amsterdam: damp, cheap, and those numbers stuck in my head

i'm currently crammed into a 6-bed dorm at the flying pig downtown hostel and i haven't slept in like 36 hours because the guy above me snores like a chainsaw. the walls are thin, the mattress is basically a bag of springs, and i swear i can hear the canals breathing. it's 5.5 degrees outside but with 92% humidity it feels like 4.17 - a cold that gets into your marrow. i just checked the weather app and it's...there, damp as a dishcloth, hope you like that kind of thing.

amsterdam's been a blur of stroopwafels, bikes that almost knocked me over, and these weird numbers 2751738 and 1528990721 that keep popping up everywhere. i saw them on a receipt, on a tram number (kind of), even in the pattern of the cobblestones near the anne frank house. maybe i'm sleep-deprived, maybe the city's sending me a secret code. who knows.

i'm on a student budget, so i've been surviving on cheap eats. there's this pizza slice joint near the central station that sells a slice for 2 euros - i found it on TripAdvisor under 'budget bites'. also, if you're into asian food, the Yelp listing for 'wok to walk' is legit, though the line is long. oh and i saw a post on the I Amsterdam board about free walking tours on sundays - i missed the last one but i'll catch it next time.

overheard rumor: someone in the hostel kitchen said the heineken experience is a total tourist trap, but if you go to the actual heineken brewery (not the experience) you can get a cheaper tour with a student ID. also, a local bartender warned me about the 'brown cafés' that look authentic but charge 8 euros for a beer - he said stick to the ones filled with regulars, not the ones with english menus.

if you get bored of canals, utrecht's just a 30-minute train ride away and it's got this insane dom tower you can climb. rotterdam's a quick hop too if you want something futuristic and less historical. i've been meaning to go but my wallet's crying after buying a museumkaart (which by the way, if you're under 25 you get a discount at a lot of places - score).

anyway, here's a map of where i'm at (though i'm moving around a lot).

the city's so photogenic. i tried to capture it but my phone's camera is garbage. these unsplash shots are way better:

i spent a day in the vondelpark, just watching the clouds and trying to decode what those numbers mean. maybe they're coordinates? 27.51738, 152.8990721? that would be somewhere in the pacific, far from here. maybe it's a phone number? or a code for a secret bar? i asked a local and he just laughed and said 'that's the time the tram leaves for zaandam' - thanks, mate.

if you're into history, the rijksmuseum has a 'pay what you wish' on certain days - i went and paid 1 euro because i'm broke. the van gogh museum is pricey but totally worth it if you can snag a student ticket. also, the eye film museum across the water is cool and less crowded.

i've been eating a lot of bitterballen from brown cafés, but i try to balance with apples from the Albert Cuyp market. the market's insane, prices are decent if you bargain (but don't be that tourist). there's a stand that sells fresh herring for 3 euros - i was skeptical but it's actually delicious, like salty sushi.

i read on Reddit that the best view of the city is from the NDSM wharf, which is free and has this cool street art scene. i went there and it was awe-inspiring, though the wind almost blew me into the water. also, the Amsterdam Weekly site has listings for cheap gigs and underground clubs if you're into that.

anyway, i'm typing this in a noisy café with a cat on my lap, the rain's starting to drizzle (again, 92% humidity, you get the picture). i've accepted that those numbers are probably just a glitch in my brain from staring at too many screens. but if anyone knows what 2751738 or 1528990721 means, hit me up. i'll be in the same hostel, probably still awake, counting the minutes until the free breakfast opens.

amsterdam, you're a damp, expensive, beautiful nightmare. and i kinda love you.

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