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Hey! So Glad You're Here. Check out how it all started
September 2022: Well, I planned on rewriting the story of how did my journey in Amsterdam started, but I've found this awful piece of work I've written in late 2020, and decided to just let you read it. Warning! It's meh, it's cringe, it doesn't have a proper structure. But I guess this is who I really am, and I strongly believe that this little text will let you get to know me better! Cheers!
Okay. So it all started a long time ago. No, maybe not that long, but it was almost a year since I’m moved here – Amsterdam. It wasn’t easy to adapt, at first. Things were happening very fast. New country, new city, new job, new apartment. Everything was new. My friends in Poland were asking me: “Do you even know what the f**k are you doing?”. Did I? No. I had no idea. I was scared, lonely and excited. Not only that, but I remember when I was getting on to the bus from my hometown (Legnica) to Amsterdam, my parents walked me to the stop. My father kept saying “you know, you can always come back, if this western world will make you feel sick, just pack your things and go back home”. I know, dad, thank you. Then I started to wonder if it’s a sign of support, or he was sure that I’m going to fail? Most probably, I was just overthinking. The demon of overthinking follows me all the time. Anyway, let’s go back to the point.
When I was younger, I spent a lot of time with my aunt and grandfather. Grandpa was the smartest guy I’ve ever known (and staunch atheist). He would probably kick my ass because of saying that, but I will do it anyway: God blessed his soul! During school, I was always having issues with math (like everyone!). My Grandpa was trying to help me with that so hard, but he was incredibly impatience. Therefore, every time I didn’t understand what he was trying to teach me about those difficult numbers, he used to say “Snowmen should stay in the shadow”. Must say, that at first I didn’t get that. Then I realized that it basically means that if you’re stupid, you need to stay in the back. My lovely Grandfather was calling me stupid, and I obviously was xD. I’m telling you that because, when I was sitting in the bus to Amsterdam, for the first time in my life I felt that I’m not that snowman. And even if I’m wrong, who cares. In the age of global warming, snowmen will melt anyway, so I decided to move from the shadow. No risk, no fun. Live, love, laugh and other cringy phrases.
After an extremely long journey (13 hours) and changing buses twice, I finally arrived. The first view of Amsterdam wasn’t even close to what I’ve been expecting. You all have some sort of nice picture when someone is saying “Amsterdam”. Most of the time you think about small cute houses located one by another, canals and smell of the weed. That’s what I was thinking. Surprise, surprise. Only city center looks like that. When the bus stopped and the driver said that we just arrived to Amsterdam, I was sure that he had no idea what he’s talking about. Are you kidding me? It’s not Amsterdam, it’s a parking lot close to some train station in the middle of nowhere with a name I couldn’t even pronounce. So I was standing there next to the trash bin with my two massive suitcases, looking at the big bright sign “Duivendrecht” and I was wondering “where the fuck am I?”.
Okay, maybe I was a little dramatic. It’s not the end of the world and when you google the location, it’s only a few metro stops from the central station. I grabbed my luggage and went straight to the metro. In the meantime I messed up a bit: broke my suitcase and took the wrong train, but after that I finally arrived to central station. And then I saw it! Amsterdam, that I was looking for. Small houses, weed, tourists, everything just like on Instagram pictures. #beautiful. I’ve got a lot of time before I was able to pick up the keys to my new apartment, or I should rather say to my room. For a poor guy from Eastern Europe, it is extremely expensive to rent an apartment for his own. Even the room I’ve chosen was too expensive. However, you need to start with something. After I finally picked up the keys, I had to actually find the apartment, which was not the easiest task and my phone was dying. Of course, I’ve checked the location a million times before, but now I was actually there, and I must say – don’t trust Google Maps. It’s a lie, specially in Amsterdam. I took a metro and went back to where I came from and even further. I passed the Duivendrecht station and I felt that now I know at least one place in this city. Google Maps told me to get off the train at Bijlmer Arena station and then walk for a few minutes. Okay, perfect. It can’t be too hard, maybe a bit annoying because of the big luggage. Yeah, no. Right at the beginning of my little walk I chose the wrong way, but wanted to save battery, so I was walking in the wrong direction for 10 minutes. When I found the right way, it turned to be closed at some point because of some road renovation. I couldn’t check the correct way because my phone decided to die a few seconds later. You can’t imagine how scared and pissed I was at that moment. But wait a second? Why should you be stressed? People lived without cellphones and Google Maps before. Damn God, just ask someone! And I did. Thank God for this nice, older lady who helped me!
There was no one there in the flat when I arrived, even better. I was pissed and the last thing I wanted to do was to talk with strangers, aka my new roommates. And here comes the showtime! I opened the door to my new room. I will never forget this moment and the disappointment behind it. You’ve never seen a room that small. My parents have a closet bigger than that. Besides that, I’ve never ever watched Harry Potter movies, but I really believe that his room under the stairs was much bigger. But well, I’ve got a window and roof under my head, what else do I need? Nothing. I sat on my new bed and few minutes later I fall asleep
Okay, let’s take a look at the list. New country, check. New city, check. New apartment, check. Only new job was still to achieve. In my entire life, I was never that excited about work. It felt like everything is going to change and with that company I can only grow and become a successful. Yeah, maybe there is still a chance, but because of Covid it’s much harder. Besides, the company I work for is a regular corporation, I was just idealizing it so much. Anyway, back then, I thought it was the best thing that is happening to me. Therefore, I was a little stressed. What am I saying?! The level of my anxiety was THE highest. Obviously I didn’t want to mess up anything, so I decided to be there 2 hours earlier just in case. It was unusually cold morning and I couldn’t show up in the office earlier so, with the coffee from Starbucks in my hand, I was walking around the Sloterdijk station. When the right time came, I entered the office with some weird confidence, but well it was just a moment. As soon as I’ve seen all others new employees I’ve got cold feet and for a tiny little second there was a stupid thought in my head that I should go back home. But no! I didn’t go through this whole stress just to run away!
To be very honest with you guys, I don’t remember much from the first day. It was a lot of going on, and my brain decided not to keep the stressful moments I’ve experienced on that day. I remember, tho, that I’ve met there one of the best people ever.