Ready to kick back and get some rest, I got to Amsterdam. We were given an hour to get settled in before the initial Eurovision Orientation so I immediatel went out to find a big cup of coffee... in Europe you generally have to sit down an enjoy your coffee. There is not much of the good old American rush around on the go get your business done quicly mentality. Life here is much more relaxed and laid back. Anyway, the coffee didn´t affect me so much and I fell asleep multiple times during the orientation. Later we went to the Van Gogh museum, where I also fell asleep. This was followed by more orientation that included more dozing. As a welcoming gift, we were taken out to dinner on behalf of Eurovision. The food was pretty good considering it was a set menu. After dinner I walked around with some friends and we ended up getting lost for about an hour because every single house, canal, and street looks exactly the same. Turns out we kept walking down streets that were parallel to our hotel. Go figure. After my roughly 48 hour day I passed out within seconds.

Wake up call sucked at 7am. I had only been asleep for a few hours due to the fact that we had gotten lost the previous night. After breakfast I was still dead tired and my internal clock had no idea what was going on. We went to the Anne Frank house, which was a complete eye opener, yet I still managed to fall alseep at some points during the lecture. Needless to say, it made me feel like an ass... but I couldn´t help it. Lack of sleep definitely gets to me. After Anne Frank, we were treated to a full tour of the Heineken brewery followed by all the free samples, sausages and cheese we could handle. It was awesome... I have never tried so many good beers. The Heineken and Amstel Boks where the best beers and I´ll probably never have the chance to try them again. It was a very notable experience.

After the Heineken tour, a few of us went to dinner at a place called Local. It was damn good. We sat at a long, straight table because all of the buildings in Amsterdam are deep, thin and tall due to the taxes. The wider a building is, the higher it is taxed. For dinner we had skewered duck, chicken, beef and shrimp. Also there was salad, good potatoes and beer. The price was pretty good as well. After dinner we went to explore the Red Light district. What a ridiculous place. There were more fat, black hookers dancing in windows than I have ever imagined. The girls I was with were a little freaked out because guys kept offering to pimp them out. That was definitely an uncomfortable experience for them. We went to a bunch of diffrent bars and I drakn some absinthe for the first time. It is actually really gross... very strong and tastes like unsweetened black licorice. Amsterdam was a great time and I would like to go back and explore some more. in the future.

One very important note about Amsterdam is to watch out for the bicycle riders. They own the streets and don´t stop for anyone. If you hear a bell, get out of the way cause they´re not going to stop for you. I watched a bike rider plow through an entire group of girls on my Eurovision group... it was hilarious...