Amsterdam, July 2017

What crosses your mind when you hear ”Amsterdam”? – Would you think about the beautiful bridges crossing the canal or a bicycle friendly city or maybe about the legalization of drugs and prostitution or even the famous red line district or about buying legalized drugs in coffee shops. Well, I only knew about the city from the movies, I saw the beautiful buildings adjacent to the canal. Back then I didn’t know about the city being famous for legalized drugs and prostitution. With time, I heard one too many praises about being able to buy cakes made of drugs in coffee shops. To be honest, I really didn’t know what to expect.

The engineering firm I was working for has annual soccer tournaments, i.e. every office in Europe can enter a soccer team and the tournament will take place at a randomly picked city. This year the soccer tournament was held in Amsterdam. We had to pay for the flight ticket and the hostel ourselves but anyway it was worth it.