No more posts, eh??

Things are going well here - and I have been doing so much that I usually get to the computer after midnight when it is a little less busy.

Today I visited North Amsterdam, which is seperated by water from the rest of town. There is the audio recording school SAE there, and I had my tour. It was pretty cool, and there was even a student there from Chicago too whom I talked with for a long time. The school is known for giving the students lots of hands-on experience with the equipment, progressively larger studios until you are recording bands in (my estimation) a mid-sized surround sound studio in Chicago. Overall pretty cool. They have 6 month certificate degrees in Electronic Music Production and a 1 year degree in Audio Engineering. As well as more stuff.

So far I have taken about 100 pictures all over town.

At the hostel, we have had another batch of people come in. Sarah from Australia left for London. My roommate from Finland left for Berlin. In her place, three spunky girls from France, and two from the US (possibly Detroit?) There are a lot of people from Canada here because I guess school just let out.

Hanging out at the Flying Pig

(Photo by Mike Orlando)

In my walking over the last couple of days, I wandered through the Jordaan and the 9-Streets area which are over on the West side of the city. Extremely cool areas, your stereotypical Amsterdam looking small streets lined with shops and cafes. If you like to walk, then Amsterdam is the place to be. I have walked the entire diameter of the city several times now and down every little street is something new. I have not seen a "bad" or "unsafe" area yet- even late at night. Most areas can be compared to Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, and the nicer ones like Old Town, of course with the "culture" added.

Tomorrow I am staying overnight in Haarlem, which is a smaller city about 20 minutes away, and almost right on the Sea, (the North Sea). It is supposed to be quiet, so we will see how it goes. Then after that I am returning here.

Yes yes, I skipped over what I did the last two nights. I ate at a Tapas bar, had Duvel (sp) ale. Had Dutch Pancakes at a real authentic Pancake House called the Pancake Corner. Ate at a great coffeeshop around the corner from the Hostel.. Just telling you this because the day before I didnt eat anything except for a bag of chips.

Visited a coffeeshop called Rokerij that is nearby. It was extremely wild. A den of iniquity. Kinda like a hip opium den with electronic music. Surrounding the Liedzeplein, the entertainment district near where I have been staying, there are many little streets lined with bars, cafes, restaurants, coffeeshops.. And reminds me of Burbon Street in New Orleans very much.


Hey so what are your questions? I will try to answer them and add another post tonight.