Perspectives from People Watching

As I planned my trip to Amsterdam I was overflowing with questions, and had no idea what to anticipate. Although, I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of what Amsterdam truly offers, I started to find what it all meant to me while sitting at a café near the “I Amsterdam” sign in the Leideplein district. It was perfect, we had just had a long and tiring morning, walking throughout what seemed like all of Amsterdam as well as going to the Van Gogh Museum. Sitting down for a drink was exactly what I needed, the atmosphere was like something out of a Dali painting, trees with no branches and a long pond against the modern and massive “I Amsterdam” sign. I sat waiting for my drink to come, with a group of friends; the waiter came a typical handsome, healthy, tall 20 something year-old Dutch man. This got me to thinking about my surroundings, and I asked myself what does the typical “Amsterdammer” look like or act like? What is the norm here?
I began to scan my surroundings and observe and absorb everything that was happening around me. Right across from the café stood a swing set with a dozen children playing, pushing each other on a tire swing. While to my left there was a shirtless man, seemingly intoxicated haphazardly climbing the “M” on the “I Amsterdam” sign. Directly across from the shirtless man I now see two women, who must have been contortionists balancing on each other on the edge of the adjacent pond. Finally, I see a mass crowd of tourists, a 70-year-old couple snapping photos of the park, a couple on their honeymoon and locals zooming through on bikes with ease. Phew, I started to realize that I had never been in a place that eclectic, outrageous, weird and at the same time completely normal. Watching all these diverse individual people, I started to realize that in Amsterdam there is no norm- the people of Amsterdam were a unique, eclectic group of people from all walks of life. This got me to thinking about the diverse demographics of the city of Amsterdam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam#Demographics a place where one can plan to see people ranging from Indonesian, to Moroccan, to Italian, to Spanish, a colorful assortment of people.
At that very moment, I started to discover what the “I Amsterdam” sign means; it is what the city of Amsterdam uses to identify itself as a city. This unique city with uncommon beliefs is full of any person you can think of, but together they are “Amsterdam.” This motto of the city displays the cities strong identify as one of the most powerful cities in Western Europe. Collectively this diverse community comes together to form one, and they made this “topi” or monument to illustrate how great they are as a city, showing a sense of Nationalism. More information relating to this motto can be found here: http://www.iamsterdam.com/, which describes all that the city, has to offer and the people that are within it.
Reflecting over my experience at the café, really taught me the importance of immersing yourself in your surroundings. I learned an immense amount more from just people watching than I could have learned from a book. This aided me in seeing how valuable it is to actually travel and be in the actual place and learn from my surroundings.