Halloween adventure is completed. It was a rocky start, but we got through it with only a few tears. My tears that is. I'll explain it to you since my weekend was full of unnecessary explanations. You see, in a rented van with 9 people, we drove 2 hours to the border and got stopped by control. Now, even though I asked if I needed it before, to my chagrin I didn't have my passport. They told us that either I could go to jail and the rest could continue the trip or we would have to return to the dorm to retrieve the passport. I detained the entire group for 4 hours. I swear, before you all think I'm an idiot, I asked and they said my I.D. was fine. Also, in my own defense, I didn't need it in Berlin or Munich. Everyone was very nice about it, and they explain to me at least 20 times that it would only be a joke in the future. I learned my lesson.
I am a firm believer in the fact that Amsterdam is just one gigantic tourist trap. It goes something like this: get up, go to a coffee shop (if you catch my drift), walk around and laugh at the city, go back to a coffee shop, laugh some more at the city, take a boat tour, coffee shop, walk to the Red Light District and go to a bar. With this mentality the city just rakes in the money. People who are high on coffee and other such things will impulse buy like you've never seen. Sadly, the industry has grown too large for the cities own good. There are far to many ethnic groups inhabiting the city. If you saw the pictures on Facebook you might have seen that I named only the restaurants on our street. By the restaurants alone you can see the booming diversity.
Why? One might ask. Well because nobody works there and nobody cares. They just own hostels and let the tourists do the rest. Our hostel was 36 euro a night and it was filthy. It wasn't even masked to look nice. I am positive the caretakers were out on the veranda smoking pot and laughing at us behind our backs. They told us they were going to provide us with breakfast. Breakfast turned out to be toast and marmalade with coffee. I, for one, feel satisfied that my money was well spent (actually no, I don't). Aside from the hostel, the atmosphere of the city was pleasant. Everyone was so nice, and I think that we all needed that because there is such a tense atmosphere in Wroclaw. It felt like being home in the U.S. but everyone is a liberal. The good news is I myself bought a few senseless things. I couldn't help myself. I thought they were funny.
Next weekend is Krakow. I know I've told you all that a thousand times, but once more won't hurt. The Polish movie this week wasn't interesting enough to blog about. I'll go tomorrow to the counter culture exhibit that I said I would go to last week, but didn't. I can see that no one was interested in my college discussion so I'll try something else. I'm beginning to fear that no one is actually reading this, and that you all tell me you are to make me feel better. I won't second guess myself and continue to write as if you were completely enthralled.
One final note, with the time I've spent here I've been thinking about a lot of things. One of those things is how important you all are to me. I feel like I took you for granted and often didn't listen when you were talking, or I was just plain old mean spirited. I promise when I return to be a better listener, take careful consideration of any advise I seek from you, and to have an optimistic view more often. I think that you should all keep in mind how important those that you love are and take the time to tell them so. Moreover, as I said earlier, the people in Poland are not so friendly. I also took that aspect of my everyday life for granted as well. So, try to do nice things for strangers when you can, and smile more often. Even if others don't smile at you just do it anyway. I promise it will make at least our country a better place. I know this is cheesy, but I don't care. Usually when I put cheese on top of gross things it makes it better. Meanwhile, I'll be standing on my balcony singing this:
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