September 29, 2019. It’s the last leg of my nine (9) hour bus travel from Amsterdam to Paris, in an almost empty tram to Suresnes back to the apartment where I’m bed spacing. This was such a gloomy and draining day. I came to certain realizations about my stay here in Europe after another encounter with a rude French-speaking person, this time an impolite ground crew at the bus stop who was really rude with my request for assistance. Certainly not the best day.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m having the time of my life here, it’s just that I have to deal with the stereotype attitude that can really feel offensive, impolite and arrogant. That’s just how some of them are I guess, ikaw ang maga-adjust talaga.
September 26, 2019. This was a spontaneous trip after a professor announced that he would be compressing two classes into one day, leaving us an extra day together with the weekend. As a first-timer in Europe, I was just too excited to take the opportunity to see other cities. I found cheap bus tickets to Amsterdam online and thought, why not? No plans, just hopped on the bus the next day.
I arrived in Amsterdam exhausted and hungry as hell, after almost nine (9) hours by bus on the road from Paris. The entire trip was only paused for around thirty (30) minutes during a very brief stop-over in Brussels. I now do not wonder why few people take the bus despite the cheap 15 euro fare one-way. Upon arriving in the outskirts of Amsterdam where the bus ended its trip, I figured my way through the metro system and went straight to the hostel I had just booked. Fortunately, even if I booked just one bed in a dormitory room, I had it all to myself as there were no other guests.
September 27, 2019. Since I had no definite plans, the next day I just decided to walk all around the main districts of the city. I took a short canal boat tour in the morning, which meandered for around an hour around the canals that interweaved historical parts of the city. I then hopped off and decided to just rely on Google Maps to guide me as I moved along the rest of the day.
