The honeymoon phase

I start my journey from Denmark, travel by bus to Amsterdam, get a room, go sightseeing and have my first day on the job.

Just four days ago, I was locking the tower on Tornby beach. The was low in the sky above the rough sea and the waves would reflect the light so brightly that the scenery could only be enjoyed from behind sunglasses. Not that I minded, though. This summer I had worn my sunglasses so much that I would feel like something was amiss in the evenings when I had taken them off. Through those sunglasses I said goodbye to Tornby beach, which had been a hospitable host for the past two weeks.

This goodbye was special and I spent a minute savoring the moment. It was a goodbye to the lifeguarding season of cause and that always fills me with an odd, empty sensation. It is the end of a good time for me, but it also marks the beginning of something new, and usually the return to something familiar. But not this year. This year I would not slip slowly back into my daily routines, I would embark on an adventure instead. As I said goodbye to the sea this evening, I was already heading far away. As I left the sea behind, my thoughts quickly turned to the trip and left my mind feeling numb with the impossible task of predicting what everything would be like.

The next day I boarded the bus on a direct travel to Amsterdam. The travel was uneventful and I was grateful that my mother had given me The Hotel New Hampshire along to pass the time. As we neared the destination I could feel the excitement and anxiety bubbling inside me. The fact that I have never liked to prepare was weighing on me and I was sure that I had forgot to bring something important - like some invaluable information. Nevertheless, everything was working out great so far, when I started seeing a lot of tall buildings with company logos. I thought to myself, "Wow, Amsterdam has a skyline - who would've known?" But I was wrong. It was six in the morning and I was tired from getting only five hours of uncomfortable sleep in my seat. If I had been less tired I might have noticed that we were in fact in Utrecht, not Amsterdam! Luckily, the woman in front of me discovered this fact and showed her surprise so obviously, that I could smoothly slump back into my seat and sleep another hour before waking up at the right destination.

A taxi brought me to the address of my host, whom I had only had contact with through e-mail. I hopefully called the apartment using the speaker system at the door and was let in without a word. After climbing the stairs to the third floor, I was greeted by a tiny woman called Delilah. Mildly surprised (up until that point in time I had believed my host would be a man) I stepped into the small apartment and was shown my room. It has a nice double bed, so after a short presentation of the rest of the rooms I quickly fell asleep.

When I woke up, my anxiety had vanished and I felt ready to take on Amsterdam. Okay, perhaps I was not feeling that cocky. My first walk took me only so far as to the nearest supermarket where I picked up groceries at a frustratingly slow pace. Back in the apartment I changed into something better suited for walking and took the bus to the city center. Here I bought a map and went exploring on foot. I went by Madame Tussaud's and dumbly thought "I didn't know Madame Tussaud's was in Amsterdam". It turns out it wasn't the Madame Tussaud's, but the line to the Amsterdam version of the famous museum was more than 200 meters long anyway. When I later walked into a café and rain started pouring down, I thought of those people from the queue. They would probably only be halfway inside the museum by the time I ordered a nice warm sandwich and listened to the heavy raindrops on the window.

Later that day, when the sun was back out, I walked by the front door of Winkle, where I would be working the next day. I took a look at Anne Frank's house/hiding place from the outside and visited a free museum for film. I also accidentally walked through some streets with red lamps and self-exposing ladies in the windows, but I don't think it was the actual Red Light District, as that name is somewhere else on the map. All in all, I had a great impression of Amsterdam on this first day of sightseeing. I especially liked the canals, which I will refrain from comparing to the River of Aarhus so my city can still keep a little dignity.

Today, was my first day working for Winkle and all of the impressions still fill me up. Instead of trying to make sense of it all, I will just tell you that I have been warmly welcomed by my colleagues at Winkle and I look forward to getting to know them better. There will be plenty of opportunity for that in the following days, as the entire company eats lunch together every day and tomorrow there is also a social event after hours.