Helllo again, Oslo.

It's good to be back. :) But let me talk about Amsterdam for a bit.

My trip back was actually less exhausting that I'd originally suspected it would be, mostly because as soon as I got on the plane headed to Amsterdam, I popped some Advil PM and was asleep within minutes. I woke up when the plane touched down in Amsterdam, feeling just a little bit groggy but mostly quite rested, which gave me plenty of energy to explore the city until my 9pm departure for Oslo.

I took so many photographs in Amsterdam that if I tried to upload them all into this one blog entry, I'd probably have people threatening to dismember me via email or something. So I'll probably just post a few here and then publish the rest on Facebook. (In fact, that is just what I did. You can view the public album here.) Besides, from only a few photographs you can already get an idea of what Amsterdam is like--vibrantly energetic even given the overcast skies and rainy weather, packed with an incredibly diverse international population, riddled with tons of canals and bridges, and apparently a Mecca for cyclists everywhere. I nearly got hit by three different cyclists on three different occasions, which of course is my own fault; this city is very much set up for bike riding with tons of specially designed bike paths, though that doesn't keep vespas

off them, or the bikes off the footpaths or the main roads.

I explored three roads mainly: Damrak, part of which is pictured here, Rokin, which Damrak turns into, and Spui. I didn't have a huge amount of time on my hands to explore, actually, since a good deal of my time was spent sorting out what I would look at in the city, buying a train ticket, etc. Damrak sports an incredible amount of personality though, and affords a pretty fantastic view of Amsterdam central station if you feel like turning around to admire it (which I did, of course). There are tons of shops and restaurants, which is no surprise because this is a large city, after all, but I was surprised by the number of Argentinian places I saw while wandering around.

I thought about checking out the museums, possibly taking the canal tour, but I always tend to do better in these situations if I'm just allowed to set my own pace and given my own space to roam--so that is exactly what I did. My friend Richard suggested that I look at the Begijnhof, which was home to the beguines in the middle ages and now is home to the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam. It's hard to get away from the sounds of city life in Amsterdam; everywhere you go, you're bound to hear bike bells ringing, trams trundling along, vespa engines buzzing, people talking and laughing loudly, etc. But stepping inside the Begijnhof mutes the rest of city life. It's serene.

Its original purpose wasn't to serve as a convent in the traditional sense of the word, according to the information placard attached to the wall. The women who chose to live here were Catholic and viewed the completion of good works as essential to their faith, but found the vows that were required for nuns to be too stifling. I took this photograph from one of the other exit/entrances; I'd intended to take more, but photography and taking video footage wasn't allowed inside the courtyard. The people who live here want peace and quiet, and who am I to intrude on that?

I'm sad that I had so little time to spend in this city, and sadder still about the circumstances that brought me to it. Part of me wonders if I should be so grateful for this experience if, in order to have it, my grandmother had to pass away, but that is only in my more maudlin moments. I know that if my grandmother were alive to hear me thinking these thoughts, she'd shut me up immediately and tell me to enjoy all these opportunities, because this is exactly what she wanted for me. I'm going to do my best to honor her memory by throwing myself wholeheartedly into these adventures, and I refuse to have regrets.

And I am definitely, definitely going back to Amsterdam one day. :)

Thoughts before departure.

I pulled out of my driveway with enthusiasm yesterday morning, intent on running some necessary errands, and apparently it has been a little too long since I was last behind the wheel of my little Toyota Corolla. I hit the curb with enough force to cause my CD player to skip, something it hasn't done since... well, since I was learning to drive. I freaked out and got out of my car to make sure I hadn't done any serious damage to it, and thankfully there wasn't even any visible evidence of the little scuffle; only my pride was wounded. Suffice to say, I drove rather carefully around my neighborhood for a little bit, just to get back in the swing of things.

But yesterday was good, overall. I went out into Huntsville by myself in the morning and revisited a lot of my usual haunts; Bandito Burrito for lunch, Parkway Place to get two new pairs of jeans, etc. I visited with my mom, too, who took me to this adorable boutique on Whitesburg Drive that only recently opened up in Huntsville, and I ended up buying a shirt there as well. It was an unexpectedly expensive day to be honest, but I'm not worried about the money so much. Mom and I talked a lot, both about the things I'm doing in Oslo and about Nanny--my grandmother--which I think was very cathartic for both of us.

For me it is still very strange because it hasn't settled in my mind yet that she is actually gone; even saying goodbye at the funeral, even with the sense of peace and closure I felt leaving the cemetery, I don't feel the finality of it. I still expect to receive a phone call from her at any moment, with her familiar voice on the other end greeting me affectionately, "Well hello darlin', this is your grandmother." The timbre of her voice still resonates with me, though I suppose at some stage that will fade, too. Logically I know that is normal and to be expected. I just can't summon up any feelings about it right now. I'm numb.

But I am glad I did my best to enjoy my last full day in Huntsville before my departure this afternoon. I have a driving route that I take sometimes to clear my head, which takes me from where I live on the other side of Chapman Mountain, through Huntsville, over Cecil-Ashburne, and through the Hampton Cove area until I reach US72 heading towards Scottsboro. The view from Cecil-Ashburne really got to me today and I had to pull over just for a moment to lean against the guardrail and look at the valley and the few trees with green leaves on them before going on. I'm glad I did.

This afternoon, I will fly to Memphis, TN, and from Memphis to Amsterdam, where I have an eight or nine-hour layover in the airport. The current plan is to leave the airport and take the train into the city in order to explore for a little bit... so, hopefully I will get lots of sleep on the airplane across the Atlantic so that I won't be too exhausted by the time I arrive. I'll make sure to take some pictures with my cell phone either way; it's not every day you're in Amsterdam, after all.

Hopefully, the next update I make will be from my dorm room back in Kringsjaa. Hadet. <3