First Time Story

I did a lot of things for the first time these past few months. For example in the summer I went on a holiday all on my own with one of my best friends. I went to Hungary for the festival Balaton Sound, which was my first festival abroad. But I didn't want to write about something that already happened, I wanted to write about something new.

So first I thought maybe I could go to Amsterdam for a day with a few of my friends and write about that. I had never been to Amsterdam, so it would be perfect, but we didn't do much. We went by car and I was the driver, per usual.

The day began for me at 6 AM by taking a shower. After that I went and picked up Jana, Ewoud and Julie at their houses. After a long drive without any busy traffic and a few stops we arrived at Sloterdijk. Where we wanted to park my car and take the tube to the city center, because Amsterdam traffic is crazy.

The day didn't start very well, the parking was full and we had to wait until somebody drove away but we were car number 2 so we thought it wouldn't take long. But before I new there was a car who drove in a one way street the wrong way and blocked my car. So my car became number 3, which would at another 15 minutes to wait for a parking spot. To be honest I got pretty mad, it was very rude of the man because there was very long line behind me. Everybody in the line got mad and began honking their "toeter".

So I took matter into my own hands because the guy wasn't going to move out of the way, I stepped out of my car and went to his. At first the man didn't want to open his window, but after a while he did. The conversation we had was just uneventful, his point was that he had a meeting and he wasn't going to move his car. I didn't want to make a scene so I went back to my own car. Julie was sitting next me in the passengers seat and had filmed the incident, luckily she saw that an officer was standing at bit further and had scene the incident.

He came to our car and asked if he would be of any assistance, Julie and I explained what happened. It didn't take very long, he went to the man and said he had to back away because he drove the wrong way in a one way street which is forbidden. I have never seen anybody as mad as that guy in my life.

So after parking the car successfully we took the train and grabbed something to eat in a cute little café. After that we roomed around and went to the sex museum something Julie was dying to do. To be honest I was a bit disappointed, there was nothing special about it. Only very old pictures and the place was rather small.

Next we went to the grasshopper, which is a café with a nice view over the canals. Of course we couldn't leave Amsterdam without going to a coffee shop. Which we did and very much enjoyed. I wanted to go the Anne Frank house, but sadly we didn't reserve and there was a really big line so we didn't end up going in.

After shopping for a bit, there is no escaping from shopping if you have Julie with you, it was getting dark and Ewoud really wanted to see 'de walletjes'. So we walked around the neighbourhood and drank something in one of the pubs. We also went to a sex shop because Julie really wanted a new toy. With a growling stomach we went to a restaurant, it's sad to say that I don't remember the name of the restaurant but it was the most delicious food I've eaten. The restaurant was the most fun to be we ate an appetizer, main course and a dessert and just talked.

We ended the night with a drink in an Irish pub, before going back to the car in Sloterdijk. But there is one thing I really enjoy about Amsterdam, it's really cheap to park your car. Which you wouldn't think, because it's the capital of the Netherlands and a really big city. But if you park in the parkings around Amsterdam and go by tube to the city you get a discount. Normally I had to pay 16 euro's for one day, but when I scanned the tube card I only had to pay 1 euro. That is certainly something Belgium can learn from the Netherlands and specially Ghent. At one point in time I'm going to be broke from just paying parkings and gasoline here in Belgium.

Amsterdam was amazing and I would go back in a heartbeat, but it is not the last thing I did for the first time this month. As I'm writing this short story I'm on the Eurostar to London where I will take the train to Coventry, where one of my friends is studying. It's something spontaneous I did and I think those are the best experiences. It's not the first time I've been in London, but it's the first time I'm going to Coventry and the first time I'm on the Eurostar by myself. I think it's actually very fun to travel alone, you don't have to think about anybody else and I notice that I pay more attention at other people. It's fun to see somebody and think of who they are, what they might do for a living or make up stories of why they would be here. It's something I always used to do with my little brother when we were on a vacation and it's sad that I completely forgot about it. When I'm going on a holiday with other people I'm always stressed and I forget to enjoy and relax.

So the past few months I learned a lot: I learned it's cheap to park in Amsterdam if you take the tube to the city center, I learned that you cane bring food and alcohol on the Eurostar, I also learned that you don't have wifi in the Eurostar if you guy the cheapest ticket, I learned never to go to Hungary by bus again, I learned to relax and enjoy the moment and I hope I will learn much more this weekend in Coventry.

Maybe these experiences will inspire me with ideas for my short story.