Let me begin by stating that this is my best title thus far. If you haven't caught on, each title is a title or lyric from a Counting Crows song... Lame, I know, but I am terrible at titles.
Today was Amsterdam. I am moving to Amsterdam.
We woke up at 7 to catch breakfast, a bus, a train, another train, and arrive in Amsterdam. The day was centered around our digital photography class. We first had 45 minutes to grab something to eat and meet back at Dam Square (pictures in next post). A couple friends and I grabbed a snack (water bottles are 4 US dollars, most places here, by the way) and headed over to the shopping part of town. Then we headed over to the World Press Photo exhibit in this beautiful old church. World Press Photo is a contest that gives awards to various press photographers' work from the year. The exhibit was nice, but the church stole the scene. This place had beautiful etchings carved into the wooden ceilings and elaborate stained glass. The stone floors had carvings also, as they were tombs of various church patrons buried there. I've always loved church architecture, and as you'll see when I put photos up, this place had so much beauty. Next we had two hours to complete a photo assignment (I'll write more on this later when I can post the pictures). This was by far my favorite part of this day in that I had the chance to wander the city alone, think, write, photograph, and even speak with some local people. One man in particular was important to me today, an artist who spoke with me for about 20 minutes while I was photographing him... I stumbled upon him when I followed a canal down a road that turned out to be the Red Light District.
I don't know what you've heard about Amsterdam's Red Light District. While I'm sure it's not a place I'd like to be on a dark and quiet night, it is definitely not what you'd expect. I'd show pictures, but I couldn't take any because prostitute body guards come and yell and make you delete them. Yes, prostitutes. I was walking along, looking at my camera, when I happened to see, out of the corner of my eye, a glass door that led to a small room with a bed, curtains for the door, and a woman in underwear. It was so strange, seeing these men walk right up to them in the middle of the afternoon in front of everyone... blocks and blocks of these little "woman stores". Similarly, the infamous coffee shops were not hard to find. Or smell. While I didn't go in one, the sentiment was much the same: there was no shame for anyone to walk over and head into the back room, some bolder patrons even taking their product outside. Moral issues aside, there was nothing sketchy about either of these practices Amsterdam has become known for. They were simply treated as any other business. Not what I had pictured.
After shooting for a bit, we went to one last photo exhibit (the FOAM) that featured a display my roommate and I had to present on called The Ninth Floor by Jessica Dimmock (wikipedia it, it's very interesting). Then dinner at a little cafe with 12 of our group. Then I slept the whole ride home.
Terrible writing tonight, I know. Just wanted to get a sort of summary in. When I get home I'd love to talk about Dam Square, my painter friend, or the waiter who asked if I "remembered him from when we met in his dreams". But for now, I have more homework than I can fathom and even more sleep to catch up on. Ciao.
PS: The image is my favorite one from the World Press Gallery of Putin.
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