Jason's Daily Notes

My throat was still in bad shape. Mike was on the bus to London for the weekend.

I had a follow-up interview with Lauren at 2pm. I had a random but strong craving for sushi at 12:30pm. I decided to make a spontaneous trek to the city center and to find some sushi. I took the metro (discovering, along the way, reversible escalators! cool but weird.) to Beurs and right when I got out, boom! There was a fast-casual sushi place called IIZO. I ordered 3 rolls, but their special rolls were cheap and weird - avocado, crab, and spicy tuna was what I ended up with.

I rushed back to Merlin's for my interview. Merlin was there with his friend Maarten (?), and they were about to leave to do some shopping. Lauren was late, which gave me a little extra time to prepare. The interview went well; I felt really comfortable speaking with her.

I said bye to Merlin as he left. I then had only 30 minutes to pack my stuff and get my train. Needless to say, I didn't make it. I texted Willem that I would be on the following train (which I still had to rush to catch).

I snagged a seat on the train (barely), having to face backward and put my bag between the seats. The train was less than an hour - quick and easy. I arrived in Utrecht and gave Willem a ring, he met me shortly thereafter and walked me to his place. I dropped off my stuff, and we assessed what to do.

We needed to be in Amsterdam at a bar around 9-10pm, and we weren't hungry just yet, so we decided to get dinner first. I texted Mike for recommendations, and one of the places he suggested was also where Willem suggested, so we went there. La Tasca - Italian place for pizza.

The train to Amsterdam was nearly full, as it was Friday night and people were headed into the city. Willem and I ended up standing in the walkway of the cabin.

We then went to the bar, which was crowded. I met Anna-Luna, Willem's lady friend, who was celebrating her birthday 7 months late, and several of their friends that they met in Rome. There was an Asian-looking girl (Neela?) and her sister. Caroline was Luna's friend who was also celebrating her birthday. Luna's parents were there too, apparently, but they soon left. There was Hans, whose bike I rode on as we changed bars (unsuccessfully). It's really uncomfortable/painful to ride on the back of another's bike!

The next bar (Pacifica) was full and they wouldn't let anyone in. We hung out outside with our bikes. One by one, people began to leave. Soon there were just five of us - me, Willem, Anna-Luna, Maraiah, and Oscar - and we all headed back to Luna's for another drink and to just chill.

Mareia (sp?) was visiting from Italy (but she's Dutch) and ended up also sleeping at Luna's place next to me on the fold-out bed thingy.

It was like 5:30am when I finally went to bed. Apparently I snore.