Gypsies, Garlic, and Hitchhiking: Romania - Oradea and the Countryside

Black Eagle Palace

The river, very nice! 

Black Eagle Palace Arcade

Romania, Romania, Romania…I have so much to say about you.  Two days and I feel like I know you.  I have to say, my experience was probably a bit out of the ordinary and it was quite the adventure…but that doesn’t change the fact that I hate you and love you (a little bit). 

First act of rebellion in Romania: steal the TP

Our saga together begins before I got off the train.  The woman sitting across from me kept giving me sympathetic smiles every time the border police took my passport away from me to get stamped (they had to shut off the train every time, but yay stamps!).  Finally she mumbled something and we began to talk, I asked her where she was going and turns out she was from my destination, Oradea.  She was surprised that I would be visiting Oradea of all places, especially alone. I don’t know if I would have left the train station without her.  First of all, they hadn’t announced stops, so I would have stayed on the train past the station, and second of all…I was taken aback immediately by how dirty and backwards the city seemed.  

I call this one: "Man with Casual Axe"

Right away I knew I was going to have some issues.  Dorothy was not in Western (or Central) Europe anymore.  The woman, Andrea, brought me to a cab and looked at my list of hostels/hotels, and discussed my options with the cab driver.  Turns out that on my list of the 3 most reasonably priced options, two didn’t exist—way to go Romanian businesses on updating your websites!  They brought me to Hotel Transit—far on the opposite end of the city, in the outskirts of the South End of town.  Andrea came into the hotel with me and negotiated with the lady at the front desk (she looked like a vamp and had a midget finger-growth coming out of her right pointer finger…I couldn’t stop staring—I’ll call her Madam Vamp).  Andrea gave me her number, paid for my cab fare, and left me with comforting parting words.  And that was it; I was on my own again.

Cash money

After settling into my room, I set out to get cash.  Cash rules, always.  In the time it took me to walk 10 minutes down the road to the nearest store, five cars pulled over.  In these cars were middle aged men—they all rolled down their windows and asked me a question—only God knows what.  I was also honked at a countless number of times by truckers.  By this point, I was extremely overwhelmed and on the verge of tears.  By the time I got back to the hotel, the attention I was attracting was near comical.  Madam Vamp called a taxi for me upon my return to take me into the heart of Oradea.  I was hoping that things would turn around.  And so they did.  I came to find that nearly everything in Romania is dirt-cheap.  I could have gotten anything I liked for less than 12 lei ($4). 

Republicii

Beautiful art on the walls of the Hypnosse Cafe

The first thing I did was finding the famous “Republicii St,” and walked on the cobblestones until I found a coffee shop that appealed to me.  From the outside I could see the artwork on the walls: it was so colorful and beautiful, how could I resist?  I sat down and ordered myself an Irish coffee.  That drink was one of the first good decisions I made of the day!  Not only did it calm my nerves, but it was also warm and reminded me that I’m an adult and stronger than I think.  Despite my doubts, I could do this.

The Irish coffee
 that changed everything!

I got directions to see the famed fortress—I made my way over there and was surprised to find that I was the only person in sight.  I was essentially walking around a junkyard; it did not look like any of the beautiful pictures I had seen.  Within 20 minutes of exploring, a construction worker came out of nowhere and chased me out!  After that experience, I walked for hours exploring different crevices of the city.  I saw the nice areas and I saw the slums, all of it was foreign and interesting to me.  During my walk, I officially decided that Eastern Europe is not my cup of tea.  I saw some beautiful building and sites, but I also saw exactly the opposite.  Despite this confusing experience, I’m not opposed to coming back under different circumstances one day.  

Sign I saw after getting kicked out...I'm guessing this means
something along the lines of "get the hell outta here"

I definitely stood out in Oradea.  I was the only natural redhead (that I saw) and the only freckled face.  It was more than that though: these people have a somber attitude and different way of carrying themselves than I do.  I think the way I walk is somewhat happy, somewhat like a little gait of joy…especially when I travel.  Romanians seem to carry themselves with great seriousness, which is funny to see when you juxtapose that with their sense of style: consider the citizens of Oradea Ed Hardy’s #1 fans.  Can you say (fake) bling-bling?  They also really, really, really like tracksuits.  And middle-aged to elderly ladies don’t go out without the requisite headscarf. 

Day 1 was extremely eye opening to me as to show how different cultures are.  Here I was, only 8 miles over the Hungarian border, but the differences were so vast that I was in shock.  On Monday, for the first time as a woman, I truly felt like an “object,” and for one of the first times in my life, felt vulnerable by the very looks that I was receiving.  I found that I am more resilient and street smart than I could have guessed, and I also found that if I am relaxed, I can maintain a very interesting inner monologue—I managed to make myself laugh on several occasions.  I think that life is better when you find yourself interesting. 

Romanian Bus Station: privately owned busses
with paper signs telling you where the driver goes and when.
Sketchy.

Passengers.

Life only got more interesting on Day 2.  I woke up super early to get a jump on the day.  My goal was to visit Pestera Ursilor, or Bears Cave (see here), which would take me into the countryside.  After a delicious breakfast at the hotel, I got a taxi to the Autobus Station.  On the way, my taxi driver pretty much told me I would get lost, and that it would make more sense to take a taxi all the way there.  I thought he was trying to swindle me, so I paid him and set off on my mission.  After finding the short-bus/van labeled “Oradea-Pietroasa,” I took a seat and settled in for the ride.  Not five minutes into the trip and I already felt like I could breathe.  There is almost zero development outside the city, which turned out to be both a blessing and a curse.

A home

Village church...beautiful colors! 

One of the bus stops I saw on my walk back.
A quality structure.

I quickly noticed that the bus driver was not announcing stops, and that both stops and villages were not labeled (with the rare exception).  The people on the bus with me were clearly people from the countryside who knew exactly where they needed to be.  I kept waiting and waiting for any sign of the stop that I was looking for, and it never came.  I decided to consider this a little bus tour of the countryside, and when the bus driver stopped, I would tell him that I wanted to pay for a return trip as well.  Well.  We finally arrived at the last stop, about 85 km away from the city, in a small village called Pietroasa.  We were so far away from civilization that it was not unusual to see a horse-drawn carriage.  I felt like I had entered the set of Fiddler on the Roof.  If I thought I was out of place in the city, it was only because I had not been to the countryside. 

Carpathian Mountains

Walking in the beautiful countryside

The bus driver told me that he would be making the drive back in “2 or 3 hours.”  He dismissed me at that point, giving up on me, and gave me walking directions toward the Bears Cave.  I would need to walk about 5 km, make a left, and walk 10 km up to the mountains.  The scenery around me was absolutely breathtaking, and the air was fresh.  Being lost in the countryside was the happiest I had been in Romania thus far.  Isn’t it strange, the things we take joy in?  After getting lost on the bus, I figured I wouldn’t take my chances on foot.  I not only had a train to catch, but I was not about to walk that far.  I’m not insane.  I started off in the direction I came, and walked for about 2 km before deciding to try my luck at hitching a ride back to Beius—the largest village I had seen.

My Irish luck proved to hold up, and a man stopped shortly thereafter.  We communicated in a strange way: I used the little Italian that I remembered, saying “Vorrei andare al Beius o Oradea” (“I would like to go to Beius or Oradea”).  He spoke to me in Romanian, saying “Beius, da.”  I hopped in.  We tried to talk, but my interpretation of Romanian and his of my Italian/English got lost in the shuffle.  On the way to Beius, the man made a call…thinking the worst, I got a little nervous, but he turned to be a really generous guy.  Apparently, he had called one of his friends, Bela, who could bring me back to Oradea.  Putting trust in people I didn’t know, and couldn’t understand was hard for someone like me, but it was my only option. 

Thumbs up and out.  Decision to hitch.

Bela was a crazy guy.  I saw the speedometer go past 100 km on these winding, country back roads, but it didn’t seem to faze him at all.  He spoke French to my Italian.  I think he was impressed when I asked him “Parli tu l’italiano?” (“Do you speak Italian?”).  Again, our words got lost in the shuffle, but it didn’t matter to me.  I was happy as a clam in his car.  He played an American radio station while I danced and sang to the music—I was on my way back to Oradea, baby!! And I was alive!

I gave Bela money for going so far out of his way for me.  The people of the countryside surprised me with their generosity and kindness.  They didn’t have much to offer, but they did whatever they could to help me.  I think it’s a huge lesson that I took away from this.  People will surprise you: there are good, intelligent, kind, and honest to you when you least expect it.  I surprised myself, too.  Being in such a situation, I felt that I thrived.  I took chances, I faced my problem head on, and it felt good.  The countryside was refreshing in several ways.  While almost nothing went right, it was the best learning experience I’ve had in a while.

Picture with Bela back in Oradea!

The park! 

In Oradea, I decided to find a quiet spot in the park and spend the afternoon reading before I caught my train.  I had seen the sights, but now I felt it was time to relax and enjoy the solitude in a beautiful setting.  The afternoon was for the most part relaxing, the only disruptions to my peace were gypsy children and mothers who heckled and yelled at me in several languages for not giving them food or money.  I understand that their culture is a culture of begging, but how can anyone be proud that they teach their children to beg instead of giving them an education or a life?  I know understand the Hungarian distaste for gypsies.  They are annoying, dirty, smelly, and I did not feel guilty about turning them down.  I wanted to read, and I wanted to go back to Budapest.

Solo trip over. 

What an experience, one that I’ll always look back to as an adventure and learning experience.  I learned about people, I learned how to travel better, I learned about myself. 

Live and Learn.

P.S.  Jeremy, I brought the garlic.  Best decision of my life.  Kept all the vamps away.     

While in Geneva, Go to France!

We've arrived! 

My travels have taken me several places since I have arrived in Budapest.  First Vienna, then Prague, next was Amsterdam, and from Monday until Wednesday, to Geneva.  What was special about this trip was that it was part of the program that I am studying abroad with, and the entire JSBP crew was along for the ride.  All the students, the Dorseys (our professors), and Ildiko (our amazing Corvinus representative) made the trip to the land of chocolate and watches this week, and it’s my opinion that the trip was pretty fun, and scenic too—we flew over the beautiful Alps both ways.

Drooling.

4 Girls in an Elevator! 

            Shortly after settling in our hotel on Monday night, the girls and I roamed the city.  Our hotel was pretty centrally located for easy access to pretty much anywhere we wanted to go, and because we didn’t really have an understanding of the public transportation, walking was our go-to here.  We crossed the bridge into the fancy area of Geneva and got our first impressions of the city: it’s expensive.  Let’s be real—we are college students on a budget, and this is one extra trip that we were lucky enough to take, but hadn’t budgeted for.  After price shopping for a restaurant, we managed to find decently priced food, a task that is not easy in such a wealthy region.  One delicious meal later and some great conversation later, and we decided that a nice dessert was in order, and found some absolutely delicious ice cream.  Anyone who knows me is fully aware that I am always game for ice cream.

"Presentation on International
Environmental Law to the Students of
Corvinus University"
We were on the UNEP Schedule!

With an early morning wake-up on Tuesday, the group was off to have discussions with important people from the UN—the whole reason we had the chance to come in the first place! Our first stop was at the International Environment House, the home to UNEP (United Nations Environment Program).  While there, we had the opportunity to speak with Angela Cropper (Special Advisor to the Executive Director of UNEP), Barbara Ruis (Legal Officer), Eva Duer (Legal Officer), and Mijke Hertoghs.  Angela and Barbara opened the discussion by asking us about what we were interested so they had a basis on which to base their talks.  I really appreciated this gesture in reaching out to our interests and us.  From here we talked about the future of UNEP, negotiating international environmental treaties between countries with inherently different interests, the emergence of the green economy, the significance of the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, and the Rio+20 Conference. 

            In speaking with Barbara and Angela, I really took away a sense of the struggles that UNEP has.  Never before had I really understood the difficulty of establishing regulations and international environmental treaties.  It makes sense to me for all countries to want to establish a good environmental policy because it is in their best interests in the long term.  After this discussion, I understand that it is so much more than that.  Barbara really emphasized that the environment so naturally links to different sectors of policy, and it is difficult to navigate and coordinate the global and national interests when there are so many factors that play into establishing regulation.  Angela also discussed the fact that a country’s signature on a treaty means nothing, because it has to be ratified and implemented, and there is basically no enforcement for non-compliance.  UNEP’s struggle for success became so clear to me during this discussion that I felt ignorant for so harshly judging their margin of success.  These two speakers were definitely the highlight of the academic trip—they were knowledgeable and really tried to give us perspective.  I didn’t really find the next two speakers, Eva and Mijke, interesting—probably because I don’t have a good grasp about current chemical and hazardous waste treaties, but they showed us a good website that shows national interest and treaty overlaps on the UN website.  With the information overload and plethora of treaties that exist out there, I think it’s a good tool to have in the even that someone really wanted to see the positions of different countries and different policy gaps or overlaps that exist. The website can be accessed here.

Serious kids ready to do serious business at UNEP

....and then there's Courtney. I love you
just a little bit, hahaha.

            

UNHCR

One of the visuals that I couldn't stop
staring at.

The next part of the day led us to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) where we met Mr. Simeh Bulbul who works in the Iraq Unit for the agency.  I was extremely excited for this talk, walking into the visitors’ center we were surrounded by different visuals and objects that gave insight to the plight of a refugee, but Mr. Bulbul’s talk left something to be desired.  Simeh discussed the mandate of UNHCR, which is to provide international protection for refugees and persons of concern and then durable solutions for them.  He went into exhaustive detail about the definition of a refugee, and why they face persecution.  With almost no time left, he briefly addressed the Iraq refugee situation, which is really haunting to say the least.  The history of persecution began during Saddam Hussein’s regime, but the Iraq War has displaces millions of people into surrounding nations.  There are currently 5 million Iraq refugees in the world, representing 17% of the country’s population.  He briefly mentioned that he had been in Iraq at the turning point of the refugee situation, when a bombing catalyzed the displacement of people and families throughout the region.  I think had he centralized his talk on the Iraq situation, the talk would have been more engaging and interesting.  I would have loved to ask him a question, but there was no opportunity.  One of my lasting impressions of Mr. Bulbul was that upon meeting us, he called us his future colleagues.  The more I am overseas, the further my eyes are opened to the possibilities that life has to offer.  Working for the UNHCR really appeals to me, and until we ventured there, I had no idea that it existed…more proof to the fact that this experience is paying off in some way.         

Mary for world peace

In front of the UN building...not a great pic but still
pretty cool! 

            

Iranian protesters in front of
the UN building

Our feet are in France! 

After we were dismissed from UNHCR, we decided to go to France.  It seems like a big decision to make but it really went more like this: stay in Geneva and spend a lot of money to do pretty much nothing, or take a free, 25 minute bus ride, to a small village in another country.  What would you do?  Our bus dropped us in the center of Ferney-Voltaire, which is actually named after the French writer and philosopher Voltaire.  Back in the day he lived in Ferney, and hugely influenced the town—thus why they added his name to theirs.  It was absolutely gorgeous there!  

Ferney-Volaire! You can see the Alps
in the background.

French wine.

        

We walked on cobblestone streets; saw boutiques, shops, inns, and statues, while being treated to a view of the Alps as a backdrop to the whole sight.  While there, I of course made it a priority to have a taste of French wine.  It was absolutely delicious, and lived up to all my expectations. After this drink, somehow the group got separated, and Court and I roamed the streets until catching up with everyone for our bus as the sun set upon us. Overall, I am so happy that I had the chance to go to France, if even only for a while.  France seemed to live up to the expectations I had of it.  It was absolutely gorgeous and I am glad that I saw the countryside, because I feel like thought I spend less than two hours in France, I did gain an understanding to the French culture as it resonates so clearly among the people and places that I saw.  I also gave witness to how disdainful the French are towards anyone who is not French or cannot speak the language.  I apologize that I am only able to say “hello,” and “thank you” in your language, but give a girl a break! At least I smiled and tried?!  Their condescending attitude is obvious—something I could not help but to notice in the small bar where we sat for a while. 

Some homeless guy in France.

Old Town

Colorful mosaic on a church

The bus ride back to Geneva was especially entertaining.  The boys treated the entire bus to a sing-a-long in which only they participated.  Most of the Europeans were either horrified or a little annoyed by the cheery and loud Americans.  Tuesday night, we joined Ildiko as a group for dinner.  A delicious dinner it was, despite the whole it burned in my pocket.  And although I did not experience this trickery, let the buyer beware: if you buy fondue to share, have only one person order it, or you will each pay about $30 for a single pot of fondue!  After dinner, a bunch of us decided that the rest of the night should be dedicated to finding Old Town—we were told this was the “real Geneva.”  The rest of the night turned out to involve lots of hoodrat activities and silly pictures.  It was really fun.

For those of you who did not understand my use of "hoodrat," consider this the definition.

Ildiko and Nell...sisiters?

            Wednesday, the girls woke up early with Ildiko to check out the flea market and see a couple other things in Geneva before we left.  The flea market turned out to be a big garage sale that smelled like stale cigarette smoke.  I saw a couple things I liked, but being that we were in Geneva, everything was overpriced.  I’m glad I saved my money, because afterwards as it began to rain, we found our way to an amazing Chocolatiere where I got some delicious truffles!  Swiss chocolate definitely lives up to its reputation.  Before we rushed off to the train station to make our way to the plane, we went over to the harbor area to see the famous fountain that Geneva is known for.  I wasn’t impressed, but we were also standing in the pouring rain looking at water being jetted into the sky, so that may have skewed my opinion a bit. 

            My lasting impression?  Switzerland is worth a trip—I would love to explore the Alps, the other cities, or go to Interlaken to go bungee jumping, but only go to Geneva if you are a retiree with a lot of money to spend and no interest in doing anything stimulating. 

   

Gimme dat money!  This 1/2 Franc is the equivalent to about $.50, and is smaller than a penny.

Choclatiere! 

View of the Alps from my hotel room! 

"The Fountain" - famous in Geneva.  Probably better to see in dry weather. 

Pretty harbor! Although I still prefer Northport, NYwhich my dad refers to as, "God's country"

Live and Learn.

Instant: 1, Mary: 0

Letter to Instant,

You won, this time.  I will be ready for your tricks next time we meet.

Fix your chairs.

Love,
Mary

(Better By Tomorrow - Can't Hang)

As I work on a paper that's due in less than 12 hours, a couple of my musical selections...

(40 oz. to Freedom - Sublime)

(I'll Be Here Awhile - 311)

(Norwegian Wood - The Beatles)

(Lotus Flower - Radiohead)

(Blue Sky - Allman Brothers Band)

(Grayrigg - Lotus)

Let's Talk Disaster Management

"Can you imagine being responsible for
485 million people through this phone?" - Nyikos

       I didn't expect to study abroad and have the opportunity to meet bigwigs of the Hungarian government.  Who does?  Today, the JSBP field studies experience gave us the opportunity to meet with Dr. Attila Nyikos, the Head of International Relations of Disaster Management, which is a subordinate body of the Ministry of the Interior here in Hungary.  A Google search of his name shows his interviews with BBC, NPR, The EU Times, CBC, and others.  Nyikos is a well-known figure here in Hungary, and his presence has been even more important throughout the last year because Hungary held the presidency of the EU for the first six months of 2011 and he was one of the people responsible for the disaster management for the Red Sludge disaster of October 2010.

         One of the first things that Dr. Nyikos said was that while he was leading the EU Civilian Protection Mechanism, he was responsible for the lives of 485 million people through his cell phone, God forbid disaster struck.  That’s a pretty huge responsibility!  Now that his focus is back on Hungary, his job—still of great importance—must seem a little bit easier to take on. 

         Nyikos taught us that the phases of disaster management take place in a cycle: prevention, response, and recovery.  Each phase is dependant on the others, and the most importantly, Dr. Nyikos stressed the importance of learning from past mistakes.

Aerial view of Red Sludge disaster

         In regards to the red sludge disaster, Dr. Nyikos asserted his opinion that almost no mistakes were made with the response and clean up of over 700,000 m³ of red sludge (a toxic by-product of the aluminum).  Their greatest success was that their quick response time stopped any toxic material from reaching the Danube.  Despite the fact that the Red Sludge disaster happened at all (its cause is still unknown), the Hungarian people gave great feedback and credit to the work of Disaster Management Directorate.

         Dr. Nyikos equated his department to the American FEMA.  FEMA does great work and the best they can under the circumstances they are thrown into, yet we always expect more.  In the States we hear the opinion of the media and FEMA’s biggest critics (Hurricane Katrina, anyone?), and while this discussion was not with the head of the American agency, it was interesting to hear the other side. 

The dirty work.

         Dr. Nyikos explained that his department is constantly evaluating risks, making investments, and doing everything in their power to be prepared for disasters to strike.  Following the Red Sludge disaster, mining laws in Hungary were reformed,  “red sludge” was classified as dangerous material, and satellites have been employed to monitor any serious ground movement.  It’s great to see that within a year, so much was done to prepare for future incidents.  I am impressed by the quick and decisive action that the Hungarians were able to take so that lives could be saved and excessive spreading would be stopped.

         Someone has to be responsible for lives of Hungarians upon disaster, and they are lucky that Attila Nyikos is able to keep calm under all this pressure.  This summer, he oversaw the evacuation of 120 EU residents from Tripoli, Libya.  I can’t imagine that was an easy task.  He has the authority to make decisions on the spot, and it also seems that he has the ability to make the right ones. 

Nyikos calls his boss, who calls his boss, who calls this guy: the Minister
of the Interior, Sandor Pinter Bildunterschrift.  Within seven minutes,
swift and direct disaster response is in effect.  

Live and Learn (and Learn and Change).

Jules Et Jim...and Brad Pitt in Budapest

Jules et Jim is a film that we watched in Hungarian culture class this morning.  I really loved it, as it was a beautiful black and white movie about love, friendship, romance, life, etc.  It is full of contradictions, just as life is.

Our teacher, Laszlo, said this about the movie (and of life), which I thought was extremely poignant:

"Life is not just black or white...but black and white at the same time."


At one point, the protagonist Catherine sings a song with one of her lovers, Albert, to her husband, Jules and their best friend, Jim.

It was a beautiful song and one that I'd like to be able to share with everyone, so here is the scene (with English subtitles)

Don't trust me?  Here's IMDB on Jules et Jim.

In other news, Brad Pitt is in Budapest for a month, filming a movie called World War Z. It's a ZOMBIE movie.  Can't wait to see it (I love zombie movies), and I'll be looking for Brad while I can... it's so strange that he's here!

Read more if you want: World War Z

Live and Learn.

Mary Meets Amsterdam

I finally did it!  This past weekend I went with seven JSBP friends (and met up with another friend) to Amsterdam.  This was the trip I was most looking forward to—visiting Amsterdam has long been on my bucket list.  And rightfully so.

6 am Irish coffee in the airport!
Ready to go!

We left on Friday on a 7 am plane to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.  To do this, we left our apartment at 4:30 am (I had set my alarm for 3:15, but it never went off, so I ended up hearing voices in the kitchen at 4:20 and waking up then…but still made it out the door)!  For a bunch of college kids, that’s impressive.  We arrived in Amsterdam and were immediately swept off our feet.  We weren’t sure which way was up or down, and struggled to understand the map.  But eventually, we were off and made our way to the hostel.  Our first hostel was amazing.  We stayed at the Flying Pig Uptown, which is about two blocks away from the Van Gogh museum and some others.  It was in a really beautiful area.  The one downfall?  Somehow, we all ended up staying in double beds…I luckily spent the night in a bed with Sarah and not some random person.  I don’t know how that happened but it was definitely strange. 

Canadian Pancake,
the hip to my hop.

My goal for Amsterdam was to spend as much time as possible relaxing and enjoying the city for the people and culture.  I think we accomplished just that.  Friday we went to the Anne Frank House and it was certainly an eye opening experience.  Walking in the very home that hid Anne Frank and seven other Jews during WWII was moving to say the least.  Walking through the halls, seeing her room and the hidden bookcase that we’ve all heard about puts everything in perspective.  It’s one thing to learn about in school, and completely different to be there in person.  I’ve never read Anne Frank’s diary, but now I’m inspired to.  I think that will really help me appreciate what I saw.  After that somber experience, we got lunch at Sara’s Pancake House.  Amsterdam has lots of pancake houses.  There I had one of the best and most interesting pancakes I’ve ever had the pleasure to taste.  My taste buds were happy. 

Silly statue.

Red Light District

I got my first taste of the Red Light District on Friday night.  I don’t know why, but for some reason I expected it to be funny and enjoyable to walk through.  I was WRONG.  It is disgusting and repulsive to see these women put themselves on display and trying to make money by selling their bodies.  It is unsettling to walk by and see a closed curtain on one of the windows because you know that some man is paying to be with a woman, and that that is her job.  It’s just as bad to see a group of men standing outside together outside a window while being extremely vulgar towards a woman in a window.  Granted, she’s a hooker in the Red Light District, so she experiences this often, but no woman should have to put herself in a cage every night to make money.  It’s wrong!  I don’t understand the appeal of it.  The whole Red Light district is a creepy little circus.  And in my opinion, it’s more interesting from a distance. 

Red Light District: the main drag

My happy homeless songbird

On Saturday, after meeting a homeless man who traded me an American dollar for a euro, we found the famous “I Amsterdam” sign!  After the requisite photo shoot, we collectively went to the Van Gogh museum.  Wow.  Museums are slowly becoming more appealing to me.  It was amazing to see the development of his work and understand the depths to which he reached with his paintings.  I was glad to understand where his inspiration came from, and I learned to appreciate his use of color in the time we were there.  After walking through I ended up buying two prints of his works.  I really liked the Skull of the Skeleton with the Burning Cigarette because it was representative of his personal struggle at the time, and he meant the entire painting as a joke…I guess we all have our own sense of humor.  I also bought The Bedroom. This was the first Van Gogh painting I was ever exposed to, and the museum even had an exhibit showing what his room in Arles actually looked like.  It was definitely cool, and a great experience to see…especially in Europe.  Sometimes this all seems like a dream.

Christian Hostel.

Sunflower kisses!

We left the Van Gogh museum in a hurry because we realized that we were late to check in to our other hostel, Shelter City.  This hostel had a more central location to downtown, but it was a Christian hostel.  This in itself was creepy, maybe more so because as we were checking in the janitor (who may have been somewhat delusional) kept poking his head out through the doors and preaching to us.  A warm welcome to say the least!  This hostel had strange rules and evening prayer!  It may have been cheap but it was not the place for us. 

The adventures of Court,
Mar, and Lucie

After checking in and going out with the bunch for a bit, I reached my breaking point.  In travelling, I have learned that I am too independent to walk around and be hunkered down by all the interests of eight or nine people, who all butt heads.  Courtney and I decided to meet up with Lucie and have our own adventure.  Adventure we did.  The city became a blur of colors and laughs that day, and we blew off so much steam just walking around being spectacles as we regularly do in Europe.  We met a bunch of people and had a great time just exploring the city without any worries or troubles.  Everything was amazing.

Bikes galore

The Bulldog, famous coffeeshop

On our way to class this morning, Tito said that you know you had a great time in a city if you forget that it rained for the duration of your stay.  I couldn’t agree more.  We spent almost the entirety of our trip getting soaked in the freezing rain, yet I am in love with this city.  It’s more than moving from coffee shop to coffee shop.  I really absorbed this city and I look at it as a place where I could happily live and thrive one day.  The people are friendly and are willing to talk to you for as long as they can, the canals are a nice break from the drudgery of pavement.  The tulips are gorgeous, and the best part of it all is that people ride their bikes everywhere! I literally melted inside when I saw a couple holding hands while riding their bikes.  Amsterdam was perfect in everyway.  I fell so hard for Amsterdam that I think I’m going back at the end of November.  Seriously.   

Last of all, I want to give Philosophers Stones a shout out for making Amsterdam the city of red velvet. 

Boat House on a canal

Amsterdam Square

Clogs! 

Canals! 

More canals!

A Typical street in Amsterdam

Central Station

Sad to leave...but I'll be back!! 

Live and Learn!