whats Amsterdam like cause my cousin went and he said he wish he lived their
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whats Amsterdam like cause my cousin went and he said he wish he lived their
Well I went and i wanna live there.
Amsterdam is a lovely, watery city in The Netherlands. That's in Europe. It's very old, and among other things (besides art, history and culture), it's very tolerant of cannabis use. You can visit coffeehouses and buy weed and sit there and smoke it legally. It also has a very famous red-light district. But it has lots more than these things, including wonderful museums and very friendly people who speak English very well.
This is why you need to stay in school rather than drop out, Greenmanondeck. So you have the opportunity to learn more about your world and maybe someday will have the resources and intellectual curiosity to travel to other countries.
Hi Greenmanondeck-
You would love it! I would like to live there myself, but I believe I would need to learn Dutch first.
It isn't just about the weed- though the absence of moral judgement against pot was very comforting! But like birdgirl said, it has museums and architecture and flowers and so many other charming aspects. Most people ride bikes, so they are healthier than Americans- their cars are really small, so I imagine there is much less pollution, and the canals are so lovely!
So do whatever you must to get a good job, then save your money for a week-long trip there ($2000 would easily do it if you stay in a hostel).
I can tell you about other nice places to visit- Hawaii, Mexico, Japan, Spain, England (I plan to add Africa soon, yea!)...but if you want to see for yourself- work hard, go to school, get a job, save money (don't waste it on crap) and see the world-you have to do it- life is short baby, we never know if we are going to have a tomorrow!
Hi all,
I actaully live just outside of amsterdam. I used to live in the dam but prefer the quiet peaceful villiage I now live in, overlooking a canal and everything. Although I'm not there at the moment :(
As birdgirl73 said it is a place that has a lot to offer other than the drugs and sex scene. Amsterdam is a tolerant place but it has its limits. You can't just light up a spliff and walk down Kalverstraat and puff away in some old woman's face. You've got to be cool about it. In the red-light district you'll come across non-dutch men calling to you with phases like "hey mister u want some business?" or "Charlie? Charlie?" These guys are letting you know, with some subtlety mind you, that they are selling cocaine or possibly heroin. They aren't actually and if they were they'd be arrested by the large police population that roams the red-light district on foot and on motorbikes. What they are doing is taking you into a sidestreet to either get ripped off with fake coke or fake smack, or else just take your money from you. They are easy to ignore however, just walk straight past them.
But apart from that its a great place. There are a few really top-notch coffee shops (most are average) but De Tweede Kamar off of Spuistraat is 10/10 and has more than 10 weeds and 10 hashes! One hash there goes for 40 euros a gram and is mind-altering (trippy with lights and other visuals).
As for living there and working there. Its possible two ways. Either you have low expectations of a place to live and a job etc and this means that you perhaps live in a squat (usually well run legal places) or in a small room somewhere and perhaps get a couple of jobs at one or two coffee shops and earn enough to keep smoking and keep living there. Or you need to be a professional earning 45,000 euros a year or more. Flats in Amsterdam go for 800/month and easily more! Living expenses are fairly high if you're coming from the states. You'll probably shit!
Still, its all worth it!!!!!!
:jointsmile:
Fr33kMan
it's a place where bums speak better english than you. Those few moronic Amsterdam natives could still be Presidents of the USA, for instanceQuote:
Originally Posted by greenmanondeck
Good post. I hope to move to the netherlands as soon as my education is complete and i can afford to. Whether it will be amsterdam, rotterdam, the hague, i dunno, but i know the netherlands is the place for me. When me and my friend were there we smoked anywhere and never got in any trouble or dirty looks. I remember sitting on a bench by a river, one of the few benches in A-dam, they definately need more. Anyway, i was sitting on this bench smoking a J and this old lady was standing rite behind me with her camera lol. She never said anything i just thought it was funny. But yeah, the point being we smoked wherever we wanted. I know some people have said that it's disrespectful but i didn't view it that way, especially from the (non) reaction from anybody else. The kingdom of the Netherlands awaits my return. On that glorious day, whenever it shall be, i know i'll be SO blazed :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Fr33kMan
Beautiful post.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reefer Rogue
Cheers, I appreciate it Cas :)
Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Reefer Rogue
Yeah, you're right most people won't hassle you if your on a bench (yes there should be more) having a smoke. But as I said, on Kalverstraat (really upmarket shopping street) you'd get the 'look'. Also the cops can arrest you for smoking outside of a coffeeshop. Remember, weed is actually still illegal in the Netherlands! It's just tolerated in certain areas and allowed to be sold in those places. They keep it technically illegal so that the cops can use discretion and still arrest people for it if they like. You could "technically" be arrested for having a single gram on you, if they wanted to. Although the public prosecutor would never take it to court.
For those that don't know these are the rules in NL:
1) You, the smoker, can have no more than 25 grams (law says 5 grams but reality says 25 grams) on your person at any time.
2) You can't legally buy more than 5 grams at a time and anyone selling you more is technically committing an offense
3) The coffee-shop (aka, the owner) is not allowed to have any more than 500 grams in their possession at any one time. (That means their home + their car + their coffee-shop = 500 grams MAX!!!)
4) The police can enter a coffee-shop and search it and everyone in it without a warrant.
5) Any found in these 'raids' with hard drugs will be charged and the coffee-shop closed for a week or so. Repeated instances will lead to the coffee-shop being shut forever.
The cops in Amsterdam are now following the mayors orders that no new shops are to be opened (can be sold and renamed/moved) and that any chance the police have to shut a place down, they are supposed to do that. There's no chance that the tolerance for cannabis will end but they are trying to round it all up into certain areas so the rest of the city can stop looking like a drugs haven as well.
Still, lovely place to live.
Fr33kMan
PS: To move there you need to be an EU citizen (or on 1 year working holiday for auz, nz, can or usa) and get a tax id from the belastingsdienst (tax office) for which you just show up with passport (EU) and its issued over the counter. To do it right you should also get a verbliefsdocument (residency permit) from the foreign police. But in reality just showing up with you EU passport will get you working.
I found the natives of Amsterdam to be a bit strange, as people go. They have very different views about many things and, like other Europeans, are a bit naive about some things IMHO.
I remember they had a march to "Free Mumia", a convicted cop-killer. They really don't know much about America except what they are told.
I have not visited all of Europe, but found the Irish and the Danes to be the friendliest of those that I have met in Europe.
damn i wanna go 2