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.