DAY 7: Sixth Day in Amsterdam

Wandering. I keep getting late starts. Ready to leave though. I understand the lack of enthusiasm from Amsterdam employees; I couldn’t live in the city. Everywhere outside Amsterdam is comparatively mellow. To an extreme. I enjoyed my stay in Amstelveen. Very quiet. Safe. Good people. Feels like a deserted town compared to Amsterdam.

Met some guys at a coffeeshop. I was sitting alone, writing. Enjoying the music and atmosphere. The walls were off-white, closer to beige. Words and phrases and names etched on the wall throughout the room. Lots of texture to chew.

“Hey.” Someone said to me. I looked over at him. He was an Israeli gentlemen. White jacket. He had a friend in a blue suit jacket next to him. They looked like students.

“Hey, what’s up?” I responded.

“Are you an actor?” He asked. I laughed.

“Hell no! I hate being in front of camera.”

They asked me what I did for work and I explained that I was a cameraman. They’ve never visited America so they were curious about how the reality of America matches up with the way Hollywood portrays it. Specifically they wanted to know whether college in America is accurately portrayed in Hollywood. I brought up Shia Lebouf arriving to college in Transformers 2 as an example of overly-romanticized college life.

They had a third friend in a black hoodie, short beard. He was cool too but the conversation turned awkward when he tried to sell me a travel club membership. I wasn’t interested. I took a photo for them holding a "You Should Be Here" banner.

The fourth person at the table I haven’t even mentioned yet. His name was Dave. That’s admittedly a much easier name to remember. Dave was a Dublin-based DJ visiting some friends in Amsterdam for a few days. Thick Irish accent. Gnarly beard. Short mohawk. Black-rimmed glasses. He wore a funny plaid button-down shirt and pants with the sleeves rolled up. Occasionally he’d say something too fast but I understood everything he'd said for the most part. I'm not sure the Israeli guys did.

He was a talker though. No awkward silences; He would ensure that. Discussed insane stories during his sets and his experiences at Irish music festivals. It all sounded incredible.

We said our goodbyes and parted ways. I photographed the red light district in wides. I shot it on this rare Fuji 1600 high-speed color film stock, so I'm curious how they'll turn out. Final night in Amstelveen. Packed up and ready for the next place. Gotta be up in the morning. It's 4am and I can already see daylight coming. Unreal.