Couchsurfed

The lease on my apartment does not start until June 24th, which is approximately four weeks from my last day in the bed and breakfast I stayed in when I first arrived in Amsterdam. Dan, a young American professor in my apartment, offered his couch for the week before he leaves for a Mediterranean vacation through early July, and he offered the whole apartment while he is out of the country. So homelessness averted. Except for last weekend, during which Dan requested that I find another place because of his plans for hosting another guest.

I intend to become at least a little active in couchsurfing, since a free couch in Paris is preferable to a $200 per night room. Couchsurfing is an online community where members can host other members who are traveling, free of charge. But convincing a stranger to let you stay in their home for a weekend is probably easier if your profile has endorsements from other couchsurfers who have met you in real life, and can rave about your cleanliness, politeness, and lack of orientation toward wielding axes or sharp knives. So I used my homeless weekend as an opportunity to stay with an Amsterdam couchsurfer and (with my best behavior) begin the development of a good reputation.

My host’s name was Emine. She was born in the Netherlands and lived here until she was eight, then moved with her parents to Turkey and lived there until her mid-20’s. She then returned here and worked for Intel (making her the fifth Intel employee I know), and just left that job for another in the Netherlands. She gave me a little tour of the center of town, and we visited a beer store that carries beers from all over the world, including many Americans (Rogue, Great Divide, etc.) and had a beer at Beer Temple, which has a similar selection on tap. We dined at a Nepalese restaurant, and I tried Tibetan wine, which looked a little like fermented yak milk (and, while I won’t say that the appearance matched the taste, since I’ve never tried anything yak related, it was not particularly good).

She was pleased with me as a guest, and I got a good review. Hopefully this bodes well for me finding a good host when I make a trip to Krakow, Berlin, Paris, or wherever I decide to venture.