In the Fall of 1994 I spent a semester studying in London. In general it was awesome. During that semester we had one week off from class, right about now, toward the end of October. The moment class was done I grabbed my backpack and hopped on a bus headed out of the capitol, bound for Munich. Beyond that, I didn’t really have any plans. I mean really: I had no idea how I was going to get to Munich, but I figured going from London to Amsterdam was a good first step. Looking back on that week, there are many, many things that occurred that I am never going to tell my mother about. Here is a list of random cool things I did that week, some of which a more responsible person (ie a non-21 year old) probably would have avoided:
1. I took a bus out of town, but got to ride a hovercraft across the English Channel. A good start I thought.
2. I arrived in Amsterdam only to find that the place I thought I was going to stay didn’t exist, nor did the people from London I thought I was going to meet. Two hippies saw me looking at a message board and asked if I needed a place to stay because they “operated a hostel on a big sailboat down by the docks and I should come check it out.” I eyeballed the two longhairs, figured I could take them both in a fight if it came to that, and then followed along. It turned out it was pretty awesome. I had my own little cabin in the boat, and there were about 10 other people from around the world staying there too. Once I unpacked the hippies said we should all go out together and then they took all of their guests out on the town. I do not remember going back to the boat, but that is where I woke up.
3. The next day I decided that the previous night was just too insane so I got a hotel room, and then looked to see if I could find my London friends. No dice on the friends: back before the internet and cell phones if you got lost or separated on the road you tended to stay that way. That night I thought I’d just relax, eat some dinner and watch a soccer game in a cool little bar I’d found and then actually get some sleep. While watching the game a local chap sat down on the stool next to me and lit up a joint. We chatted a little bit and then he offered me a hit. Not wanting to be impolite I accepted. Holy Shit! I about fell off my stool, and the story of The Time the CEO Accidentally Smoked Hashish and Then Ended Up Partying with Crazy Dutchmen All Night was born. Again, I woke up in my hotel but don’t remember getting there.
4. I decided it was time to get out of Amsterdam while I still could and to start making my way toward Munich. I screwed up a train transfer somewhere in central Germany and wound up in the former East Germany for a couple of hours. The wall had come down just a few years before and it was still very bleak. I forget the name of the town where I was stuck, but it was seriously the boondocks. The next train coming along was headed to Prague according to the schedule that I could sorta kinda read, so I decided on a little detour through the Czech Republic on my trip to Munich.
5. As I arrived in Prague it started to snow. I didn’t have the first idea where I was or where I am going to go, and hiking around the city in a snowstorm didn’t really appeal, so I hopped on a streetcar (they have a great system of streetcars in Prague) and rode it around for an hour or two. Finally it went past what looked like an inexpensive hotel so I hopped off and proceeded to get a room. The innkeeper was nice enough to give me a map and orient me to the city, and I ended up having a great day or two in Prague. The beer there? Delicious. Dunkel, bitte. (Everyone spoke German. Very few of the Czechs at that point spoke English).
6. As I was leaving the city I neglected to buy a ticket for the city subway. It would have cost me the equivalent of a nickel. Of course when we arrive at the central train station there is an official of some sort checking tickets. He says that I must come with him upstairs and he must report me to the police or something, and basically grabs my arm and starts directing me toward a stairwell. I am getting nervous. The moment we are out of public view I pull out my wallet and grab a handful of American greenbacks. Luckily they were all ones, but it looked at least a little impressive. I ask the guy if I can just “pay the fine” to him directly. He immediately took the cash and told me to get lost. I did, with pleasure. In 1994 it took $6.00 to bribe a fare-inspector in the Czech Republic.
7. Studying in Munich at that time was one Ms. Pinkdog. I stayed with her for a few nights and did touristy things in Munich, but then I had to get headed back to London. Pink accompanied, planning to spend a week in London with me. It was then that we made a near-fatal error, and it all started when Pink made the following comment: It sounds like you had fun in Amsterdam. Let’s go there for one night on our way to London! Sweet merciful jebus. I don’t want to violate Pink’s privacy any more so than I already am, but let’s just say this: she was not always the responsible buttoned down type that you may know her as today. I know it is hard to believe, but only because the CEO of all people exercised some tiny bit of responsibility in The Netherlands that we both weren’t thrown in jail. I’ll leave it at that.
8. We got on literally the last boat out of Amsterdam before a storm closed the terminal. There was way too much weather for the hovercraft, so we were stuck riding on a slow ferry. About 15 minutes into the trip I lost Pink. I searched the vessel bow to stern several times, and by the end of the trip I’d convinced myself that she’d gone overboard and was trying to determine to whom I should mention that fact. I then heard mention of the American girl in the loo that had been puking her guts out for the last hour, and I felt much better. Much, much better than Pink, who more accurately would have been called “Green” right then.
9. Going through customs I was certain we were going to attacked by the German shepherds but amazingly they let us go by. I still do not know why.
10. While Pink was in London with me she turned 21. Photographic records of that momentous event are actually still with us.
Ms. Pinkdog enjoying one of several birthday beers consumed that evening:
The birthday girl taking a timeout before we go to the next pub:
At the end of the night she could barely keep her eyes open because she was so, uh, tired. Good thing we were on a train heading home at that point.
The Pinkdog made her way back to Munich a few days later.
I of course didn’t know it at the time, but in retrospect that two week period specifically and studying abroad in general changed me a little bit. The jury is still out as to whether it was a change for the better or worse, but it certainly affected who I am today.
