7 Hour Train Rides, Belgian Waffles, and Coffee Shops

Where to begin. Throughout the week, everyone threw ideas around about what to do for the weekend and we meshed into two groups. Team Switzerland and Team Amsterdam. I, obviously, was part of Team Amsterdam. After many preparations and a last minute hotel booking, we were finally ready to go on the afternoon of June 5th. Nine girls and two guys trekking to the train station, tickets and bags in hand.

After picking up some snacks and drinks for the seven hour train ride, we made our way to the platform. It was then that I began to realize how much easier it is to travel alone. We all had to wait for one another, stop for someone to use the restroom, find a group of 11 seats together on the train (which, surprisingly, we did), and try not to get on each other’s nerves. As for the train, it was pretty comfortable. Our first train took us from Metz through Luxembourg into Belgium. During the layover in Belgium, we all split up at the station in search of food (It’s about 8:00pm and we left Metz at 4:00pm). Everyone came back with pizzas, burgers, pastas, etc. I, on the other hand, hunted down a classic Belgian waffle. When in Belgium...

Three hours later, we were pulling into the vibrant city of Amsterdam. Very exciting after a full day of French class and train-riding. Our first mission: find the hotel. I was able to find a hotel online two days before just outside of downtown. I booked two, six-bed bedrooms. Breakfast was included and we had all the amenities you could ask for in the hotel room (TV, clean shower and toilet). All of this for a total of $40 a night per person. We hopped on a tram outside of the train station that took us south towards our hotel. Once off, we were able to locate the hotel quite easily even though it was situated in a quiet neighborhood.

At midnight in Amsterdam, most people gravitate to certain areas. For those of you that know anything about Amsterdam, you know what I’m talking about. For those of you that don’t, listen up. Prostitution and marijuana are both legal in The Netherlands. Both are also highly regulated to insure safety. Not wanting to front the money (or integrity) for a hooker, we went to a famed coffee shop.

I have been around people under the influence of marijuana so I knew what the atmosphere would be like. Most of the people in our group have also had some experience with the drug back in the US. Picture it though: Nine non-smoking Americans (two stayed behind) walking into a drug bar. Somehow I got nominated to approached the bar and ended up walking away with 11 joints for 25 Euro (of course this was not all for me).

All nine of us were only able to split two joints and we were high. It was a very strange feeling. All of the sounds sounded much different and the lights all seemed brighter. We decided to leave and have a stroll around the town to check it out. Amsterdam at night when high is a pretty cool place. People bike everywhere and would ring their bells at us as they passed. We walked over and along the many canals as we headed back towards our hotel. It was a fun night and I was excited to see the city again during the day.

(Note: All family reading this I will not make coffee shop visits a habit and I will not partake in illegal activity in the US)