Hey Amsterdam i'll come back when i'm rich and famous kay?

        Wow, well there are some key differences between the states and Europe... might I fist say that it is really strange having English not be the first language. Changing money is a pain in the ass and the ATM's over here  in Amsterdam are hidden in the walls. NOTE: If I do this again I will be purchasing a map of the country i'm visiting before leaving... I got lost on my way down here and I think I may have gone through the wrong line getting into the country in the first place (I said I have nothing to declare, which I didn't.. right?) I certainly hope that doesn't bite me in the ass.. So back to the reason for needing said map... 

Not the airport, I was to frazzled to
even think about my camera.
instead.. bridge..

       I get off the plane and arrive in what I can only describe as a mall.. with Bars!! What?? Yes it's true, and in the airport proper too... which I suppose is really cool unless you are trying to find an information booth or somewhere to purchase some smokes, so I found an ATM (not hidden inside of a the wall inside the airport) I didn't know how my bank would respond to me getting money out of a foreign ATM and everything I read said don't get money out at the airport but I needed some local cash.. So to the ATM and viola now I have local money! A crisp 50 Euro note! oh wait... shit... Okay I say to myself obviously I've gotta get this changed down cause I'm fairly certain that buses won't give change. So I got myself a delicious donut like raisin biscuit thing for a Euro and was given a dirty look from the shop owner who insisted I give him a smaller note, but oh well it was either that or American USD so tough cookies! Eventually he took my 50 Euro note and gave me change. 

       Change in hand I happily made my way to the buses... only to be blocked by the equivalent of an orca card. Essentially a re-loadable card for the tram, bus and train... double shit. Now it has started raining. My bags are really heavy. And I'm fairly certain that they must be picking stuff up off the ground cause I think they are getting heavier as I walk.. Okay. Back into the airport/mall. That's where the bus driver said I could find a booth selling tickets. Little booth... gynormus freakin' airport.. *sigh* okay they must be by the train since there isn't a place inside of the airport for buses, so down to the train platform I go. Back and forth back and forth trying to find this mythical machine for what feels like forever (probably more like a half an hour) However now i'm getting sweaty as well as damp. Its definitely not here so I make my way back up to main airport to wander about.

     Finally I find one of the ticket booths but I have no re-loadable card to put funds on!!! NOOO!!! A nice woman tries to help but I don't think she realized I didn't have one of those fancy re-loadable cards. So now I'm frustrated angry and upset. At this point I'm no longer looking for any damn tickets! Nothing! No! I'M TIRED, HOT, UNPLEASANTLY DAMP AND GAH!!! I just want a place to sit down!!! I'm now on a mission for an Ice cold beer in one of those bars in the airport. I'm just going to set my luggage down and chill out....

     But lo!!! A ticket station with a person!!! No way! I almost run to the damn line I'm so of tired of all my back and forth all day. Note: My plane arrived at 12:30 and its now almost 2pm.. yeah. So I ask the lady about buses and tickets for them into central Amsterdam and she gives me a strange look ”you know you can just take the train too right?”
“Well how much is the train?” I'm really quite tired at this point cause its the equivalent of my normal 4 am and yes no sleep on the plane
“4,50 Euro, one leaves in three minuets and the next will be in another hour.”
 “I'll take it.”
Note: They use a comma instead of a decimal point when displaying money.. I don't know how much more of this that I am going to be able to take. A COMMA! WHAT??? Sigh... Okay onward...

    So back down to the train platform and onto the train that I now posses a ticket for! Yes its crowded but I don't care. Off at Amsterdam central station!!! Boo yea!! Off the train and onto the train platform! I am so close to the city! I walk all the way to the south of the platform humm that's odd it just stops in all train tracks... back north more train tracks... what?!


Note: It may be prudent to point out that I have never ridden a train in my life and have never seen a train station that I can remember except from Harry Potter.

Okay so now way out on the top bit like I assumed there would be, the exit must be down the stairs... YES! Now to the street outside in central Amsterdam!


Note: Sorry for all of these but its really so much more ridiculous with more information, if I had gone down the stairs on the other side of the station I would have had no problem.. instead I get this....

Oh wait..no.. Boats... :( going to places whose name I probably wouldn't be able to pronounce if you paid me. Okay so I will just walk down to the water (the part of central Amsterdam is on a canal, so this must be it.. or at least turn into Amsterdam central) now this logic would have worked if I had gone the other direction on the water. But no, I went the one way that would bring me absolutely nowhere. Maps... really important things.

That darker section of the bricks is what I fondly refer to as
"The Danger Zone"

     So walking down what I thought was a side walk I was almost side swiped by a passing little boy on a bicycle I wish I could remember what exactly it was that he yelled at me as he flew by me but damn if I could remember. It may have been dutch.. it was defiantly angry.. I think the jist was get the hell out of the way! I was startled by this young boy then, WHOA what the?? A moped! Confused I look around some more, they have three parts to their streets -cars-bike/moped-walk- Sometime the distinction between the bike lane and walking is blurred/unnoticeable, if at all there even. After fifteen minuets of walking that felt like an hour I realize I must be going the wrong way so I start to look for someone to ask directions of …

That's a LOT of bikes...

"excuse me.." No reaction.. however in the back of my mind I remember my friend Virginia saying something about how people in paris dont say excuse me they say" Pardon". Maybe its an EU thing. So "Pardon" I shout and sure enough she turns! YES! ...and then proceeds to explain that indeed my logic is correct but I went the wrong way on the water, but it's faster if you just go under the station. Once I have directions I start out on my journey revived. Looking around I see stations of bikes, hundred of them, everywhere. Some are locked and others say what I think might be donation or retal but with the luck I've had today I'm not even going to risk it. Though I must say I'm quickly running out of energy.

     So under the train station I go over another little canal and I think she said Dusseldorf for the street but her accent was very thick. So more walking but at least this looks like the Amsterdam I was expecting. I had asked her about the flying pig which was the only hostel I could recall from my reading, I knew it was close but where?? finally I ask one of the many money change/hotel fining stores (I was really hoping that they weren't going to make me pay for the direction) the man was very nice and pointed me down a side street right next to the store, “Take that right and then one more, its on the left.”

      Finally!!! Walking down the street at almost a run I finally saw the sign.. a beacon of hope!! Thoroughly soaked from the rain and tired I take my bags upstairs to the empty six person mixed dorm room, stash my stuff and lay down on a BED for what I thought would be just a minute.. however it was 4 pm local Amsterdam time and the equivalent of 7 am in Seattle and I still hadn't slept... So big surprise when I wake after dark to what sounds like a crazy party downstairs, this is Amsterdam after all. However i'm tired and still suffering from jet lag so I change out of my wet clothes into my pj's and crawl back into my safe warm bed.

Cats are everywhere here! This one is chillin' out on a keyboard

     When I wake up next, it's to a room full of people and a silent establishment. The bar must now be closed so after 3AM then... and dark. I feel as if I've slept in past noon. Sometime in the night all the rest of the beds filled up so I quietly dress and go downstairs to reception which is open 24 hours. My lack of planning has gotten on my nerves so I go to grab a fdorors book on the Netherlands and prepare to learn some local information.. but this was all stuff I already knew from just perusing the internet. It made no reference to the maniacal bicycle riders and their special lane for themselves and mopeds.  Or for that matter about the bikes that may or may not be for rent. NOR did it make any mention of how incredibly expensive this place is... Where to get cheep eats and how to pay to get on a tram. Well that was a useless few hours...oh well. So I put that down and pick up water for elephants. Can't sleep anymore anyways, might as well read.

      Soon I'm joined by a hashish smoking french man who can barely speak any English. I ask him if he is here on vacation, by his puzzled gaze I realize that it must different word for him (or he doesn't understand a word I just said), holiday? Sorry yes, are you on holiday? He smiles and says yes, (thank you British TV!) he gets five weeks of vacation pay a year from the pizza place he has been working at for three years... 3 years at a pizza joint and 5 weeks of paid vacation!!!! oh what the hell? He chiefs up and at this point I wish I smoked so we could have some sort of comradeship and something in common, but instead I politely decline and attempt to hold a conversation with a stoned french man who can barely speak English... (a foolish endeavor at best) I quickly find this situation not going anywhere and decide to go outside instead to find myself an ATM.

    Its six am so I remember my sisters warning of most rapes happening between 5-9 am so I zip up my leather jacket and put on my hat trying to look as tough as possible. The more apt warning however should have been for the street cleaners zipping down the alleys and spraying water everywhere! GAH! I didn't find any ATMS (I didn't know at that point that they were hidden in walls) but I got thoroughly lost and not lost for well over an hour. When I came back I talked to the night reception lady (from Australia btw where they teach Japanese in the elementary schools) and found out that there were in fact two ATMS just around the corner. Oops. That's what I get for not asking. There was a nice free breakfast at 8 in the morning of toast, jam, peanut butter, fruit, hard boiled eggs and cereal. I'm using today to stash my stuff here and get my train ticket and then do some sight seeing. I'll head out in the morning cause Amsterdam is an expensive city! Holy shit!!!

 Adios!

-Zoe

 Note: I should have learned Spanish. Yeah mom go ahead and laugh and say I told you so :)