AMsterDAM and Red light pizza ovens

What up,
Been in Amsterdam for I think 2 days now and have yet to smoke any weed, Big surprise I know, Although we did eat a bunch of it yesterday. Ty wanted to get ripped seeing that we are in Amsterdam and that this is the sort of thing that one does when they're here. I wasn't totally against the idea, but I certainly didn't want to smoke and not be able to breath through my nose for the rest of the week. So we got some hash muffins ate them at around 12 in the afternoon while drinking a beer and then wated to see what would happen. At first we didn't feel much and walked over to the big chess board where I watched some guys play, who for as much shit as they talked seemed to miss some moves. After about a half hour or so we started to feel a bit off and decided that going on one of those canal tours would be a good idea. Around the time we boarded the boat things were starting to get rather strange, the muffins were now in full effect. The tour passed more or less unnoticed as we sat there staring into space only occationaly taking a very uneven picture, looking back we probably ate too many. After we finished the boat tour the next 3 hours seem like mostly a blur, we watched some more chess (which was the only thing I could even half focus on) and the walked to the main train station. On a previous trip to Amsterdam my friend Haf and I had found these benches behind the train station that look out on the harbor and offer a good amount of privacy. Any time things get out of hand around here I like to sit at these benches for a while and wait for my life to sort its self out. So we sat there long after I had wished I wasn't high anymore. Tyler ended up falling alseep with his hands tucked in his shirt because he was cold and didn't bring a jaket to Europe. Smart I know but that's what living in the desert will do to you, after a while you forget that cold exists. After what seemed like an hour we decided to go back to the hostel to take a shower and see if we couldn't sort the rest of the day out. Within 10 minutes of arriving Tyler was sound asleep and wouldn't wake up until the morning.

In the meantime I still had to deal with meeting my friend Corry at the train station. I headed off to the library to check my email and to see if I couldn't salvage something productive from the rest of the day. After I took care of some emailing and met Corry at the station we decided to walk around the city. Amsterdam at night is a very strange place. There are drunk Brits on every street in the red light district and you can hear "HAVE YOU SEEN THE BITCHES MATE!!" along with many other charming britsh sayings on every corner. We had decided to get some pizza before we ventured into the red light district to view the hookers along with the equally interesting slimy men who are obviously there for one reason. It was a bit like going to the zoo. The streets are set up with windows on each side and the "bitches"stand there and tap on the glass as men walk by and decide weather or not they'd like to partake in one of the worlds oldest trades. Most of these girls are far too atractive to be hookers, it's really amazing actually. I'm sure they could get jobs elsewhere, but maybe the moneys too good, or they're too fucked up on drugs to care, or they could also just really love dick, but it's probably one of the first two choices. Either way they stand in the window and slimey men walk buy and pay their 50€ for a suck and fuck. Just the thought of the amount of meat that gets pounded in those allways is enough to make me want to take a shower.

I got to run but I'll update soon. There was talk of eating mushrooms today but I don't know if I feel totally up for that, well see. Again no spell check, sorry.

The attic party

Last night I went to an "attic cleaning" party with the cute swedish girl idda I had met the night before. Basically I helped these Danish girls clean their attic out and then we sat up there while drinking beer and eating pizza while waiting for more of their friends to arrive. It was so much fun for how simple it was. I was also doing my best to understand some Danish which is somewhat similar to german. After we were a couple of beers deep I asked one of the girls to grab her guitar and we went around in a circle singing and free styling while she played. At first everyone was a bit weirded out but then they all got into it and in no time were yelling at the top of their lungs in a mix of swedish, danish and english. The whole night made my trip to Denmark and already my trip to Europe. I could leave for how tomorrow and be totally happy with my trip. Luckily for me it has just scratched the surface and I still have many days in front of me. It's amazing when I think about it and realize I've only been gone for 5 days, it feels more like a month.

I also heard from Tyler, he had a rough first night in London and ended up having to wait for 12 hours in some fishing village for a ferry to Amsterdam. I'm going to see him later on today, I can't wait.

I have to run I'm about to go to the beach with the Swedish girly and then have to catch a train to the airport. love you guys

the spell check doesn't work on Danish computers and I didn't prof read, i'm sorry ;)

Copenhagen is ill

Copenhagen has been amazing!
But I wont lie the first day was pretty rough. After 20 some odd hours of flying including a delayed flight I arrived in the coppenhagen airport. I hadn't gotten any real sleep to speak of the whole trip and it was pouring icy cold rain out side. I was half considering just getting a hotel so I wouldn't have to walk the .75 km outside in the rain to Mark's house (my couchsurfing host) not to mention the fact I didn't know if he would be home and had no way of getting in touch with him. I decided I might as well try it because as wonderful as a hot shower and sleeping in a hotel room sounded, I figured I should get out and start this whole meeting people thing ASAP. I immediatly regreted my decition after I steped out of the train and began walking. It seems I've gotten used to eternal sunshine and this whole freezing rain thing blows nuts.

With little trouble I arrived at Mark's place and found him home (thank god). His house is a modest one living room, one bed room place that he has filled with couch surfers for what seems like the next month strait. He had a German, Polish and Dutch guy staying there and said that 3 german girlys would be coming shortly. The other surfers were chill as shit and we kicked it inside and drank a few beers, seeing as there was nothing else to do n account of the rain. The german girlys arrived shortly after and we talked while watching Danish TV till it was time for me to pass out.

The next day I woke up to a beauifuly sunny morning and went for a run in the park that Mark told me about. Then I set about walking about the city. Copenhagen is some what like amsterdam but a bit less crazy. I walked around for an hour or so before I heard my name being called, which is very strang if you are in a city you've never been in before. It was the male couch surfers. I said what up and we decided to head off to a park to sit in the sun and play some chess. After a couple of games and a nap a decided to go off by myself and check out the modern art museum, which turned out to be really cool.

I'm rushing through all of this because I really want to get in the wonderful conversation I had with an amazingly cute Swedish girl last night. Mark's girlfriend has a twin sister that is going to stay at mark's place while she looks for a job. I ended up teaching her how to play a bit of chess while we talked about everything from her art work to polotics and kids till 1 am. It has been quite some time (ass most of you know) since I've had a conversation with a female my age. It was very nice to just sit and talk, I had almost forgot what it was like. Tonight I'm going to a party with her and her sister (super excited). Its a party their friends are throwing because they're cleaning their attic. Which I will admit is pretty weird but should prove to be interesting.

Other than that I'm still rather jet laged and am in desperate need of a shower. I'll try to write a more timely and spirited account in the days to come. I hope you all are doing well. Love

The night before

I've packed and re-packed my back pack more times then I can count. I've walked around my house with it on for almost a week now. I've taken my little dog max (AKA the pompadon prince) on walks with it, showed and unpacked it in front of every member of my family while carefully explaining the contents. Even after all of this preparation tomorrow still doesn't feel real to me, sitting in my room I'm only barely starting to feel that slight uneasiness in my stomach that always seems to find me when I'm on the verge of something new. I guess it's a good thing I'm still in one piece, I was a mess the night before I left to India. I've learned that the best thing is to just focus on the simple tasks ahead, getting on the plane, writing this, etc. It's strange how on the eve of any change, no matter how fun you know it will be there is that tiny bit of aversion towards leaving something comfortable, it feels almost instinctual. The feeling in the pit of my stomach lets me know that I care, and that this is something worth doing. I know the side of my self I found in India will find me after a few days, but now it couldn't feel farther away. I know it's still there, somewhere buried underneath the person who has been living in the relative ease of the "American dream". I'm excited to greet this old friend, to sit and feel comfortable with him again, to be moved to tears by the beautiful life that we share.


But all I can do now is focus on the task at hand, which happens to be trying to get some form of sleep. I love you all.