Sunday 4 June 2017

Ready for Summer.


I feel like the transition from Spring to Summer here in the Netherlands was quite sudden; maybe because the shift from Winter to Spring felt so long in comparison. In fact, the whole of April and the first few weeks of May didn't feel like Spring at all, to me. I meant to post about that but then it just didn't happen. Enduring a frigid Winter and desperately waiting for warmer weather to come in April and being disappointed day after day was tough. I had to accept a different kind of Spring than I am used to and it was tough. It really threw me off balance. Seeing trees in bloom everywhere but having to wear woolen jumpers just messed with my brain and made me quite restless. I am all about trying to live each season fully and accepting it for what it is, but April just was really challenging. I almost feel like I skipped a season...? I don't know. Weird stuff. Weird Dutch stuff.


So, it's been Summer for a few weeks now. I started to notice when the days started to get considerably longer. It doesn't get dark until 10 PM! Every day feels interminable. I have been really enjoying going for walks around my neighbourhood after dinner, often with an ice-cream in my hand.


People here really celebrate every ray of sun they get. Whenever the weather is even slightly warm, they bring out chairs and tables (even their sofas) out on the street, get badly sunburnt, chat with their neighbours and eat al fresco.




(from last week's trip to Utrecht.) 




(this is Leiden.)

All of this to say that I feel ready to go home and I feel readier than ever for Summer, and for all it's going to bring. And that will be: leaving this place and to all the amazing people I met, in exactly a week's time; studying like a crazy person for an exam in the first week of July;  saying goodbye to my best friend who is moving to Australia for a year; and hopefully, once I am a bit more free, lots and lots of reading all the things and sewing all the things and making all the things. I have so many  ideas. I am looking forward to being reunited with the people I love and a country I love.

What are your plans for the next season?