“Once upon a time” or “hello, world”? Where to begin is always the most difficult part to write. Being a fan of oldies but goodies, I might have to go with “once upon a time.”
Once upon a time, an American woman met a Dutch man. Like all good fairy tales, he swept her off her feet and took her to a land far, far away – complete with castles (and the added bonus of cheese, windmills, and wooden shoes – but we’ll get to that later).
That’s how the story begins. However, like the story of most expats, the experiences of living abroad are far from being a fairy tale. It can be the most challenging, rewarding, taxing, exhausting, and exhilarating experience of your life. I’ve had moments of wanting desperately to run back home and moments of extreme gratefulness to be able to experience all that I have since moving. I honestly did not realize all the difficulty
My nickname is V ,for short (movie comments can be directed to my spam box), and I decided to finally embrace the 21st century by starting a blog, though I’m probably several years late to the blogging world. So be it, better late than never. There might have also been some suggestions from friends regarding the mental health benefits to doing this. I’m apparently in desperate need of a hobby, and an outlet so there is a decrease in verbal whining.
I’m an American expat who has lived in the Netherlands for the past five years. I arrived at this unlikely life destination from Louisiana (the state next to Texas for those of you unfamiliar with US geography).
Since moving, I’ve learned enough of the Dutch language to know how to successfully insult someone, be accidentally offensive in public, and buy milk instead of vodka – a mistake I should perhaps make more often.
I’ve also managed to find a job that thankfully does not rely upon the aforementioned Dutch language skills, but English. I work with an international company in Amsterdam, hate the commute, but can’t help loving the view from my office window of the city – particularly around sunset. 🙂
I don’t live in Amsterdam, and mainly just come into town for work. I live in a smaller town between Utrecht and Amersfoort.
I don’t know what I plan for this, it might be single rant or a collection of ramblings. We’ll just see where this goes. This is by no means the first blog, book, vlog, etc. about the topic of being an expat, even an expat in the Netherlands.
So, hello world.