In December 2013 to three weeks later I traveled to
Amsterdam, Netherlands; Dusseldorf, Germany; and parts of Sweden with my
friend, Caitlin to visit our other friend, Lucas, who was studying abroad in
Sweden. I had only recently (few months prior) befriended Caitlin and we did
this huge trip together. Neither of us thought anything of it, not really
knowing each other that well or anything. I met her through my other friend
because she was his older sister. It wasn’t until we handed airport security
our passports that I realized I’m traveling to another country for the first
time with someone that I don’t actually know that well. In the end we hung out
almost everyday this past summer, and she visit Duluth all the time and we
became amazing friends.
Now onto the traveling! Since we went across the pond
with no real itinerary we were able to do what we wanted when we wanted (though
my roommate thinks were both completely stupid for doing so), so we spent the
majority of our time in Amsterdam. It was fantastic, to say the least. EVERYONE
that we encountered was so genuinely nice. For New Years Eve we decided to stay
in Amsterdam rather than Germany, like we had originally planned. We were
staying in a hostel that was right above an Irish Pub. By right above I mean,
you pay the bar tender to stay at the hostel and walk up to stairs behind the
green door that kisses the pub’s door. While we were celebrating New Years, we
encountered A LOT of people. We hung out with some kiwi love birds (a couple
from New Zealand), met some American Sailors, some Irish lads, and my person
favorite, No-Name.
No-Name was in the back of the pub in the smoking room (you
are not allowed to smoke in some bars there, and not allowed to buy anything
there, but you can bring your own stuff and bars can have a handmade “smoking
room”. Its just semantics really). Caitlin and I were talking to this Italian rapper
and his manager who was also his interpreter, and this guy in the corner kept
laughing and poking fun at what we were saying. So naturally we decided to talk
to him. He would not tell us his name because “the feds will hear” and he couldn’t
have that. Turns out that he was convict from Australia, moved to America and
went to prison for a few years (he wouldn’t tell us why), he stayed here on a
green card and was married. He then got divorced and found out that he had been
living here with an expired card for a few years, then got a British passport
(he said he could get Caitlin and I one if we really wanted) because they can
pretty much get you into any country, no questions asked. While we talked to
him, his friend Lee, who couldn’t even stand came tumbling over and No-Name
said he would probably need to leave soon, one to help Lee, or two go to work.
He actually a really nice guy, but the best part is this obviously drugged up,
felon was so high (which is why he said he might go into work) that he wanted
to go make cupcakes, because get this, that’s his job! He makes cupcakes and
baked good at a bakery! Totally caught us off guard. So he decided to go make
his cupcakes at 2am, while Caitlin and I moved back to the bar and made some
more friends. And that was my New Years in Amsterdam; best “dam” New Years of
my life.
This is Caitlin at our first stop after leaving the Train Station. It was at a place called The Wonder Bar and the bar tender, Max, told us about the hostel down the street.
This was the hostel we stayed at. We originally planned on staying the night and ended up there for a week and a half. The green door to the right went to the stairs to get to the rooms. There were four or five rooms and one bathroom up a level from us.
This is just a picture to show how beautiful the canals are. There were bikes EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. If you were in the way of them, they would ding at you with their bells and proceed to just hit you if you did not get out of the way. So many bikes, its was unbelievable.
