to my apartment and hung out with some exchange students.  I swear I walk like 10 miles a day!  I went to the store like 4 times and now I am starting to get so used to walking that it is not a big deal.  It’s just a different way of life out here, you don’t worry about the ten extra minutes it is going to take you or the distance you walk, you just enjoy the company of those around you and you relax more.  It really is different but in the best way possible.  I forgot how great avatar is, I watched it Monday night and I gets me every time.  Tuesday was not quite as glorious of a wake up as Monday, partly due to the fact that I woke up with 10 minutes to get to my first class.  I made it without a problem and my Tuesday classes are both really cool classes.  I think I will enjoy getting to work with other people from different  countries.  After classes on Tuesday I just hung out with Matt and we made some sweet pasta.  It was this thin meat that we grilled with potatoes and jalapenos and we put that on top of marinara pasta. It was delicious.  Later we had a party that ISN was putting on at bar, so we went down stairs to pre drink before we went out.  I thought a bunch of foreigners how to play Kings Cup, it was great.  Down town gets me every time.  We drank at that bar and it was great but the best part had to be this small bar we went to after wards that was a total local spot.  I don’t remember the name but it was great, low lights, crazy decorations, and mad cheap beer.   That is defiantly a winning combination in my book.  I am so glad that I don’t have classes on Wednesday, because I woke up at noon today.  On our way to check out our bank account situation, which still has not been activated, we found this street called Betovinstraat and it was all upscale and cool wine, cheese, bread, and clothing shops.  Seems like an adventure for another day.  I hope this weekend will be a bit tamer than the last, though I know it’s not going to be.   

January 31, 2011

After my amazing breakfast yesterday I managed to gather round 10 fellow Exchangers to go out and see the vodka museum.  What seemed like a simple task of getting out of the building turned into the waiting game for forgotten scarfs and mittens.   Though we finally got out and headed to down town Amsterdam to go to the Vodka Museum and to check out the red light district.  We got there though the group seemed to change their minds (including myself) about walking though the vodka museum.   This was fine because we ended up walking through down town and got a drink at a bar.  The night was crazy though, fog settled into the streets and it gave the city a much colder feel to it.  It was a very interesting experience when we walked around the corner and we encounter the Old Church and all the fog was around us.  We stopped in a coffee shop near the church and thawed out a little bit because it was defiantly below freezing.  On our way home Nick, a student from Florida, stopped to get some things and was going to make the group dinner.  It turned out to be an awesome meal, mashed potatoes, sausage, and spinach.  It was also cool to sit around and eat with 10 or so people and just hang out.  After that I just went straight to bed to get some rest for my first day of classes.  Though it seemed like that amount of sleep still did not satisfy my need.  My classes went fairly well, seem really interesting, and I have a high number of exchange students in my classes due to all the English classes being considered minor degree classes and not many Dutch students take them.  I am really looking forward to getting into all of these classes and seeing the rest of the city.

January 30, 2011

Amsterdam has a gym! The only problem, it is so far away from where I live that it is not worth it.  Oh well, we had to go there to pick up our tickets for final party, and I was way too tired to stay for longer than 10 min.  We came back to go to the grocery store and get some much needed things.   After we walked back, I took the most refreshing nap.  It was so needed and I felt a hundred times better after I took it.  Last night can be nicknamed my wine night.  We decided to drink and hang out in my apartment after getting kicked out of our friends place by her roommate that did not want to have people over.  I drank a whole bottle before we left for final party.  It took a year for our group to get downstairs but we made up time when we went to the station.  I FOUND THE OUTSIDE URINALS!  It is one of the coolest things I have seen here!  So crazy to be peeing in a busy square with people all around, but it was awesome.  After that we walked around for the club that we were having our final INS party.  Then we had to wait in a line for 30 minutes to get in and when we did, it was sweeeet.  The djs upstairs and downstairs kept the party going and the 3.50 euro glasses of wine, of which I had many, helped as well.  We did not leave the club till 5 A.M.!  We were all amazed that we could even walk after almost 5 hours of dancing.  We walked around Amsterdam’s busy weekend squares full of drunken people looking for their way.  We saw a pancake place on the second story of a building and committed ourselves to find the entrance to the restaurant.  I ask a few guys standing near me and they told me that it was the second door around the corner and that the password for today was swordfish.  Knowing how stupid that sounds now makes me laugh, but I am gullible so I believed them.  Though my friends I was with told me how stupid it was and we went home.  Getting home at 6 A.M. was very funny and we crawled into our beds and fell asleep almost immediately.  This morning I woke up and was on a mission to finally get all of my things in the right places and clean up my room.  After which I made two eggs, espresso, and some toast and then I opened my back door to my apartment and ate one of the best breakfasts I have had in a long time while overlooking the stadium and the city.  This is going to be one of the best 6 months of my life and I cannot wait to see what the rest of this trip has in store for me.

January 29, 2011

Because of yesterday, today will be a close one both Thursday and Friday of my first week.  To start the day off I got about 6 hours from the night before,  I woke up to register for our school and to apply for a visa.  It was alright and I got to talk to so many of the exchange students form our school.  After the time we had in the morning at our school we had a long period of free time.  So of course we decided to go downtown and kill time before the next event we had planned, which was a dinner in 4 hours.  Little did we know that we would test our knowledge of downtown Amsterdam. Three of my friends and I decided to separate from the main group because we wanted food.  So after we ate we realized that we were completely lost.  So we decided to walk until we found Dam Plaza and then take the metro (even if it did take hours or senseless wandering).   Even though we were lost, it was great to get to see the city.  After that we went to an outrageous party that our school threw for us, with a dinner served.  It was great, not to mention the free drinks that were included!  One of our captains wanted to take us out, so we went to club by the name of Paradiso.   By far the best club that we have been to so far, it was made out of an old church and the sound of the music is awesome.  In Amsterdam there are no bad dj’s at clubs, they all play the best music and mix things really well.  And the shots were insane, so many that are on fire.  It was a crazy night of dance that turned into wandering around dam square with my friends I met from Brazil to try and find a night bus.  After a night of bar hopping I finally got a bit of sleep, only to be woken up by Julie the next morning.

 

I only got 5 hours of sleep before Julie asked if I was going to the next inroducition event.  Even though she did not decide to go, even though it was her idea, we went on a boat tour that was provided by the school.  It was sweet to get to see the city from that perspective. After the tour we came back to the apartment to leave for IKIA to get some things for the place. I am deffinately missing all the different kinds of foods that are available to get at the super market.  I cannot just go down the road to get animal crackers.  It  is fun though to go the supermarket that they have here and not understand the majority of what you get.  Tonight we went out to another party that our school put on.  It was a great trip out to the bar, considering we did not know where we were going half the time.  Though we ended up there, face paint and all and it was  a great time.  Now I just need to survive one more of these parties and then I will be able to sleep in and relax. And I think that I will start that right now...

The first night

January 27, 2010

So after a 4 hour delay my time in Amsterdam finally began.  I met a couple cool people before I got on the plane that were going to the same place as I was going, it seemed like they were all from Canada except for this guy Wes.  Julia and the rest of them split a cab to the school place which was cool because the cab fare was split between the 5 of us.  Coming to the apartment three of us squeezed into this tiny cab with all our suit cases, so funny how cramped we were.  Getting to the apartment was the best and I love the apartment that I have, it has a wicked view of the stadium that is right next to our building.  The school gives you a hotplate and pots, one plate, one cup, and one set of silver ware it is the funniest set of kitchen stuff.  So after settling a bit Julie and I went down to get a bit of food and towels at the store.  The stores in Amsterdam are so funny and kind of weird.  We get in and you have to lock up all your stuff and bags, and they dont give you bags when you check out in the store ( kind of akward when you are holding the line up and you can't undersdand anything the people are saying to you. But we found all the things we need and got back.  Showering after 20 hours of travel was nice, except for the fact that the drain was messed up and it flooded! But all is fixed, thanks to my screwdriver and taking out the random thing that made it clog.  A group of 15 of us went downtown for the first night and truly experienced the Amsterdam culture.  To start off all of us were drink in the metro, station, and on the street, and then we went to a coffee shot.  Those places are so cool, we got to hang out there and there was this crazy fat cat that was chilln and looked exactly like the one from Alice in Wonderland but not purple.   Three of us almost didn’t make it across one of the streets, chad and a girl didn’t look and almost got hit by a car and Gustavo (a guy from Brazil) tripped and fell when crossing the street and almost got hit.  Sound really dangerous now, but it was hilarious when we were walking around.  This is a crazy city where the people walking are lowest on the food chain that lead by all of the bikes.  Everyone bikes and has bikes, it is not an over statement to say that everyone from Amsterdam bikes around.  So after out down town adventure walking we ended up at an Irish bar and had some beer.  Kevin ended up losing one of his gloves somewhere and I thought I lost my scarf but it was defiantly just around my neck, I was being retarted going around looking for it at the bar.  On our way back to the train station I looked down and in a random corner I saw a glove and I was like hey Kevin is this your glove?  He had dropped it there more than 4 hours before that! It was moment of pure drunken celebration that included many high fives and yelling haha.  And to top it off we came back to drink up in Kevin and Chad’s room which has a sweet view of our school.  So we concuded by cheersing to our new school, our new lives, and our new friends.  Great first night in Amsterdam!

So it begins

In a country far far away… no that’s now right, along the yellow brick row…? Nope, I don’t see any yellow streets…  Our story begins…? No opening music, no credits, no producers moving down the screen, oh well, who said life really was like living in a movie.  I am starting a journey that will take me half way around the world from where I call home, from where my friends are, and from where my family lives (for the most part).  As I sit on this plane ride over the Atlantic ocean all I can seem to think about is the million things that every person I have told of my trip has told me, every piece of advice to keep my safe on my travels, and every city, destination, and monument I was told I “must see”.  Well here I am saying, to hell with all that.  This is my trip, not theirs, my adventure, my life and for the first time I am excited to not know what is if front of me, only using the knowledge that is behind me to guide me through the unknown.  So here I go, if you could call something a prologue I guess this is that, because this truly is the beginning of my journey I am going to call my life, a trip that will change the way that I see people around me and the world that I have grown accustomed to in the past 20 years of my domestic life.  So here I go and here you go with me, you may not understand all my descriptions of old buildings, bridges, and people I meet and for that reason I will also have pictures to go along with this living story book. Enjoy…

I woke up this morning, or was it yesterday, either way I woke up, and when I did it was as if I tried to squeeze about a thousand thoughts through my brain all at once.  This is it; this is the moment that I have been waiting for.  Ever since I have been a baby I have heard the sappy story of my parents and how they met while my father was studying abroad in South America, Chile to be exact.  Time and time again I heard how he left from this Southern California life style that change the day he stepped on that plane.  He went to Limache not knowing there was a woman waiting there that would change his world forever.   So at this point I bet you saying, are you looking for your future wife while you’re studding abroad?  Umm……. HELL NO!  Different times than back then, although I love the story of my parents and I love my parents even more I am doing this trip to grow, to grow as an individual and as a person of this world.  Too long I have been the third son of Robert Lewis, the third best, the smallest (Now the tallest, sorry Robert and Chris).  So now it is my time to find me, find me in a small coffee shop in Paris, on the side of the road in Ireland, under a bridge in Amsterdam.  Who knows what this trip has in store, all I know is that it is going to be one hell of a good time that I will look back on for the rest of my life.  No pressure.  So back to me waking up, it was like any other morning, except for the fact that is still need to finish doing my taxes, show my brother how to take care of my fish, and oh yeah finish packing for my six month trip to Europe.  I was a mess to say the least, running down stairs half dressed even though I had all my cloths laid out for my trip.  As I finished doing my taxes in a complete mess, praying that the IRS will not find mistakes with it, I thought to myself HOLY SHIT I am leaving in 3 hours.  Getting out of the house with everything packed and taxes sent was an adventure in itself; I may have run up and down the stairs 20 times in a frantic state of mind.  Though my chaotic morning was worth it in the end and I got to the airport with plenty of time.  Vicky, you are the gate keep of my journey, I thought to myself as she printed my tickets and told me she got me window seats for all 3 flights to my destination.  Not first class but hey, who would complain about not having your elbow hit by the food cart?  Now I wait, this is going to be a long flight.  Though Richard, a 60 year old consultant for the government, offered a relief from the long wait for my flight to get off the ground and told me about his travels all around the world, including a vast knowledge of Italy.  If you are wondering what the hell his job really was, because I sure did when he told me the first time, well remember that one really hot flight instructor lady in the movie Top Gun, well that’s what he did.  If you don’t know what part of that movie I am talking about, there is no hope for you what so ever.  I got to Texas eventually and got nervous to be going international in less than one day.  It seems like this time I had about 30 minutes to get from my first flight to the one I am on right now, but it worked out and I was greeted by a staff of very nice British Airways flight attendants that had the sweet accent to match, I suppose that I should get used to people talking in accents from this point on.  Oh and as a side note, remember when Vicky gave me all window seats, yeah well I guess getting on an international flight in a row that was completely empty except for you may be the best thing ever.  Let’s just say I have 5 seats to stretch out and get a sweet 6 hours of sleep.  Guess my computer is being affected by our spacious seating arrangement and wants to follow in my path and sleep.  Till next time.

Alright so I guess next time was not too long after last time, I am in England at the moment.  Due to a slight delay back in Texas I Slightly missed my flight to go to Amsterdam.  Sucks because now I will have 3 less hours to get my room key later, but oh well everything happens for a reason.  Got to buy my first beer in a pub at the airport, it was weird not being nervous asking for it.  Good times.  People in the British airport are pretty funny; they all have really thick accents and are pretty nice.  I got lost looking for my new flight and this one lady with a wicked accent led the way.