Everything in life comes, sooner or later, to its end; Tapio and Héctor’s life together in 153G, as a real life fact, also had to come to its end. That’s why, Sarphatistraat people where invited through Facebook to an exclusive event:

“153G: The final chill out

Name: 153G: The final chill out
Tagline: Last (exclusive) opportunity for Sarphatistraat people to enjoy 153G atmosphere created by Tapio and Héctor

Host: Tapio and Héctor
Type: Meetings - Dorm/House Meeting

Start Time: Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 9:00pm

End Time: Friday, December 14, 2007 at 12:05am

Location: 153G

City/Town: Amsterdam, Netherlands

This is an (exclusive) opportunity for the Sarphatistraat fauna:

In the “aftermath” of the ISN Final Party we invite you to chill out in 153G in what it should be a “mini and more relaxed version” of the memorable Tapio´s birthday party.

The reason: the North-South EU connection developed in 153G during this fall comes to its end since Héctor is flying back to BCN (he´s coming back on the 31st) while Tapio is coming back to Finland, and not returning, on the 20th.

Feel free to drop by for a drink, or two, (non-alcoholic ones too) and try a bit of “torrons”. This time the drinks are not on us since the Christmas budget has emptied our pockets…

The organisation warns you that, if coming, you‘ll be asked to pose in a photo with the two 153G roommates. “

So, Thursday night was an odd farewell night; rather than being a farewell of a person, it was the farewell of 153G’s life together. Actually, people was a bit “disoriented” at the beginning, I mean, some people asked us about the real purpose of the meeting because they’re still seeing my roommate for a week and they’ll see me again from the 31st on. Another interesting thing I could notice was that the night looked like pretty much the same as one of the first weeks’ room parties: people chatting and moving to one conversation to another one while having drinks and snacks (last night torrons were a great success). However, last night there was a novelty: everyone was asked to pose in a photo with 153G roommates.

Last night was a nice night to close the first chapter of this so called Erasmus experience…

Compártelo

As a surprise to my father (it was his 50th birthday) I spent last weekend in BCN.

I arrived at Barcelona’s airport on Friday night (one hour delayed), where my family was waiting for me. In the same night, but in a bar, some friends were waiting for me too. So, after meeting my parents and my brother and getting to (”my real”) home, I spent the whole night with some friends. We had some beers (Estrella Damm, of course!) while we were chatting about what has been happening there since I’m in Amsterdam and about how my Erasmus is going. We finished our night - it couldn’t be otherwise - in an old city center disco that’s very especial for us; and once it closed (6am) we walked back home while chatting about some other things, as it used to be, (however, this time the conversation focused on “los estefilococos y otras bacterias más resistentes”).

Consequently, on Saturday morning I did nothing more than sleeping as much as I could; not enough though, since I went to my cousin’s 18th birthday party . At night I had a beer with several friends.

On Sunday morning I went to see my brother playing football. In the afternoon, it was my father’s (surprise) birthday party; a large amount of relatives showed up at home.

On Monday I went to my university, in fact, I even attended a class (it may had been my unique class at UPF for the whole year!). It was nice to meet friends and classmates there, but at the same time it was odd, since I had the feeling of “living” for several hours what it would have been in case I hadn’t done an Erasmus. Something similar I felt when biking to (and returning from) UPF, I remembered what it used to be my regular bike route for three years.

So, I have to say that it was a bit shocking to meet again the people, and be at the places, that belonged to my daily life.

At the moment, while typing this words after being in BCN, it seems to me that my Erasmus in Amsterdam is a parallel world connected to the “real world” by plane (and, in another way, by this blog).

Compártelo

Knowing that I’m going to stay in Amsterdam until June and that I got a 7 in International Economics, I left Amsterdam for the weekend (10-11 Nov). Two Slovenians and me had planned to do a weekend trip, and two Italians joined it; our targets: to visit the north of the Netherlands and Hamburg (Germany), our wishes: to have a great time.

We left Amsterdam on Saturday morning by car (we had rented one for two days). The first stop was the Afsluitdijk, the 30km. dike that “closes” the IJsselmeer allowing the Dutch to keep dry their “low lands”. It was a quick stop since it was very windy!!!

After driving along the Afsluitdijk, so once we’re in Fryslân/Freisland, we visited a pair of places. First, we took a look at Harlingen, a fishermen’s village; I don’t think it has anything remarkable (especially if you aren’t taking a ferry to the nearby West Frisian Islands) although we bought some cheese pieces that turned out to be very good!.

In Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, our second stop, we rambled for a while and we had a “cheese lunch“: we had several sandwiches each one of them made of a different type of cheese (garlick cheese, spicy cheese, …) we had bought before. Personally, neither there my expectations were fulfilled, may be because I was expecting the north to be very different from what I had already seen (…I don’t know why I expected such a thing). Anyway, the trip was being nice because people was being nice.

The next town we visited was Groningen. There the day-light hours ended up while we had a drink at the most popular bar of the town (I had a hot chocolate that put me in the mood to drive 300km up to Hamburg). However, when trying to get out of Groningen we got lost, so it took us a while to take the proper way to Germany (in fact, it was so because there’s no sign pointing out Duitsland !!). We also had problems with the directions in Germany because there were road repairs.

But eventually, we got to Hamburg and, after asking for it several times and driving around the city for a while, to the hostel in St Pauli neighbourhood. Although we’re tired, we went to have a beer at a near bar; that night I enjoyed the tastiest beer I’ve ever had: a 0.5l. tap Franziskaner.

However, the next day we weren’t able to get up early, so we missed the popular environment that it’s said to be found every Sunday morning in the Fischmarkt. We only had time to enjoy the last songs of the weekly concert that takes place indoors; it was very nice and cosy, enough to be willing to come back to Hamburg and get up very early in order to enjoy the event!!.

After a walk along the surroundings of it, we went to the city center. There we admired the Rathaus of the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, an stunning building that gives evidence of the richness that the city had (and still has) thanks to its harbour.

We also climbed up (in an elevator) to the top of St Nikolai-Kirche, in ruins since the Bombing of Hamburg in 1943, in order to enjoy the views, but at the same time we got conscience of the tragedy.

We’re also touched, in another sense though, by the weather: fortunately it wasn’t rainy, but it was f***ing cold!!! ( 5ºC ).

I have to say that Hamburg left me an odd feeling, I mean, it would be difficult to say why it worths a visit…

It isn’t a city with astonishing buildings and monuments (although a quick dip in its history gives you reasons enough to come), but there’s something in its environment that gives it personality, and I guess it’s something related with what we experienced in the Fischmarkt…

And there is not much more to be told… the way back to Amsterdam was smoothly and quick despite the rain and the darkness…

We had had a nice time together… It was a nice road trip.

Road trip: the North of the Netherlands & Hamburg (slightly above 1.000km in 2 days)

Compártelo

On Saturday 20th, my roommate, our Brazilian neighbour and me visited Rotterdam and Delft (the first was my roommate’s suggestion and the latter mine, so we went to both because they’re close to each other).

So, we left from Amsterdam (”dam on the Amstel”) and, after an hour-train trip, we’re in Rotterdam ( “dam on the Rotte”), the second-most-crowded city of the Netherlands, the second-largest harbour in the World and the unfortunately bombed city by the Nazis on 14th May 1940.

Since the day was sunny (but too chilly!) the first we did, once we had grabbed a tourist-map, was walk up to Euromast (185m), take the lift up to the 150m height terrace and enjoy the views while taking many photos.

But the best had still to come: the rotatory glass-lift that raises for 30m more from the terrace!!. A nice way to enjoy the views!. I would say that’s the second best thing I found in Rotterdam.

After walking to the center and eating we found what I (modestly) think is the best one there: een Kubuswoning (the Cube Houses).

They’re amazing!! I don’t know how living there is like but the outside is really nice.

Moreover, when we walked around them we discovered that there’s a kind of pedestrian street that goes “under” them. Then, we realized that there many more cubes than simply those seen from the main street. For a moment it seems that you’re in the middle of a huge “cubic-shaped mushrooms’ forest“.

By the way, why are they so less known?? I mean, I don’t think the city has much worth to see that these amazing houses and the views from Euromast…

Anyway, we left Rotterdam in the begginning of the afternoon in order to spend a couple of day-light hours in Delft.

I wanted to go there because I remember that in the History of Art’s class book there was a painting called “Gezicht op Delft“ (View of Delft) painted by Vermeer.

The old town is nice to visit, specially its Grote Markt, almost as beautiful as Haarlem’s one.

Once it was dark we had a (delicious!) hot chocolate in a cosy bar. There ended our day trip, nice enough to forget for a while about what is coming: exams’ period.

Compártelo

Last week, the Italians I spent “la Nuit Blanche’07″ with and me devoted our Thursday to a nice bike trip.

It took us all the morning to get to Haarlem since we left Sarphatistraat later than we expected (around 11am) and we took photos to the landscape (a lake, the cows, the bike lane, …) and to us while we’re biking.

Once we got to Haarlem, we walked around for a while, had lunch and admired the beauty of the Grote Markt.

In the afternoon, we decided to get to the nearby sea coast… If only it hadn’t been so difficult!! But it was worth it…

But, since it took us such a long time to finally reach the beach, in an hour it got dark…

….however, it allowed us to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Eventually, after biking through the darkness up to Haarlem, we came back to Amsterdam by train.

Compártelo

On Wednesday afternoon, Tapio and me biked to the south of Amsterdam in order to do some shopping and see the Amsterdam Arena (AFC Ajax’s stadium), since in the same Amsterdam Arena there’s a shopping area and a mall next to it.

Next to the stadium there’s the practise field and a graffiti wall remembering some Ajax stars ( two among them well known in Barcelona: C…… , R……. ) .

Compártelo

Last weekend, a crowd of almost 20 people from Sarphatistraat (me among them) spent their weekend in Belgium. We left Amsterdam by coach on Friday morning and, after taking a train in Bruxelles/Brussel, we got to Bruges/Brugge. We spent all the afternoon walking around the old city center and taking pictures of it; since we we’re tired and we wanted to save energies for the following night (la Nuit Blanche) we went to our beds early… well, not all did that, the two Peruvians had a Belgian beer drinking night and, after arriving to the hostel around 6am, one of them threw up… next morning, he had left the night before’s dinner in Brugge and he was bringing with him to Bruxelles/Brussel a big hangover…

In Bruxelles/Brussel the weather was not as nice as it was in Brugge, I mean, rather than being chilly and cloudy it rained… That’s why, after being at the Grand Place/Grote Markt and taking the typical photo in the Manneken Pis‘ corner, we decided to take a sightseeing tour in a bus… a common activity that many tourist do, but when you’re a 20 people’s group you’re willing to get a discounted fare since you know you have bargaining power… and when there’re two different companies’ empty buses parked in the same corner, your bargaining power increases even more!!… and usually happens (if not, they collude) that the two bus drivers get into a price war (starting to voicing lower ticket prices) … and it might happen (as it did) that the price war becomes a personal question and one of them gets into his competitor’s bus and tries to punch his face (a violent alternative of kicking your competitor out of the market)… But, besides that, the sightseeing tour was really nice (it even took us to the Atomium!), long (1h30′) and cheap (5€).

Afterwards, we went to have a beer at the Delirium Café, a pub awarded with a World Guiness Record because of its 2.004 different commercial beers you can find there (e.g.: a Cruzcampo… 6€!). After having dinner, we gathered at the Grand Place/Grote Markt, which at that time had become the “Botellón Place”… la Nuit Blanche’07 had begun!! However, at 1am Giulio, Teresa and me decided to go to see a concert held in a pub nearby… but, after getting lost for a while, when we reached the pub there was no concert there!! So, we decided to have a beer in a bar opposite to it. What a bar, man! It’s called “Booze’n'Blues” and once inside we realized we had got in a music temple: a “Frank Zappa plays Frank Zappa” poster hang it from the ceiling, a french chanson poster hang it behind the bar, a blues stars concert one in another wall… and an old jukebox full of vinyls ready to be played for 50 cents each; we’re chatting there until 3am. Then, we walked back to the Grand Place/Grote Markt but it was empty of people and full of garbage… and, after rambling around for a while we ended up in the same bar again. There it ended our Nuit Blanche, having a cup of tea while listening to some rock&roll classics coming from the old jukebox… It was not the kind of night I expected, but it was nice though.

But what I wouldn’t have never expected after such a night was meeting the guy we met in the bakery where we’re having breakfast. He was a vagrant who had slept that night in a street of Bruxelles/Brussel and, unusually (as he said), was having breakfast in a bakery; rather than asking us for money, as it may be expected, he just wanted to hold a conversation (he even tried to invite us for a coffe). He explained us that he had been living in several places of the world (he was able to speak Dutch, French and English); he had had several jobs, although nowadays he earns some money playing the saxo in the streets; and that he has been a “whisky drinker” for more than 20 years. He advised us to travel around the world and enjoy the present as much as we could. Personally, I had the impression he had come out of a de André’s song. Although he had been in many places he was still looking for a place where people would be warm and talkative; after my Italian colleagues suggested him to go to the South of Italy, he told us that they weren’t the first to suggest him that, so he’d move him to there as soon as he could gather enough money.

Touched by that unexpected meeting, we left him in the bakery since we had to meet the rest of the people before taking the coach back to Amsterdam. We met them at the lockers of the Gare Bruxelles-Central/Station Brussel-Centraal and, after getting to Bruxelles Nord/Brussel Noord, we took the coach back to Amsterdam at 12am.

Compártelo

Sunday afternoon I biked around Jordaan with my roommate and a friend. Jordaan is said to be the most beautiful neighbourhood of Amsterdam because of its small houses, pedestrian streets and its peaceful environment; however, there’s no canal crossing it. This neighbourhood, whose name it’s said to derive from the French word “jardin” (so imagine how weird is Dutch pronunciation!), was built during the XVIth century as a worker class district, but nowadays is one of the most expensive to live in Amsterdam. Since it’s a small neighbourhood and its streets are quite narrow there’s no canal crossing it; actually, its borders are canals, being Prinsengracht the one that divides it from the old city center.

Prinsengracht is one of the most beautiful canals in the city and, of course, there’re some who live/float on it.

After that, we biked to the east, where we found this windmill, the second I see since I’m in Amsterdam, and then south to Rembrandtpark.
Let’s hope we will still enjoy sunny weekends!!!, because there’re still many places to discover in Amsterdam…

Compártelo

This afternoon I when to play football to a nearby pitch, it’s the first time I play football since I’m here. Somehow it was those informal football matches I sometimes play with my friends in BCN, but this time I had to shout “backwards” rather than “darrera” or “detrás” and so on… (actually, I realized I have to improve a lot my football vocabulary in English, it’s essential in these situations!).

I played in the so called “Iberian team” (three Spaniards and one Portuguese) plus one English guy, who honored his origins playing that “straight-forward way” English are said to play football. So, as many (guys? juas!!) can imagine it was a bit difficult “mixing” with him (in football terms); I mean mixing it with the Iberian “multiple-touch&passing style”. But we did it!! And very well, I think.

Our opponent team consisted of two French guys, a Slovenian, a Polish, a Dutch and a Bulgarian… yes, they were one more than us!

I enjoyed it a lot, although once in my room I realized I got a blister on the sole of my right foot!.

Compártelo

… once my roommate introduced himself, here you have “our home“:

….as you can see we’re sharing a room (that’s why we’re roommates!) with a large window (a typical characteristic of Dutch architecture, one day I may write about it…). Although we’re on the 2nd floor and (as you can see in the picture) there’s a tall tree in front of us, our views are quite nice since Sarphatistraat is a quite calmed street: few cars, a not much noisy tram passing every 10 minutes, and (of course) many bikes!.

As you can see our room have no decoration, so at the moment it looks like quite cold and dull; but we’re looking for some posters and pictures to hang on the walls… any suggestion?

And below these lines you have our kitchen (and our dinning-room). Opposite to it there’re the doors of the bathroom and the storage room.

…one day I’ll write about the delicious food we cook in this kitchen…

Unavoidable detail: …obviously, I’m in the room G !!!!! XD

153 G

How to get to Sarphatistraat 153:

Those who one day may arrive to Amsterdam and might be interested in visiting our room I advise you to, once you’re in Centraal Station, take the metro. Any of the three metro lines that leave from Centraal Station (51, 53 , 54) stop at Weesperplein, the nearest metro station to Sarphatistraat 153.

Compártelo