I arrived at the Amsterdam Central train station around 11PM on Wednesday evening. It was a long train journey from Berlin (~7hrs). This, for those who know me, gave me time for reflection, catching up on podcasts and even got through a third of a great movie (About Time). In addition to which, I had a great conversation with a gentleman in his 50's who was a resident of eastern Germany.
What surprises me is that to this very day, the citizens of Germany still associate themselves with either the East or the West, even though it's been so long since the wall came down.
Goes to show how big of a divide Germany experienced when the wall was around. He even told me that the children in the schools of Eastern Germany were required to learn Russian after grade 5. The influence and power of the Soviets during the Cold War Era was absolute. His wife, who I found out while conversing, was a Russian-German. This was interesting to me, so as I probed further, I found out that she belonged to a group of German people that immigrated to Russia almost a century ago and she had returned with her family in the late 60's in the search of a better life, back to Germany.
So far, every time I've entered a new city, one question pops up: "Will I find people that I can connect with?". The answer to that question always leaves me feeling very nervous because I can never know what comes next. To seek the answer, it pushes me to "just do".
The irony is, of course, I have found people in every city. Amsterdam, was no different, because Lo and Behold' after dropping off my stuff at the hostel I'm staying at now, within 30 seconds of stepping onto the street I was chatting with a local. The conversation barely lasted a minute before she offered to show me around Amsterdam. (In my head: "Holy Sh*T, how does this even happen?)
Fast forward half an hour and I find myself not only having connected with her, but in a student party (that I wasn't allowed in), sharing a pitcher of beer with Aussie's and locals that was a measly 5 euros. WIN! It was , by all accounts, one of the best nights I've had so far!
I'm going to wrap this post up here because in the next one, I'll be going into greater detail around what my impressions of the city are so far.
