DOSE:	1.0 g	oral	Mushrooms	(dried)
	1 cig.	smoked	Cannabis	(plant material)
	1 glass	oral	Alcohol - Beer/Wine	(liquid)

BODY WEIGHT:

168 lb

I had managed to blag my way to tag along on a school art trip to Amsterdam, this is particularly relevant as I don’t study art, also it is worth mentioning that my school drug tests students randomly and if you come up positive, you are kicked out, so I wasn’t willing to take the risk of smoking cannabis, as I couldn’t face being expelled. Though I do smoke a lot in the holidays! I am interested in art and have always liked Van Gogh Paintings and I looked forward to seeing the art, experiencing the Amsterdam culture, but of course, my plans were not based totally around art and culture.

On our first night, we arrived at midnight, and me and my roommate ran outside to try and find some Magic Mushrooms. We were fairly naïve as to the terminology or where to find them. The first open establishment we reached was a Kebab Shop. We asked if they knew where we could buy mushrooms. The proprietors of the shop were Turkish, living in Holland, and therefore didn’t understand what we meant. So I simplified: “Marijuana, Where can we find Marijuana?” They pointed us up the street and we soon arrived at a Turkish cannabis café, we asked at the counter for mushrooms, but once again, they didn’t know what we meant.

We gave up for the night and went to a bar and got very drunk on Absinthe and went home. The next day after visiting galleries and museums, we were let loose in town at about 7. We went out and had a fairly mediocre dinner at a tapas bar, and went off again in search of mushrooms. I went into a café in Rembrantsplein, and was relieved to find a 20 something year old English pothead behind the counter, finally someone who speaks my language! I asked where we could buy mushrooms, and he told me to go to a ‘Smartshop’. I asked where the nearest one was, and he said they are everywhere, try the flowermarket. So we set off, not knowing where we were going really, and found the flowermarket by asking for directions from at least 6 people. We then spotted a large sign saying, “Smart Products Shop”, so we went in.

These shops sell mushrooms, herbal ecstacy, mushroom kits, drug gadgets (bongs, tooters, pipes etc), and all sorts of semi-legal drugs, including cannabis cookies and chocolate. I bought a box containing 4 large fresh Mexican mushrooms for €12, We went back to our hotel room quite early, and I gave one of these to my roommate and ate the remaining 3. I then proceeded to watch fight club on the hotel room TV, which I had never seen before. The film seemed immeasurably exciting, and I was overwhelmed by the good vibes it gave me.

Although not experiencing any intense effects, I was in a very calm and relaxed state, more open to others and more sociable. I also recall being mesmerised by my cigarette smoke as it rose from the tip of my Lucky Strike. We went downstairs to the hotel bar where we met the rest of our group. The music and bright lights were brighter and more pleasurable than usual, I tried many different types of beer as they all tasted better than usual. I went to bed late and very drunk and woke up without a hangover, which is unusual for me, and feeling rested and revitalised. My roommate felt nothing, and I felt it was a waste to give him just one when he didn’t feel anything, and I kinda wished that I had eaten them all, to get better effects.

I was impressed with the feeling they gave me, but I still wanted to experience a ‘trip’, so while looking round a particularly dull gallery (Reiechs Museum I think) I slinked out and managed to find a smartshop and purchased 2 dried doses of Hawaiian mushrooms for €15 each. Apparently the strongest ‘visual mushrooms” on the market, it was definitely the most expensive! I decided that I wouldn’t have the time or the strength (it was a long weekend trip) to try them in Amsterdam so I took them home with me.

I ended up trying them at a friend’s house, his parents weren’t due back until 1am, and it was 4 in the afternoon. I had not eaten much that day, and had arranged to stay at his house. I had the mushrooms in 2 little Baggies, one (1 gram) dose each. We set up the house so we would not have to do anything too hard, like putting CDs in the stereo ready, putting junk out of the way, emptying our pockets, lighting the fire (log burning fireplace), locking the door, drawing the curtains etc. We went outside into the garage and rolled and smoked a fairly strong joint, and once we were coming down from that we tried to decide how to take the mushrooms.

I suggested in honey, like I had read in a guide, but my friend suggested we heat up some milk and then add the honey and shrooms. We did this, pouring the hot (not boiling) milk into mugs. We found it very funny and ironic because we were using mugs with our previous very anti drugs school's logo on them! So we poured hot milk over the mushrooms with honey at the bottom and let them cool & brew so we could drink it.

Well, it was delicious and very effective, I have since read that milk products cause nausea in the initial hour or 2 of the trip, but neither myself nor my friend experienced any nausea at that stage. I cut up 4 oranges into quarters and put them in a bowl on the floor in the living room to eat to get the vitamin C in case the trip was too intense, as recommended by the kind yet odoriferous hippie in the mushroom store. We settled down in respective armchairs to watch Bridget Jones’ Diary. A film that I enjoyed when I first saw it.

After about half an hour, I started to feel really unusual and realised I was watching the wall next to the screen. The wall was swirling and all distorted, I was seeing patterns flying round and really weird bright colours. I had totally lost interest in the film, feeling the jokes were childish and generally feeling above the mentality of the film. I was suddenly overcome with hilarity, and was laughing for what seemed like ages, whilst doing dumb things like trying to swim on the carpet, and exploring the living room.

My friend, who wasn’t feeling anything, was encouraging me in an amusingly patronising way 'Your exploring are you? What can you see? You having fun back there?' and finding my antics amusing. I was hit by a sense of belonging and understanding, believing that I understood life, death, love and peace. I also spent 20 minutes staring at the Christmas tree lights. My friend was not feeling much, so I kicked him out of his living room, turned off the TV and the lights and put on Pink Floyd’s “pulse” album. The first song, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” was intensely euphoric, and I still get a shiver of pleasure every time I hear it.

I sat cross legged and topless in the centre of the room becoming one with the music (how corny does this sound), swaying to the music and thinking that the speakers were the ‘music of love zone’ and the fireplace, lit but blocked by a safety grill, was the ‘warmth of the soul zone’. My friend took me outside and for a walk round the garden, it was just after sunset and raining lightly. The sensation of soft rain while walking through an orchard was overwhelmingly beautiful. I was one with nature and I was the king of the world.

I came back inside after a few minutes. It was cold and I was half naked in December in Britain, not a great idea. I called my girlfriend, and tried to have a conversation with her, but I was just laughing my head off, and she just got freaked out. My friend then received a phone call from his mate asking him to come out to the pub. My friend was thoroughly bored of my nonsensical ramblings and odd behaviour, and didn’t understand what I was going through, so he agreed and made me put my shirt on and took me to his car.

[Erowid Note: Driving while intoxicated, tripping, or extremely sleep deprived is dangerous and irresponsible because it endangers other people. Don't do it!]

At this point I started to feel insecure, only slightly but it was the first bad vibe I had since the beginning of the trip. My friend was driving whilst under the influence of one of the most powerful mushrooms you can buy, I do not recommend this to anyone and now understand that I am in a sense lucky to be alive. He was not tripping, but he was feeling some effects. He was commenting on the streetlights looking “totally wow!”, which is unusual for his usual eloquent quips, though driving very well.

I remember feeling more and more insecure as we got closer to the pub. Would they know I was on drugs? would I get arrested? Was I looking my best (I thought not)? I stuck my head out of the window and calmed myself by looking at the glowing red and green cats eyes on the side of the road, thinking I was on a runway taking off, but it didn't help much. By the time we were at the pub I was feeling very self-conscious. I was paranoid and after half a pint of lager, I was nauseous and having a panic attack, I hid this well, but told my friend I was feeling really bad and retired to the car, after vomiting heavily in the car park.

I was petrified when I was in the pub as I felt everyone hated me and wanted to kill me. I felt safe in the car because I locked myself in and listened to the radio. After half an hour my friend came out to see if I was ok, and I convinced him (now close to tears) that we had to go home. He agreed, and took me home, on the way home I was explaining to him what I was going through, and he agreed that my trip was definitely turning bad now. I was swearing to myself that I would never take drugs again, and I was thinking that I would go and live in a monastery, very delusional, not like me at all! I kept reminding myself that it was all drugs, and it would be over, but I only half believed myself.

We got home, around 10 PM, and I ate the oranges that I had prepared earlier, as well as a litre of cranberry juice. We sat down and as the effects wore off, and I started to land, I put on the Beatles, Blue Album. The music was cheery and familiar, talking about love, getting upbeat and generally cheering me up. As I came down, we played a 3-hour game of chess. I think I won, but I can’t remember.

I was a bit confused for a few days afterwards, as the mushrooms showed me things about myself that I never knew and some things I didn’t want to know. My mild insecurities briefly became complexes. My mind took a few days to go over all the things and thoughts I experienced during my trip, mostly good things but a few bad. I found it hard to get my head round alot of stuff, and I wasn’t quite myself for a few days, quite depressed and very introspective. It took about 4 days for me to get over all this new knowledge that the gates of perception had opened me up to.

In retrospect, the mistake of the experience was going out into public. I have got hold of more dried mushrooms and intend to do them again (it is 3 months later now).

Exp Year: 2003	ExpID: 22533
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 22, 2007	Views: 6,182
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Mushrooms (39) : First Times (2), Retrospective / Summary (11), Music Discussion (22), General (1), Various (28)