posted on Jul, 31 2009 @ 08:45 AM
I lived in Amsterdam (right on Singel Canal near Adam Centraal) for about 14 months and I really enjoyed it!!
And that Fox news report was 100% incorrect. Surely America(ns) isn't/aren't that naive...???
WHen I lived there, it seemed like the *only* people that used drugs were the foreigners - specifically the Brits, the Yanks and the Canadians. Sure,
there are some seedy places in Adam, but every city has that.
The sex industry was regulated, the cannabis could only be smoked in certain areas - you couldn't walk down the street puffing away.
The public transit was fantastic, the trains were reliable and fast (didn't like the smoking carriages as it was just a haze of blue smoke, but at
least there's a choice). Sure, you have to be careful of the vast number of push-bikes as they're everywhere (as you can get knocked down if you
don't stay on the designated pavements).
The countryside is beautiful and green. And the women are immesurably better looking than anywhere in North America on average.
Some things take getting used to, like the public grey-urinals which can be a bit nasty depending on the time of day
But all in all, Adam, along with Utrecht and especially Amersfoort (my fav!) are great places, full of life and people and some really nice sites and
museums.
I think Fox News has done an incredible disservice to the American audience -- they took stereotypes and decontextualised situations and cultural
differences and turned them into shock/horror reporting.
[edit on 31-7-2009 by noonebutme]