Amsterdive is back.

A digital mag for the foreigner turned local. And the local who feels like a foreigner.

Back.

This blog-turned-magazine is back, and I’m back in Amsterdam.

Back.

I’m back from my 18-day whirlwind of an August vacation, and I’m back online with Amsterdive. I need vacation from my vacation, because family dynamics are fun like that. So I muscle through emotional shit and start writing. Everything is so apparently different and, at its core, so much the same. The city, myself.

Back.

You may remember that I retired from Amsterdive in 2021, after roughly 5 years of blogging. Various life-altering instances (split-ups, cancer, pandemic) made urban existence feel irrelevant. I was over Amsterdam. The city wasn’t fresh or exciting to me like it had been the first eight or nine years. No more exciting than any other capital city, anyway. Big cities didn’t have the allure they once had, with their culture(s), and their counterculture(s), and their nightlife, and flashy inhabitants. A mix of cosmopolitan superficiality, hustle culture and exorbitant cost of living drove many folks of my generation to various countrysides, those who could afford to make the move, anyway. Some of them could now work remotely, others wanted to start anew, favoring more simple lifestyles, closer to nature. Cities felt stale. I, too, wanted to leave. Where to, I didn’t know.

I'm back without ever having left.

I’m back without ever having left.

Things shifted following societal convulsions of 2020 / 2021. Amsterdam got shinier than ever. Whole new districts appeared - think of the new Houthaven islands -; neighborhoods got a facelift - look at the Kinkerbuurt -; favorite places got renovated - The Movies reopened! -; some newbies didn’t survive - I miss you Paradise Bar -; some oldies will never return - I’ll never shut up about Pacific Parc (the old-school one, not its polished version). I spent a lot of time in my homeland Portugal, working remotely, re-rooting. I got less tied to a place, more capable to create my oasis of peace wherever I am. City identity resembles identity politics: there’s just so much you can do with it. 

The past two years, I realized that writing about myself was not enough. I have missed writing for - for lack of a better expression - the common good. I have missed working with other people, within a team, for an independent mag where its writers have an editorial say. What better place to do this than a platform we created ourselves? 

So I’m back. 

Then, recently, I started re-imagining good ol’ Amsterdive. A publication with space for everything that matters: from personal essays about feelings to more informative articles about culture and leisure, and thought provoking pieces of various kinds. Amsterdive was actually pretty much alive in my imagination. It was time it went beyond my stories and point of view. It was time it grew to make space for other voices. It was time it became what it was always meant to be: a community that supports its readers navigating life in this puzzling city and beyond, but also connects them to each other. A magazine that helps us bridge the personal to the collective. 

Back. 

We’re back as a magazine: all it took was a DM on Instagram and Clement said yes, and I’m like, really, and she’s like, totally, plus, I always loved the name. Amsterdive. And I’m like, oh my God, it’s happening, Amsterdive is happening again and I’m not alone in this anymore: we’re a team. A team! Omg, the dream. By my side, a talented, hardworking, creative, breath-of-fresh-air young writer. Clement Taffin. Someone from a younger generation (she’s 26), who has a different experience of the city (she tried Amsterdam once, went back to Rotterdam where she did her masters, now she’s back again), coming from a different latitude (Venezuela, to be more precise). Someone who can challenge me in the right amounts, someone who is as excited about Amsterdive’s mission as I am. Someone I’m proud of (not unimportant). Other voices shall follow.

She is back, too.

She is back, too.

Amsterdamis many, and Amsterdive will strive to be a reflection of that. This is our space to introspect, but also find perspective: what’s going on with the zeitgeist? What has been before? (Shall we take a quick look at historical context?) We want to talk about our backgrounds, and about how the values shaping our behaviors match, clash and shift with local ones. We also want to find ways to connect and contribute to the culture that is. In more concrete terms: we shall create bridges between international and Dutch cultures. We shall highlight the places and initiatives where that is possible. We shall bring our readers together, offline too. We shall have fun. Expect essays, articles, think pieces, interviews, the odd listicle, online entertainment, and in-person gatherings.

So here we are. Back.

The capital of the Netherlands is a city from which so many migrants depart from only to return to, a few years later. Like any other urban environment, Amsterdam is flawed and yet it still is the place we keep choosing. Not because it’s “the best city in the world” - although sometimes it definitely feels like it - and not because of its reputation of wild and free. Amsterdam’s wildest, free-est years could be gone. And yet.

Amsterdam is “easy”. Amsterdam is boring. Amsterdam is multicultural. Amsterdam is über gentrified. Amsterdam feels chaotic. Amsterdam is progressive. Amsterdam is permanently revamping itself. Amsterdam is one of those rare places that gives people enough space to come into their own. Personally, I owe a lot to this city. Here I “found a voice”, reinvented myself over and over, and healed from a long list of maladies. Going back home for family vacation is a huge reminder of how much that’s true. I don’t plan on leaving this cocoon of a city anytime soon: very few places beat the overall quality of life we are afforded here. I need more nature in my life, but that’s a different story. I need a stronger sense of community too. Each statement I just made deserves an essay on its own. That’s why I still want to write about Amsterdam. That’s why we’re here. Back. Hope to see you back soon too.

♒︎

Ana V. Martins is the founder & creative brain behind amsterdive.com. Ana Searches for Meaning is the venue for her most personal writing. Get in touch: anavmartins@amsterdive.com.