In Amsterdam!

NB: All of the posts I've written while in Amsterdam were posted when I got back, since internet costed 4 euro an hour there, and I am a grad student. I wrote these posts down in a journal, and the posted date reflects the date I wrote the entries, not the date they were published. Enjoy!

So I landed in Amsterdam today to attend an academic conference. The plane ride was long and I didn't get any work done, which is a problem. I did get some sleep though, which is unusual for me since I'm always up until ungodly hours working on things. I was pretty hungry when I woke up since I had been asleep when they handed out the tiny and somewhat disgusting trays of chicken korma. I guess that's what you get when you fly charter. In coach. Somehow, I think I would have still been hungry even if I were awake when they handed those out. The whole plane reeked of it. I looked around and saw many green-looking faces. I think air-sickeness comes less from motion and altitude and more from the culinary joke that the air travel industry plays on its patrons...

When I got off the plane, I had to grab my pack from the baggage carousel and find a live person train ticket vendor, since I had no euro change for the ticket vending machine, having just arrived. Being bleary-eyed and disoriented, not knowing where I was going, and having a 20 lb. backpack strapped to my body, all of this took about me about an hour and a half. I decided my dream of appearing on and winning The Amazing Race might be dead.

My friend Jenna, who is touring Europe, decided to meet me and picked me up from Centraal Station. She was happy to see me (and my new haircut) and we walked over to the hostel I had booked for us. While this hostel was "conveniently" located near the train station, and for some unknown reason received excellent online reviews, it was just GROSS. The place reeked of weed (I am having a very olfactory experience so far), and everyone there was completely stoned. Since I was arriving early in the morning, my bed was not yet "vacated," so I (reticently) stored my pack in their lugggage storage and went for a walk of the area. I was stricken by how quiet the streets were, even at this early hour. It was about 8 am local time. There were no bikes, cars, or trams anywhere. Clearly, this is a different way of life that the North American hustle and bustle of the early AM rush hour. I like the calmness here. It's so quiet here and the canals are so beautiful. We stopped at a tiny bakery to get some juice. It was the only place open. After our little forray out, we returned to the hostel so I could check in. We did this, and went up to take a nap (Jenna loves naps, and I was really jet-lagged). When I got there, however, there was someone still in my bed! We had to wake him up and tell him to hit the road, find a clean set of sheets and remake the bed ourselves. We then decided, after seeing the condition of the room and who we'd be sharing with, that we would change hostels and move to an all-girl dorm, in a no-smoking hostel. Jenna made the booking so we're staying here tonight (oh, joy) and moving tomorrow. I think we might venture out tonight for a couple of drinks and maybe walk through the infamous Red Light District, if we can work up the courage! I still have some finishing touches to put on my conference paper. Maybe I'll work on that when we get to the next hostel...