Having a bad day: 15 things that will get you through the day

To say the least, August has been a hectic and chaotic period for me this year. It all started in late July when I along with 14 colleagues were let go from my job due to cut backs. Living in a foreign city not speaking the language fluently made me slightly panic for an hour or two until I remembered that there are lots of opportunities in Amsterdam for an ambitious lady such as myself.

I was lucky as I was given two months notice, however, was able to find a job within one month. Although only having been job hunting for a month, it hasn’t been without frustration and doubt: Doubt in myself, my abilities and competencies along with questioning if I should stay in Amsterdam. As you know, I am quite keen on moving around and settle in different foreign cities for a period of time, however, I simply am not done with Amsterdam yet. Amsterdam is just such a lovely city! Therefore, I quickly decided to stay. Figuring out my next move and determining what direction I would like to go from here have proved rather frustrating but now I have a clear idea of where I want to go. Although I am sad to leave my current job and the wonderful team, I am thrilled at an opportunity to do something more me. Yesterday was the day when I signed a new contract with an amazing company in the heart of Amsterdam. I am so incredibly excited to start this new adventure and chapter of my life as a Recruitment Coordinator. I truly believe that this is the start of something wonderful and amazing!

In my darkest hours of frustration and insecurity though, I came up with a little list to keep myself positive and optimistic that might help you in your dark hours too. Sharing is caring so here it is:

1. We all have them, the bad days
2. However, instead of dwelling on the negative, it’s important to see the positive in them
3. Truth is, they make you appreciate the good times so much more
4. And you grow stronger and more resilient because of them
5. If you need it, though, allow yourself to have some time being frustrated, angry and sad
6. What you’re feeling today, at this moment, does not define you as a person. It’s how you deal with it in the longer run that does
7. Tomorrow is a fresh start and you can make new opportunities rise
8. Asking for help and assistance does not make you weak. On the contrary, it shows that you are aware of and willing to change things in your life because you know they are not optimal for you
9. There is so much love around you. All you need is to pick up the phone and call the people that guarantee a smile on your lips
10. Everyone doubts themselves and their abilities at times
11. Comparing yourself to others will cause nothing but sadness. They are not you and they don’t want the same things in life – therefore, it’s silly to compare in the first place
12. Be true to yourself and determine what you want and need in life to make you happy – then go for it!
13. Taking babe steps is better than taking no steps at all – it’s a process
14. Remember, the best is yet to come!
15. We live in a world where music, chocolate and Disney exist

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What keeps you positive and optimistic on a bad day? Please, do share!

xo P!

 

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http://quotesgram.com/img/sorry-you-had-a-bad-day-quotes/7684866/

Gezellig: Why Amsterdam is so darn cozy!

There are several reasons why Amsterdam has slowly but surely captured my heart: It has beautiful scenery, friendly inhabitants, interesting culture and history – not to forgot the amazing snapjes cuisine! For the seven months that I have now been living here, I can honestly say that I am very happy that (of all the lovely cities out there) Amsterdam is my home for now.

Beautiful Scenery
Everywhere you go in Amsterdam, you literally run into channels and parks. For someone like me who loves the nature, a stunning scenery is never dull! Even if Amsterdam is a smaller big city, it’s big enough to go explore and discover something new often. There are many areas around Amsterdam, all characterised by something unique. However, there’s no doubt that my favourite area is Jordaan: If I had the money, I would move there immediately. Filled with decorated, old truly Dutch houses, channels and lots of restaurants, cafes and bars, this is the place to live…and it’s central too – it doesn’t get much better! Of parks, I absolutely adore Amstel Park with its water fountains, maze and stunning gardening – not to forget the very Dutch windmill! Living right next to Vondelpark, though, I must admit that this park has a special place in my heart. Despite its hype and business, it cannot be argued that it’s a beautiful, big park with lots of stunning scenery.

Friendly Inhabitants
The kind people of Amsterdam is a friendly one: They genuinely want to know about you and are interested in your stories. They are also very open-minded and cultural diverse, which is something I really appreciate in a culture: There’s room for everyone!
Everybody here seems to speak English, which means that you’ll never truly feel obliged to learn the difficult language of Dutch. Nevertheless, I have begun my journey to, hopefully, speak it sufficiently at some point. One thing is to say about the Dutch language, though…it’s not a pretty one. However, when you overcome the obstacles of speaking it and slowly learn it, you feel like you can overcome almost anything – yep, that’s how easy it is to learn Dutch…

Dutch Cuisine
In general, the Dutch cuisine looks a lot like the Danish and German cuisine, I think: A lot of potatoes and a lot of meat in various combinations. Their national dish, Stamppot, comes with different ingredients and is delicious! I, especially, like the one with carrots, however, do not care too much for the one with onions… Moreover, their snapjes (small, delicious snacks) are groundbreaking! Of course, you can get snapjes of a variety of cheeses not to forget meats. However, their bitterballen beat it! A little fried ball of mashed potatoes and meat served with mustard – yummy! Of sweet snapjes Poffertjes and Stroopwafel are the best! While Poffertjes are cooked dough served with powdered sugar; Stroopwafel are two thin waffles stuck together with a layer of syrup best enjoyed with a cup of tea (although you can really eat those at all times).

Culture and History
As any capital, Amsterdam is full of culture and history. The fact that Amsterdam is the city in the world with most museums stresses this. You can literally find a museum for anything – be it cheese, tulips, erotic, cows and ducks… I don’t care too much for museums unless it’s something truly different (yes, I went to the cow museums and it’s great…!) or something that truly interests me (like Anne Frank and the Anne Frank Hous). What I do like though, are interesting exhibitions and cool concerts. So far, I’ve enjoyed a few exhibitions here, the latest being The Art of Banksy, which I give my best recommendations. With a rather modest pay check, however, I’ve only enjoyed three concerts here so far, which is far from enough! However, the up-and-coming as well as proper stars seem to visit Amsterdam regularly, which is quite nice. With time, there should be money enough to see more gifted artist on the big and small stages.

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Have you been to Amsterdam? What did you think of the city? Do you also think it’s rather gezellig?

xo P!

Travel Tip: Day tours

Whenever I move to a foreign city for a longer period of time, I make sure to get to know the country and culture by exploring it – like any traveler would. One of the ways in which I do this is by going on day tours. These can be arranged by professionels with a guide or by myself. Key is to explore the culture.

Of course, there are trains, however, they can be a bit expensinve. Alternatively, there are also many bus companies that drive to certain destinations very cheaply. I’m a big fan of these! A day tour can quickly turn into a weekend tour with enough time to explore the, for me, most noteable places. For me, these day tours offer a cheap way in which to get around the country in which I’m living.

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Do you have experiences with day tours/weekend tours? Any great tips I need to know about?

xo P!

Lesson Learned: Being single for a longer period of time

In general, people tend to be happier and maybe even more fulfilled in a romantic relationship. However, being single can lead to great personal development and growth if you decide to explore yourself, your passions and your dreams.

Although I am now in a happy relationship, I wouldn’t have traced the longer period of time being single with anything! Being single, namely, helped me develop my independence as well as needs and wants while growing into a woman. Truth is, I don’t feel like I need a man in my life. So when I despite this feeling chose to be with one, it’s because I can’t help it. Some people, however, are going from one romantic relationship to another because they don’t like being alone – they might even fear it. However, there are so many good lessons to learn from being single – lessons that help you grow and develop as a person:

• Love isn’t bound to a romantic relationship – love is bound to all relationships (and places). It isn’t a state of being but a state of feeling. As such, you can find love everywhere.
• You don’t need anyone else to validate your worth. By exploring yourself and the world with all the fantastic people and places in it, you learn about yourself: You learn to see the value you have – your own self-worth, so to say.
• You can accomplish so much on your own and find your way without having a special somebody in your life that you have to consider for your every move. What do you feel like? Do it! Explore, experience, learn, gain perspective and understanding.
• Amazing things can happen when you keep an open mind and follow your heart – have faith in and trust yourself.
• Alone time is underestimated – alone time is recovery time! We all need to reflect upon people and situations in our lives, alone time gives us that chance: Quiet reflection and powerful insight and understanding.
• You have more time to concentrate on your friendships and strengthen these. Through other people, there is a lot to learn about yourself as well.
• You are more aware of yourself and what you need and want in a romantic relationship in the future. No rush, you can wait for someone who feels right for you.

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What do you think? What are your experiences being single? What have you learned by being single?

xo P!

 

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http://thedailyquotes.com/being-single-3/

Wanderlust: What it means to me

Although the term of wanderlust has a clear definition, I think all travelers add something personal to this definition: Their source of wanderlust. Because even though it is a term, wanderlust in the end is a feeling. I believe that some of us are born with this feeling, while others develop it as they grow. …I was born with it.

To me, this feeling is all about discovering new ways of living and behaving through travels. By learning new ways, you can namely better your way of living: Adding foreign values and norms to your life, adds insight into your current way of living. As such, I take bits and pieces of foreign cultures and their ways of living and adapt them to my own life. In doing so, I’m gradually finding the way of living that makes me happy and rounds me as a person. Acquiring insight and understanding, therefore, makes a world of difference to me as a person.

In the end, traveling quite simply fuels me. I believe this is why travelers in general can’t get enough – more wants more. Something in me wants to go – go explore everything I can. Good and bad. You learn from all. I more and more feel that hunger for it, and in periods where it’s not part of my daily life, I am effected emotionally by the lack of it. …There’s a world of adventures out there waiting. If I, therefore, don’t go explore and discover, I feel as if I’m missing out on life. …I want to experience and explore as much as possible in my life. Moreover, I want to share my adventures with friends and strangers with a similar mindset – I want to learn from them. Ultimately, I never want to settle or be limited to one place only. No, as they say: The world is my oyster. So…when I say that I have wanderlust, it means that I have to travel to explore and discover in order to acquire knowledge of and understanding for the world. I will never be content or truly happy if I don’t – this I know for sure! I will continue to travel and settle in different cultures because it simply is in my nature to do so. I soak up as much of this magical world as possible on my adventures so when people ask, ”what’s it like?” I can reply, ”let me tell you…”

xo P!

 

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http://www.world-walk-about.com/northern-asia/the-big-announcement-our-travel-plans/

Letting Go: Friendships

Friendships are part of everybody’s lives. And if you ask me, friendships are big and important parts of people’s lives! They namely help shape us into the person we’ll become – they help us grow and develop. In short, friends are there through the good and the bad times. True friendships are not only loyal as well as trusting but offer a helping hand and a shoulder to cry on at all times…

However, like any relationship, friendships can outgrow. Because, as we grow as human beings and further develop, we might grow apart from personal relations. People, simply, come and go – it’s the circle of life, if you must. So even though some relations might last a life time, far from all of them actually do. In my opinion, it doesn’t help to mourn the loss of a friend. Instead, it’s better to remember and be thankful for the value they brought to your life: Lessons they taught you you, ways in which they helped you grow and develop and the love you shared. Because, even if this is a sad happening, it wasn’t for nothing and there’s no shame of growing apart – especially not when you both grow for the better.

Although I’m far from religious, I have come to believe that there’s a reason with everything – good and bad. I believe we’re destined to meet certain people in our life time – people that for better and worse play parts in our personal development as human beings. Some people, I believe, are destined to leave our lives again in order to teach us a lesson – a lesson we need later on in life, a lesson we wouldn’t be without. However, because of the role they played in our lives, they will always hold a special place in our hearts and will never truly be forgotten. So…when you as friends grow apart, I strongly believe that it’s not necessarily a bad thing: It namely means that you’ve grown and further developed as a person – hopefully for the better and in line with your personal wishes and goals for the future you. As a result, it’s okay to let it go! Truth is, it’s better to let go than to hold on to something that has become demanding to maintain and eventually even fake.

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What do you think about this topic? Do you agree? Why/ why not? Or don’t you agree at all? What are your personal experiences with friendships?

xo P!

Relocating Abroad: When it starts to feel like home

I’ve lived in Amsterdam for five months now. All in all, it has been a great experience so far, however, with mixed feelings – nonetheless, a great experience! It’s fair to say that nothing has gone as planned. Nothing… Absolutely nothing. However, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’ve focused on settling first, becoming a local and soon, I can start exploring my new home(y) country as a tourist. I look very much forward to this!

…It started a week after I moved here when I started working at my current job. Then, I suddenly fell in love with this great guy. So while I’ve been busy making a living here: Settling, getting used to the city, people, work and a sudden boyfriend, there hasn’t been time for much else – and to be honest, I haven’t had the time or need for much else either. Too much just gets too much.  As a result, there have been ups and downs. Mainly because of limited leisure time, I haven’t done all the things, I wanted to do – the things I planned to do. It really bugged me the first two/three months. Now, I’m not too worried as I know that it’ll come with time. After all, I’ll stay here for a year or two longer. Furthermore, with almost monthly visits from friends and family, I get to do the tourist experience of Amsterdam at least for a couple of days a month. That’s more than most people living here can say.

Now that spring is slowly turning into summer, I have high hopes for the following months. I want to explore the Netherlands. As such, I wish to travel around a bit. I want to travel to the Hague, Rotterdam, Zaandam, Haarlem, Groningen, Eindhoven and Maastricht. Going too all these destinations might be a bit too ambitious as I only have the weekends. However, I’ll do my best to do as many as possible with the time at my disposal. After all, I’ll go visiting my parents back in Denmark during my holiday.

Anyway… The good thing about the slow settling has made Amsterdam feel homey to me. I can finally say that I’m settled. Next month, I’ll start a Dutch language course so I can finally say more than a few sentences when out. I don’t believe I’ll become fluent as I won’t stay here in the Netherlands that long. Nevertheless, being able to communicate with Dutch people when out and about would be nice. So here’s to Amsterdam Adventure Part 2.

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Have, or do you also live abroad permanently? How did you settle? And how did you find the process – the experience? I’m very curious.
xo P!

Cultural Diversity Day: Let’s celebrate

Today, it’s officially Cultural Diversity Day. With the increasing intercultural countries around the world, I think it’s very important to celebrate this day. I strongly believe that it’s necessary to celebrate differences in order to enlighten these. Because only by enlightening these, awareness is created in the minds of people. Awareness that, hopefully, will lead to acceptance and respect.

Truth is, we can learn a lot from people from foreign cultures – people with foreign ways of thinking and behaving. We can learn in order to better ourselves. With an open mind and heart, we can learn to live side by side with people foreign to us with curiosity and interest – we can grow. So let’s celebrate our possibilities grow through acquired perspective by celebrating Cultural Diversity Day!

xo P!

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http://www.bluetuliptraining.co.uk/cultural-diversity/

Traveling: Like falling in love

To me, traveling is exactly like falling in love. Let me elaborate on this: I feel this way for many reasons, however, mainly because you go through all the emotions of a romantic relationship: Excitement, fear, happiness, sadness, frustration, relief, curiosity, desire etc. It’s a state of mind out of your control… You just have to roll with it!

The longing to explore and discover takes your breath away time after time. You look forward to every moment, every experience it can lead to with an open heart and an open mind. …You can’t get enough. More wants more. Exactly like true love, you always ache to discover more. In return, the feeling you get when discovering something new is nothing less than exhilarating! Actually…it’s addictive – or…it is to me! Because when you’re in love with a person, you not only long for them all the time, however, you also want to know every thing, every detail about them. To me, it’s the exact same emotions that are touched and feelings I get when I travel. Driven by curiosity and excitement, I just want to explore, discover and acquire insight and understanding – and there’s always more to discover. Moreover, it’s the one thing, you’ll sacrifice more or less everything for – it’s about prioritising, right!? And why not prioritise happiness and a positive mind-set at all means?
…Now that I’ve come to think about it, I believe this is exactly why I don’t understand when people don’t like traveling. Why would you not chase happiness!? Of course, like any love, it’s not one without reservation and uncertainty: However, like any true love should be, you trust it – you have your guards open at first but with an open heart and mind. Furthermore, you accept the good and bad. You even reach a point where you appreciate the bad, turn it into good. You fall in love with the differences you can learn from – the ones you grow from. You turn bad into good and thrive on the differences because it inspires you, it motivates you. It motivates you to work harder in pursuing the connection and a better life – the life of a traveler. As a result, you do all that’s in your power to make it work – even if the foreign culture of choice is out of your comfort zone – you adapt and assimilate.
Even if a travel ends up not being for you, you hold memories for a lifetime to treasure. Even if it isn’t for you and the pain is almost unbearable at first, you’re thankful for every experience along the way that has helped shaped you as a person in the process. Even if it’s not for you, truth namely is that you’re a better person because of it.

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That’s exactly why traveling is like falling in love to me. What does traveling mean to you?

xo P!

 

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http://danegonzalez.com/wanderlust/

Writing Your Thesis Abroad: My 10 reasons why to write your thesis abroad

After almost five years of study, it was time to write my master’s thesis… Because I didn’t have any classes during the thesis writing period, I decided to move to Berlin for seven months and seek adventure in the pursuit of the infamous black academic cap.

Maybe exactly because I characterise myself as a traveler, I find that you can do anything better when traveling? Nevertheless, I knew I needed this positivity when writing my study so…Berlin it was. It turned out to be the right choice for me for many different reasons. I here present you with my top ten reasons:

1. It’s a unique experience

2. You meet people from all over the world

3. You learn how to communicate with people from foreign cultures

4. You gain perspective on foreign behaviour as well as your own

5. You question what is right behaviour and you come to understand that it depends on many different things – not only cultures, however also people

6. As a result, you gain valuable foreign cultural insight and understanding

7. Having studied intercultural communication for almost five years and writing a thesis within the field, the acquired insight and understanding helped me in the process of writing my study

8. Furthermore, being out and away from everything and anyone, exploring a new city while getting to know it increased my creativity. As a result, I felt that the writing process went more smoothly than it would have under normal circumstances

9. In this sense, the best thing when I was stuck writing was that I could go explore and get renewed energy for the very frustrating process of writing

10. It’s the perfect excuse not to have time for anything or anyone. Let’s face it, writing a thesis is hard work. In the process, you find yourself limited by many things, time being one factor. As a result, living abroad was the perfect excuse not to have time for certain things…

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Do you want to explore the world as well? What are you waiting for!? Adventure is out there – even under your thesis writing period. There’s always an excuse to go travel! And can you believe it, there are even grants and scholarships that support these adventures throughout a thesis writing process…

xo P!

 

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http://hoptimist.com/products/model/iq/