Semester 15 Chapter XIII: Back To The District

Sunday early morning, fresh cup of coffee on the table, some Wayne and Chainz in the headphones… It’s still dark outside and it’s gonna take a some more time before Amsterdam wakes up. I like being awake when everybody else is still asleep. Which is funny as the friend I’m staying with is the exact opposite. By the time she gets up, I’m usually basically halfway through my day. Anyway, shit’s been really good over here so let’s get to it.

 

I arrived here Monday morning, got to my friend’s apartment, plugged my laptop in and pretty much went straight to work. Unlike last week, this one it was back to the regular schedule. Which is something I don’t mind at all. See, when there’s a spot you can work from without disturbing anybody, traveling and working works kinda beautifully. You and your host can both do your thing and you also have enough time to hangout when all the responsibilities are dealt with. And like last time I was here, this has been working out really well.

 

So yeah, we spent quite a lot of time walking around the city, we visited couple of really nice coffee places, cooked some good food, went out for some nice meals too… And we caught up on everything. It’s all been very smooth and enjoyable. I got a story tho… So last Thursday, I got couple of last minute cancellations so I ended up having some extra time throughout the day. We took the opportunity to take an evening walk around the Rembrandt's Park. Now, at some point we see these 4 kids approaching us. Like 10-13 years old. The whole situation seemed a bit off. When they got closer, one of them asked if they could use my phone to call an ambulance. At that point I notice that one of them is holding his hand which seems to be pretty bloody. I’m thinking… Maybe a cut, scratch or something like that. A jogger passes by and she stops to find out what’s happening. I look at the boy’s hand and it looks a bit crazier than a scratch. I dial 112 and give the phone to the jogger assuming she’s local and the whole communication would be smoother. The boy collapses and then I see the scope of the damage. His hand us utterly fucked. There’s a hole beneath his thumb, there’s parts of his fingers missing. Shit looks like a fucking hand grenade blew up in his hand. More people come around, we find out that the jogger is a foreigner too so one of the boys ends up talking to the hospital whose reaction was swift. In about three minutes, medics on motorcycles arrive and about two minutes later, there’s an ambulance car loading up the poor bastard. Apparently, the boys were messing with firecrackers. They weren’t very consistent about what happened. One said somebody threw it at them, other said they found it, picked it up and that’s when it exploded. Doesn’t really matter, I guess. I feel sorry for the kid tho. From where I was standing, it looked like there’s zero chance of restoring whatever the injury was. Good thing it wasn’t bleeding crazy and it’s also pretty nice that he didn’t put that shit closer to his head or something but still. Shit like that shouldn’t be available in stores. I mean, it all feels so sad an unnecessary. Fucking hell.

 

Luckily, that was the only crazy thing that happened. Outside of that it’s been easy and pleasant. Yesterday, we spent the whole afternoon and evening in the city center which reminded me of how great the location of my friend’s apartment is. She’s like 30 minutes walk from downtown which is far enough for the area not to be crowded by tourists but close enough to get there whenever you feel like. Plus the view at the park from the windows… It’s all perfect. And it’s been long talks, it’s been good food, it’s been movies in the evenings… All good.

 

My workout now consists of some sets of push-ups, planks and sit-ups. Running is on pause for the time being (there was no space in my backpack for the gear) but there’s a lot of walking. Weather has been up and down. It’s raining and the minute after it’s sunshine. But then again, if you have some reasonable clothes on you, it’s not that bad. This evening I’m moving on to Hague to spend couple of days with another friend whom I recently met in Tenerife. It’s funny that this Swiss and Dutch leg of my trip is all people I met there. Tenerife wasn’t that bad. Hope y’all doing well, hope y’all safe and y’all stay away from bullshit. Also sending some love to Netherlands. After the last vote, you might possibly have a borderline nazi leading the country which is the last thing everybody needs. World is a mad place. One!

 

Highlights:

• Amsterdam. 
• Walks.
• Impossible Kitchen. My second time having ramen noodles at that joint. Epic.

Semester 15 Chapter XII: London & Zurich Calling

Okay, this has been one of the good ones. I feel I’ve been in the fast lane for the past couple of weeks. You know, when shit kinda moves… It’s been fun on some self-reflective level, it’s been fun on some social shit and it’s been super fun on some traveling too. Which doesn’t really get old. Something about crossing these borders, man..

 

Monday and Tuesday was basically back to business. Even more business. As I took time off starting Wednesday (which is something I almost never do), I rescheduled some of my responsibilities and I was kinda working my ass off. All worth it tho. Wednesday early morning, I met up with one of my dawgs and we caught a train to the Vienna airport, from where we proceeded to London. Arrived to Stansted around 8, were downtown around 9 and got together with my bro shortly afterwards.

 

The whole London shit was amazing. First of all, it was super nice seeing how my man was being treated up there. I know trying to make a living in his line of work is a fucking struggle but seeing how much care and money they put into presenting his shit felt real. The exhibition was held in this small venue close to the Old Street and there were two more artists displayed. One provided some crafted wooden cups and the other perfumes. See, since the organizer was this Tayer Elementary joint (which is like the 5^th best bar in the world, no cap) the idea was to get three people from different fields, fund their efforts and create a unique limited cocktail for each. We got to witness the grand opening (Wednesday) which was invite-only, there was press, there were some weirdos, some posh motherfuckers with Balenciaga shades; it was exactly what you’d expect. So yeah, felt legit, felt like a big deal, felt good to be there.

 

Before the whole show started, I did two photo shoots. First one was accidental. I got stopped by two girls who complimented my look asking me if I’m a model and all. Then they asked if they can take some pics and vids of me wearing handbags one of their husbands produced. They were cool, it cost me nothing, so there I went. The other one was planned. My friend made some bomber jackets for the event (apart form bags, furniture, paintings and neon signs) and he wanted some more promo pics. The gear is top-notch, Brick Lane looked proper, shoot was fun (done by my guy’s gf who’s also my current head tattoo artist), outcome was fire. So there was that.

 

On the second day, we got all invited for some drinks to the Tayer joint. Again, I don’t really think I would have ended up in a place like this hadn’t been for the exhibition. You can tell the spot is popular, you can tell it’s a bit high end… There was a bouncer, main area around the bar and then the back room we got ushered into. Now, I’ve been pretty good with pushing alcohol out of my life. I still drink here and there but I’ve been really pretty close to zero. This time I was like fuck it. You don’t get to experience those kinda drinks in this kinda set-up every day. Easy call. The night was fun, we got veggie food too… And we tried some advanced stuff. Was pretty fucking happy I didn’t have to deal with paying any of that. Outside things related to the event , we did Tate Modern, we did some cool cafés, some wandering around the city, some good talks. It all flew by.

 

Friday afternoon, I was at the Gatwick Airport boarding a flight to Zurich. Later on that evening, I reunited with one of my favorite people from Tenerife whom I hadn’t seen in about half a year and who’s based there now. And man, was this a nice one too. Saturday, we took it Lucern, a town about 60km away, we walked around for a bit and then we joined some of her friends to do a hike around the mountains nearby. We ended up climbing the peak of Mt. Regenflueli. When one of the guys saw my snow-white adidas sneakers, he got me a pair of his shoes and it was a good call. I had no idea there’s any real hiking on the agenda prior to this trip and I’m positive had I worn the Superstars, it would have been their last gig. The borrowed shoes were a size smaller but they were waterproof and the whole thing was quite manageable. And the fucking views. Never really seen Switzerland before but what I saw this time reminded me of some of the things I’d seen in Canada couple of months back. Sure, there’s more civilization here but the views are still spectacular. The mountains, the woods, the small villages and lakes… So grateful I got to do that. I would also like to shout out my jacket. Got it last winter and never really tested it like that. But yeah, some solid windbreaker and also totally waterproof. Weather was pretty good to us but the finish was quite wet. We got back to the car when it was dark and made it to Zurich around 9. We initially wanted to go for a rave but since my friend didn’t feel 100%, we passed on that and took it easy.

Next day, we had a really lazy morning and early afternoon. Just talking, chilling and eating. Later on, we got out to the city. We walked around a bit, frequently hiding from the infamous on-and-off raining… We hung out at some parks, had some snacks, smoked some… Lovely evening.

My friend accompanied me to the bus stop and that was that. Now I’m on a bus to Amsterdam, the next page of my journey. So far, it’s been nothing but pleasant. Shout out to all my people! Love is real. Shout to all my readers too. I see y’all. One!

Highlights:

• London.
• Zurich.
• Mountains.