I Amsterdam

I've made it to Amsterdam! I can't really tell you much about how I made it here, for I was asleep almost the entire time we were in the air. The flight to London was nice, they served a hot meal accompanied by a personal size bottle of wine. Every seat had a personal screen. I wanted to watch movies, but my sleep deprivation caught up to me. I ended up only getting to watch Good Will Hunting; I wanted to watch Taken, I've seen it already, but just the fact that it's about abduction while on vacation... I passed it up. The flight from London to Amsterdam was only about 45 minutes long.

This city is awesome, the streets are all cobblestone or other types of pavers, no asphalt or concrete. The architecture is very interesting; right next to my hostel there is a castle of some sort, it's tiny but cool. I'm gonna try and do some research on it. The sun has been out the past couple days and it is beautiful, the temperature is perfect for walking around. The city seems very friendly and even walking around by myself i don't feel nervous at all.

The hostel is fine, a little creepy (Christians run the place), not too big but that doesn't really matter at all. I met my roommates this morning, one is here working at a web design agency; he's from Northern Holland. The other is here traveling with a friend; they are from Sweden, he is also a photographer. They both are very nice and I have something in common with both of them so it is easy to talk to them.

The hostel really is a block away from the Red LIght District and I guess what you could call China Town. I walked all through the area and it is definitely an experience. The streets are crowded and there are more bars and restaurants than I have ever seen.

And I'm sure you all want to know about the hookers... they for the most part are all gross.

I haven't seen more than two or three that I would even take a second look at, let alone pay for sex. For the most part it just creeps me out, but it's definitely an experience to see people open their doors and talk to them, then sneak in and the curtain close.

This morning I ventured out and rented a bike. I rode it to two of the three ad agencies that I wanted to stop by. At Nothing (www.nothingamsterdam.com) I met Susan van Deth. She didn't take me up into the office claiming they were really busy. I'm sure they were, but I think it was more of a, "Who is this kid? And why is he here?" type of thing. She was very nice and gave me her email address and told me to get in contact with her.

At Wieden+Kennedy (www.wk.com) I walked in and went up to the front desk where after stating why I was there, I was told "I'm sorry, we're too busy to take walk-ins." which I completely understand. She was very nice and we chatted for a minute about Amsterdam and she told me a couple places to go. It's so hard to get in touch with these big agencies. In a couple hours I am going to try and make my way to 72andSunny (www.72andSunny.com) and try my luck there. Even if I don't get to talk with anyone, Just seeing the office building and the front desk is enough for me.

I'll keep you all updated as my adventure continues; hopefully with some cooler stories. I just figured I'd document a little bit of my first 24 hours.

More soon from the XXX.