Another day in The Hague

Oh my, this blog is really suffering from my extremely relaxed summer. Well, to keep you a bit updated anyway, I'm going to Sweden on the 27th for a week to relax some more and hang out with family and friends before school starts.

Like I said before, I had a friend from Sweden here last week to visit me and it was really a lot of fun! We managed to do a lot during the 4 days she was here; going out, going to the beach, biking around The Hague and even a bit of shopping in Amsterdam. We wanted to go the Anne Frank house too, but even though we were there at 7 pm, there was still about a 30-40 m long queue. Some other time, then!

People are starting to come back to The Hague from summer vacations now and yesterday my flatmate, our friend and I went to a bar and had some drinks in the sun. We had so much catching up to do, and it was all really nice!

That will have to do for now, and as I've said earlier I will start blogging regularly once school starts again.

Doei!

Sweden visit!

It's hot and humid in The Hague today, and I'm almost suffocating in the apartment. I think I might go for a powerwalk in the afternoon if it cools off a bit, haven't done that for a while now. I'm really excited today though, because tonight I'm going to Schiphol to pick up my friend from Sweden who is visiting me for a few days! It will be a lot of fun, and I really can't wait to see her!

I finished reading the diary of Anne Frank yesterday, and what a lovely book it was! I'm seriously considering going to Amsterdam to visit her hiding place at Prinsengracht someday this summer. I mean, since I'm living so close by, why wouldn't I? It's a piece of history that would be very interesting to see, especially now that I've recently read the book.

This summer I've read a lot in general, and somehow I ended up reading three different books all regarding the WWII. It's a fascinating piece of history, and I honestly didn't know that well how the Netherlands was involved in it until I read the diary of Anne Frank. I only knew that the Dutch have held a deep grudge against Germans ever since that time. In one way I understand it better now, but it's such a long time ago that you can't let it be a prejudice still (which I've noticed many Dutch do).

Anyway, I'm rambling, and now I'm going to go on a powerwalk and clear my mind from WWII thoughts!

Home alone

So, this week I'm home alone since my flatmate went home to Germany to visit her family and friends. I might go for a few days to Sweden too, at the end of the month or so. The last couple of days I've been chilling at the beach and enjoying the nice weather. Today however, it's cloudy so I might just stay in. The Hague is a bit boring when there's no one in town and you are starting to run out of books to read.

Anyway, I always have George the cat to keep me company (God, that makes me sound like an old catlady) but on Tuesday a friend of mine from Sweden is coming to visit me. I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm not a nomad anymore

Hey, sorry again for the poor updating (I warned you though) but I just feel like I need some time off from the blog this summer. Of course I'll start again when the new school year begins and my days are filled with more "important" stuff than going to the beach and buying way too much stuff for the apartment.

A milestone though; today I gave back the keys to my old apartment so now I'm officially not living at two places anymore! Also, something I've noticed is that it's really easy to change your address here. I don't know how it works in other countries, but in Sweden you have to pay to register at another address and it's not that cheap either.

Holland - 1 Sweden - 0

A rainy but nice day in The Hague

I just came home from a shopping round downtown with my new roomie (!!) watching the rain come down outside. It's been really nice weather the whole week and I've spent everyday at the beach until today. Anyway, the apartment is finally finished and I just need to put up a shelf and a mirror in my room and then it's done. I know I've said it so many times already, but I really love this place and I'm so happy we got it! Now me and my roomie have ordered some food and are just waiting for it to get delivered. What a nice life we have here!

Welcome, sun!

Summer has finally come to NL and even though were still quite busy with stuff to do in the apartment, we're hanging out at the beach everyday. I just love The Hague when the weather is this nice! Yesterday we went to the beach in Westduin Park and on my way home we biked through the park, which is huge and so beautiful!

Someday soon I have to go to the stadsdeelkantoor and register to my new address, but I keep forgetting. I sleep every night in the new apartment now, and even though I have a street light just outside my window I sleep very well in my new home. It's really a perfect apartment for me and my friend.

Some pictures...

I've finally dragged myself to transfer all the pictures of the apartment from the phone to my laptop, so here are some peaks of what it looks like. Today I've found a fridge at Markplaats.nl (great site for buying second hand stuff) and I'm gonna bike over to the new apartment soon to meet up with the seller. My days now basically consist of doing different things for the apartment or preparing to move. This morning I took apart my Ikea sofa, for example.

It feels quite weird that most of my stuff are in the new apartment now, but I still have to sleep in the old one since we don't have gas and electricity there yet. My old room is now almost completely empty and all my housemates are away so it feels quite lonely here actually. I really can't wait until I can start sleeping at the new place instead.

My room

I had to paint my bedframe

Kitchen table