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!

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!

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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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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Amsterdam: Falling in love

 

Moving to a foreign city…

…is sometimes exactly what you need in order to feel homey

xo P!

Social Media: Keeping in touch with friends and family as an expat

When you live abroad, it can be challenging keeping in touch with friends and family back home. However, thankfully we live in the 21^st century in which technology plays an increasingly part of our daily lives. As such, the Internet opens a world of opportunities to stay connected as an expat.

Personally, I use Skype and Facebook Messenger for texting and calling friends and family from. They are two easy and reliable programmes to use, which allow direct contact. I know some of my expat friends also use WhatsApp, however, I haven’t really tried that yet as I don’t really need anything but Skype and Facebook to keep in touch.
In this sense, though, social media is priceless to me. It allows me to keep in touch with my beloved ones without actually talking to them. Right now, where I’ve just moved to Amsterdam, started a new job and trying to acquire insight into the culture and build up a social circle, I don’t have much spare time. Therefore, social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and SnapChat allow me to receive updates from friends and family while at the same time allowing me to send updates as well – without direct interaction. Sometimes, this is the perfect way to keep updated as the time is not always there.

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Do you, as an expat, have any other ways to keep updated with friends and family? Any apps or programmes I should try out?

xo P!

 

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New Beginnings: Settling abroad

Step-by-step, I’m settling here in Amsterdam, Holland. My new room in a shared apartment has been filled with furniture with a little help from IKEA, and all the official paper work has been sorted out. Furthermore, I’ve landed myself one of those 9-17 jobs… One that I’m really excited about as it combines previous work experience with my degrees – it seems like the perfect match. Moreover, my colleagues seems warm and welcoming, which is highly important to me as I’m quite the social type – a friendly and positive work environment is vital to me!

However, although having lived here for a little over a week now, I haven’t had time for what I enjoy the most due to practical matters: Exploring the city.
I guess, I shouldn’t be too worried about that for now as I’m going to live here permanently for an undecided period of time. This means that, if all goes as planned, I’ll have years to get to know the city and all it’s hidden treasures – but it’s not like me… at all! The previous times when I’ve relocated abroad, I was out exploring from day one. Maybe that’s because all the practical matters had been taken care of before moving? Anyway, at least I’ve had time to figure out the most basic things: Where to grocery shop, how public transportation works and where the green areas in my neighbourhood are.

 

 

 

 

 

In this sense, though, I’ve come to wonder: What do I expect of my time in Amsterdam besides having a good time and it to be a positive experience? After some serious thinking, I’ve come to the following conclusion. In the big picture, I’ll work towards 1) Acquiring insight into and understanding for the Dutch culture; 2) Making new friends from all over the world in this highly international city; and 3) Settling in at work, befriending and getting close to my new colleagues. To me, these are the things that truly matter – especially the social aspect of it all.
Besides this, I’ve set myself certain goals to reach within the next five years. No rush, though – I’ll take it as it comes. It’s important for me not to get hung up on achieving certain things – as long as I work towards something with determination and it feels right, I’m on the right track, I’m sure.

xo P!

Moving Day: It’s time for my abroad relocation

Finally! The day has arrived. Moving day… Or moving weekend, really.

For so long now, I’ve been looking forward to this day with pure excitement and happiness. Finally, my dream is coming true. With a few bumps along the way, I’m now ready for Amsterdam, Holland, and I cannot wait! Today, I’ll spend the day packing and when I wake up early tomorrow morning, I’ll be well on my way to Amsterdam. …I’ll be well on my way to start my new adventure – my new life.

I’m influenced by rather ambivalent feelings at the moment. I’m both sad and happy: Saying goodbye to everything you know is both terrifying and exciting at the same time. Mostly, though, I’m full of excitement and happiness. I take great comfort in uncertainty. For me, uncertainty, namely, determines certainty. I guess that sounds weird… However, that’s how I am: When nothing is sure, everything is possible – and isn’t that a great feeling!? So why am I sad? I think it’s because I’ll leave my family for good. My family that doesn’t understand my wanderlust or fernweh at all. My wonderful family nonetheless.
For the last couple of months, all my time and energy has been used on things related to this relocation. As such, I haven’t had much energy to use on them, which I feel bad about now. I think I’ve spend the entire week overcompensating for that – now, I think they’re happy to see me leave for a while… Having celebrated the entire month of Christmas resulting in Christmas Evening yesterday with my dear family, though, I feel as if I have said my goodbyes and am ready for this relocation. Of course, I’ll miss them and it will take me a little time to get used to my new reality in the fair city of Amsterdam. However, I’m not one of those people who walks around with an ache in their hearts homesick. Quite on the contrary actually. I rather walk around home being homesick for a place I’ve never been – a place I dearly hope to find one day.

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Tomorrow, I’ll arrive in Amsterdam. Tomorrow, I’ll officially begin my new life. Tomorrow, will be the beginning of the rest of my life. …Tomorrow!

xo P!

 

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Being an Expat: Living abroad as a foreigner

Relocating abroad automatically means that you become categorised as an expatriate – also known as an expat. As such, you have decided to reside in another culture than that of your citizenship – you are now an immigrant. As a result, it’s now your responsibility to adapt to this foreign culture – for better and worse. Don’t be afraid, though, it’s quite the adventure, and as long as you have an open mind, you’ll be more than fine – trust me. However, for anyone relocating to a foreign culture and trying to adapt as well as assimilate to norms and behaviour attached to this culture will know: It takes time. Meanwhile, in my experience, you’ll come to experience things – things that you may or may not have expected before immigrating:

1. The paper work concerning your relocation abroad is endless

2. …And the rules and regulations can be rather confusing and, to you, at times, somewhat illogical

3. Not knowing the foreign language can be a real challenge – even with good English skills

4. For better and worse, Google Translate becomes one of your treasured friends

5. You’ll come to find that the importance of a personal number is key to …EVERYTHING

6. Keeping in touch with friends and family from back home becomes truly important to you

7. ..As a result, so does all types of social media as they help you stay in touch

8. You’ll experience that your otherwise common and boring name is exotic and beautiful in the ears of foreigners, which is somewhat wonderfully weird to you

9. You’ll discover what stereotypes there are out there concerning your home country and its people

10. You’ll come to understand that there are various and different expectations of personal space

11. You don’t always know what you should or should not buy at the grocery store

12. It can be almost impossible (at times, definitely impossible) to find certain native foods

13. You’ll pay unreasonable amounts of money for food that only somewhat resemble what you can get back home in desperate hours of homesickness

14. The wonders of goodie bags sent from friends and family with foods from home can make your day

15. Eating out can be either the best or worst experience

16. You’ll never really know how much to tip

17. When you meet a fellow (insert your nationality here), you immediately get excited

18. However, you’ll experience that meeting new friends from foreign cultures is truly enlightening on so many levels – especially, culture-wise

19. You’ll find yourself incredible excited when new friends or acquaintances know something about your country – especially, if you, like me, come from a little otherwise insignificant nation that people rarely tend to know much about

20. You’ll find that keeping up with politics back home is difficult

21. …So is keeping up with its pop culture

22. On the other side, you’ll experience that acquiring insight into and understanding for a foreign culture is an exciting and adventurous experience

23. You’ll come to understand your own culture and foreign cultures more in-depth and acquire perspective on these, realizing that there’s a lot you don’t know about the world yet

24. Ultimately, you’ll realize that you will never truly know the foreign culture no matter for how long you’ll live there

25. …That won’t stop you from getting lost in the foreign culture and your new home city/country, which you’ll find nothing but exciting

26. As a result, you’ll come to treasure your native culture more in some ways and in other ways, you’ll come to treasure the foreign culture more

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Despite challenges and difficulties linked to relocating and living abroad, it’s worth it! Every day is the beginning of a new and exciting adventure filled with wonderful people.

xo P!

 

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In the Process: Preparing my next relocation abroad

…Plan, organise, research…
…Then plan a little more, organise a little more and research a little more…

At the moment, I’m in the middle of planning and implementing my next abroad relocation. Within the month, I will (hopefully, if everything works as planned) move permanently to Amsterdam in Holland. I can’t wait! I have been counting down to December for so long now, and it’s finally time… Time to make my dream come true. However, the relocation, of course, comes with a lot of planning. Fortunately, this is something I don’t only enjoy, however, also something I’m quite good at. As a result, I already have all the necessary paper works as well as an apartment. Moreover, I have even started to learn Dutch via Duolingo and scheduled a meeting with the municipality in order to receive a personal number, which is needed for…everything really. Now, I just need a job. As such, I’m currently in contact with various companies in Amsterdam regarding a full-time job within my field of interest.

As it will be my first non-student job, I am excited to see what exactly I’ll end up doing and in which field. Of course, I’m applying for certain jobs connected to my experience and education. Nevertheless, there are many opportunities out there. Hence, as much as this is an interesting and exciting process, it is also a scary one. It is scary due to the uncertainty linked to it – simply because I have no control over the situation. I mean, of course, I send out applications and make sure to continually improve not only my CV but also my cover letter, which has shown highly positive responses. But… In the end, you never quite know whether or not the companies in question find you an attractive candidate for the job or that you lack experience and/or certain qualifications. Hence, I can do nothing more now but wait… Wait for feed back and a yes or no reply to my application… …Let’s just say, I’m not the patient kind, and to not have control over my situation is rather annoying… Nonetheless, this is my current situation. And when nothing is sure, everything is possible – let’s stay positive and optimistic, shall we.

xo P!

 

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