Only an Ocean away...

It was my first visit to any foreign country. I have never been out of Pakistan ever. Also, I have never been away from my home for more than 3-4 days. This time I was going to Amsterdam with one of my colleague for a whole month for office work. I wasn't sure how would this month will pass like. Will I be able to survive the homesickness or not? How quickly and easily will I adopt and understand the norms of the new country? What if some mishap happens to my luggage or any document or me? I have nothing in my mind and was completely blank regarding everything. My whole family came to see me off at the airport. I easily felt embarrassed when people pay attention to me publicly and I am not comfortable with that. But anyhow I surpassed it and went ahead for a journey which was an ocean away.

My first day in Amsterdam was quite interesting. As soon as I went out of airport, the first thought that came in my mind was “It is nice”. We took taxi “which was “Mercedes” and went to our hotel. I got a studio apartment. It was nice, cozy and had all the important things needed for daily routine including television, telephone, internet link, iron, fridge, microwave, crockery, CD player etc. Around 4 pm we headed towards the office which was 15 minutes walk away. Our exact location was “Amstelveen”. It is a small city situated in south of Amsterdam. Around evening, I went to see Amsterdam. For first timers in Europe or Amsterdam, one should take care while crossing the road. You never know from which direction the tram will come, so always look on sideways before you cross any road in Central part of city. I literally survived getting under the tram on my first day. It was just a foot away.

There are five things famous about Amsterdam or should I say about Netherlands. First is Museums; there are near hundred museums in Amsterdam alone. However, I had been to none of them because I don’t find museums fascinating much. Second thing is windmills. Every tourist who comes to Netherlands is crazy to see windmills. Again, this thing didn’t attract me as well. Third thing is tulips. For me Tulips are just flowers. And they are not the thing of my type either. However I did go to Keukenhof which is said to be most photographed place in the world. It is world’s biggest flower park having millions of tulips. One Pakistani whom I met in a bus said, they are just artificial, odorless and spray painted flowers. Anyways, the fourth thing is the canals. Amsterdam is all surrounded and full of canals, which made Amsterdam "Venice of the North". Now that was an interesting part of city. The last thing is the Red Light Area of Amsterdam. I won’t tell anything about it. You have to explore it yourself.Apart from all this, I went to Walibi (formerly Six flags), which is an amusement park having some amazing rides. I really enjoyed a lot there. I also went to Maduradam, a miniature park having small models of all important places, buildings and monuments of Netherlands. Other cities I have seen in Netherlands were Den Hague and Delft. There is nothing special about them, they are just small cities. I have also been part of the Queen’s day celebrations, which is a national holiday of Netherlands. Whole country comes out of their houses to celebrate this day. They dance and enjoy whole night and day on streets. It is the most celebrated day of the year. I also visited Paris and Brussels.

Overall my stay in Amsterdam was amazing. I visited a lot of places and saw a part of world from which I was never acquainted to.

Getting back to Pakistan was hard for sure :) , but still Home is Pakistan. Wherever I go I have to come back to Pakistan.