A year ago I was enjoying my last consistent time in Sweden for a very long time ahead. I moved to The Hague at the end of August, and I remember how utterly confused and clueless I was the weeks before. I simply had no idea what was waiting for me in Holland. Who would I meet? How would the studies go? What if I hated it?
I recently got an email from a reader who is about to step on the same adventure as I did a year ago. Her confusion reminded me of my own state of mind at that time: full of questions and no answers. But, if there's anything I've learned since then, it's that things like these work themselves out sooner or later. When I had been in The Hague for about a week, things were a lot clearer and even though there were a lot of bureaucracy around the school and the enrollment procedure, it was all solved in the end.
When I arrived in The Hague there were so many impressions, and it's funny what you remember and what you simply forget in the big mess of events. Even though I can exactly remember the first dinner I had in The Hague (Kibbelingen at Simoni's in Scheveningen), I can't remember the details of how I met the people who today are my closest friends. That could also have something to do with my amazing ability of forgetting faces and names of people, of course.
But my point is this: it takes a while to settle in a new city, in a new country. At first it's all new and you might feel like you have no idea what is going on and how you're going to cope with all the impressions. But I promise, it all gets clearer and less confusing. You start building up an everyday type of life and you meet the greatest people ever, from all over the world (or in my case, mostly from Germany).
When I look back on the past year, I couldn't be more happy about my decision. I now feel completely at home in The Hague, and I'm sure you will too.
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