A couple of weeks ago, I was walking aimlessly into town and passed by this decommissioned water tower. It looked like it usually does except that there were crafty signs and decorations made out of pallets and people wandering about. Turns out it was part of the Blikopener (literally “can opener”) festival. The main attraction […]
I bought a bike to ride around town. Someone I met here told me that once I got a bike, my life here would improve so much. My life here did improve somewhat – not nearly to the extent that it improved when I found an apartment for the rest of my stay, but having […]
My friend, Aya, had been working in Paris for a few weeks. I knew this because: 1. she mentioned it a while back when she had us over for dinner at her apartment. 2. she asked Em to water her plants while she was there. It had slipped my mind until Em mentioned it, but […]
On the first of August, I moved in to an apartment near the north edge of Delft (on the border with Rijswijk). I’m renting the room for the remainder of my stay, and it’s a huge relief to not have to worry about housing for the rest of my time here. I feel as though […]
I finally got to enjoy myself a bit last weekend. Naturally, the first thing I did was go on a bike ride. Well, technically, first I had to find a bike. There’s a bike shop that I pass by at the end of the neighborhood where I’m staying in The Hague. They have a bunch […]
After a grueling search over the past six days, I secured a place to stay in Delft for the remainder of my time here! It’s this place on Airbnb, though the photo is quite staged, and it is decidedly messier in real life, but not too bad. The owner, Florian, lives upstairs in the same […]
I just got to chat with Em for a bit while she was making breakfast and I was about to start work. She didn’t know where I was staying, so I realized I should probably give you all a quick update. Not my usual lovingly-crafted blog post, but I just wanted to let everyone know […]
Okay, first I am going to force myself to recount some positive aspects of the past few days despite how challenging it may be to do that right now. I got here successfully and had a quite pleasant stay with my first hosts. I didn’t forget anything crucial at home. I got an international SIM […]
In less than 48, er 24 hours, I’ll be boarding a plane that will take me to another plane, which will land me in The Netherlands for a three-month stint working from a town called Delft. Two colleagues asked me separately today if I had started packing. I haven’t. That question made me a bit […]
We bought a house. This one: It’s just a stone’s throw outside of Providence in a town called Cranston, not to be confused with Scranton, PA (“The Electric City”, made famous by Em’s favorite VP, Joe Biden and our favorite TV series, The Office). The street is a cul de sac with very neighborly feel. […]