First trip in Amsterdam

My big brother Ben, my friend Paul and me went to visit our friend Alex in Brussels in February and so we took two days in Amsterdam, the bus ticket being only 20 euros. I'm accustomed to weed but had never tried any psychedelics, I was burning to do them. I was trying with Paul to get some shrooms from some guy at our highschool, but it wasn't really working out so I was very excited at the idea of taking the shrooms, had been doing lots of reading and all.

The guy at the smartshop advised us to take a box of mexican each and said one divided for two might be too mild. However, my friends wanted to take two boxes for the four of us, and we didn't argue too long about it, even though I thought more would be a better idea. It was all our first time except for my brother who had taken one mexican on the seller's advice once in London, when it was still legal.

So we went into a park and ate them, just like that, on a bench. I didn't think they tasted bad, like everyone said it did, it actually just tasted like mushrooms :D . We ate three or four each, I don't remember. We waited for one or two hours after having eaten for the last time, on the seller's advice, so we took them around 4PM.

We had already smoked some joints earlier so it was difficult to tell what was due to the weed and to the shrooms at first. But for 30-45 minutes or so, we didn't really feel anything, just a little giggling and a lot of expectation on what was going to happen. The colors of the sun, the grass, the reflection on the water, etc were also a little enhanced.

We then decided to go into a coffee shop to warm ourselves up. The walk in the city was awesome. The effects just came sort of gradually, at first it was just lots of laughter and excitement. We had no idea where we were going but everything was very funny. We then walked by a candy shop in which we admired very expressively the candy and bought some. They were delicious! Each one had a very complex taste and swirled through my body, starting various sounds and visuals. The sounds were also impressive: each time I heard a sound or someone say something, it echoed everywhere in my head, I could visualize the position of each sound, and heard melodies everywhere, it was like one big progressive electronic piece of freaky music! We also saw smoke captured into a bicycle seat and little sorts of alien beings moving around and breathing inside a wall.

We then sat next to the canal. My friend Paul had totally freaked out during this first phase, he was walking all alone real fast in front of us and when he sat next to me he looked worried, like his whole world had fallen apart. We talked a bit about it, but we didn't really manage to communicate. The rest of us were having lots of fun. At this point I actually thought the trip was over. I think it had been an hour and a half or something like that since we took the shrooms, i can't tell for sure.

When it started to rain (the rain drops in the water were hypnotizing!), we just went into the streets, panicking a bit, I guess towards a coffee shop, I didn't really know. But then this amazing thing happened. In the park, I had picked up an empty weed plastic pocket thingy with a coffee shop logo on it, its address and the slogan "the purest shop in town". And just as we turned the street, when it was starting to rain real hard, I saw the Dolphin's logo, took the thingy out of my pocket, recognized the logo and we rushed into it.

The shop was perfect for a trip! The paintings on the walls and the ceiling, the sculptures of mushrooms, the music, the atmosphere were really cool. I still thought at first the trip was ending, or wasn't sure about it, so I rolled a joint. As I looked at the mirror on the wall, my brother told me something about it, I don't remember what, and I said "no, it's a puddle of water". And then I had the impression that the limits between the world and its reflection in the mirror melted and the mirror filled the room, and then I really enjoyed the trip! Everything was so beautiful and intense and infinite and perfect! We must have stayed there something like 3 hours. I was in awe of everything! I saw everything as multidimensional, like looking at two mirrors facing each other. There were also light fractal type visuals, sort of visual echoes. The sounds were amazing. Each time someone said something, especially someone we didn't know, It echoed lots and sounded deeply. Everything just generally looked windy, fuzzy and blurry, a bit like the parts in the lord of the rings where Frodo puts the ring on... But the general impression was that we were inside the mushroom, going into a different land, we were definitely not in Amsterdam anymore. The shop was like a spaceship, when I looked at the windows I thought they were screens there to remind us of what Amsterdam was like.

The mindset it put us in was one of general well being, like everything made sense, and there was no reason left to worry about anything! We all said things like "just let go, man" and stuff. Paul also felt a lot better and smiled and all. We sat there all grinning and looking at the things around us, making some profound philosophical remark every few seconds. We half listened to each other but understood each other very well. I had read things about set and setting, and precautions to take to avoid any bad trips, and everything, and before the trip I worried about that but everything went well in the end. The only elements that were somewhat bad in the trip was sometimes thinking that I was the only one tripping and that everyone was sober, but as soon as I found out I was wrong I was happy again.

The experience was awesome, I don't remember exactly what we did next, we just wondered around the city, smoked and all. For the rest of the day and the following one, we were all forced into silence by the profoundness and greatness of the trip, we didn't really say much except how it was really great. I think it went well because we all liked each other, and also because of the place. The shop itself was, as I said, really neat, but the general atmosphere of Amsterdam was important. We weren't worried about people, because it was legal and all, and in the coffee shop people smiled at us and there were no tensions. That's what was great with Amsterdam : finally being able to buy your weed in a legal way behind a counter, with guaranteed quality and smoking it without having to hide! Anyway I'm now looking forward to my next trip, and I think next time I'll aim higher, because I could feel the trip could be more profound. My friends however all said they had enough for some time...