Amsterdam

This weekend I went to Amsterdam for two days with Joanna and some other people from Cádiz who are studying in Barcelona. All in all, it was really fun to go somewhere where weed is legalized and it's socially acceptable to sit around doing nothing all day.

We spent the majority of our time in various coffee shops where the customer just goes up to the counter, reads a menu of marijuana, and picks out what kind they want to buy. The shop-keepers have pre-arranged amounts (either a gram or 2.7 grams) and one usually spends around 25 Euro for 2.7 grams, and around 10 Euro for one.

The owners usually encourage you to get a drink, but they don't serve alcohol in the coffee shops and they aggressively card EVERYONE to make sure they're over 18. You get to use their rolling papers for free the rest of the time you're in that particular coffee shop, or you can go in a smoke shop and buy your own papers/pipe or rent a bong from the Roor store.

We did some touristy stuff: went to Anne Frank's house (depressing), the Heineken Experience (closed), the sex museum (after eating some edibles - mostly it was really disturbing), and the Van Gogh Museum (I was on shrooms - which you can also just buy in stores there, but usually in smoke shops instead of coffee shops. You get to pick which effects you want and then they tell you which ones to take).

There were times when Amsterdam became a little disturbing, such as seeing prostitutes standing in windows wearing only underwear and trying to look sexy (half the time by acting out little roles that might fulfill the fantasies of the old, British men walking down the street). Then, when they did get a customer, have to haggle the price with them and end up selling themselves for something incredibly low. All in all, it was a really cool place. I would never be able to study abroad there or live there for an extended period of time, but it's a cool place to see.