Ariel Knoebel

     When going out at night in Amsterdam, one usually expects a night of gaping at prostitutes, drinking Dutch beer, and maybe experiencing one of Holland’s unique “coffeehouses.” However, American college students rarely remain in the state of mind to navigate the long journey home. On top of this, the intersecting canals and cozily squashed buildings, picturesque by day, become a reflective maze at night, scheming to lure tired travelers from their beds.

After having our fill of Amsterdam nightlife, we left the famous Red Light District and set off towards Vondelpark, where bunk beds were waiting to catch our weary bodies. At this point the canals shifted and the streets bowed to lead us away from our hostel and deep into residential Amsterdam. Once we realized our misfortune, took a few more wrong turns, considered jumping into the canal, and admitted we were hopelessly lost, we took the next responsible step—ask for directions.

A hint about Amsterdam on a Friday after midnight: the entire city is fall-down-drunk. Even outside the tourist filled city center, every bar we walked into was full of extremely friendly, barely coherent natives who all wanted to discuss their nephew/sister/friend who lives in New York/Chicago/Michigan, but none of which really remembered where they were anymore, let alone how to find Vondelpark. We eventually found an English-speaking bartender just sober enough to give us half gestured directions. We set off confident, but wandered through labyrinth-like streets for over an hour just as lost as we were before.

After halfhearted consultation of our map and many conflicting directions (members of one group actually pointed down diverging streets simultaneously), we decided to just enjoy the journey. The pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and trams wrestling each other through the streets all day had stopped, leaving the bikes lining the cobblestones. The buildings leaned on each other like forgotten books in a library, medieval facades decorating each one. Trees along the sidewalks reached for the sky beside four story tall houses, dancing with their wavering reflections in the canals, while multicolored boats swayed in rhythm.

Getting lost was just one in a long line of adventures that anyone visiting Amsterdam is bound to have. The friendly residents and the exquisite streets and canals, even in the humblest neighborhoods, make travelers fall in love with wherever they go—even if they don’t quite know where that is.