There are few places in the world that can pull off the Netherlands’s unique combination of reefer-clouded progressiveness and folksy, earnest charm. Like your straight-edge, ex-hippie high school math teacher, this part of Europe somehow manages to appeal both to tulip-loving, wooden-shoe-lusting grandmas and ganga-crazy, Red-Light-ready students. So, like every other college student, come to Amsterdam to gawk at the coffeeshops and prostitutes, but don’t leave thinking that’s all there is to this quirky country. Take some time to cultivate an appreciation for the Dutch masters; people will think you’re so cool when you declare that the Northern Renaissance was really the site of Western culture’s rebirth. Take time to pick the brains of the friendly, largely English-speaking natives. Obviously, most Dutch people aren’t pot-heads—they’ll tell you that if marijuana was legalized in the states, 700,000 fewer people would need to be incarcerated annually. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Consider what it would be like to live in a place where hookers are unionized and public works like windmills, dikes, canals, and bike lanes define the national character, and get ready to go Dutch!