This week has been rather
crazy! The plan was to do my exams on Monday, pack and move on Tuesday
and Wednesday and start enjoying my holiday on Thursday!
I thought it was a pretty good planning....until the storm hit on Sunday!
Just
before we went to church there were extremely strong winds and I was
actually worried that my car was going to be blown of the road.
After church the weather had calmed down again, so I went out to the vineyard to have dinner at someones place.
I'm
still not really sure what happened and what I was thinking, but all of
a sudden there was a massive branch (pretty much half a tree) laying
across the road. I tried to break, but I was to late and there were cars
coming from the other side so I had to drive straight into the branch.
Thankfully the branch didn't go through my windscreen and there were only a few cracks in one of the side panels.
Monday
morning early I drove back to Bunbury again, so that I can do a last
cram session before I had to do my exams, however when I came home the
power was still off. It had been off since 2.30pm the day before. We
were also out of water, so we had to walk down the hill to the hospital
to go to the toilet and brush our teeth.
At
8 we went to the classroom where the exam was to be held, but we
couldn't even go into the building cause the power was off. Someone told
us that the campus had been closed down for two days and we would hear
later when we could sit our exams. I was starting to get a bit worried
cause I was hoping to fly to Holland on the sunday, so that didn't leave
much time to make exams.
Throughout
the week the communication with uni was extremely slow, even though the
Joondalup and Mount Lawley campuses were open and that's were all the
offices are. The last thing I've heard is that they want me to do my
exams coming monday, here in Holland. But my lecturer send me an
email advising me to request a deferred exam for a deferred exam. I have
filled out the online form and send it off, but of course haven't heard
anything back yet!
I
hope I can do my exams when I get back from Holland, cause I really do
not want to be studying this week! Especially cause it's Ruth's wedding
on friday.
The
rest of last week was pretty crazy. I wasn't sure what was going to
happen, so on monday and tuesday I was just sitting around waiting for
some clarification while watching nearly 2 seasons of big bang theory
with my housemate/classmate. :)
On
wednesday I decided to pretend that I didn't have to do the exams
anymore during that week, so I started packing and moving. On friday I
had finally organized myself, moved my stuff to Busselton and packed my
bag.
All my stuff
is in bags in Busselton at the moment and while I am gone a few people
of the congregation will be putting a bed, a desk, a dresser and a
clothes rack in the room for me. So I wonder what my room will look like
when I get back!
On
friday night I went to Arie and Rianne's place to watch Holland loose
against Germany. It was rather painful to see the bad defense and to
realize that I won't be seeing them play while I would be in Holland!
On
saturday April had organised a surprise party for Gerwin's 21st
birthday and after the party my parents drove me up to Armadale. After
going out for dinner to sizzlers and sleeping at Arjan's, it was FINALLY
time to fly!
I
flew together with Matthias who happened to had booked the same flight
as me only 8 weeks ago. We checked in together and got seats next to
each other. I have been doing most of the traveling by myself and I
wan't to sure if I would like flying with someone else, but it worked
out great!
We
left Perth at 8 am on sunday morning and arrived in China at 4pm. (no
time difference). The 8 hour flight went really well, but we didn't have
any screens on the seats in front of us. The only movies they showed on
the other screens in the planes were some lame chinese movies with lots
of fighting and blood. The started showing Alvin and the chipmunks
which I got all excited about, but after 30 minutes they all of a sudden
stopped the movie and started playing another chinese movie!
Like
you can expect, the food on the plane was chinese food. My stomach did
not appreciate the combination of plane food and chinese food. So when
we arrived at Guangzou airport I couldn't wait to find some nice greasy,
filling, western food.
The
airport itself is not exactly inspiring, but we found a nice little
restaurant/cafe where they sold pizza! I think that was the best pizza I
have EVER had! ....and that coming from someone who works at dominos!
It was a pizza with a little bit of bacon and LOTS of cheese! yum!
We
had to wait at the airport for 8 hours and after recharging my phone,
checking my email, sleeping for a few hours and getting really bored,
Matthias had to wake me up, cause it was the last call for board our
plane.
The 12 hour
flight to Amsterdam went really smoothly as well. It was 12 midnight in
Australia and by the time we arrived in Amsterdam it was 6.45am local
time, so the flight was just an extra long night. This time they did
have small screens in the seats! I think I slept on and off for about 6
hours of the flight so that went really quick!
When
we arrived at Amsterdam and got off the plane, we could walk straight
through customs after scanning our dutch passports. Dorinda and Daniel
were at the airport to pick me up and after saying goodbye to Matthias
and Annemijn our first stop was the albert hein to go, to get some food
which my stomach actually knew! After a coffee at starbucks we hopped in
the car. Dorinda and Daniel bought my oma's car of here when it was
obvious that she wouldn't do any driving anymore and it's nice that
although I won't be able to visit here, there is still a connection.
After
dropping Daniel off at his work, Dorinda took me to her place in Delft.
After drinking lots of tea, having a great shower and an awesome lunch,
which consisted out of soup and beautiful dutch, healthy, dark brown
bread, we drove to Rotterdam to have high tea with Jantina.
Jantina
is in the process of graduating and receiving her bachelor of social
work. On monday she had her final presentation and received an 8,5! She
rocks! :)
The
high tea was amazing! (pictues will be added later this week!) After
eating so much we couldn't possibly eat another bite and talking about
all the stuff you talk about with sisters, we went to Jantina and Hans'
house in Rotterdam. Hans and Anton were already there and Daniel arrived
a bit later. We all had dinner together.
At
10.30 pm I decided that it was finally time to go to bed. I woke up at
8.30 am this morning and I'm really hoping that there is no jetlag!
I normally don't get it on the way to Holland, but on the way back it's shocking!
It's
amazing to be back in Holland again! I love seeing all the things that
are so familiar and being able to speak my first language everywhere I
go!
I hope my
brain has recovered enough during the night, cause yesterday I had quite
a few times that I thought: 'wow, these people speak dutch', or 'wow,
there are wilhelmina peppermints' and then realizing that i was in
Holland!
It's
about as warm here as it was in Australia when I left, but it's 10
times greener so I do still get that dutch summer feeling! It looks like
the weather isn't going to be to bad and because i'm not here for the
weather anyway, I am fine with that!
Today I will be going to the shops and see what kind of clothes they have in the shops here! :D
Tomorrow
I'll be joining Dorinda in the white umbrella march and after that I'll
be heading to Almelo to see Ruth. It will be her wedding on friday and
I'll be staying with her (and her parents) from wednesday till saturday!
Can't wait!
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| High tea |
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| Couldn't fit it all in |
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| Enjoying the sun, the flair and tea |
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| Summer in Rotterdam |
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| Dinner in Delft |
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