Amsterdam, Baby!

Author's note: the title of the post is intended to be read with the voice and enthusiasm of Joey Tribbiani preparing for London. If you don't get that reference, either 1) You haven't seen Friends, which means you need to fix that pronto, or 2) You haven't seen Friends recently or often enough to understand the reference, which means you need to go watch some more Friends! *Edit: this was 100% unintentional, but apparently the last episode of Friends aired 12 years ago today!


What a day! I have honestly been more excited for Amsterdam than Malawi because I could conceptualize it in my mind, whereas Malawi is still a bit of an unknown. And happily, Amsterdam did not disappoint. I spent some time thinking about it today, and if I had to sum up Amsterdam in one word, that word would be idyllic. Once you remove yourself from the tourist-packed areas (which I did pretty much as soon as I arrived), everywhere you go is gorgeous and somehow simultaneously serene and lively. There's so much going on in the city, but since most people walk or bike, there isn't the same city noise as most other places. To be fair, I caught the city on a day with what I'd consider perfect weather: low 20s with a cloudless blue sky and a nice breeze. However, I maintain that even if it had been raining, Amsterdam is what I picture heaven looking like.

Something that I loved about the city is how seamlessly you can blend into the activities there. Usually when I travel, I feel like a total tourist. Maybe it's because I was walking aimlessly (and thus not consulting a map - that's basically a giant sign saying "TOURIST"), but I just felt comfortable and not singled out. It also helps that while the city looks complicated on a map, it's actually super intuitive. If you basically remember vaguely where the Central Station is in relation to where you are, it's easy enough to navigate (I'll admit, I did eventually get turned around a little, but I'm going to claim lack of sleep as the cause, not my sense of direction).

I didn't manage to get any sleep on my overnight flight (though I did have coffee!!), so I wasn't up to anything too crazy today. I decided to just wander around and experience the city. I had a couple of things I wanted to do (visiting the home country of one of your best friends, you're going to get some tips!), like have a Fristi (a berry milk drink), see the Anne Frank House (check! Sad that I didn't have the time/ energy to go in though), and eat some traditional Dutch food. The last one didn't work out as well as I'd planned, mostly because I wasn't that hungry. My system is pretty thrown off since we got dinner at 10PM on the flight last night and then breakfast at what felt like 3AM... I lost steam after a few hours and started sitting down more often and just hanging out. The way Canada is set up is generally not conducive to people-watching, so I took advantage of the opportunity!

I love Europe, I really do. If you don't count airports, this is the 3rd European country I've been to. But I have a lot of trouble with the lack of public washrooms! It took me 4 hours to come across a washroom (and obviously, it was paid). I know that's a pretty minor thing, but it was one of the reasons why I ended up heading back to the airport earlier than was strictly necessary (the main one being energy - SO TIRED).

As promised, I snapchatted a fair bit today (though more to specific people...coughcough Mars...than to my story. I'm starting to think that I may have to retract my comment about snapchatting once I get to Malawi, simply because of access to wifi. We'll see) and I got excited about some small things. First of all, I saw TWO FAMILIES OF BABY DUCKS. They were adorable. Secondly, many of the houses in Amsterdam are crooked and I just find that so endearing. Thirdly, I went into a Dutch grocery store and found Hagelslag! Mars has fed me this before: it's basically sprinkles that you put on bread, and Dutch people eat it for breakfast. I didn't end up getting any because the logistics of carrying that around seemed too complicated, but I may grab some when I'm here on my way home. I was amazed by the selection they had! Basically the entire day was me getting excited about things so I'm gonna stop there.

As you may have guessed, I really loved what I saw of the Netherlands, and I will 100% be coming back, just hopefully with more time and with a little more sleep under my belt.

Now I have about 2.5 more hours to kill until my flight to Nairobi, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to sleep on this flight :) I'm finding it surprisingly enjoyable to travel by myself, though I definitely miss many of my people at home. I expect that to continue. Sorry if this post is a little rant-y; hopefully I'll be better rested next time I write so the writing will be a bit more coherent.
-Jen