Casie's World Adventure - The World is My Oyster!

6 Weeks, Going Strong!

casie — Sun, 7 Aug 2011 18:15:00 GMT

Hello!! So its been quite a while since I've updated my blog; things get so busy so fast!!

I will try my best to sum the last month up in a nutshell! :)

Still working at Boom Chicago and still enjoying it! The people I am meeting are great. I am definitely building a good friend base through working here! I plan on staying at Boom my whole time in Amsterdam (which, at this point, is up in the air how long that will be!)

Working at Shelter Jordan was a great experience. I met two girls who are now like sisters; definitely be in touch forever! I finished my work at the hostel on July 25th. It was hard; I met a lot of great people and had a lot of great memories from working there. It was an emotional time when it ended, but now its time to start new chapters for my adventure book!

After I was done at the hostel, Nohossat and I took off for England. We visited Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, and naturally, London. We did all of this in a week, so it was a very busy but fun week! We got to see Beatle things and places in Liverpool, Couch surfed in Manchester, stayed with a friend I met last summer from Australia in Oxford for 3 nights, and then spent a day and a half biking and exploring London (again!). It was a lot of fun, but it was nice to get back to Amsterdam! It was hard to fully enjoy the trip, as I had a lot on my mind, like, where am I going to stay when we get back to Amsterdam? Am I going to be able to stay longer than three months, will I have work? etc.

So getting back to Amsterdam, we stayed with Celia for the night and then wished Nohossat farewell as she journeyed back to her home in Paris and then off to New York. I stayed another night with Celia and her sister and friend who arrived from Spain. After that, I spent a night at another hostel, then moved into my friend's flat for the weekend, where I'm at now, while she left on a mini holiday. Its been SOOOOOO nice to have my own place for a weekend; I've actually been able to spend some time alone and start planning for the future! My next steps:

I move into a new hostel tomorrow, Cocomama (http://www.cocomama.nl/) where I will be living and working for the next two months. During that time, I will also be researching and possibly starting my own business here! (There is some treaty that allows US citizens to start a business and stay as long as the business is profitable!) I'm thinking a few options; either a language teaching company (Celia teaches Spanish and I could teach English), or a private counseling practice! (Another thought was doing some sort of contract work with the Universities, advising study abroad students). All of this is still at the early planning stages, so I will keep you posted as best I can! :)

Other than that, this past weekend was Gay Pride in Amsterdam which was amazing! The city was SUPER busy; street parties everywhere and an awesome canal parade! Tons of fun. Anyway, that is all for now! I am still enjoying every second of my adventure, and love the unpredictable-ness of life right now. I never know what's going to happen next! :)

I miss everyone dearly and love hearing from you! Until next time-

Casie

First Week: Fun Times, Hard Times, and Just Times!

casie — Fri, 1 Jul 2011 17:30:00 GMT

Alright, where do I begin! Things have been horrible and amazing all at once, haha. I feel like I have thrown myself into an intense (both good and bad...) emotional roller coaster, filled with high-highs and low-lows. The bad with the good, its amazing and I am glad I have taken the plunge to go and experience life!

Early in the week when I started working, things were really hard. I definitely was not used to such manual labor in a non-air conditioned hot hostel with no friends to share in the experience. I worked hard, sweat a lot, then didn't have much to do with my time in the evenings other than to walk around alone and sleep a lot to catch up on jet lag. I was going through some serious doubts earlier this week, feeling lonely amongst thousands of people. I even had a 'cry yourself to sleep' moment thinking about what am I doing and why do I feel so lonely when surrounded by this many people? (Perhaps lying in an 'emergency' bed in the middle of a huge dorm hostel didn't help either...)

The plus side to all of this, is that I quickly came to realize how important it sometimes is to question things and feel lonely, thus you can appreciate when things go well and you begin to make new friends! Wednesday I finally got my own official bed (pictured here!)

which doesn't look like much; but its MY nook. Its where I will be for the next month, and I love it. Its not in the middle of the room, it doesn't sink down in the middle, and since I'm the bed maker, I have extra sheets and pillowcases for my own comfort :)

Since then, things have really been looking up; the cleaning team is a team of 3; I arrived and started working Monday, and the other two cleaners left Thursday, which made me the veteran! My two new cleaning buddies are Nohossat from Paris, France, and Ceilya from Spain. They are both great people, and we work really well as a team! Nohossat is assigned in bathrooms and she doesn't really want to do beds (which is awesome, because I don't want to do bathrooms!!) and Ceilya and I are on beds/rooms. I currently work on the girls floor, so what happens is every morning from 10-10:30 we do morning charge, which right now I'm doing outside (I sweep up cigarette butts & change the garbage both out front of the hostel and out back on the patio). Then from 10:30-11:00 we have Bible Devotion - interesting; the Cleaning Supervisor generally comes with a topic; reads from the bible, etc. and we have a short discussion. The best part, is that Nohossat, Ceilya and I have all never read the bible....haha, SHHHH!!!! :)

Then after that, from 11:00-1:30pm we do our main chores. Today was a SUPER busy day; we had to change 70 beds in total (WHICH IS A LOT!!) and I did 30 on my own, which my supervisor said he's never seen before, so that's pretty awesome :) After we finish beds, we have to clean sink/mirrors, change trash, vacuum and mop each room (7 rooms on each floor). I am actually growing to kind of like doing the work; it really makes me appreciate the housing and food that I am given; I definitely earn it! After that we have lunch from 1:30-2:00pm, then from 2:00-3:00pm we do afternoon charge, which right now Ceilya and I are on cafe, so we stack chairs, vacuum and mop, and we generally get done before 2:30 and are done for the day, which is nice!

Then after that, SHOWER TIME! (which is a VERY satisfying moment!) and depending on the day, I either go hang out with Nohossat in the afternoons, or I will also be beginning my promoting job (Starts tomorrow, yay!) so I'll be doing that some days for a few hours after cleaning to earn some cold hard CASH!! :) My boss at Boom Chicago is really cool, his name is Jesse, he's from California and he's lived in Amsterdam for 2 years now; he gave me free tickets to the show the other night so that I would know what I was promoting, it was super funny, improv comedy, very similar to the show 'Who's Line is it Anyway?' except live. I get to go for free which is awesome, because they have two main 'themes' for their shows going this month, so I want to go check out the other one hopefully tomorrow night.

Other than that, its the people I'm meeting that are really making this trip so amazing. Nohossat is a ton of fun; she's excited to continue working on her English in hanging with me, which is great because I don't speak ANY French!! Last night, we met an English guy, Laimen, and hung out with him the whole night. We had a blast; explored tons of the city, had really good and interesting conversations, and best of all, I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time!! Its so neat to think we are three people who have just met, yet we are hanging out and it feels like we've known eachother forever. An American Girl, a French Girl, and a British Guy, like three peas in a pod! New friends and connections for future travels, no doubt!

I've been contemplating my next move lately as well. Yes, it SEEMS early in my month still, but with how fast this week has already flown by, I don't want the end of my stay to come as a surprise! I'm looking at a few options; as of now, I don't have any major plans until about the 14th of August when I go to Sweden to meet up with my friend Christina, and then on the 16th we go to the Greek Islands for a week! BUT...that means I have about two-and-a-half weeks to figure out what to do! I'm contemplating Lisbon, Portugal (a few people mentioned a cool hostel to work at) or maybe someplace in Germany to polish up on my German; perhaps Hamburg or another city I haven't been to yet! The world is full of opportunity, so its up to me to decide where I desire to go to next! :)

Anyway, until next time, much love!

-Casie

Photos: Amsterdam!

casie — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:00:00 GMT

My month in Amsterdam

And so it begins!

casie — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 09:20:00 GMT

So I've made it to Amsterdam safely! The biggest struggle so far (as always) is lugging your bag from point A to point B...I found the right bus from the airport to the hostel, so that was good, but once we got to the bus stop it was a bit tough trying to find the right way to go! Luckily I picked one of the nicest cities in the world, because when people look lost, locals actually help them find their way! Thank you to the woman on the street who helped point me in the right direction! :)

So I got to the hostel and checked in letting them know I was going to start cleaning on Tuesday; they said they might need me to start earlier than that if that worked, so I am going to be actually starting today (which is nice because that means an extra free night of stay!) so I'll begin my cleaning work in about an hour!!

After I got all checked in yesterday, I headed out to the grocery store to get some food/water and I sat at a bench across the canal from the Anne Frank House and the Westerkerk, watching canal boats go by for a quiet, peaceful picnic! The weather is gorgeous, high 70's yesterday and its supposed to be in the 80s today, can't wait to get off work, hopefully meet some friends and do some exploring! Until next time...

-Casie :)

Ok, so the evening update!! So I started cleaning this morning...which is really not going to be fun!! Haha, however, I am going to be an awesome & efficient bed maker when I come back!! I thought about quitting today...hahaha but I'll tough it out :) The only real hard part is that they over-booked and didn't have a bed for me; so they had to re-arrange the lockers in the big dorm and add another bed, which means I am currently staying in a 19 bed room!! I'll be in the same dorm my whole month here, so that's going to be an adjustment in and of itself! Kind of an interesting horoscope for today:

"Not every day can be a life-affirming adventure, unfortunately, and today is one of those slow rides that seems to go nowhere. Try to just wait it out, as things should get a lot more interesting tomorrow."

I thought this was very fitting for today! I also survived my first bible discussion and took a nice stroll around the Jordaan area of Amsterdam this afternoon. Nothing too huge to report as of yet, but the journey is just beginning! :)

-Casie

Pre-Departure Anticipation!

casie — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A little over 24 hours before I begin the journey of my life! I'm having a lot of mixed feelings; its all so bitter-sweet! On one hand, I'm going to be embarking on the most exciting adventure in my life. A time where I am going to grow and really challenge myself. On the other hand, I'm leaving behind family, friends and loved ones, as well as my job, my car, and any sense of stability I had!! Ha, no, really though; I know that if things don't work out, I am lucky to always have a home to come back to! :)

So the basics: what am I doing, where am I going, and WHY? Well the short answer, is that I LOVE traveling the world and something inside of me is telling me that if I don't do it, I will forever regret it. Its hard to explain; but everything that is happening now feels so right. Its a major life change, but everything is falling into place, just as it should. Everything about this trip is happening the way it is meant to happen; and the events that are yet to come are meant to come as they will. My only real plans at the moment? Live life to the fullest! I truly believe that whatever it is I am searching for, I am finally going to come to terms with it on this journey and find some inner peace. :)

Last summer when I was backpacking for nearly 6 weeks, I stayed at hostels the whole time. (Yes, you share a room with a bunch of strangers. And yes, they have their ups and downs; but they are still amazing!!) When I was thinking about where I wanted to begin my journey, for some reason Amsterdam stuck out the most. No, it is not because of the marijuana, haha. I think its because the city just has such a great feel to it; the canals are gorgeous in the summer, with the trees and the sun shining; the people are helpful, nice and open; and there is so much history and beauty within its reach! And... I stayed at a Christian Youth Hostel last summer that hires travelers! We met a girl working at the front desk who happened to be from Minnesota and works there every summer, so I'm sure that seed was planted in the back of my mind for later use, which happens to be now!

Anyway, to begin my journey, I will be landing in Amsterdam on Sunday the 26th and heading to the Shelter Jordan Christian Hostel (www.shelter.nl/theshelterjordan.php) where I will be staying for two nights before I begin my job as a cleaner there on the 28th! Perks of the position: Free room and board, 3 meals a day, Free Wi-fi, and free laundry service for 28 days! Not a bad gig, if I do say so myself! Which means I will be in Amsterdam until about July 26th! :)

Also, I have an interview Weds with a comedy club called Boom Chicago (www.boomchicago.nl) for a position on their promoting team, working approximately 5-10hours a week for some extra cash. Sweet!

Contact Info:

Skype Name: casie.gehrz (get it! Its free to talk over the internet!)

Cell Phone: +372 548 19698 (yes, there's an extra number and a plus sign; the extra number is because of its country code, the plus sign gets there when you press and hold the '0' key, you do need that! Also, I haven't gotten text messages to work yet; texting yet to come!)

Hostel:Shelter Jordan, Bloemstraat 179, 1016 LA Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Anyway, that is all for now! Next time I will be in Amsterdam!

-Casie