Amsterdam: stinky roommate

I still cannot get over how bad our hostel mate smelled.

I fee like my expectations of a hostel consist of a few things. (Note: this was my first hostel experience)

- someone who drinks way to much

- someone who comes home from the bar with a friend

- loud people really early in the morning

- someone waking you up really early because they are awake early

- the person who doesn't like anyone

Note - the smelliness of my roommate was not something that I was anticipating.

She was horrible.

The room that we stayed in had a pretty neat set up. You walked in and there was a little bathroom area with separate rooms for toilet and shower with a sink outside. Then ahead were two bunk beds. On the right there was a steep set of stairs that went up to a loft with two beds on a platform. This is where we were hanging out when our roommate first arrived. We smelled her prior to seeing her. The odour wafted all the way up and it became nearly unbearable.

Luckily in the night we were able to get used to the stench and survive the evening. Even though I was sleeping near a window there was not enough fresh air in the entire city for me to get a non-stinky taste each breathe I took. Even on the ride home I felt like I could still get occasional wafts.

It came to a climax on the last morning after going down for a delicious breakfast, however my tummy was a little upset and food really wasn't what I thought was going to be the greatest remedy. I felt not so great but better by the time I'd eaten. Upon returning to the room it was as though her smell had mated with itself and created mutant offspring designed for chemical warfare. I gagged and almost lost that breakfast I'd worked so hard to ingest. I had to keep a scarf around my mouth that entire morning in order to mute the stench enough for me to make it through those moments in the room.

I discussed this with my roommate as well - and I brought up the fact that it seems Germans are often not as appealing in smell as people in Canada. Like sometimes taking the streetcar is quite difficult due to the distinct mixture of BO and alcohol.

*Another random story not related to this post at all - I ran into a friend of a good friend of mine that I knew from winnipeg in my hostel....CRAZY!! And the girl I ate breakfast with saturday was going to bodensee - a school that I have known previous scholars from