****TL/DR**** I will now be including a Too Long/ Didn't Read summary on my posts for those of you who prefer a briefer explanation of my day. I'll put it at the beginning so you know what pictures you'll be scrolling through.
TL/DR: Went to flower market, Dixons, vegan store, cheap market; met a friend across the hall; no student card; got mail; have social plans for tonight.
Another gorgeous day in Amsterdam! What the heck!
To kill some time before the electronics store opened, I hunted and found the flower market, Bloemenmarkt! It's the largest floating market (in the Netherlands? In Amsterdam? Somewhere). Tourists buy their tulip bulbs here and bring them back to grow in their own countries.
This is the back of the market, along one of the canals:
The sun has had a bad habit of washing out signs I try to take pictures of, but here's an attempt anyway:
Chillin' on a clog.
I neglected to photograph the many marijuana starter kits that were available, but I did find a Christmas store.
And a hammock store.
I can't be sure, but at least one of these buildings may have been the church our ISN introduction was held in.
After getting my cord at Dixons (AND IT WORKS GUYS, I CAN PRINT STUFF NOW), I headed to the vegan shop to get some vitamins and goodies. I found it, but it is closed on Mondays. They did have some pamphlets on the side of the building with recipes and such, so I took a couple of those and went back home for lunch.
While I was eating lunch, the girl across the hall came over to introduce herself. Her name is Jill, and she is extremely friendly. Like, come in, sit down, tells me her life story friendly. She showed me her room, how to light the stove, and how to get to Dappermarkt, the cheapest market in Amsterdam.
Jill had an assignment due for her "very liberal college in Arkansas" (yes, those exist), so I went and got a new ISN card because mine didn't work when I tried to register online. Then I went to Dappermarkt. It was basically an outdoor Wal-Mart selling fruit, adapters, sunglasses, shoes, bags, smoothies, samosas, vegetables, bread, the tools the hygienist uses to poke around your mouth, belts, fabric, yarn, lace, suitcases, like literally anything you could think of was there. I don't know if I trust the food...4 avocados for 1 EUR seems too good to be true, so I'm going to see how Jill fares after eating the stuff first since she cooks a lot. If she survives, I'll partake as well.
Here's a picture of the beginning of the market. It was HUGE, so many people and stalls, I didn't want to take my camera out because of potential pick pockets.
I went back to school to get my student card, but that hasn't been printed yet. I have to go back tomorrow again to check. The woman was very apologetic and said she didn't like how "messy" this was, but I've got the time and I like the practice getting to and from important buildings, so that's okay with me!
I didn't get my student card but I did get these cards! Thank you all for sending me mail, I'm going to decorate around my bed with your notes and pictures. Love hearing from you guys.
Jill and I are having dinner on the roof tonight in 20 minutes, and after that I'm hopefully going to a trivia night at a pub with her ISN group. I'm really excited! Everything here is looking up, and PS Dad and Mom I need to talk to you about how I found an apartment for when I come back but I might need to borrow some money at first okay love you byeeeeeee!
xoxoxoxoxo
c
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