So I had my first encounter with an obnoxious hostel roommate last night. It was early evening, and I was relaxing on the bed after a long day spent walking around the city. He walked in, turned on the light, and declared that I was in his bed. In general, he seemed quite stressed and hurried. I managed to talk him down after a bit, and we figured out the reason why he has been having such trouble with the cleaning staff and his roommates over the past five nights: he has been sleeping in the wrong bed.

To his credit, he was quite embarrassed about it and apologized profusely. So I think he will be an amiable enough companion for the rest of our roommate-dom.

By the way, I was in Amsterdam last night. And the night before. And am sitting in an internet cafe in Amsterdam right now.

(Important Dutch cultural note: I am in an internet cafe. In Amsterdam, the cafes sell coffee. The "coffee shops" do not, which I learned when I went into one on my first afternoon here.)

I feel as if the experience with the roommate could serve as a model of my experience in Amsterdam in general. People are busy, hurried, uptight, and irritable. The bed mix-up would never have happened in Berlin. Partly because of the more relaxed, easygoing atmosphere of people in Berlin. And partly because in all the hostels I stayed at in Berlin, they just assign rooms and trust everyone to choose their own beds, first-come first serve. Which we did flawlessly for the sixteen days I was in Berlin.

This experience of Amsterdam is as far from my expectations as possible. I expected it to be laissez-faire, tolerant, and generally pleasant.

To be fair, it has been incredibly hot for the whole time I have been here. The humidity of this port city is quite high. And it is August, the height of Tourist season. So there are a large number of people packed into a small, hot area, with a large proportion of them either travellers or having to deal with travellers. This is not a recipe for patience and kindness. Even if the distinctive scent of marijuana can be smelled every few minutes when walking around here.
Everything is also almost exactly twice as expensive in Berlin. Hostel for 1 night? 13 euros Berlin; 25 euros Amsterdam. An hour of internet? 1 euro Berlin; 2 euros Amsterdam. Dinner at a cheap indian restaurant? 4.5 euros Berlin; 8 euros Amsterdam.

And don't even get me fucking started on the doners here.

Pehaps there is a lesson in all this: no matter the natural tolerance and kindness of the people, when they are hurried, hot, and stressed, people are assholes.

Today, the weather is reasonable, people seem to be in better moods (TGIF), I have accepted the fact that I will have to pay twice as much for everything, I have figured out the public transit system, and I know my way around reasonably well. So it is much more pleasant.

By the by, I went to the Amsterdam Historical Museum this morning. They talked forever about how cool Amsterdam was in the 17th and 18th centuries. Those exhibits were really cool. Then they rushed right past the nineteenth century, and barely mentioned what happened in the Second World War. Quite disappointing.