My First Bike Experience

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Today I had my first Amsterdam bike experience. My room-mate has the same class I do on Mondays, and she has an extra bike for the moment, so we biked together to class. It wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be. With the exception of a close call in a bus lane, the ride was pretty uneventful as bikers have the right of way. The bikes are built differently than what I'm used to. They have really high handlebars and a much higher and further back center of balance. Probably since they are built for these crazily tall Dutch people. On the way to class, my roomate told me the trick to getting furniture: trash shopping. Sundays and Wednesdays are trash days,and I guess people throw out all sorts of serviceable, useful stuff. I'm hunting for a couch and a table. She also told me about a great secondhand clothing store right up the street. I'm definitely going to have to check it out since clothes here are freakishly expensive.

I also had my firs Dutch class experience which was much less fun than my bike one. My film teacher, while she seems nice enough, is almost impossible to understand. She speaks really softly and really quickly with a different intonation and syllable emphasis than what I'm used to. If I'm trying, I can maybe understand every fifth word. Luckily the class grade is based only on a presentation and a final paper, all of which can be done based of reading notes instead of lecture notes. Still, its rough to sit through four hours of whispering.

There are a lot of interesting smells in Amsterdam. I think its because it usually smells really fresh and clean that any sort of deviance is really noticeable. Like today...it smelled really strongly of Macaroni and Cheese. And the supermarkets always smell like cheese and bread. Speaking of markets, its always an adventure to go shopping. I can't read anything, so making anything instant is out of the question since I can't read the instructions. Which is good in the sense that I have to cook, but bad in that I can only guess at what I'm buying. I'm really hoping that I bought ground beef and milk today instead of some sort of ground intestines and cream. You also have to bag your stuff really quickly. There aren't any baggers and the line gets backed up if you take too slow. You have to develop a system of organization before you put your stuff on the counter.

Something else sort of nifty...the mounted police here are all women. At least the ones that I've seen. I can't imagine they have a lot to do since there isnt really a need for crowd control and the most popular crime is stealing bikes. maybe I'll put my degree to good use and become a mounted cop in Amsterdam. I can certainly think of worse jobs.

And now I just got back from having the most amazing apple pie with real whipped cream at a place called De Winkel and a stroll through the redlight district. If you ignore the working women its actually really picturesque with the red lights reflecting off the canal and the swans gliding past. Seriously, I love Amsterdam.

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Photos

Canals
Pretty view of the canals at night.

Lunch
It turns out I DID buy beef. Too bad the milk turned out to be buttermilk.

pretty
heehee...I get to see this every day

Comments

[Mom]

Awesome views
This place is scenic both night and day. Good luck on the furniture thing. I told you to get a Dutch/English dictionary and buttermilk is very healthy.

[Judith]

When I was in Amsterdam in 1995, I stayed at a pension style hotel on Prinzengracht canal. The Anne Frank house was nearby. Don't feel badly about not speaking 4 languages. Remember that travel from Amsterdam to Germany to Belgium to France to Switzerland is only from a few hours to 8 hours by train. We are barely out of California going east and traveling north by car, you're still in California. You'll start picking up some of the languages. Relish every moment of your time. Enjoyed the photos of the night time canal.