My Man in Amsterdam

First, my most exciting news – I finally have a bike! This may not seem like a big deal, but Dutch people go just about everywhere on bikes, so I’ve really been wanting one. Bikes have the right of way just about everywhere, so they’ll mow you down if you’re not careful... At any rate, now I have a rickety, rusty piece of junk ladies bike – but someone gave it to me for free, so I really can’t complain.

My first real weekend in the Netherlands was a good time, which kicked off with drinks on the ICTY terrace after work on Friday. It was a lot of people drinking beers and blasting Donna Summer – I'm sure it's exactly how you’d picture working for the UN... The next night, I went out to a pub with a bunch of other interns. It was a random group, including a German, a Ugandan, an Irishwoman, a Lebanese-American, and another UCLA student. We ended up having a lot of fun, and ended the night at a nearby bar where a lot of Dutch foreign ministers and reporters hang out.

I spent the next day in Amsterdam with another intern, and it was a great time! Here’s what we did:

- Van Gogh Museum: Pretty impressive, I really liked how clearly they laid out the place. It was kind of surprising how a lot of his paintings don’t seem that great, but what do I know; I probably need to see a few more art museums before I’m allowed to have an opinion.

- Flower Shops: Not my idea to stop by there, but some of the flowers were quite interesting. I’d never seen orchids quite like that, so that was nifty...

-Heineken Brewery (see above picture): A major disappointment. I felt like we were in a US frathouse the whole time, and I probably would’ve gotten more out of ordering Heinekens at a pub (or perhaps doing something else entirely).

- Ann Frank House: I thought it was very well done and extremely moving, though seeing it after the Heineken Brewery and before the Red Light district gave the day a very strange emotional progression.

- Red Light District: A small, seedy area packed with men and sex shops. And a lot of prostitutes in the windows trying to get you to come inside, which was a strange experience. I’m glad we went – there’s definitely nowhere else like it – but I can’t really say I found it terribly sexy. (For example, instead of port-o-pottys, they just had these open urinals for use on the street in full view. Awesome.)

- Food: Dutch food isn’t terribly exciting (the French and Italian guys at the office hate it with a passion), though we did find some good cheese. We also tried fries with mayo (meh, too bland – and they drown the fries with it, just as Pulp Fiction warned) and Dutch pancakes (which were awesome – they’re thin and gigantic, like crepes).

Anyway, it was a very full day in Amsterdam, so I slept very well at the end of it, and now it’s back to work...