*Reader Discretion is Advised*
Day 1:
We originally planned this trip with a huge group, some were staying the night while others were leaving the same day. We thought we could buy group discount tickets at the station but turned out it wasn’t as easy as we had thought. Group tickets, which were the cheap ones, could only be purchased online with a Dutch online bank account. Only one person had money in their bank account but his online banking wasn’t set up yet. Those who were staying the weekend had to opt with paying full price which was 19 euro for one way. It took us over an hour to figure out how to do it. The others decided not to go since paying that price could justify just to go for one day. It's a pretty quick trip to Amsterdam, only about 40 minutes. The train was actually really nice!! All public transportation here are super clean. That's one major difference between Europe and America.
We didn't have much planned. We just wanted to explore and get the lay of land so we can show people around whenever they come visit. Also, since it's so close I'm planning to do day-trips to Amsterdam to do everything and kinda pretend I'm studying in Amsterdam instead of Rotterdam. Therefore, we started off the day wondering around the city, into all the little alley ways, and of course taking tons of pictures. What's more iconic than bikes and canals? So there are tons of pictures with bikes and canals. Jk, the #1 most iconic Amsterdam pictures is of course with the I Amsterdam sign. There were so many people there and it was also windy and misty so it was hard to get a nice picture. It was also a struggle trying to climb the letters because it was so wet and slippery.
After lunch we headed to our hostel, ClinkNOORD. It was on the other side of the water but there was a 24 hour ferry that went back and forth, which took only about 7 minutes. The hostel was actually really nice! I was spoiled for my first time since I don't think many other ones I'm staying in are going to be that nice. It was about 24 Euros a night, cheaper than most other places.
Now the day gets more interesting...
You haven't experienced Amsterdam unless you do drugs and visit the Red Light District. I was so taken aback at how lenient the drug laws were here. There were tons of places that sold drugs and everything is legal in Amsterdam. They had "coffeeshops" which are cafes where you go to get smoke weed and get high and drink coffee. When we went to one, it was like walking into a giant cloud. It was pretty suffocating tbh. We first got yelled at my the worker, because we didn't want to buy anything but sit with our friends. She was not very happy about that. It was a very strange but interesting environment. Everyone was sooooo baked, sitting sluggishly against the walls, all looking like big blobs. I didn't smoke but got second hand high just sitting in there. These types of coffee shop are really common here, literally one on every corner. There are also shops where they sold other drugs as well. They have fliers along the streets basically saying "Do not buy drugs from street vendors! Buy them from legitimate stores. Drugs are not illegal here so you will not get in trouble for reporting any bad vendors or drugs."
Red Light District:
W O W I've never been better and it's something... It was really cool but also uncomfortable. It was about 8 or more blocks and alleys of the district. It's like window shopping but for girls. There were girls in skimpy clothes / bikinis standing in front of a window wall one after another. There were probably around 100 different windows. When the curtains were drawn you know business was going down. I was very intrigued when I saw go down and talk to one of the girls. I wanted to see how the transaction was going down. One of the guys in our group went to talk to a girl and she charged 50 euros for a good time. Every time someone walked out of the rooms, everyone would stare and whisper. Although it was a normal thing here, it's still a taboo.
We wanted to go to a live sex show because we all hard it's a must-do in Amsterdam. We had another group of friends who went earlier in the day and they have very interesting stories. They told us that they watched a girl stick a pen up her vagina and signed with it. Another girl smoked a cigar with her vagina. Soooo crazy! I really wanted to witness it myself haha. The other girls in our group were a bit hesitant and iffy about going. When we decided to do it, we ran into these Irish guys who were really upset about the show.
"They had a softcock! We were paying to watch him fuck with a softcock. My cock is even bigger than his. They should pay me!" Pointing at me and Brandon he goes "You guys should should have sex and we'll pay you."
Next day will be posted in another blog: Van Gogh & Drugs