The Books: Part 1: Amsterdam

Amsterdam in the Netherlands. St. Andrews in Scotland. Both insanely beautiful. Each with its own unique personality. As everyone knows, Amsterdam has a personality. It seems though that within that, everyone finds his/her own definition and experience of the city. My friends and I stayed at the Flying Pig hostel, which was my first hostel experience, and the hostel definitely contributed to my overall impression of Amsterdam. The bar within the hostel was really laid-back, and an environment in which it was easy and exciting to meet people from all over the world. One night we spent some time with a group of guys from Spain who surprised their friend for his Bachelor party and flew everyone to Amsterdam for the weekend. Apparently a Spanish Bachelor party in Amsterdam consists of as many Yaeger bombs as there are countries in Europe and the about-to-be-married-man in a bull fighting costume, which he then changes out of and gives to someone else for the night. Well, at least that’s what we witnessed. Another late night, relaxing at the hostel, we met two very philosophical British men who insisted we write down books to read and movies to see and then email them with our reflections. I even received some personalized psychoanalysis input. The exercise began with imagining a cube in a desert. Then, the size and color indicated certain aspects. A car-sized blackish-green cube entered my mind. Size represents ego, and therefore my ego is a bit over medium, because it was not the size of something like an ant, but it also wasn’t a building. The colors were particularly interesting to my British analyzer, but he came to the conclusion that the green represented my organic and true nature, while the black exposed a bit of a guard that I put up. Anyway, it was a conversation I enjoyed and would have never expected to have. Nonetheless, the hostel was of course not the only venue visited in Amsterdam. Much of my time was spent exploring by walking. While it was quite confusing to have tons of canals when I am used to one river helping me locate myself in Paris, the canals gave the city an earthy feel. Since buildings and homes line the canals, creating a paradoxical harsh and quaint neighbor to the water, they create an almost cartoonish land in which one traverses. The large groups of swans add to that setting. The red-light district throws off your comfort, but also peeks interest because of its insane history. The Van Gough museum added even more beauty to the already attractive Amsterdam. Dynamic is the best word I can find to define the experience, the culture, the city.