Once again I didn't get much sleep, but got to sleep through the flight to
Holland. I had Ana's second sandwhich for breakfast upon arrival. This time it was a baguette with some sort of white, sharp cheese which was surprisingly really good. Took a train and bus to the flying Pig Hostel in Noordwijk. My hostel was a stone throw away from the center of the town where the huge light house was. It had free wifi, a surf bar, and even a shower.
Noordvijk is a beach town. It wasn't warm enough to hang out on the sand but still their was a bunch of people walking along the shore line and board walk shopping. There were a lot of alleys full of people shopping even for the chilly weather. The hostel was pretty small but was booked to capacity. I took a needed nap on my cot and went back out and looked for the super market where I got dinner (nutella and a loaf of bread).
That night i hung out at the bar where I met Johannes Forster from Leipzig, Germany, who happened to be my bunk mate. Johannes worked at an intergovernmental organization called TEEB. He was visiting Amsterdam as well for a job offer to work for environmental analysis. This entailed analyzing environmental costs of certain projects and endeavors. He did work for things such as the BP oil spill, the disappearance of the cod industry in Canada, water cleaning in the Catskills etc. He often went in to depth about certain projects he did. One that comes to mind is the narrowing of a river in Napa valley in order to maximize space for farming, but doing this sped the river up and eroded the land which was hurting a nearby village. I even got some good advice from him about what I'm looking into 
when i get out of college about socially responsible investing (sri).The next morning I went into by Leiden 20 minutes away by bus where I saw a bunch of lighthouses. Leiden had a much homelier feel than Amsterdam. It was much more less inhabited by tourists than Amsterdam and the streets were a lot less conglomerated with people so there were no souvenir shops. Also, the streets and canals were not lined with x-rated shops and shady characters which made this town a very comfortable place to spend the day. There was a pub that I went in to get a wee pint of guiness to go with my nutella and bread lunch. I didnt get a knife so i had to dip the bread in the jar which more or less didnt quite work to well. Walked along the waterways and went around the town by looking for all the churches that could be seen by looking up. I stayed here until around 4-5 pm and took a train into Amsterdam.
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