Amsterdamnnn

Beams of sunlight warm my face as waves of cool air carry the scent of a certain de-criminalized substance from a nearby coffeeshop. Or from that group dangling their feet over the edge of the canal. Or from that guy who just zoomed by on his bike, somehow texting simultaneously texting, steering, and smoking. Thin houses with elaborate facades lean towards me, offering anything my heart could desire: a place to stay, to drink coffee, to buy edibles, to buy something more x rated...

I traveled with a Deutsche Bahn train from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Amsterdam Centraal (well, one train to Hannover and then one the rest of the way to Amsterdam). The six hour journey

was absolutely no problem for me, especially with the cleanliness and ease of European rail transport. The journey was made to feel especially short due to my excitement---the trip was planned to celebrate my friend's birthday, and it meant that I would finally get to hang out with three of my best friends again---we are currently studying at NYU campuses in Berlin, Paris, and London.

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I noticed the second the train crossed over from Germany to the Netherlands--suddenly, streets were full of bikes (I guess that's more than just a stereotype, then). The announcements on the train started to be made (rather inefficiently, but out of necessity) in German, Dutch, and English. Here is where I began to notice that I could understand Dutch fairly well. It seems to me to be a strange combination of English and German.

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I arrived at Amsterdam Centraal and eventually met up with my group to head to lunch at Greenwood's, an absolutely lovely restaurant right next to one of the canals. While the food was a bit pricy for my taste (meaning 13 Euro or so), it was absolutely worth it---it was so delicious and so filling, so it was perfect for the start to a long day of exploring a new city.

We got to check into our massive hostel, ClinkNoord, which was beautiful, clean, and an amazing first hostel experience. We made good use of their bar (especially those BOGO drink coupons) and outdoor area, where we played badminton.

We walked around and explored all day before having my friend's birthday dinner at M'ADAM, a restaurant at the top of

a tall building next to our hostel. A gorgeous restaurant with an amazing view is already luxurious enough, but the food and cocktails were incredible, too! I can highly suggest the "Breakfast in Mumbai" cocktail (Bombay Sapphire Gin, mango, homemade curry mix, orange).

The next day, Saturday, was spent walking around and exploring. Actually, the whole time we were in Amsterdam, we didn't take a single cab or any type of public transport. At one point, we made our way to the beautiful Vondelpark, which I can imagine picnicking in just like I would in Central Park.

On Sunday, we couldn't resist going back to Greenwood's for breakfast. I was impressed with their vegan options since I was actually able to get a different dish than I had the first time. It was basically a full English Breakfast but vegan-ified. We decided to search for a boat tour because we'd had our eyes on these tour boats the past two days. We found Friendship Tours, where we got on their Gin & Tonic boat to relax, have a drink, cruise the canals, and learn more about the buildings we had been walking by the past few days. After that, we went to the underwhelming "I amsterdam" sign and headed back to Centraal so we could all make our flights and trains.

My train left much later than everyone else's, so I had plenty of time to continue to stress about my connection in Hannover----I only had 14 minutes to switch platforms and hop on the next train, and if there was any delay, I feared missing my train and being stranded in Hannover from midnight to 3 AM. Fortunately, I made the connection, and I used the time in the train to read some Marx for class.

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Overall, Amsterdam has to be one of my favorite cities now! I loved how walkable it is, how stunning the architecture is, and just the general feeling I got from the city. It was so refreshing to catch up with my friends in person, and I still can't get over how normal it felt to hop on a train to hang out with friends in a whole different country. We didn't do any museums or go to the Anne Frank House, so I know I'll make it back to Amsterdam one day and have a whole different (but equally as magical) experience.