Summer in Amsterdam is a time when the air is filled with light and freedom, and the streets seem to breathe with quiet anticipation. Long summer evenings make time feel like it’s slowed down: at 10 p.m., the sky still glows with a soft golden hue, and the streetlights flicker on more out of habit than necessity. Joris arrived in Amsterdam in mid-June. He had long dreamed of visiting the city in summer — to feel it come alive, to watch it shake off the cool dampness of spring and reveal its warmer, gentler side. Tour boats drift slowly through the canals, cafés spill their tables onto the cobblestones, and locals lounge by the water, legs dangling, a glass of chilled white wine in hand. Walking along the Prinsengracht, Joris listened to the creaking wooden bridges beneath his feet and the music floating from somewhere nearby — maybe an accordion, maybe a violin — blending with the soft murmur of evening voices. It felt like the entire city was speaking to him in a shared language: one of freedom, ease, and quiet joy.