Amsterdam!!!!!!!!

One of the canals of Amsterdam! 

Everything feels so much older in Europe

It's the bench from The Fault In Our Stars! Complete with "love locks"

    Greetings from Amsterdam!!! After months of saving, weeks of planning, and about twelve hours of travel time, I’m finally in the special place that I hadn’t announced yet. Getting all the way from home in San Antonio to my hostel here in Amsterdam was quite a process and at times a bit of a challenge. The three hour flight up to Minneapolis was no big deal, and getting to my gate for the second flight was also really easy. Minneapolis was an airport that I hadn’t flown through before, and it’s always kind of interesting to see new airports.

            Once we flew out of Minneapolis, at about five pm Sunday, it was an eight hour flight to Amsterdam. I was really hoping I’d be able to get some sleep after they served dinner, but it’s always really hard for me to get comfortable on planes, and I don’t think I even got a full hour of sleep. It was when we landed that the real fun began!

            Due to the fact that I was at the back of the plane (row 40!), it probably took close to half an hour to get off and into the airport itself. Once there, there was a line at immigration, which took about another twenty minutes. Even so, that feeling when I got my very first European passport stamp was pretty special. Then, after grabbing my bigger backpack at the baggage claim, it was time to go get a train into the city.

            I’d heard that for about seventeen euros you can buy a seventy-two hour pass that gives you unlimited access to pretty much all the public transportation throughout the city, and I definitely intended to get that. The first floor of the airport had quite a few little kiosks where you could buy train tickets, but an airport staff member told me that I’d have to go to the tourist information desk to get the three day pass. After finding my way there and waiting in line some more, I got my three day pass with the aid of a very helpful attendant, who also gave me directions for exactly how to get to my hostel. The Dutch really do speak great English! After all that was taken care of, it was time to go downstairs to the train station, which is located right beneath the airport. This was my very first time traveling by train, even for a short distance, and it was really cool to experience that on my first day in Europe.

            The tourist information desk attendant told me that I should get off the train at a certain stop, then go around the corner to catch the tram (there’s like four different types of public transportation in Amsterdam), which would take me most of the way to my hostel. After getting off the tram where she told me to, it took me nearly half an hour of walking, carrying my big checked backpack, smaller carry on backpack, and camera bag on my back, to make it to my hostel. By this time it was close to eleven (which to my body still felt like four am). I was exhausted, dehydrated, and jet lagged, but I was in Europe! Reminding myself of that made me really feel high on life.

            I knew I couldn’t check into my room here at Dutchie’s Hostel yet, but they said I was free to use the kitchen, bathroom, lounges, or showers, and could drop my bags off in their secured luggage room. A shower definitely sounded amazing, as did some relaxing in their upstairs lounge. I wanted to get out and see the city, but I could tell that my body needed a little break first. After freshening up and relaxing for a while, I decided to go out and get lunch. I caught the train over to the Jordaan district of town per a friend’s advice and, after just walking around, taking some pictures, and admiring the canals for a while, I randomly picked a little- get this- pancake restaurant that I was walking by. Amsterdam is famous for its pancakes- and they’re definitely different than pancakes I’m used to. First, quite a few of their pancakes are savory rather than sweet. They have some very interesting things added in that I’d expect to see on a pizza rather than a pancake! Finally, they’re MUCH thinner than any other pancakes I’d ever seen. The pancake I ordered was a ham, cheese, and pineapple pancake- sounds weird, but it was delicious! Savory, with very little sweetness, it was so thin that it kind of reminded me of a flour tortilla. It was a very tasty and interesting first meal in Europe!

            After lunch, I decided to just do some strolling and exploring of the canals. There was a really peaceful feeling around the canals, despite the hundreds of bicycles whizzing all around. Plus, there was a little place that I wanted to find and get some pictures of. I’m not sure this could officially be called a tourist destination, but there’s a bench beside a canal here in Amsterdam that was the filming location of a scene from the movie The Fault In Our Stars. I never actually saw the movie, but I loved the book and I know that part of it takes place here in this city, so I decided to try to find it. It took some searching, but after a while of walking I found the famous bench. Some fans had written or carved things on the bench, while others had attached “love locks” onto the sides of it. I sat on the bench for a while, snapped some pictures, and relaxed as I watched the ferries going by in the canal.

            By that time the jet lag was getting really intense, and it was past check in time, so I decided to head back to the hostel and get in a very short nap, so I wouldn’t be miserable the rest of the day. There’s more news that I could report, but I think this blog post is plenty long enough. Tomorrow my main plans are to hit up the museum district, including the famous Van Gogh Museum! I might also head to the famous (or maybe infamous) Red Light District in the evening. This post’s food for thought is one of my favorites, and a quote that I’ve used here a few times before: “Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down.”- T.K. Thorne