Marie's page

The weather got better again in Amsterdam. Sometimes, it does rain – but the sunshine usually prevails, and I can feel how warm it is on my skin when I manage to get to the front of the ferry in the morning and stand in the sunlight. The garden turned green, out of nowhere, and little blooms started appearing between the vines.

I am stressed but feel very happy.

A few weeks ago I punctured a tire somewhere in Zuid, fittingly about ten minutes after boasting to my friend about my bike not being broken for five days straight. I was very on-edge that day, everything was irritating, but at the moment I saw the nail in my back tire, it all went away, I just felt peaceful. I walked three kilometers to the nearest metro station, just in a sweater, first through Vondelpark and then a street with high-end fashion boutiques. Between Balenciaga, glass-bricked Hermés and Prada shoes stood a souvenir shop, with a black signboard and engraved golden letters: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”. Passersby were being reflected in the polished shop fronts, me and my bike were too.

My room here has two south-facing windows and the sunshine is always in it now, it feels warm and bright. My housemates stopped me in the kitchen one morning and said: “The more your room is warm, the more mine feels cold”. She looked like she was saying more than the words when she said it and I couldn’t quite understand what she meant.

I’ve been listening to Jackson C. Frank, a lot of classical music and Amanda Palmer, after recollecting one of her songs in a conversation. There is too much work for the amount of sunlight – I wish all exam weeks were dark and rainy. But there is no use.