Alright, I’ve decided to settle down and finally post one of my long rants on here. I apologize for the long wait. My program in the Netherlands is coming to a close but it has been an awesome adventure. I will begin where I left off last. Which was on my flight to the Netherlands. Let us begin.
I flew with American Airlines. The flight was smooth and awesome. Each traveler had tablets filled with movies and music to get you through the flight. Free beer also made it that much easier to fly for 9 hours. I didn’t get much sleep on the flight nor the night before as a result of having a final the morning of my departure and having to pack all in the same night. It was a somewhat hectic start to my day but I made it through and had fun just seeing all the faces traveling such a long distance
I arrived in Amsterdam around 4:00pm. It was the longest flight I had ever been on and I had a stop in Dallas and London. As soon as I got of I was trying to get a train to Menton, France where one of my friends was waiting for me with a free place to stay.
I was pretty lagged and let me say jet lag is serious business. It makes you feel like the life has been sucked out of you but you want to keep on going. You have no idea what is actually happening around you and you are in and out of consciousness every other second.
I go to the teller and he tells me it will be about 800 euros. The conversion factor is about $1.30 for 1 euro. I almost got it but since my card didn’t have one of those fancy European chips I wasn’t able to buy it and had extra time to think about the ludicrous sum of money I was about to spend. I managed to find a last minute hostel and with the help of a few cool officials I made it there. I need time to recuperate and eat. All I had that day was bad airline food and a croissant. I love croissants.
Warning: A good thing to remember is that pickpockets really do exist. People are trying to scam you! I was targeted twice by the same guy at the airport. It really pissed me off seeing the lengths to which people are willing to target foreigners for money. Any who, I found it best just to ignore anyone who talks to you in tourist and crowded areas when you don’t know them.