Personal update

It’s been a while since I last wrote a personal update. In fact, it’s been more than 6 months since I last wrote one. At that time, I had just moved to a new city and my life had taken quite the 180. So how am I doing a few months down the line? What’s life thrown at me in the passing months and what am I looking forward to in the months to come?  

Personal update

So let’s have a look back first. In hindsight the move went very smoothly for me and it has definitely been a change for the better. I really enjoy my new space and I love this new city. I cannot wait to explore it more! I moved here in the middle of fall, with winter on the brink of appearing. Now that spring is here and my summer break is only weeks away I have decided to know go on vacation, but explore the city instead. I cannot wait what I will find there.

The moment I realized I had made the right choice was when I went back to my old home town and rode past my old house. And it just no longer felt like home. That’s when I knew that my new place had become home already within just 3 months of living there. So the transition couldn’t have been smoother. I feel great and I love my place. For the first few months I definitely had to pinch myself: oh my gosh I truly did it! But more than 6 months down the line, I can say that Rotterdam is now truly home.

Sadly, not everything went smoothly. At the end of February I started to feel tired and all my muscles ached. Thinking it was just muscle pain after starting working out again after not working out for a while, I thought that would solve it. But I kept being tired and feeling not that great. I would go to work and pretty much crash on the couch straight away. I went to see my doctor and she told me I may just have that flu that was going around last winter, but caught the tail end of it and didn’t get the full hit, but only ended up simmering just under the surface.

In the end I felt awful for nearly 5 weeks and then daylight saving time hit me like a brick. It just wasn’t a great combo and I never really like an hour less sleep. So I ended up feeling tired yet again. I finally recovered, but then I was so buy with social things (all fun!) that I barely had time for anything apart from work. March and April weren’t my best months, but May has luckily been great.

Despite that bump in the road, I still had lots of fun. I took up a new hobby (I started taking Lindy Hop classes and going to social dances since March), saw all of my family friends more than once and as icing on the cake I went to London at the end of April. I had planned the trip in January and it was great to be in that city again despite the rain. I didn’t get the chance to go last year, so it was great to just walk around again. I love going to London and I love doing things slightly off the beaten path.

In London, I tried lots of great food, visited two museums I hadn’t been to before, took a few walking tours I hadn’t done before and watched movies as it was a great solution to get out of the rain for a bit. I watched Black Panther, the new Avengers movie and Ready Player One. I also walked around Soho and Covent Garden one day and East London and Shoreditch another. I visited food markets and had the best fish & chips in all of London in Borough Market. So yes! That was a great trip!

Additionally, life has been great. The new hobby has meant that I have been meeting lots of people and I’m having so much fun doing it. Work is going well, but I am not looking forward to the next few weeks as the weeks leading up to summer vacay are always the craziest. So far, I have the overview and I know what needs doing so I should be okay. However, I also know from other years that things will happen that just throw you a curve ball. But like every year I know it will also work out. We have a couple of fun drinks and outings coming up too, so it’s not all work work work work work. And of course there is 5 weeks of bliss on the horizon too.

During summer, I will not only be doing exploring in the city, but I will also do some DIYing. There are still a few paint jobs that we couldn’t get done before I moved in, so I will be doing that and I will have some handyman coming over to install a new boiler as mine is nearly ancient and will only last another year or two. So I will also work on the house a bit, enjoy some nice weather and read some books on my balcony. I’m chuffed with the fact that many of the seeds I planted in early spring have started to grow and bloom, so I’m excited how that is going to continue.

Last but not least, I also have a few things lined up for after summer. I will be taken another dance class at the Lindy Hop school, but this time focusing on Charleston. Next to that I have a few concerts lined up and overall life is great. I’ve been going back to the gym, I’m starting to feel stronger and I am generally feeling great. So yes! Life is good, I’ve got enough lined up to make it through the toughest weeks in the school year and the nice weather is definitely helping my mood.

What have you been up to?