This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Amherst chapter.
This week i learned a lot about different European cultures… 1) not all open spaces on sidewalks in Amsterdam are fair game for parking your bike. 2) if you do park your bike in said disallowed spaces it is very likely your tires will be drained of air. 3) If your tires are drained of air DO NOT attempt to ride the bike across a city where other bikers are known for their vicious and unaccepting attitudes.
This learning occurred roughly 4 hours after arriving in the Netherlands- another experience I never thought i would run into, but hey if you ever need a quick tire pump in amsterdam i can be your connect now, I know a guy. After figuring out this bike situation, Christine, Emma, Lindsey and I checked into our hostel and learned to appreciate the 8×8 room we would be sharing for the next few nights (Turns out they didn’t give us towels and we all decided purchasing them was a waste so we took turns sharing the pathetic excuse for a towel that i brought– sorry if you got a whiff of that sometime this weekend…) The stereotype for hostel owners is only partially true… the owners of our hostel loved us!! and they told us on the last day we forgot to pick up our $200 deposit for the bikes– how unexpected!
We did ART this weekend and bought tickets for the Van Gogh museum and the stedelijk museum of modern art. Super cool experiences and would definitely recommend (take the tip from my newly cultured 21 year old self). We checked out the Red Light District which was just about the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen– I thought 10 am on a Sunday it would be less popular but then i remembered not only was this the day of the Sabbath but also Valentines day… and why not find a Valentine in exchange for a small donation??
Amsterdam was sick but we also explored Prague more over the past week. We found a karaoke bar and learned that Cameron’s falsetto far surpasses Taylor Swift’s singing talent (esp. when given the opportunity to sing Twsift’s 22) AND I FORGOT TO MENTION IN THE LAST POST BUT I STARTED DRINKING COFFEE!! well only lattes but that definitely counts in my book as coffee… so we’ve checked out a bunch of cafes and had lots of lattes and eaten lots of baguettes while also saving money because of our fabulous currency situation.