Off to Amsterdam

Wanting to save even more money, I slept in the airport terminal that night, next to a group of bums (I am soooo not kidding this time). It was actually kind of fun. The security guards kept walking past making sure no one was causing trouble.

So I hopped on a plane the next morning and flew north to Amsterdam. It's hard to describe what I was expecting as I walked off that plane. I mean, Amsterdam has a reputation...and oh, what a reputation that is. I guess I was expecting a small hippie village full of pot-smokers and whores.

But as soon as I hopped on the train from the airport, I started realizing that things were different. The buildings were amazingly modern, the streets clean, and I couldn't even smell weed! The more I walked around, the more I started to love the city. The marijuana and hookers were just a small part of Amsterdam...it was full of canals, little parks, hot girls riding bikes...the works.

I found a cool little hostel about four canals away from the center. As soon as I walked in the door, I saw a sign..."Help Wanted: Clean Rooms and Stay for Free". My ears perked up as I instinctively made my Scoobie-Doo ARUUUGH?!?!

So I signed up immediately for the job. Turned out that they gave me a bed and three meals a day for working just a few hours each morning. It was a fun job. There were two other cleaners doing the same thing I was- a Romanian guy named Alex, and a Spanish guy, Antonio. We quickly became close friends over the smells of ammonia and bleach.

The food was great, the people were amazing, and I was set. After making a dozen or so beds each morning and vacuuming/mopping a bit, we set off to explore the town. Whether it be a beer in the park, a ride down the river, or grabbing a huge cone of french fries with mayo and walking down the Red Light District, life was good.

The city was very relaxed (prolly cause everyone was high). Actually, I heard a strange statistic that only 5% of Amsterdam residents smoke weed. It's mostly the tourists that do. It was interesting walking down the streets and getting a whiff of it here and there...quickly asking yourself, "Are they really doing that right there in public?"...and then instantly realizing that this was Amsterdam.