Amsterdam Pt. 1

So. . . I went to Amsterdam last week.

I went to participate in Sieraad (more on that in a future post). The whole experience was quite exhausting on every level. I had an okay time, but I will say that Amsterdam is not my city. It's a fine city, but I didn't get the sense I belong there. Have you ever had the experience of arriving in a new city for the first time in your life and you just feel it? Like you've been there before? Like it was waiting for you to show up? This was not one of those times for me. And I wasn't in Amsterdam long enough for it to feel really connected to it. This is not meant as a complaint, just a statement of fact. It was all just surface stuff; bikes, and canals and architecture. I didn't get to experience the soul of the city.

The view from out 3rd floor apartment.

My favorite part of course, was the canals. We walked along several going between the show and our apartment. This has me reflecting again on water and the significance of water to the places I feel most connected two. Somehow, nearly everything keeps coming back to water, and I'm anxious to visit my rivers soon.

I can't help but to compare Amsterdam to my time in Italy, the only other time in my life I've really been abroad. But the two were so vastly different in both culture and purpose. In Italy, I meticulously recorded every detail. Amsterdam was such a whirlwind, it was all I could do to snap some photographs and tape some things in my sketchbook. I came home feeling like I hadn't really experienced anything but extreme tiredness and muscle soreness. We were a ways away from all the touristy things also, so I feel like I stuck out extra much (big red suitcase anyone?).

I'm still processing the whole deal(ordeal?), but for now I'm glad to be home, in the safety of the familiar and routine. There's some work to be done (still!) and New Bern seems as good a place as any.

Thanks for reading. More soon, to make up for my hiatus.