Here's the story behind my current path towards the netherlands. And for those who already heard it in my post on the real life stories... I apologize for repeating myself....


It all started in 2005!

I was a sophmore in college and doing a study abroad program at the University of Nottingam. My then ex-girlfriend now current girlfriend (i know it's complicated) had come up to visit and we decided to go to Amsterdam...

I was a little bit of a stoner hippy.... and she had puffed a few times... plus its a beautiful city with all kinds of history.... (we're history nerds... thats what we get for studying archaeology...)

We arrived on a Friday and were planning on spending 2 nights there.... The first night we had booked a room in a nice hotel... The second night we scrimped on a Hostel.... and we were in the Dam.... It was an incredible experience. The different languages, the different cultures... I Loved it. And of course the weed.... oh my how the weed was great..

Funny story actually. we arrived early in the morning and were beat... we get out of the trainstation and start to walk.We decide that a good sandwitch and cup of coffee and a place to sit would let us collect our thoughts and plan out our trip...
We were naieve to the ways of the Dam.... and found a nice little Coffeeshop off the main road............ and you can see where this is going..

We walk in and get a blast of pot smoke in the face.... theres 3 people in there... 2 americans laughing their ass off, and some crazy african guy.... Us being a little wary and not to knowing abotu the city.... quickly walked out.... It was a little too early to get baked.... (9:30 AM)

So i know you all know this....but Coffeeshop means the green..... not a cup of joe...

(for the record in those early days I was not the daily pot smoker of my current self... Much more a curiosity and a weekend endeavour)


After spending 3 days and 2 nights of crazy adventures, we left in a whirlwind... barely cracking the ice of the massive wonder that is Amsterdam.

Trip number two and the promise... dun daaaaa!!!!

We fast forward a year and a half. I'm back with the girlfriend and I'm heading back to england for the summer to work on an Archaeological excavation...

It sounds more exciting than it really is... I'm sitting out in a british cornfield digging pits in the dirt.... verrrry verrrrry slowly....


But anyways.... I was heading to the dig in July, and I had a plane ticket for a week and a half before the start of the dig to england....

what better way to spend my time than to hop on an airplane and spend a few days in Amsterdam!

I email my british friend and ask her if she wants to take a long weekend and chill in Amsterdam.... and she was totally down....

I fly to England, spend a day chillin in London, then meet up with my mate... We hop on a cheap flight from London to Amsterdam and we're there on the MOST lovely day i've ever seen. Its 80 degrees, windy, sunny, and beautiful. I decide to stay for 5 Days and she's there for 4, (she had a real job)... So we settle in and start enjoying our time.... sit outside in the sun with a beer... smoke a joint then find some crazy tibetan food place.....relax in the depths of a hookah bar.....

It was a much more of a relaxed trip... 5 days is good to just relax and enjoy the trip. If you haven't heard it, Look up the Song Amsterdam by Peter bjorn and John....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=B7GU3msz72I

Its such an accurate portrayal of how the city feels...

So we fast forward to the end of the trip... my mate had left and I was alone in the city.... After accidentally booking a Hostel in the Red Light District.... (Its a story for another time.... word to the wise... check the address of hostels before you book)


I decided to travel out of the city and see some real dutch life. I looked on a map and picked a city at random.... a little town 30 minutes out of Amsterdam called Weesp..

I get on the train and travel out.... It is a small quaint suburb of the city, but its NOTHING like the suburbs of america... public transportation is everywhere, people walk, theres only a few cars.. and of course the bikes.... Everything is tighter and more accessible.. Walking down the tulip covered streets down to the Old Canal, I cross the bridge and follow the bike path out away from the city center. It's quiet as I go, occationally a few people walk by, or ride on a bike.

I stop and sit in the grass. In front of me is a row of suburban houses, with swans siting out in front of the lawn... real swans....

to my right, the path leading back to the city, and an Old windmill... To my left, the canal stretched out into the countryside...

As I sat there, smoking the joint I had rolled back in the coffeeshop earlier that morning.... I fell in love.

In love with a city, In love with a country.... I felt like I belonged there....

The Pact! ooh....ahhh....


As I sat there with a joint in my hand, staring at the beauty that lay before me.... I made a solemn oath....a pact with myself and that little canal..that someday... someday i would be back here.... back here to this spot... staring at the houses and the windmill...

I was going to Live in the Netherlands, and call this place my home...

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