2013 in Review

Wow! Cannot believe we are in the final countdown for this year. What a crazy year this has been. No really, even crazier than the other years I claimed were crazy. Looking forward to a productive, and hopefully calmer 2014. Big changes happened, and even more changes are on their way for the very first days of 2014. I think this is the earliest I've started writing the year-review. For a look at the last few years, see here and here and here. 
[I originally wrote this post the 24-25 of Dec. Then when I tried to publish it, I noticed that copying and pasting it somehow ended up with weird formatting. It's now Dec 28th and it just took me several hours to sort it out. And this is one of the reasons why I dont blog. How does text get formatted as black and small when it was never those things in the first place? I just dont get it.]

1. What did you do in 2013 that you'd never done before? 
Successfully worked from home, taught myself to use Adobe Illustrator and InDesign from tutorials on the internet, wrote and published a Book, carved linoleum and made prints, hosted a masquerade party, opened my own business (on Etsy).

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? 
Well it appears as though I didnt really have resolutions last year, but I did accomplish everything that I set out to. So that was a win. 

For next year I want to get serious again about exercising (like I used to in the States 4-6 days a week). I also want to work on the 3 R's: reduce, reuse, recycle. Try to buy less; buy secondhand when possible, or buy handmade to support small artisans. Create less rubbish. Decrease our footprint.  

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? 
My friend Cat from Boston had a baby boy and my cousin had a baby girl.

4. Did anyone close to you die? 
This year was a surprisingly death-free year in terms of family. However, a collaborator of our group in Haarlem who was a very close friend to my professor was diagnosed with kidney cancer and it turned out to be inoperable due to having already metastisized. He died pretty quickly. Also both of Jamie's parents were diagnosed with cancer this year (I Know, Both! ugh) and were unable to make it to my promotion (defense/graduation) which was really sad. But they are doing well now so that is good.

5. What cities/countries did you visit?
No new countries for us this year :(        But we did take my parents to Amsterdam, drove to Brussels, drove to Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-vallee, France and then drove back to Paris. 

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013? 
Better health. Still not doing very well with the insomnia and migraines.

7. What dates from 2013 will remain etched in your memory, and why? 
October 29 - the day I defended my thesis and was awarded my PhD.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I had 3 major achievements that all tie together: finished writing my PhD thesis, turned it into a book in a short amount of time, and defended my thesis which all led to the bestowment of the PhD degree. I'm a doctor!

9. What was your biggest failure? 
Hmmm, I had a pretty good year this year so I would have to say all the typos, mistakes, and forgotten sentences in my book. I was so sleep deprived by the time I turned it in I suppose it's a wonder I managed to spell the title and my name properly.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? 
Somewhere in the spring I had an insane bought of some horrible stomach virus, but other than that I did pretty well this year. My bad ankle has been hurting a lot though in the rainy weather. It's probably arthritis (ugh).

11. What was the best thing you bought? 
My Olympus Pen E-P3 camera! Loving the mirorless! Now I just need to learn how to use it optimally.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? 
My paranymphs for helping with the promotion and making an awesome video, and all the people near and far who participated in the video. 

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? 
My siblings for never saying any sort of congrats to me for my PhD (only the biggest and most important accomplishment of my life). Esp my sister who is apparently not speaking to me and wont tell me why she's mad. She is however behaving like a petty child and complaining to my parents that I'm a horrible person for not mentioning her in my thesis. What the what??

Also the estate agents in Birmingham were pretty much jerks and made me cry. 

14. Where did most of your money go? 
Publishing my book, the reception after my promotion, the dinner for my promotion, the party for my promotion, flights for interviews, my visa to the UK, moving costs. 

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? 
Becoming a Dr; getting interviews; getting a post-doctoral position; going to Disneyland! 

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2013? 
It's a small world. hahahaha sad but true

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? 
Happier, fatter, way way poorer. (How can I be fatter every year and not be all that huge? Well, every winter I manage to gain lots of weight, and it seems to be a bit more every year. Then in spring/summer I lose some weight. Ugh vicious cycle). 

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? 
Exercise and sleep.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? 
Lose sleep over stress.

20. How did you spend Christmas? 
In Utrecht with the cat packing boxes. First time ever I will be alone and not amongst either my family or Jamie's for Christmas. Kind of sad but I'm also super stressed over the move. 

21. Did you fall in love? 
I stayed in love.  

22. no question? 
23. What was your favorite TV program? 
Well we still love the same ones we loved last year. As for a new favorite, it would have to be Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? 
Hate is a strong word. I might consider removing this question in the coming years. 

25. What was the best book you read? 
I'm not sure if I read a book or not this year (edit - I completely forgot that I read the entire Dark Tower Series this summer! Book 3 was the best). I was too busy writing and doing the layout for my own book. Ohh but I did read part of a book for my review article (that was published by the Lancet Respiratory Medicine woohoo!) and my PhD supervisors managed to find a copy to gift to me when I promoted. The book is: Pneumonia: With special reference to pneumococcus lobar pneumonia by Roderick Heffron, MD. Originally published in 1939, but the copy that I have is the Harvard Commonwealth second printing in 1979. 

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I'm pretty sure I didn't discover anything musically this year. 

27. What did you want and get?
A first author publication (2 acceptances this year!), a PhD, a post-doctoral position in England. 

28. What did you want and not get? 
A post-doctoral position in a coastal city; the university to cover my visa application fees; a smooth and easy move to England; a sale on Etsy. 

29.  What was your favorite film of this year? 
Umm the only movie I can remember watching this year was Despicable Me 2. And we didnt even see it in the theatre.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 
I was 31 and invited friends over for a BBQ. It was cold, windy, and rainy, but gosh darnit I BBQ'd. Even did some smoking of meat which was tasty. And made my own BBQ sauce. --With blackstrap molasses, of course.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? 
Less migraines. Kind and supportive siblings. Definitely knowing that we are approved to rent the house we applied to rent in Birmingham. 

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
Damask patterns! It was everywhere this year. So I bought a couple things.

33. What kept you sane? 
Knowing that the PhD had a very definite end in October.

34. Which public figure did you admire the most?
Well it was the 100 yrs anniversary of the death of Alfred Russel Wallace, so I suppose I learned about a person I should have known about.

 35. What political issue stirred you the most? 
No surprises here: Immigration rights and environmentalism. 

36. Who did you miss? 
My grandparents. And Jamie's parents. I wish they could have all been at my promotion. 

37. Who was the best new person you met? Why? 
My new boss! Because he hired me, of course.

38. Biggest discoveries for 2013 (vague on purpose) 
That I really enjoy printmaking. That I love wearing hand-knitted socks, but hate knitting them. That homemade pickles are delicious (esp from home grown cukes!). That spring onions are surprisingly easy to grow in small containers.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014. 
Well I knew this one already but was painfully reminded of it: You don't get to choose your family. Or how they behave.

40. A quote or song lyric that sums up your year.          
I really like all the quotes I used in my book. I'll re-post them here:

"Though my soul may set in darkness, 
   it will rise in perfect light.
I have loved the stars too fondly
  to be fearful of the night."
       ~Sarah Williams

"Nature composes some of her loveliest poems for the microscope and telescope"
     ~Theodore Roszak

"And to our health we drank a thousand times, it's time, to ramble on"
   ~Led Zeppelin

Leaving Utrecht

I arrived with 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks, and I will leave with a whole truck full of stuff and a cat and a boyfriend. Hard to believe my time in Utrecht is almost over. Hard to believe that I have a PhD (more on that in a later post if i ever get around to it). There are some things about Utrecht and the Netherlands in general that I will be sad to leave, but on the whole, I'm glad to be leaving. I will miss my friends here the most, and second I'll miss the fried snacks and speculaas. But I wont miss being confused on a daily basis about communicating and conversing with people in general (since I never managed to grasp the Dutch language). Scared (because who isnt at least a little scared to move to a new country), but mostly excited.

A little stressed that we still have no idea how our stuff is going to make it from point A to B (Utrecht to Birmingham). I like to have everything taken care of in advance, and we thought we did, but then life threw us a curveball. Ugh. If I had had more time or more money I suppose we could have hired professional movers but at this point we are low on funds and time. So crossing my fingers that something works out. That at least one of the people we have asked for help can help us.

Also I hate moving b/c it involves a long list of doing things that I don't like to do. It's so, Adult.

Anyway here is a random assortment of Utrecht pictures.

So much!

Wow, I haven't posted since APRIL. So much has happened since then.

Quick rundown:
Wrote papers (of the scientific variety)
submitted some papers
wrote thesis
submitted thesis to committee
sent emails to profs asking if they had any post-doc positions
got revisions on some papers
interviewed for a post-doc position
some papers published (hooray!)
thesis accepted by committee
learned InDesign and turned my thesis into a printed book
books arrived
handed out books
Thesis Defense!
PhD graduation!
"Holiday" with my parents and Jamie
Offered post-doctoral research fellow position in Birmingham
Return from holiday, open Etsy shop ( https://www.etsy.com/shop/LoveBacteriaArt )
applied for UK visa
UK visa successful and received
visit Birmingham and find a place to live
fill out forms and pay fees on rental house in birmingham

And still so much left to do this year! I start my new job January 13, 2014.
We hopefully move the first week of Jan.
I have realized since writing my thesis that I really do not like writing and that's why I hardly ever blog. Even though I have so much to say. I am going to try to remedy this. I want to like to write. I want to be a better writer.

Expat life

Posting more pictures that didnt make it onto the official 365 Project as my picture of the day. Might actually make this a weekly event. It's keeping me more active in blogging than ever before. So if I have the time, I'll try every Sunday.


Not entirely sure when I took this picture on my mobile phone, but I just learned how to download picts from my mobile onto my computer this week. They are glass plate spreaders I made by melting glass in a bunsen burner flame. I'd never done this before so they are a bit uneven. Ah well, it was fun.









Feb 14: Sunday morning coffee with my new china set from the Hema. I bought this with my giftcard from the University as my Christmas present to myself. Totally fell in love with this pattern. Wish I could afford the entire set of dishes.










Sepia version













An egg boiling in water. Thought the ripples in the water were cool.












Feb 15: Bunnies at night with Lazer Eyes. They always come out at night! There are bunches of them living near the bushes around the infection unit.











Feb 18: Lichen on the Vet School. Another shot taken with my mobile phone.











Feb 21: Fog in the morning. Woke up to a world hiding in fog.












Also, a note on trying to focus on the positive aspects of being an expat: it's not easy when the citizens of the country you live in dislike immigrants. The overt racism and poor treatment of non-Dutch people really really bothers me. I wish I could let it go or let it roll off my back and not bother me, but I cant. Last night I was with a couple other expats and we waited in line to get into this restaurant/bar that has dancing at night in Utrecht (called Havana Club - the food is not Cuban but they try) and we were denied admission b/c none of us were Dutch. I'm pretty sure this is illegal. I may have gotten all angry-obnoxious-drunk american and yelled some not nice things at the bouncers.... I shouldnt have done that but I was so angry. We were dressed properly and we were a bunch of good looking people and this is Utrecht! Not effing New York city or LA. This was not an issue of us not fitting in with the beautiful people. This was us being blatantly discriminated against b/c only one of us spoke Dutch (not me). I've heard stories of Moroccan or African or people looking like they are Moroccan or African getting rejected from clubs, but I never heard of people being rejected just for being foreigners. And I'm a legal effing resident. I pay their high taxes just like everyone else. I was quite upset over this so I ended up just going home.
On my bike ride home a vehicle driving behind me started beeping and the driver yelling at me so I waved at it to pass. It didnt pass, it just kept beeping. Since I was already quite angry I did another typical American thing and pulled my bike over and flipped the bird at the driver. So the guy pulled up next to me and started shouting at me in Dutch. I yelled back "Het spijt me, ik spreekt geen Nederlands, spreekt u Engels?" (i'm sorry, i dont speak Dutch, do you speak English?) And then he shouted at me something about being an ignorant foreigner and not knowing the language who bikes too slow and i'm rude and something about arresting me. I shouted back that I'm a kennismigrant and therefore not required to learn Dutch. There was more arguing about me not being able to speak Dutch and he kept saying something about having me arrested if i didnt calm down. Eventually I just said i'm sorry ive had a bad night you're right. And he drove off. In my drunkenness I thought he might have been the police b/c the van looked like a police van. But he was not. I cried the entire bike ride home. Like hysterical crying. I'm surprised I didnt crash my bike - I was basically biking without seeing anything.

Ive spent the entire day today annoyed at myself and annoyed at the people in this country. Being angry and annoyed is not going to help me to adjust or have a happy life here. But at the same time if I bottle it all up inside then its just going to come bursting out like it did last night. I'm going to have to find some constructive way to deal with this.

thoughts

I am totally supposed to be learning Dutch right now. But it makes my brain hurt! So of course I procrastinate by writing a quick post since I'm usually procrastinating blogging.

I am pretty much through all the difficulties of "settling in." I think. My permanent residence card should be arriving any week now.... But everything else is taken care of and that is a relief. All I have to do now to fit in is learn to speak the language. Sure... Well, it's slow going but I am trying. I've never been very good at languages. Sigh.

I also want to say to anyone thinking of moving to a new country: it's a giant pain in the ass. No really, it is. Since I didnt know any Americans who had done this before me (I know they are out there, I just didnt know any personally) I didnt really have anyone to ask advice. But just so that everyone is aware: countries do not want you to move. No matter where you are from, no matter where you are going, I'm convinced its a shit fest. Everything is difficult. Everything will give you headaches. Just know this and take comfort in the fact that you are not alone.

Once you get through all the initial paperwork crap though, it gets better. It's still not "easy" but hey, life never is. I am starting to actually enjoy my life here. Having a bike really helps. the fact that I love to ride helps too. Here, a bike = freedom. At some point I'll sit down and type out the specifics of the insanity I went through as an ex-pat/immigrant from the US to the Netherlands, in case anyone in the future is curious. But it will have to wait. I should really go learn the question words. And conjugate some verbs and such.

Tot ziens

Potato chips

About 3 years ago I began an unnatural love affair with potato chips after having not eaten them for over 10 years (not out of dietary concerns, i just wasnt interested). So of course when I moved here the potato chip selection was one of the first things I checked in the supermarkets.
They do of course have Pringles and Lays and Doritos here, but they are really expensive, so I've been sticking to local brands. And they are a bit odd. In flavor choice that is.

Common potato chip flavors here:
Paprika (really? that stuff doesnt really have a flavor....)
Bolognese (A potato chip flavored like a pasta sauce? Weird, but not bad tasting)
Cheddar Onion, or Onion Cheese (again, weird, but not bad tasting)
and finally...
BBQ Ham
wait, what?
BBQ ham???? Sure, real BBQ ham is great if you get it from the right place that knows what they are doing.... but a potato chip flavor? In the Netherlands no less, not exactly a place renouned for their BBQ.... Yeah, I'm going to stay far away from that one. I cant imagine anything less palatable than a potato chip fake flavored like ham. blech.

Excitement

I have to admit, I keep seeing Amstel Light commercials on the TV and I get really excited. Like, goose-bump excited. Holey-cow-I'm-going-to-live-there-excited. I don't even like Amstel Light. But the commercials are chock full of Amsterdam, football, and Dutch awesomeness.


It reminds me of when I was in Utrecht last summer and Holland was playing Russia in the Euro Cup. I went to a bar with a Canadian couple to see the game. I had gotten a Holland shirt at a tourist stand and the guy had gotten free lederhosen at the bar (it had a tail on the back for the lion). Here are our best lion grrrs. haha. Too bad Holland lost and the streets were full of madness.

Procrastination

Since I'm having trouble concentrating on Anything today (I'm currently watching TV, reading, blogging, and I've got knitting sitting next to me) I thought, why not post about a few of my favorite things in Europe. I've been thinking about Europe "in my spare time" haha considering the Big Move is ~10 weeks away.
These are a few of my favorite things (in Europe):



Really old things randomly interspersed through the cities.
Brick from where the canal used to be, the water has now moved several feet and there's a path where it used to be.
Utrecht, Netherlands










Art. Lots of it.

One of Monet's waterlilies at the Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris, France









Faces on buildings. Everywhere! I could write a whole post on faces, maybe I will.....
This one is on some historic building in Bruges, Belgium










Chocolate!! Believe it or not, this is the Only picture of Chocolate I have. I ate the rest too fast. Maybe I have this b/c it's the only piece of "special" chocolate I bought. The rest was good stuff from grocery stores. This was from a specialty shop in Gent, Belgium.








Alcohol!! Specifically beer, beer, and more beer, and some jenever. Both are in this picture from Gent, Belgium. No surprise that plenty of my favorite things are from Belgium as Gent and Bruges were my favorite cities.

summary through pictures

Just a quick post. Some knit FO's I havent posted. And some pictures from this weekend's trip to visit Amanda and Jason in the greater DC metro area. We went into DC on Sat. In other news I think I'm going to frog the woodland shawl I've got and restart on larger needles. SIGH.





Biggest moth I've ever seen - it was as big as my hand!


This butterfly loved Amanda's camera strap

Cherry Blossoms in DC

Expatriate vs Immigrant

I've been thinking about my Europe move a lot lately. Mostly because there is a LOT to take care of and now that my eyes are getting better I'm finally getting on it. A little late but hopefully still time enough. I've noticed that I use the words expatriate and immigrant pretty equally to describe myself. I was thinking maybe I should pick one so I looked up the definition on Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, foreign born covers both immigrants and expatriates, but doesnt adequately describe either. An immigrant is a foreign born committed to living in a new country permanently and an expatriate plan to eventually return to their birth country. And therein lies the problem. Neither of those define me in the Netherlands. I dont intend to return to the USA, but I also dont intend to permanently live in the Netherlands. That's because I dont Intend to do anything. I cant. Being a scientist I have little control over where I go. Also, being a scientist dictates movement. You cant do your PhD and your post-doc at the same institution. Or, at least, its frowned upon. Also, I havent even decided if I want to stay in academia. And infectious diseases is not exactly big money, so not many biomed or pharmaceutical companies even have infectious disease units, let alone bacterial divisions. So, seing as my career future is so open, I'm not making any sort of commitment to geography. I will however try to integrate into Dutch society and I do intend to learn as much of the language as possible. The only thing at present that I am seriously considering is never permanently returning to the USA. So, doesnt that make me an immigrant? Or maybe, just a nomad? (Nomad, wanderer, roamer, vagabond, call me what you will!!! yeah!) (sorry, random Metallica interlude there). Expatriate until further notice? Sigh. Maybe I'll just settle on nomad.

Also, on Fri I received my official appointment from UMC Utrecht. As of July 1, 2009 I will be a PhD student jointly with UMC Utrecht (the medical school where I'll perform my research) and the Eijkman Graduate School of Immunology and Infectious Diseases (the part of the University that oversees the PhD program). I'm so excited! Its official. It never feels official until you have that acceptance letter in your hand. Oh sure, I have to submit my project proposal to the PhD Board and have it be accepted no more than 2 months after July 1 (sort of like a grant application) but I think that's more like a formality. At least, I hope so.

Sigh, now I just have to find a place to live. Which I hear, is no easy feat in Utrecht. So, keep your fingers crossed for me! Or, if you know anyone living in Utrecht maybe you can ask them if they have any advice? I'm sure I'll have plenty to say on this when I get into the thick of the search soon.