As you may or may not know, I will soon be starting my Masters degree at the University of Leiden. I’ve already posted on the topic twice before, first to discuss my worries, and then to rant a little about my problems with finding accommodation, and to make a list of reasons why it will be amazing (my attempt to combat the negativity!). But guess what? Today is The Big Day.
Yup, today I fly out to Amsterdam. My flight is at 5.30pm and AHHHHHHHH. We’re staying in a hotel tonight, then we can pick my keys up tomorrow afternoon and move in! Then my parents are helping me to settle in, get in some basic supplies, and they’re flying home on Sunday night. It will be scary and exciting and emotional and so many different feels but I CANNOT WAIT.
But what might this mean for the blog?
Posts might be less frequent.
Although I honestly have no idea. I already have the rest of this month scheduled (and perhaps September by the time this post goes up) so I’m sorted for a few weeks at least. I don’t know how crazy my timetable will be, plus there’s so many new things to do, so I have no idea how often I’ll be posting.
You’ll see some posts on my experiences.
I won’t just be posting about books, now I’ll be talking about my year studying abroad. The culture, getting to grips with the language, the food, various trips I go on – I want to cover it all!
I’ll probably be slower to respond to comments.
Both on my own blog, and commenting on others. I’ll get there eventually!
I may be quieter on social media for a bit.
This first week might not be so different, since I’m moving in a week before Orientation Week and also I think before many others (a lot of people seem to be unable to move into their accommodation until September 1st, which is weird). I’ll mostly be using the week for exploring the city and getting to know my way around, and how active I am depends on how many people I meet during this quieter week.
Rinn Reads 
Wow,have a fantastic time! What a great experience. I lived in Japan for a year in college and it is still one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Don’t worry too much about blogging, just take advantage of everything that comes your way:-)
Thanks Tammy 😀 That’s great to here, everyone who has studied abroad talks about how it was an amazing experience and one of the best of their life, which is very reassuring!
Ahhhhhhh!! You are going to have the BEST TIME.
I don’t know the Netherlands really at all (I went once as a kid), but I did study abroad. It was the best time of my life. I’M JEALOUS. Can I come?
Woe is my working life ;__;
SAFE FLIGHT AND GET PUMPED 😀
Ooh, where did you study? 😀 And if you ever find yourself heading in this direction, let me know!
Have a nice trip and a nice stay in NL. And since you’re gonna be in Europe, if you decide to visit Greece for holidays or whatever, I’d be glad to help you with anything (accommodation, directions, etc) or offer you a Greek iced-coffee!
Thank you Antonis 🙂 You know, despite how much I’ve studied Greece and how ancient Greece is one of my favourite ever things to study, I’ve never visited! One day…
Safe travel and happy settling in!
Thanks Wesley – all moved in now 😀
Have a safe flight, and best wishes for your first year at Uni! I suppose it’s a good thing if you aren’t on here as much as you need to go out and have many Experiences! 🙂 But I’m glad you’ll still keep up your blog – I look forward to reading all your updates!
Thank you Charlene 😀 I’m going to try and do some blog stuff this week, because a lot of people won’t be moving into accommodation until the week after, and that’s also when the orientation week starts. So this week was mostly about me finding my way around, hence the evenings will probably be fairly quiet 😀
I just read your second post and then this one. They do have a lot of good food in the Netherlands 😀 The things I usually miss most -and which I therefore always ride to Maastricht for to get when I’m visiting my parents- are peanut sauce (something the Dutch brought home from their Southeast-asian colonies), Heinz pasta sauce (It’s a big brand, but they neither sell it in Scandinavia or Austria), and the Dutch sandwich spreads. Dutch supermarkets also have a LOT of vegetarian meat replacers (they influenced us that way, which I like, of course 🙂 ). I don’t know if you’re a beer drinker, but I guess it’s inescapable when you’re a student. Either way, when it comes to Dutch beers Hertog Jan, Herfstbok, Maredsous and La Trappe are not half bad. But of course you should just by the Belgian beers, ’cause they sell those everywhere in the Netherlands as well 😀
Pieter! We will have to meet up, although you’re a bit further away now aren’t you? I’m meeting various other ex-Clampies in Antwerp and Ghent, so perhaps you could join us?
I’ve heard about the peanut sauce. And yesterday I saw Speculaas spread… I may have to sample it. I got my parents into stroopwafels too 😀 I’m not a beer drinker, though I do like Belgian raspberry beer…
Good luck and safe flight! Looking forward to reading about your experiences!
Thanks Alisa, all settled in now 🙂
Best of luck!
Thank you Lorraine! 🙂
Good luck! Can’t wait to hear more about your experience!
Thanks, I’ll definitely be blogging about it 😀 May have some stuff to share this week!
Woohoo! Good luck and have a great time settling in!
Don’t worry about the blogging front, it sounds like you’re very prepared but we’ll still be here anyways. Can’t wait to hear all about it 😀
Thanks Faith 🙂 I’ve only got up to this month scheduled but I’m sure I’ll find some time – perhaps later today – to sort stuff out 🙂
Yay! I saw your getting ready and packing photos on Instagram. So excited for you, and looking forward to posts about your experiences! Grad school is awesome…and time consuming…and awesome.
Thanks Tara 😀 I’m looking forward to posting about my experiences 🙂 I’m going to keep an eye out for some cool bookshops as well…