Amsterdam is the future.
Sorry I've been lagging on the updates. There's been so much to talk about, but I have so little time. It's actually the wee hours of the morning and I just got back from a night of drinking and dancing. It still weird me out that Monday night is the night to be out in Cambridge.
By the way, I thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday. The idea of turning 21 in a country where the legal drinking age is 18 is a bit lame, but I actually had lots of fun. In the spirit of tradition, I organized a dinner which about 20 people went to. There was a formal dinner that some other people had to attend, so not everyone could make it to my dinner. It was nice. We ended up at Wagamama, a Japanese ramen place which isn't too bad. After that, we ended up at my place's commons room where everyone who went to the formal dinner met us up. After that, we ended up going to the bar at Pembroke College to meet up more people. From there, about 40 of us all went to a club that the T.A.'s brought us too. The night was pretty insane. There are some holes in my memory, but I didn't throw up. I came close to it when I woke up, but I was a total trooper and still managed to make it to my 9:00 AM class. I slept through most of it though. Anyway, it was a good time. The program director ended up sending out a massive e-mail the next day warning the program about our behavior. It's also funny, since so many people went, that it was a bigger event than most of the things that the programmers plan for us.
I spent this last weekend in Madrid with Kaitlin, Suleena, and Stephen. It was a fun time. The weather was a little more like California. I was particularly interested because Hemmingway fell in love with Spain. I didn't get to see a bullfight like I wanted to, but it was still a great place. I'll probably get to Madrid in the next post, since I really don't have enough time to blog about two cities right now. I'm not entirely sure which city I like best so far. If Amsterdam didn't have drugs, then it would be Madrid hands down. Madrid and Amsterdam both have London beat.
I actually have tons of pictures, but since I promised Amsterdam in the last post, so that's all you're getting today. Same style as last post too.
This is us going to the train station to the airport. I'll introduce everyone as we go.
This is us waiting at the train station.
This is Caroline and Ryan. They're a couple from Cal. I'm not entirely sure what major Caroline is, but I'm pretty sure it's English. Ryan majors in English and he hopes to be a writer. He's one of those quietly funny guys.
That's Mike in the background drinking his orange juice. He's also from Cal and is a neuroscience major. He was friends with Ryan and Caroline at Cal before the program. He's probably one of the smarter guys I've met. I actually hang out with him all the time. He was also the guy who taught me how to roll cigarettes.
This is Emma Williams and me on the train. She's from North Carolina but goes to Mt. Holyhoke, which is a school in Massachusetts and was the first women's college. She's really one-of-a-kind and is probably one of my closest friends here in the program. I'm basically in love with her.
This is Brandon drinking a mojito at the airport. Brandon majors in Environmental Science at UC Santa Cruz. A lot of the people I hang out with are actually from Santa Cruz. We're drinking buddies, pretty much. He's also one of the biggest stoners on the face of the planet.
I'm here with Paul waiting in the airport. He kept trying to nap, but the rest of us kept bugging him by taking pictures. Paul's another person from Cal. He's another English major by the way.
Inside Stansted Airport.
Drinking in the airport bar. Caroline is trying to be sneaky.
So this is the group of us that took off from the airport. We met up with some other people from the program in Amsterdam.
This is Amsterdam's airport. It's a really nice airport. It was there that we basically started saying that Amsterdam is the future, since everything was so shiny and neon.
After walking out the airport, we see this sign that is advertising some concert. Laughs ensued.
So this is the sign for Abraxas. Weed is sold coffee shops, like this one, all over Amsterdam. The weed isn't too expensive and they have all sorts for whatever you're looking for. Most will also carry hash. They also usually sold edible shit like brownies and cakes too. Caroline, who had been to Amsterdam before, showed us this one because she liked it on her last trip. It really was the best one we went to. Wandering around in our drugged out state, we managed to stumble into this place a number of times.
Pre-rolled joint for five euros.
This was our hotel. It wasn't too bad and it was in the center of town. Our room was REALLY small though. You see Tim Kim sitting in the middle of it there in the second picture. At one point, we managed to cram six people in there to sleep.
Tim and Chip are the two other people we met up from the program in Amsterdam. Here they are enjoying waffles. Waffles are actually a big thing in Amsterdam. It's like their donut, but more common than donuts are back home.
This is the Van Gogh Museum. I'm really not one for art, but it was a pretty moving experience. The art was great. That and I was REALLY stoned.
B-Caf represent.
They weren't even posing.
These are all random shots of the city. The third picture is actually the Amsterdam Concert Hall. Our hotel was right around the corner from it. None of these pictures are from the infamous red light district, where you'll be able to find the sex shops, prostitutes, and sex shows. The prostitues stand in windows trying to get customers. It's apparently illegal to take pictures of them so I didn't pull out my camera just to be safe. The red light district was so crowded and everyone was so drugged out that we didn't just walked through it as quick as we could.
Tagging isn't really a big thing in Amsterdam, but I took pictures of it anyway. I think it's just that I really like tagging and I find it weird that you can just find it every city. It really is an interesting sociological phenomena.
This is some guy we met from Wales.
Shrooms, 'nuff said.
Amsterdam has outdoor urinals.
Escalators in the future have no steps. It wasn't until the airport in Madrid that I realized that it actually must be a common thing in Europe.
This is the one group picture that we have all together.
The whole trip was pretty tiring. It was a lot of walking, but it was entirely worth it and that concludes the Amsterdam post.
I'll probably make a post dedicated to Madrid some time later this week. I also have a bunch of pictures from Cambridge too. They're all on facebook right now if you want to take a look at them though. I have two papers due this week, but after that, it'll be my last weekend in Cambridge, since I'll be taking finals the last week then I'm off to Rome. But all that's some time in the future. As for now, I'm off to bed.
-Joseph
By the way, I thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday. The idea of turning 21 in a country where the legal drinking age is 18 is a bit lame, but I actually had lots of fun. In the spirit of tradition, I organized a dinner which about 20 people went to. There was a formal dinner that some other people had to attend, so not everyone could make it to my dinner. It was nice. We ended up at Wagamama, a Japanese ramen place which isn't too bad. After that, we ended up at my place's commons room where everyone who went to the formal dinner met us up. After that, we ended up going to the bar at Pembroke College to meet up more people. From there, about 40 of us all went to a club that the T.A.'s brought us too. The night was pretty insane. There are some holes in my memory, but I didn't throw up. I came close to it when I woke up, but I was a total trooper and still managed to make it to my 9:00 AM class. I slept through most of it though. Anyway, it was a good time. The program director ended up sending out a massive e-mail the next day warning the program about our behavior. It's also funny, since so many people went, that it was a bigger event than most of the things that the programmers plan for us.
I spent this last weekend in Madrid with Kaitlin, Suleena, and Stephen. It was a fun time. The weather was a little more like California. I was particularly interested because Hemmingway fell in love with Spain. I didn't get to see a bullfight like I wanted to, but it was still a great place. I'll probably get to Madrid in the next post, since I really don't have enough time to blog about two cities right now. I'm not entirely sure which city I like best so far. If Amsterdam didn't have drugs, then it would be Madrid hands down. Madrid and Amsterdam both have London beat.
I actually have tons of pictures, but since I promised Amsterdam in the last post, so that's all you're getting today. Same style as last post too.
This is us going to the train station to the airport. I'll introduce everyone as we go.
This is us waiting at the train station.
This is Caroline and Ryan. They're a couple from Cal. I'm not entirely sure what major Caroline is, but I'm pretty sure it's English. Ryan majors in English and he hopes to be a writer. He's one of those quietly funny guys.
That's Mike in the background drinking his orange juice. He's also from Cal and is a neuroscience major. He was friends with Ryan and Caroline at Cal before the program. He's probably one of the smarter guys I've met. I actually hang out with him all the time. He was also the guy who taught me how to roll cigarettes.
This is Emma Williams and me on the train. She's from North Carolina but goes to Mt. Holyhoke, which is a school in Massachusetts and was the first women's college. She's really one-of-a-kind and is probably one of my closest friends here in the program. I'm basically in love with her.
This is Brandon drinking a mojito at the airport. Brandon majors in Environmental Science at UC Santa Cruz. A lot of the people I hang out with are actually from Santa Cruz. We're drinking buddies, pretty much. He's also one of the biggest stoners on the face of the planet.
I'm here with Paul waiting in the airport. He kept trying to nap, but the rest of us kept bugging him by taking pictures. Paul's another person from Cal. He's another English major by the way.
Inside Stansted Airport.
Drinking in the airport bar. Caroline is trying to be sneaky.
So this is the group of us that took off from the airport. We met up with some other people from the program in Amsterdam.
This is Amsterdam's airport. It's a really nice airport. It was there that we basically started saying that Amsterdam is the future, since everything was so shiny and neon.
After walking out the airport, we see this sign that is advertising some concert. Laughs ensued.
So this is the sign for Abraxas. Weed is sold coffee shops, like this one, all over Amsterdam. The weed isn't too expensive and they have all sorts for whatever you're looking for. Most will also carry hash. They also usually sold edible shit like brownies and cakes too. Caroline, who had been to Amsterdam before, showed us this one because she liked it on her last trip. It really was the best one we went to. Wandering around in our drugged out state, we managed to stumble into this place a number of times.
Pre-rolled joint for five euros.
This was our hotel. It wasn't too bad and it was in the center of town. Our room was REALLY small though. You see Tim Kim sitting in the middle of it there in the second picture. At one point, we managed to cram six people in there to sleep.
Tim and Chip are the two other people we met up from the program in Amsterdam. Here they are enjoying waffles. Waffles are actually a big thing in Amsterdam. It's like their donut, but more common than donuts are back home.
This is the Van Gogh Museum. I'm really not one for art, but it was a pretty moving experience. The art was great. That and I was REALLY stoned.
B-Caf represent.
They weren't even posing.
These are all random shots of the city. The third picture is actually the Amsterdam Concert Hall. Our hotel was right around the corner from it. None of these pictures are from the infamous red light district, where you'll be able to find the sex shops, prostitutes, and sex shows. The prostitues stand in windows trying to get customers. It's apparently illegal to take pictures of them so I didn't pull out my camera just to be safe. The red light district was so crowded and everyone was so drugged out that we didn't just walked through it as quick as we could.
Tagging isn't really a big thing in Amsterdam, but I took pictures of it anyway. I think it's just that I really like tagging and I find it weird that you can just find it every city. It really is an interesting sociological phenomena.
This is some guy we met from Wales.
Shrooms, 'nuff said.
Amsterdam has outdoor urinals.
Escalators in the future have no steps. It wasn't until the airport in Madrid that I realized that it actually must be a common thing in Europe.
This is the one group picture that we have all together.
The whole trip was pretty tiring. It was a lot of walking, but it was entirely worth it and that concludes the Amsterdam post.
I'll probably make a post dedicated to Madrid some time later this week. I also have a bunch of pictures from Cambridge too. They're all on facebook right now if you want to take a look at them though. I have two papers due this week, but after that, it'll be my last weekend in Cambridge, since I'll be taking finals the last week then I'm off to Rome. But all that's some time in the future. As for now, I'm off to bed.
-Joseph