Time flies...

Time truly does fly by when you're having fun. But forget cliches, I am almost 6 weeks into my stay here in Amsterdam and I couldn't be happier. I've already begun to wonder how the hell I am ever going to return to normal life in the States. Amsterdam is simply that amazing. There is really nothing not to like about this city. Five and a half weeks here and I feel like a local. Granted, the only things I've learned to say in Dutch are hello, please, and thank you. But it gets me by. I have been pretty busy since you last heard from me over a week ago. The weather has been getting progressively better, though by Amsterdam standards 40 degrees and sunny is a beautiful day. But the sun has been coming out more than ever recently and when the sun comes out, the people come out. So I have been getting out and doing lots of cool stuff. I went to the zoo, I saw the U.S. lose to the Netherlands at Amsterdam Arena, I went on what was nearly a 40 km cycle to a city outside of Amsterdam called Zaandam, I went to the Rijksmuseum, I've explored many of the city parks (and there a TON of them), I went to a hip hop show performed by the rapper Brother Ali, and yesterday I even did a little shopping down in the shopping district. Shopping, I know, totally unlike me. But then again the only thing I bought was a new frying pan and a split a chess set with a couple buddies. But the shopping district in Amsterdam is ridiculous. They have every store you could ever possibly imagine. I even found myself standing in the center of a shopping mall just right off one of the busy shopping district streets. I looked around and turned to my friend and said, "This doesn't even look like Amsterdam. I looks like $@*%$# America." It really amazes me how American culture and fashion has become a fixture is cultures all over the world. The busiest store I saw all day was an "America Today" clothing store. I didn't go in so I don't know what kinds of things they wear in "America Today".

Anyways the zoo was really cool. Though, I have always have very mixed feelings about zoos. There is just something weird to me about standing in the middle of Amsterdam, in Northern Europe in March, looking at lions, polar bears, camels, chimps, etc etc. chillin in what is essentially a massive cage. So as fun as it was to walk around the zoo and see some of the world's coolest animals, it also is a little saddening to see such beautiful creatures locked in cages never to know what it's like to live in the wild.

The football match was SO MUCH fun. Our seats were seriously incredible. We were second row behind the goal. I think the players could actually hear me yelling at them. Unfortunately the U.S. lost but they held there own, and played pretty well. The Dutch won 2-1 but both the Dutch goals were complete garbage and the American goal was actually really nice. Though, most of the people that I went to the game with were lame and rooted for the Dutch, there were a few of us die hard fans, who stayed loyal to the U.S. I am really happy I got the opportunity to go to the game, and I really want to try to attend one more club match before I depart.

The Rijksmuseum was really cool. It is the biggest and most famous museum in Amsterdam. It is home to nearly all of Rembrandt's most famous works of art. And he sure had a lot of them. His stuff is amazing. His most famous piece "Night Watch" is incredible. It is MASSIVE, probably 30 ft x 30 ft and the detail is sensational. Unfortunately the museum is undergoing some serious renovations, so as a result only about a third of the museum is currently open. But they managed to cram all the really good stuff into the section they still have open, so it was definitely a really good museum experience.

Hmm, what else? Well, the Brother Ali concert was AWESOME. He is a fantastic performer and I even got my photo taken with him after the show. OH!!!! That reminds me!! I just found out yesterday that Eric Clapton is coming to Amsterdam and doing a show in late May!! ERIC CLAPTON!!! I am certainly going to try to get tickets to that but we will see. I don't know if I'll have any money left to spend on concerts by late May.

As the weather gets nicer and nicer, you can feel the excitement building in the city. People are just waiting for that first 55 degree sunny day. This place is just going to explode. Not too mention the excitement building already for when the tulips blossom. Amsterdam is a great place to spend time outside. There are soooo many parks in this city. And they are all unique in some way. I've only been to maybe 1/5 of them, but my goal is to explore every park in this city at least once. And I'm sure I will be going on a few more 40 km bike rides. 30 minutes on a bike, and you can be completely outside of anything urban, and in the Dutch countryside with farm fields, windmills, and rural canals. Hell if I wanted to (and had an entire day to kill) I could cycle to the capital Den Haag (The Hague). Who knows? Maybe I'll do that one day. The possibilities are endless here in Amsterdam. And I've got 14 more weeks to do it all.

I think that's all for now.
Peace & Love from Amsterdam

ps - I leave for Barcelona this Thursday! WOOOOOOOOO
pps - Congratulations to my sister, Logan, for finding herself a SICK house out there in Keystone, CO. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous.