Jour 18 Where is everyone?/Boom Chicago/Red Light District

On Friday it was time to meet up with the other kiddos in our group.

Natalia and I woke up at 9: 30 am, packed our bags, and got breakfast downstairs in the Happy Room. I'm not going to lie, I felt pretty "happy" there. We met our friend Jeff there, who we met the night before, and all ate breakfast. On the walls of the room there are happy pig-flying colorful cartoons. Also, there are many tables and beds for lounging and a giant TV It's definitely the place I'd want to go and just hang out. So we finished breakfast and went up to the smoking room to hang. Our friends did not get in until 10 so we had plenty of time to relax. We hung out with a bunch of people and talked and then checked out of The Flying Pig. It was a sad good-bye, but at least I can say I stayed there!

After, I called Clay to find out everyone's whereabouts and if we should meet them at the train station and then check in to our other hostel. We put ONLY Clay, Jordan, and Dex at a coffee shop. Where were the others? Well, things did not go as planned or "there was a strange turn of events" in the words of Clay. Apparently when they woke up to catch their 6:25 am train ride, they were waiting on the platform when she realized Had Libby forgot her passport, and Zoe Had forgot his ticket. WHAT THE HECK! That would only happen to my friends! The train station is only 20 mins away on the metro, so Libby and Zoe headed towards the Cite to get their things. When they returend, They had missed the train by 2 mins! They had to wait to get on the next one 2 hours later! Even better, there are 3 stops along the way to Amsterdam. It goes to Brussels, Rotterdam, another one I can remember, and then it ends in Amsterdam. It's simple, you stay on the train until its done running. Well, Joe didn't get the memo and when he awoke from a nap an hour into the 4 hour ride, we were stopped at the Brussels stop and he figured that they Had reached Amsterdam so he got off the train. Clay wakes up and sees Joe waiting on the platform looking around confused. Clay calls him and is like, "why did you leave the train?" and Joe is confused, and the train starts moving without Joe. So Joe was left stranded in Brussels, Belgium for an hour until he could hop on the next train! So hysterical, I was dying of laughter when I heard this story.

Once the time arrived, we all went to the Amsterdam Centraal Station to pick up the Stragglers. The guys took our bags to check into the hostel and us girls went around to explore.

We hit up a few coffee shops, souvenir shops, and then came home where we met the guys in our room. We took a little nap and thnn met the guys outside of this comedy show called Boom Chicago. It was a place were three American comedians do improvisations. People wre giving out flyers all day for a reduced cover price so we all got ticks and went at 8 pm It was pretty funny. It's hard doing improvisations, but they did well. The thing I didn't like was how much they made fun of America and Americans, and they were Americans. Apparently people hateeus for a lot of reasons b'c one of the categories was "what do you hate most about Americans" and people kept shouting a bunch of things. Whatever. It was really funny and then after we went to the infamous Red Light District.

Let me tell you, the DRC is super awkward and creepy. The main streets are pretty normal with red christmas lights hanging above and many bar / restaurants / shops / etc. lining the street. A lot of poeple were out, so it did not seem sketchy. There were a good amount of sex shops, so that Seemed fitting. The scary / weird part was in between these stretto, in the alleys, where there were clear doors lined with red lights. Inside stood girls of all shapes and sizes staring directly out at you, and wearing nothing but a bra and underwear or skimpy swimsuit. Not exciting if your a girl. I'm glad I experienced it tho. It was very interesting, and you gotta make money somehow I guess. Apparently, to rent out rooms One Of Those girls have to put a downpayment of a EUR 100 for 8 hours in it. Guess you got to make all the money you can Those within 8 hours! Start strippin!

After we went back to the hostel and slept. Our plan is to wake up early and go to site-seeing things ... finger's crossed!