it is always nice to be greeted at an airport, (unless it's by interpol). often i try and hold back my smile when i walk through the final door to the arrival hall. i want to smile because the feeling of adventure makes happiness run wild all around me, but i don't want to make a fool out of myself before i even get a chance to leave the airport, so i stay composed as much as i can in front of the people looking for their someone.
this time was different because a friend was going to pick me up from amsterdam airport, and i smiled from take off in london until i arrived at schiphol.
roj and i became friends in high school due to our similar assignment starting hours, almost always the day before, and we would stay up through the night giving each other encouragements, and thinking of ideas to buy more time. she was a part of my photographs when i first became interested in photography, and is still one of my favourite people to take portraits of.
she gave me a space to sleep on her floor in leiden, her room was beautiful, the ceiling seemed to reach the sky and the window was the wall itself. we wandered around leiden one of the mornings, eating raw herring, kibbeling, bitterballen and stroopwafels, not all at once but i am pretty sure within 2 hours.
