Amsterdam Day 1

I had a full day today in Amsterdam. First, I went shopping for warm clothes and shoes for a couple of hours. It was nice just to walk down the main shopping street going into stores and trying on boots. After a couple of hours of trying on shoes I decided just to buy a warm pair of socks instead. Then I had a huge lunch of Thai chicken soup and a huge sandwich. In the afternoon I went on a canal cruise/tour through the city. The tour was very bad but it was really nice to see more of the city. At around 4:45 the sun went down and I went back to my hotel room to rest. About two hours ago I went to get some dinner. To do this I had to go outside (which took all of my motivation I could muster up) dressed in so many layers that I couldn't more my arms. I ate a delicious McDonald's quarter pounder meal and went to this dessert place and got a waffel drenched in chocolate sauce. All of this food tasted amazing to me!!

Its been a strange day starting to adjust. I was so close to bargaining with the salespeople at H&M today. Also, I was worried that something was wrong with my food at lunch because it came so fast. Going on public transportation absolutely blew my mind because the tram actually came to a full stop to let passengers on. And there was a mechanical paying system! Oh and I was just getting used to the lack of personal space in Tanzania so the amount of space people put between themselves has kind of made me think. On the public bus there is a "comfort level" rating based on how many people are on the bus. That just makes me laugh. I got weird looks when I sat down directly next to someone at a table. This is just the beginning of "reverse culture shock."