When you’re preparing to move abroad, there are a lot of places you can turn to for advice. Trenton’s company provided a relocation specialist who helped us navigate all the paperwork and legal stuff. The internet will always be an endless fount of knowledge. Trenton’s coworkers – particularly the native Dutchies – were happy to […]
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During our last month in the States before moving to Amsterdam, I was spending a lot of time taking inventory of our house and trying to figure out what could come with us, and what had to go. We were living in a three bedroom, two bath house in Kentucky, which seems ludicrous now. We sold two […]
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As anyone who suffers from anxiety knows, the first step in creating a solid plan is worrying (although I prefer the term “pre-problem-solving”). When moving to Amsterdam evolved from a dream to a reality, I quickly got to work. I gave notice at my office, allowing a full month between my last day at work […]
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Considering we were going through the immigration process, the amount of paperwork we had to complete shouldn’t have been surprising. Fortunately, Trenton’s company provided us with a relocation specialist whose job it was to help us navigate all the twists and turns of the Dutch government. She would translate documents and helped us find and […]
Read more...The first time Trenton was sent to Amsterdam for a work trip, he was smitten. We started fantasizing about a vacation we could take to Europe together, his company footing the bill for his airfare, and us splitting the cost of mine. His company doesn’t encourage employees to take their partners on work trips, but […]
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There are a million reasons not to. For about a year I figured the best way to write more would be to read a lot about how to write more. After skimming past the silly, pestering step “in order to write more, you must WRITE MORE,” I always got stuck on the intimidating powerhouse “get up […]
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Having too much free time is a burden. There, I said it. I had a job once where I could knock out my daily responsibilities in about an hour or two. The rest of the day I would sit at my desk and pass the time as covertly as possible. It wasn’t exactly a […]
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I took a short bicycle trip (30km) with my Dutch class through the countryside just north of Amsterdam. Dutchiest day ever and heel gezellig.
Read more...Nothing like someone else’s misfortune to remind you of all that is good in your life… Today I went to the shops to buy groceries and stamps. I had spent about 20 minutes researching the various ways to say “I would like some stamps, please,” so I wanted to get that task out of the way first. […]
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I’m in absolutely no position to complain, I realize that. I’m the fortunate recipient of an extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I’m so lucky. I need to squeeze every ounce of experience out of this amazing time. Believe me, I know. I’d heard about people feeling like aliens on another planet when moving to a foreign […]
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