One fine summer day in good ol' Massachusetts
Sorry I can’t be home to celebrate with you! We can have a very belated little shindig in a few months. For now, I’m sure everyone else at home will help to make your day absolutely wonderful.
Now, go throw on a party hat and enjoy!
This weekend was just so wonderful. I had a [much needed] visit with some family members and I now feel completely rejuvenated. My aunts (Jennifer and Ruthie) were in Amsterdam for a conference from Wednesday until Sunday. The three of us were quite busy during the week, so we ended up getting together on Saturday (all day) and Sunday morning before they left for the airport. My cousin, Ellie (the one studying in Switzerland) managed to get a flight here this weekend too! She got in on Friday night and left Sunday night (today). I went to the airport to “pick her up,” or rather show her which train/tram she needed to take to reach my apartment. Her flight was delayed about an hour and a half so I occupied my time with a €5,50 euro coffee from Starbucks. This city is eating me alive. That’s about $7.40 US.
Once I found Ellie, we ended up arriving back to my apartment around 11:30 at night, so having an evening filled with activity was a little unrealistic (especially since we had plans to meet the Aunties at 10AM). In the morning, we took a tram to Centraal Station where we found Jen and Ruthie. From there, we walked down to the Jordaan with intent of seeing the Anne Frank House. The line was extraordinarily long, but we decided it would be worth the wait in the end. Of course, we were right. I didn’t even realize we were waiting in line. There was so much catching up and discussion going on that I didn’t even bother to worry about my surroundings. The Anne Frank House is definitely something to see. It absolutely blew my mind that the real, original diary of Anne Frank exists in the city where I am currently residing. This is the same diary that gave true insights into the Holocaust during the early 1940s and is taught in every 7th grade classroom around the globe.
After the museum, we grabbed some lunch in the Jordaan at this very quaint little restaurant. During this little walking excursion in the Jordaan, we experienced sunny blue skies, pouring rain, and hail all in the matter of minutes. Thankfully, Ellie and I brought umbrellas which came in handy throughout the sporadic downpours of the day. Amsterdam weather is ridiculous.
Along with the umbrellas, our array of Amsterdam maps came in handy after every 3 blocks. The streets here will curve ever-so-slightly and completely throw off your sense of direction. After attempting to find the Rijksmuseum, a Dutch man told us we had gone in the complete opposite direction and we had gone too far to even walk back to it. We nixed that idea and decided to walk to Dam square instead and pop in and out of shops along the way.
For dinner, we had the most incredible Indonesian food I’ve ever had. We went to a place called Kantjil & de Tijger right near the Dam. I absolutely loved everything I tried. In fact, while writing this post I am eating the leftover Indonesian style salad with peanut sauce that none of us could manage to finish last night. Though the server was quite slap-dash and appeared to be a big ball of stress, the atmosphere of the restaurant was quite nice. It seemed like a popular place to be on a Saturday night. I was left feeling 100% content after that meal.
To end the night, we took a stroll through the ever-so-popular Red Light District. Just another tourist trap the city of Amsterdam has to offer. Ellie had never been to Amsterdam before. Thus, had never seen the Red Light. Though this area is very packed on a Saturday night, it is definitely something you need to see once in your life.
Sunday morning came all too quickly. Ellie and I woke up bright and early to meet with Jenny and Ruthie for breakfast before they departed. After some coffee and bagels, it was time to part ways. Though it was a very brief visit, I am very glad we were able to visit at all. It is amazing to me that a small chunk of my family managed to all meet in up in Europe at the same time. The warmth that came from that short little visit is just enough to get me through these next 3 months while I’m missing home. I also discovered many parts of the city I never knew existed this weekend and my sense of direction is much stronger thanks to trial and error.
Though the mood of the weekend was a bit more melancholy after J & R left, Ellie and I proceeded with our Amsterdam adventures. On Friday, we were looking up “free things to do in Amsterdam” on the Internet when one very specific idea caught Ellie’s eye. Apparently right next to Vondelpark there is a stable. That’s right. For HORSES. Now, anyone who knows my cousin Ellie can understand that this is a big deal. She has been riding horses for most of her life and has developed quite an obsession. In leaving the States to study in Switzerland, she also had to leave behind her horse and hasn’t seen one since.
Of course, we didn’t find the place immediately. It was only until we smelled the horses that we were able to find the building in which they were kept. The place was quite remarkable. I don’t know much horse lingo so I doubt I’ll be very successful in my description of the barn. Ellie’s description would be much different than mine, as her focus was the horses and mine was the coffee! Yes, there was a little cafe at the top of the barn with a balcony overlooking the [place where people ride]. Ellie can fill in the blanks for me. I barely felt like I was in the middle of a city. It’s so wonderful how one very condensed place can offer so much variety. Ellie seemed quite happy to have fulfilled her longing for bridles, manes, canters, and trots.
It was a very bittersweet afternoon. I was happy to have had such a wonderful weekend, but sad to see everyone go. Fortunately, I will be seeing Ellie in Switzerland only two weeks from now. We will continue our adventures then! As for Jenny and Ruthie, the Leaning Christmas weekend keeps calling my name, where I look forward to the hysterical charade games and long winter walks to the horse paddocks.
Tonight was just wonderful. I don’t think I can even explain in words the perfection I just experienced. Suddenly, everything just makes sense.
Money is very tight these days. Living in a city is much more expensive than I ever thought it would be. A few days ago, I decided to look online for babysitting gigs so I could pick up some extra cash. I found a posting on Craigslist (*those of you who know me well or know about my summer in Portland, Oregon might roll your eyes) saying the following: “We are currently looking for a babysitter for 3 days a wk to start asap. We have a 5 yr old ( in school most of the day) and a 1 yr old to look after + some minor house keeping. We are located in the Jordaan, 8 euro p/hr to start. If interested please send us an email with a brief description of yourself+ any other related info, thanks.”
The ad was in ENGLISH. That alone made me want to contact this family. I sent them an email and got a very speedy response. They wanted me to meet with them at their house, so I decided to grab a friend (just to be safe) and go on a little adventure.
The Jordaan is the most wonderful, quaint little side of Amsterdam. Though we were a little lost, it wasn’t so bad. We finally arrived at the residence of the family I would potentially be spending some time with in the future. I knock on the door and a man answers in a very friendly manner. My first impression of the place was that it was so quaint and very much what I expected of a real Amsterdam apartment. The couple was very hospitable, offering us drinks as soon as we walked in. They happened to be from Canada and they had been living in Amsterdam for 3 years now. Interestingly enough, the man used to work at Burton in Vermont doing graphics. That might secretly be my dream job. What a small world we live in.
The family unfortunately informed me that our schedules were not going to cooperate with each other. I have class on the days they have obligations, so they were unable to offer me any work. It doesn’t matter. Meeting with them gave me an excuse to see an entirely different side of Amsterdam and it made me realize many inexplicable aspects of a life I someday hope to have.
For starters, if I follow the right path, maybe someday I could afford to just move to Amsterdam and live in a beautiful apartment. Simply meeting a strange family in a cozy little apartment felt very homey. Though I had no idea who the family was, I just wanted to continue talking with them just to be in that environment.
While walking through the Jordaan, I found myself looking in all the windows of the people living there and fantasizing over what life could be like. I envied those who had cute little European kitchens and dining rooms. Dim lights with candles burning, drinking a glass of red wine while reading or watching a TV program at the end of a long day. Sitting there with a cat on your lap, conversing with your significant other. Brick walls painted white, rough wooden dining tables, and high ceilings with bookshelves reaching all the way up. Everything just seemed so beautiful to me tonight.
I’m not trying to fast-forward to married life by ANY means, but each window I looked in just looked much more pleasing than my current apartment. I was dreading coming back to my prison cell, but this is the life of a college student. I like this life too.
Again, the happiness I felt tonight can’t even be expressed in words. It wasn’t just about material objects and nice apartments. It was about feeling comfortable and ‘at home.’ It was about intimate social connections that actually mean something instead of those superficial acquaintances that seem to happen much more frequently.
I have a much more positive view of Amsterdam after tonight.
*Side note: When I spent a summer in Oregon as a nanny for my cousin, the only way I found to make friends was via Craigslist. When I’m alone in a foreign city I tend to resort to this wonderful online crutch, though many people advise against it. Somehow, Craigslist always brings me positive experiences (knock on wood). I just need to be careful and trust my instincts.
Sweden has always been at the top of my “Places to Visit Before I Die” list. My family on my dad’s side is very Swedish. My grandmother always fed me Swedish food and taught me Swedish values growing up. Turns out, my grandmother has a cousin living there! At 20 years old, there is still a whole section of family that I’ve never met and didn’t even know existed until my grandmother mentioned it this summer.
After emailing with my grandmother’s cousin, Ulla, we decided that December was the best time for all of us to get together. For a round trip flight from Amsterdam to Stockholm it cost about $173. This is much more expensive than the flights I booked for Switzerland and London, but it was worth it simply for the purpose of the trip. Family is so important to me. I can’t even express the feelings of excitement that came over me when I found out I have even more family to add to my current tree. Especially since that unknown family is from a place I’ve always wanted to visit and feel more culturally connected to.
I’ve always wanted to go to England, and it’s finally happening! I’ll be flying out with my friend Kazzy (who happens to be from England). We will be spending some time in London doing whatever sounds appealing. I’ll be staying there for a week, most likely hopping around from place to place. My friend (and former roommate), Lora is studying abroad in London as well, so it will be very nice to visit and see a familiar face.
This time I used EasyJet instead of RyanAir to book the flights. It cost about $61 to fly to London and about $52 to fly back. For this price I was happy to use EasyJet, as they fly out of the airport in Amsterdam rather than Eindhoven, which is an hour train ride away. With RyanAir, though it is very cheap, does not fly out of Amsterdam. I’ll be flying out of Eindhoven when I go to Switzerland, but I have a feeling it will be a complete hassle.
In the parking lot outside my building, smashing car windows has become quite a trend. Last week, a car was parked in the spot right next to the bike racks. In the morning, the driver’s side window of this car had been smashed. Last night, my friend (Florie)’s car was parked in that same spot. What happened? We woke up, ready to head to class at 8 AM, and we find a brick (probably from the road construction down the street) on her driver’s seat. Surrounding the area were piles of broken glass. What a nice way to wake up in the morning. It is assumed that a junkie broke into the car. These are the same junkies who steal bikes all around Amsterdam and sell them to people. I’d say Amsterdam is a relatively safe city, but you still need to watch out and keep a close eye on any valuable possessions you may have.
When I keep myself busy, Amsterdam is absolutely amazing. It offers anything an independent, third-year college student could ever want. It’s during down time when I really start to miss home. It’s not so much a feeling of ‘homesickness,’ but rather nostalgia for times and moments I never thought I’d miss. The leaves here are very green and still all hanging on to their branches. I’m sure by now, the leaves in New England have started to turn colors. Every time I walk the streets of Amsterdam on a
sunny day, surrounded by bikes with the cool weather, I get this reoccurring memory. This memory of riding my bike on the Northampton (Massachusetts) rail trail in the fall with my dad. The weather is cool. The perfect temperature for a nice, cozy sweatshirt. I think of the orange leaves blowing around on the ground as I ride my bike over them. I think of walking around the eclectic little city and walking into a shop to get a hot cup of apple cider. This sparks other memories related to jumping in leaves, carving pumpkins, and the first snow. It’s not home that I miss so much. I just miss being young. When I say “young,” I mean stress-free. I mean those times when you didn’t need to worry about money, work, classes, or putting a meal on the table. Those times when your biggest worry was what you should wear to school in the morning. Take me back to that simplicity! Everything is just too “real” these days.
Tonight, I saw Modest Mouse (my favorite band) play at Melkweg. This is the second time I’ve seen them play live. The first time was in Chicago (at the Pitchfork Music Festival) about two months ago. This time around, I thought they played a MUCH better set list. I was quite impressed. The support was a band called ‘Yuck‘ and I actually really enjoyed their sound as well.
At one point, Modest Mouse played ‘Paper Thin Walls.’ Then, they played it again. And again. The audience started to wonder what was going on. Isaac Brock (the lead singer) then says, “WHO WANTS TO HEAR PAPER THIN WALLS AGAIN?!” The audience laughs as they play the beginning of the song a few more times. Isaac then says, “Okay, well we’re going to take a break, and while we’re back stage you guys can vote on how many more times you want to hear ‘Paper Thin Walls’ and whatever you come up with, we’ll multiply it by 3.” Modest Mouse then proceeded to leave the stage and came back for an encore to perform another 4 songs or so.
Anyone who left their bike against the rail outside Poeldijkstraat got a nice surprise yesterday morning. There were signs all over, warning that you shouldn’t put your bike on that particular rail. Of course, nobody listened. Then, e
ach bike along the rail got a bright orange sticker slapped on them. The sticker was a warning to move the bikes, but it was all written in Dutch. Finally, I guess it was time to pick them all up and take them away. I look out my window that morning and see a man sawing away at a bike lock and another man rolling them up to the truck. I feel really bad for anyone who had a bike on this rail, but I guess they should have seen it coming. I’m just glad I hadn’t bought a bike yet! Sometimes it pays to wait.
I saw a band called ‘Stars‘ play at Melkweg last night. The venue is awesome! It has a smaller stage on the right side of the building and a bigger stage on the left one. Stars played on the smaller stage, which I was very happy about because it just felt very intimate. The audience was the most diverse I’ve ever seen at a concert. I saw old men singing and dancing along, couples of all ages getting cuddly, and groups of people around my age. Though the support band was just a boy band in disguise, I thought Stars was pretty fun live. They decorated the stage with white roses before the band went on and throughout the performance the singers would throw roses and petals out into the crowd. My friend Kazzy and I both managed to catch a rose, which will be a nice little memento of the night. I can’t wait to see Modest Mouse there on Tuesday!
