More on Holland...

I AMsterdam...

In my previous blog I mentioned Amsterdam. Yes, Amsterdam. The students and teachers went on a day excursion to the big city. It is a bustling city with trams whizzing past, bikers ringing their bells telling you to get out of the lane, and boats merrily going down the rivers. We even had our very own tour guide, the leader of the exchange. He used to live in Amsterdam for 6 years as a student and was able to point out and take us to all the small nooks and crannies of the city telling us things we probably wouldn’t have read in a book.

Amsterdam really is quite a beautiful city with great architecture, cool museums, and beautiful canals that remind you of Venice (minus the foul smell).

But Amsterdam also has a side to it that just doesn’t appeal to me. The side that every pot smoking, hippie backpacker goes to find paradise. Where “coffee shops” line the streets and the air is filled with that sweet aroma. The same place where sleezy old men and immature college students alike go for sex or at least to look. For me, the "Red Light District" was the most shocking part of Amsterdam. It is shocking and down right appalling to see these women, probably most there through the illegal sex trades, selling themselves. Yes, Amsterdam. It turns Amsterdam's beauty into a trashy hot spot. I never really had any desire to go to Amsterdam before for these very reasons.

Interestingly enough, if you ask a Dutchman what he thinks of those aspects of Amsterdam, he will tell you it is part of who they are. It is part of their culture. And therfore it is something everyone should see. They allow the use of marijuana and the solicitation of sex and prostitution out in the open, therefore maybe making it easier to control. Whatever the case, if I were in charge of my own country, say, Jessistan, I would abolish these practices. And that is what I have to say about that.