Arriving in Amsterdam

Margriet's house

I arrived in Amsterdam on Friday, July 1 (having left most of Thursday somewhere over the ocean) at about 1:30 in the afternoon. I arrived a couple of hours later than planned due to a delay in my flight from Detroit.

Upon arriving, Margreet (Nicoline’s sister) collected me from the airport and took me back to her apartment to wait for my friend and class copilot Nicoline. In her lovely apartment, she made me a coffee and gave me access to her wireless Internet while she finished some work. I emailed family and friends to tell them I had arrived and then attempted to stay awake (*yawn*)

The beautiful (and very long) tunnel between terminals at the Detroit airport. I raced through it to make my connecting flight only to reach the gate and learn my flight had been delayed. *smile*

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Nicoline arrived about 4:30 to take me to my accommodations for the week — a lovely apartment in West Amsterdam. I would be rooming with my German classmate (and former roommate) Sarah who would arrive on Saturday.

Nicoline shows me the stairway to my flat in Amsterdam. (Oofdah!)

After climbing an impressive flight of stairs (“Sorry, it’s Amsterdam,” quipped Nicoline) and getting a tour of the place, I threw my suitcase and backpack in the corner, changed clothes and went out in search of food. We had the use of our host’s bike, but I didn’t feel up to the adventure of biking having been awake for 20-some hours. (Traffic in Amsterdam is cuh-razy!)

With my trusty map, I headed out in search of the De Roos (aka “The Rose” where we would meet for our daily singing sessions) to get an idea of how long it might take to walk there the next day. I made it about half-way and then headed back home to eat (and sleep). I stopped by the grocery store and managed to buy a few groceries with the euros I had left from my trip to Tenerife. (Good thing I had those euros, too! Much of my trip was spent figuring out how to get cash since my debit card wouldn’t work in the Netherlands. Grrr.)
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My classmate Paula also arrived Friday night and, with some regret, I turned down her invitation to visit the Van Gogh museum (they have live music on Friday nights), but at that point, I had been up for more than 24 hours and I just couldn’t do it.

(I never did make it to the museum. *frown* Oh well, next trip, right? *smile*)
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Saturday, Paula and I met to walk around the city. I was starving (my primary jet lag symptom, it seems) so we stopped at a cafe for a coffee and sandwich. While we were sitting there, Juerg (another classmate) biked by. (He was wearing a bright orange and yellow backpack or we might not have seen him.) The three of us went to another restaurant for another coffee (they drink a LOT of coffee in Europe *smile*) and then I headed home to wait for Sarah to arrive.

My classmates Paula and Juerg.

“Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you …”
– Johnny Richards & Carolyn Leigh

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Congratulations to my “big sis” (make that Dr. big sis!) on depositing her dissertation on the same day I made it to Paris.

Twins, whaddya gonna do? *grin*

"It's all a blur." – Dr. Big Sis

"Ooh la la!" – sg in Par-ee

(As my German friends say,) Wau, where to begin?

A week ago, I completed the final in-person intensive of the improvisation course I have been taking. Called All The Way In, 21 of us  studied together for a year and met three times (in Europe) to practice skills, build relationships and strengthen our spontaneous singing.

We met for the final week in Amsterdam and focused on collaborating, performing and sharing our music. I stayed a couple days after the course to rest up and get some one on one time with some of my classmates. (I even snuck in a trip to Paris!)

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After a few days in Madison to combat the worst of my jetlag, I drove home yesterday.

What a shock! (or something less polite *grin*)

So. It was 59 degrees and raining when I left Amsterdam, wearing jeans, a scarf and my trusty fleece. And yesterday, we reached 97 with a heat index of 105!

The bizarre change in temperature sort of reflects how I feel about ending my year-long course of study. Bewildered, bemused and a bit stupified.

I don’t even know what to say about the trip. We sang and danced (and sang) and worked with instrumentalists (and sang). We laughed and cried. Oh, and we made beautiful spontaneous music.

I am still organizing (and receiving) photos, audio and video files. I’ll post them as I have the time and energy.

For now, here’s the group after our Friday night concert. (They loved us. *smile*)

The All The Way In 2010-2011 class, post concert.