Still Here

I can’t wait to write about my time watching the game and my days here but they really should be accompanied by the pictures and videos I took. Since I’m still stuck in The Netherlands I don’t have any way to really upload or edit them.

Why am I stuck in The Netherlands? Well, apparently I’m not the only one who wants to get back to Chicago. Unfortunately most of the other people have tickets. I however, can only list myself for any available seats. Sometimes that works out great. Like on the way over here I ended up in a first class suite. Trust me, sweet only starts to describe it. It is a fantastic way to travel if you want to arrive well fed and rested.

On the other hand, when the flights are really busy it’s a problem. Then I travel all the way to the airport (45 minute train ride) just to sit there for several hours and turn right back around. It’s not cheap. It costs about 30 Euros round trip. Not too bad if you only go once. It starts to get expensive when you have to do it several days in a row though. Plus I have to clear customs and get a stamp in my passport every single time. My passport is going to be so full but it’s only going to be of AMS stamps. There’s also the lugging of my bags back and forth, up and down several flights of stairs and on and off of trains.

The silly thing is, staying here longer is kind of a treat. I feel more at home here than anywhere else in the world. I really love spending the extra time with my host family. If I knew when I could get back I wouldn’t be bothered, I’d be ecstatic to be here longer. It’s the back and forth and the unknown that has me all stressed. I just want to know the plan.

The flights look a little less full tomorrow than they did the last two days so I’m really hoping I can make it home. We’re supposed to sign the new lease on Friday. Plus I really do miss Joel a whole bunch (aws and all that mushy stuff, sorry). Wish me lots of luck. Now I’m off to bed because 5:30am comes really early.

Hup Holland Hup

Go Nederland! Kick Spain’s ass!

“Hup Holland hup
Laat de leeuw niet in z’n hempie staan
Hup Holland hup
Trek het beessie geen pantoffels aan
Hup Holland hup
Laat je uit ‘t veld niet slaan
Want de leeuw op voetbalschoenen
Durft de hele wereld aan”

Also, this song below cracks me up. It’s called Het is Stil aan de overkant which translates to It’s Quiet on the Other Side. The whole song is making fun of the other team asking “Why aren’t you laughing?” “We’re singing, why aren’t you?”. HA-larious!



I really hope The Netherlands wins the World Cup today. Either way I will be decked out, screaming my head off cheering them on. Hup Holland!

Probably jet lagged

If you’re reading this it means I made my flight to The Netherlands. It also means I’m a big ball of tired jet lag. Going to Europe is always rough on me. You leave in the afternoon so you’re not that tired and it’s hard to sleep on the plane and you arrive early in the morning. Not early enough that you could go back to bed, just early enough that it’s for. freaking. ever. before you can realistically go to sleep for the night. If you take a nap then you’re pretty much screwed for sleeping at all at night time. Most of my first days in Europe I remember in a haze of sleepiness.

Anyway, I love this country so much or I wouldn’t have traveled all the way over here for only two days just so I can celebrate with them while they play in the World Cup final. I am so excited for them!

The first time I went to The Netherlands was in 2000. I was in Amsterdam for 2 weeks and during that time the Euro Cup was going on. I have never seen so much orange in my life. I first fell in love with the Dutch on that trip and I got my first hint of a crush on Joel there too. I was 14 so it was going to be more than 4 years before something came of it but it’s super sentimental to me.

I’m also ridiculously excited to spend some time with my former host family. My sweet Caroline, Timo and Morten are growing up so fast it makes my head spin. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen them. I think this is actually the longest I’ve gone without either them coming here or me going there. I miss them so much! One of these days I need to do a post about my time there. It was one of the greatest adventures of my life.

Alright, well send The Netherlands good vibes and me awake vibes. Unless you’re reading this in the afternoon, in which case I hope to be sleeping over here. So send me sleepy vibes… I’m asking way too much aren’t I? Just cheer for Oranje in the game tomorrow and we’ll continue being good friends. Tot ziens!

World Cup on a whim

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you know that The Netherlands are playing Spain in the World Cup final this Sunday. What you may or may not know about me is I’m a huge Holland fan.

I was sitting around thinking how cool it would be to actually be in The Netherlands for the final game. Then, on a whim I checked the loads and they were kind of open. I didn’t have any plans this weekend so I thought, hey why not try to go.

So, here I am. Sitting in seat 1A. Yes that is a first class sleeper suite thankyouverymuch. I’m ecstatic! From there I’ll take a train to Rotterdam and spend some time with my former host family. The flights back are pretty full but I’m not letting myself get stressed about it. If I get stuck in The Netherlands for a couple extra days it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

If I don’t make it back Monday I will miss my last soccer game but I figure World Cup > Monday night soccer league. It’s not like I’m a star player… or we’ve ever even come close to winning.

Anyway, I don’t know how much of a chance I’ll have to get online while I’m over there so I’ve set up posts that should go up while I’m gone. I may have to wait to respond to comments and such (because I know you all will be leaving tons of comments. Right?) until I get back.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. I know I will. I’ll be saying it a lot this weekend but Hup Holland!

*typed on my iPhone so please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes. I’ll blame auto correct.

And so the fun begins

We’re down in Indianapolis this weekend visiting our good friends Cecil and Rachel. We still haven’t convinced them to move to the far superior city of Chicago yet so we only get to see them every once in awhile. It’s always a blast when we do.

From where we live it usually takes around 3 hours or so to get to their house so we left not long after Joel got off work, 4:45pm Eastern. Of course traffic sucked. Really badly. We had the brilliant idea to take an alternate route… aaand everyone else had the same idea it seemed because it was just as bad going that way too. We didn’t end up getting to their house until a little after 10pm.

That’s right. It took over 5 hours for a 3 hour drive. Kill. Me. Now. Luckily most of the time Twitter worked and when it didn’t I had Joel to talk to.* There were also some pretty windmills to look at on the way down.

Reminds me of The Netherlands. Oh how I miss it.

I may or may not have stuck my arm directly in front of Joel’s face to get this picture. Yes, he was driving. The windmills were a nice break from the constant corn. Because Indiana? Pretty much nothing but corn in 90% of the state. Not that that’s a bad thing. If you really like corn.

I remember as a kid I actually loved driving past cornfields that were plowed perpendicular to the road. When I stared at the rows whizzing by there was almost a wave like motion to it. It fascinated me. Honestly, it still does.

Anyway, I expect we’ll have a fun weekend as usual. Tomorrow we’re just hanging out and Sunday we have plans for a Spanish brunch and fireworks. Epic Fourth of July weekend? I think so.

*That sounds so backward. I really need to try and curb my Twitter addiction. Sorry, Love.