SNOWvember in Holland!

Hi everyone,

Last Sunday marked my 2 month anniversary of arriving in Holland. Can you believe how fast the time has gone? In 2 months I’ve managed to visit Amsterdam (4 times),

Leiden (twice),

(that's Dr. Jane Goodall, foremost chimpanzee behavioural researcher and primatologist)

Groningen,

Hengelo,

Brussels,

and of course my 'hometown' Alkmaar

with Den Haag coming up next weekend. I got myself a train discount card – something I probably should have done 2 months ago, in hindsight – which gives me 40% off all NL train travel and 25% off all international train travel, and I plan to make good use of it in the coming 12 months.

But so far the most exciting thing has been the SNOW! Everybody had been dreading a repeat of last year (we all remember the satellite photo of the UK totally painted white) and there was a run on winter tyres, but it had been fairly mild until then. Then THIS happened:


Having only seen real snowfall once before in my life, I couldn’t contain my excitement and much to Emily’s embarrassment, was running around like a madwoman screaming “It’s snowing! It’s snowing!!”. In the middle of Amsterdam. I felt like a child, and I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot. It was the happiest feeling in the world! :)




It kept snowing right through the night and on Tuesday morning the whole world was covered in a blanket of white. It looked just like a fairytale! The perfect excuse – and perfectly justified – to bust out my snow boots, which we’d bought at Intratuin for €19.95 a number of weeks ago to use at wintersport. I’ve been living in my snow boots ever since :) It’s a hugely liberating feeling to run through a piece of grass that’s covered in snow, kick it around, lie down in it and make a snow angel, pick it up and throw it around, and generally marvel at the coolness (no pun intended) of this odd, fluffy, cold white stuff falling from the sky. 27 years old? Pffffft I’m a
tourist, I’m allowed :)

Today during my lunchbreak I went outside and played in the snow with one of my colleagues (who also looked on, bemused at my reaction but secretly enjoying it as well), then came back inside and had a (free) hot chocolate from the machine. Who needs the Swiss Alps or Canadian
Rockies when you’ve got a carpark and courtyard?





Stay tuned for a picture of my very own dog sled (have to build it first, wait for enough snow then convince the dog to pull it)…