Having stayed up the entire night previously, I was a bit tired on my train to Utrecht, or rather my train past Utrecht, since I fell asleep before we got there, and woke up a few stations past my destination. After that extra hour and half of travel, I had to wander for Internet in the streets at 9am to download directions to where my former flatmate from San Diego lived.
I finally made it to Stefan’s house (aka Papi Wittens lair) at about 10am, and was greeted at the door by one of Steffy’s housemates that was unaware of my impending visit. She was trusting enough to let me in the house anyways, and I almost immediately proceeded to fall asleep until Stefan would return later in the evening from a big road trip with his girlfriend Gina. The next day my sleep cycle was still out of whack, but I managed to meet Steffy’s roommates and learn a great card game that has a very forgettable name. I was also treated to a meal of dutch mussels which tasted great but unfortunately for some reason led to an upset stomach.
The next day Stefan and Gina and I made our way back to Amsterdam and did the Heineken Brewery tour. They had a bunch of cool little exhibits and stuff, and we were lucky enough at the end to manage an extra beer for each of us for free through found beer tokens. I took Stefan and Gina to the pool place that Annika had shown me before, and we had our laughs about my knowledge of Amsterdam being better than Stefan’s. After pool we went to a dance club in an area called Leidseplein and proceeded to make fools of ourselves on the elevated dance floors equipped with stripper poles. It was a great night out, and we still were able to make the train home.
We got there late, and I went out for some Turkish food with a swedish girl who was living in Stefan’s house. At the Turkish take-away place, we met a guy in line who was from Chicago, but had lived in Sweden. The three of us had a ridiculous conversation that employed Swedish, Dutch, German, and English. Sadly the other two in the conversation spoke all four, while I only understood something like 60% of what was going on.
The next day was a lazy one, but it culminated with some epic pizza-making, and a bikeride to go bowling in Utrecht. I got the two best bowling scores of my life, and invented some sweet new trick shots including under-the-leg. We also made a pass through the red light district of Utrecht, which is significantly lacking in talent compared to the one in Amsterdam.
I got up in the early morning to catch a train to Schipol, and quickly find out that my airline has gone bankrupt since I bought the tickets! I managed to get a train back to Utrecht to surprise Stefan with my continued presence in his country, before hopping on the internet and booking alternative plans. I managed to get a flight out of Eindhoven, a city in the south of the Netherlands, and hopped on a train towards an airport for the second time, but this time it worked.