Spencer's Semester Abroad: Amsterdam (February 2nd-February 4th)

“There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch” Nigel Powers (Austin Powers’ dad). Actually, I loved the city and the Dutch, but I couldn't write a blog about Amsterdam and not include that juicy quote.

February 2^nd

After my final on Thursday, Chris and I came back to our apartment, packed our bags and headed to the train station. We met up with our pledge brother, Pierce, his friend from Joe, and Jake from our program. The train took us to Brussels, and from there we jumped another one to Amsterdam. Chris and I were in the same coach of the train, but the other three were a few coaches away. When we finally rolled into the city, Chris and I got off the train and waited the other guys to get off too. After a few minutes, it was apparent that they simply weren’t there and the trained pulled away. We searched the train station, and it turns out they got off at the wrong stop. After reuniting the whole group around 10:00pm, we headed to our hostel, the Durty Nelly (I know, I can’t believe we booked a hostel with the word Durty in it either), to drop off our bags. In order to get up to our rooms, we had to stroll through the Durty Nelly Bar. We placed our stuff in the room and left to go explore the city.

Our hostel was located near a ton of bars and cafes. The street was also full of various sex shops, weed stores, tourist stands, and an amazing amount of fast food. We decided to hit up a few pubs to get some drinks and then had to stop by one of Amsterdam’s famous cafes. We continued to venture through the city and came upon the red-light district, which was only a few blocks from our hostel. To be honest, this actually caught me a little off guard. Imagine a street with pink and red-lighted neon signs. Now add in various bars and then signs advertising sex shows. On top of that, as you walked by you see red tinted windows with half naked women dancing. This is probably not the best place to go if you’re a father and have a daughter. But I guess what happens in Amsterdam, stays in Amsterdam.

February 3^rd

The next day, we woke up and decided to go to various museums and tourist attractions that people recommended for us. Since the sex museum was the closest to our hostel, we started there. Upon walking in, it was obvious that this place was simply hilarious. After buying a ticket, one of the first things you see was a fake guy wearing a trench coat. As you walk by he makes a psssst sound, and when you look over, the display moves forward and flashes you. This is the type of display that you know has inspired sketchy guys everywhere and haunted the minds of innocent civilians around the globe. But let’s not kid ourselves; I kept walking by it because it was hysterical. The rest of the museum covered all types of sexual artifacts, art, and history from the days of the Roman Empire to the modern era.

After the sex museum, we walked down the main street, through Dam Square (where the historical buildings are) all the way to the torture museum. This museum walks through various torture mechanisms that Europeans have used over the centuries. This was really interesting, but just imaging these instruments put to use was pretty disturbing. The museum was dimly lit, and the whole time I felt like something was going to jump out at me. Finally we left the museum and ventured to the Southern part of the city, where the Heineken Brewery was.

The Heineken Brewery was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was very cool to compare this experience with the Anheuser-Busch tour in St. Louis. We walked through the various aspects of the brewing process, and at the end there was a beer tasting and some free beer to drink on top of that. The beer actually tasted significantly better than the Heineken in the United States. Just to sum up our day so far, we experienced sex, torture, and alcohol, but don’t judge us, it’s Amsterdam after all!

Leaving the brewery, we found every tourist’s picture destination, the I Amsterdam sign. Upon seeing the sign, it was hard to approach it in order to take pictures. This wasn’t really because of crowds, but rather an enormous snowball fight that was taking place. The local youth thought it was funny to pelt the teenage and middle-aged natives as well as any tourists taking pictures. It was really funny to see someone snap a picture, turn around, and get pelted in the face with a snowball from a seven-year-old Dutchmen. Since you’re supposed to take a picture with one of the large letters in your name, Joe and I ran out, dodging snowballs and all, in order to snap one. Luckily, we avoided most of the firing squad. We left the sign and museum area and headed back towards our hostel. We grabbed some dinner, and then took a nap. When we woke up, we got ready and went out again to bars on our street and also in the Red-Light District. It was only fitting after a night of going out to stop by one of the fast foods places so conveniently located on our street.

February 4^th

On our last day in Amsterdam, we woke up, checked out of the hostel and had some breakfast. Not all of us wanted to go to the Anne Frank House, so Jake and I ended up being the only two to walk to the museum. On the way there, we walked through an open-air market. Once we arrived, there was an extremely long line that curved around the building. We waited for a while, and then walked through the house. Like most people, it’s hard for me to imagine something like the Holocaust and its atrocities living in the United States. The only real interactions I’ve had are reading about it or in the movies. But seeing something like this in person was really moving. It was nice to see that there was such a long line from people from all over the world that cared to observe this exhibit too. Because our train was around 5 o’clock, we stopped to get some food, and then headed to the train. Since it was snowing all weekend, a lot of flights and trains were canceled or delayed. Luckily we jumped on an earlier one and made it back to London on time.

Overall, it was a really fun weekend and probably my favorite trip so far. Amsterdam was a really green city. I mean that jokingly, of course, because of the legal activities but also because of how many people walked, biked, and took the tram across the city. It's pretty small and easily navigable. Amsterdam was really a Dam Good City, and A Dam Good Time.

The Durty Nelly Bar (Below our Hostel)

Snow covered streets

This is just a display, don't worry Mom...

This thing definitely had some length

Dam Square

The Torture Museum

Imagine kicking back and watching some TV in this throne!

These canals are all over the city. You definitely need a Dutch Rudder to navigate these channels.

Joe, Pierce, and Chris

Rembrandt Square

Jake, Pierce, Chris, and I in Rembrandt Square

The Heineken Brewery

This is a Silo where they store the Barley and Hops before brewing

Everything you need in a beer. Water, Barley, Hops, and Yeast

The beer tasting after the tour. According to the specialist, the foam is meant to bottle in the taste of the beer to keep it fresh. So for those who don't like drinking beer, to get away from the bitter taste and enjoy the sweetness of beer, you're supposed to take large gulps!