Well, I have much good news. First and foremost–we have the internet at our house finally!!! It’s so nice to be sitting in the living room and posting from my house. It’s crazy (a) how much I took internet for granted while I had it all the time and (b) how addicted I am to the internet!! But now all is well because I can be connected 100% of the time!

Second and just as important: I had extremely good news from the physical therapist when I met with him Friday. He went through the standard battery of tests to see the integrity of my ligaments just to make sure. After asking me a few questions about when the knee actually hurt, he said I could try to run on it again and play soccer as much as I could tolerate. Friday evening I went for a 5K run and it felt great!!! Our team had training yesterday, so I played in that and the knee felt super. I guess this means I’m back in action on the football field!

Third, and related to the soccer talk–our team had a feestje (little party) last night at which much wine and beer were consumed, lekker (tasty) food was had, and good times were had by all. I, in fact, enjoyed too much wine but going out with my teammates was really fun. Here are a couple photos from the evening:

We had a very nice dinner at one of our teammates’ awesome apartments, played a drinking game with the same idea as Circle of Death (in Dutch, of course), and then went out to a bar afterward. I really am enjoying being part of this team. It’s a great way to meet new Dutch friends, practice Dutch, and (of course) play soccer!

This week ahead is looking like it’s going to be busy. Tomorrow I meet with my supervising professor, Ian, to discuss the research project. It is super that we have internet at our house so I can research from home at my convenience. Have you gotten the idea that I’ve been missing the internet?! I also meet with my physical therapist to touch base after the weekend’s activities. My friend Lucy is coming up from Maastricht on Friday before she and I head off to London for the weekend. Of course there will be another blog post coming soon with details about our upcoming trip.

As always, I hope all is well at home for you all! Tot ziens!

Hey, everyone!

It’s another rainy day in Utrecht. Very typical but at some points hard to get used to. It’s also started to turn a bit cold so I took advantage of the local store H&M to find a nice warm jacket for the winter months ahead. I know, shopping has always been hard for me so it was torturous to find a yummy wool coat but somehow I survived the shopping experience just fine

This week has been a bit crazy. We still don’t have the internet at our house so I’m at the library by our apartment writing this update. I started my comparative law class this week. We have a project for the class with two other students (groups of 3) to write a 15-page paper comparing a topic in two jurisdictions. My group and I chose the Netherlands and a state in the US (not quite sure which one yet) to discuss child maintenance (who pays and why). This will be a nice intro to my research project ultimately.

I am also continuing with my Dutch classes. Now I’m on level 3 and the course is going at a nice pace. It is from now until February two times a week. I’m feeling much more confident with my listening and reading skills but speaking is killing me! I don’t know what it is about Dutch, but it’s so difficult to speak!! My soccer practices, meetings, and team activities are all in Dutch though, so that is always a good way to test my skills! The website for our team is www.odysseus91.nl and we won 2-1 last weekend against a higher ranked team.

Here’s our team photo. Notice the purple–not my first choice in uniform color! Notice also that I am definitely team grandma as all of my other teammates are so young!!! But that doesn’t mean I still can’t work my magic on the field!!!

Other news of the week:

1. I got hit by a car. On my bike. No, I’m totally serious. I’m doing just fine (thankfully). I am actually really lucky that nothing happened to me, health-wise. My bike was not so fortunate but I have already found a replacement to keep wheeling on around the city. I’ll post pictures later. Too bad this bike isn’t pink, but it overall is a more solid model that will probably survive the year with me (as long as I don’t run any more red lights!).

2. I had my first American visitor this week. Jenny Calvert, a friend since middle school (is that right?!) is touring through Europe before she begins her very first adult job as a fancy lawyer in San Francisco. Her travels brought her to Amsterdam, so I joined her on the Rembrandt Square for lunch and then after my language class in the evening, she visited Utrecht. We had a nice dinner outside on a terrace and then went to a couple bars with my roommate Rachel (from England) and her friend, Jules. It was a really great visit from Jenny. All of you reading this are welcome to come anytime!!!

3. I think I had some sort of stomach virus or flu or food poisoning yesterday and today so I spent too much time being sick over the last 24 hours. I am back to feeling somewhat normal, but I think I will lay low tonight. My friend Clara and I talked about going to see the movie Into the Wild. The book was really good so I am hopeful the movie follows suit.

4. I just read the sad news about the KU football team…too bad. The last-minute heartbreaks are the worst. Perhaps it’s still early enough in the season to still make it to a quality bowl if we can manage to play well the rest of the way out. Rock Chalk!!

5. My heart goes out to all the people affected by the hurricanes. What a mess (after mess after mess) there will be to clean up. It seems like this time around, though, people are heeding the warnings and getting out of town well in advance.

6. I just received word that our internet modem should be delivered Monday. No one really knows if that will happen, though, so no promises. You just never quite know with the Dutch and the service! I owe you some photos of the new apartment and another post with more details. As soon as the internets are up and running, I’ll be able to post more.

I hope everyone’s doing well. I’d love to hear from you if you have the chance!

Tot ziens!