A weekend in Bruges

Sander and I took a mini holiday to Belgium this weekend.  I wrote a final on Friday, so this was one of my free weekends to enjoy and we decided to escape early on Friday and head to Bruges.

If I was forced to describe the city of Bruges in one word, it would be adorable.

The city is so quaint and it literally charmed the pants off of me.

See:

My catch phrase of the day was "it's so cute I'm going to die".  Honestly, every nook and cranny in that city just made me smile.  We had a wonderful day exploring and of course having Belgian beer and waffles!! 

We also watched a candy demonstration which blew both of our minds.  We initially started watching because the guy was stretching out the candy on this hook and it looked really neat.  They then started using different colors and assembling them into what we thought was the most pathetic stack of gooey messy candy.  It wasn't until I saw the little candies on the ledge that I realized what he was making! The end product was a delicious hard candy which we got to taste as he cut the strings into tiny pieces.

These are all handmade!! I had no idea the process was so intricate! 

It was a wonderful little trip and I cannot wait to return sometime.  One day in that gorgeous city just was not enough! 

Totally nuts!

Yesterday, Nienke and I cracked a kilo of these lovely nuts (that were collected throughout Utrecht) and made the most amazing hazelnut pie. Such a fun baking adventure!! Nut hunting is definitely on my agenda for next fall!

Pie Night and Fall Colours

Pumpkin Pie Night

Thanksgiving wasn't quite complete without a pumpkin pie.  I had full intentions of making a pie for our lovely dinner, however, I ran into the slight problem of not being able to find a pumpkin! Pro-tip: pumpkins over here look different! I believe I did see a few pumpkins here and there, but they weren't the type of pumpkin I was used to, so I walked right past them.  Linda was kind enough to bring one the day of our dinner, so we whipped up a quick no-bake pumpkin cheesecake dessert (which was delicious), but I still had the craving for a real pumpkin pie.

Then the following week, I found a real pumpkin (or rather, the type of pumpkin I'm used to seeing) and I was inspired to give this whole pie thing a go.  It was so good! There was some improvising (*ahem, using a spring form pan cause we had no pie plate), but in the end, it was pretty darn close to the real thing.  Of course, being that it was my first ever pie crust, there were some improvements to be made, however, I have to say, for my first go at pumpkin pie, I was pretty proud of us!

A Beautiful Fall Day

The trees around here have been absolutely amazing the last couple of weeks.  I've been dying to get out there and enjoy the colours  (including a beautiful blue sky), but I've been so incredibly busy with school (which is going well, by the way.  I officially passed my first course!).  Yesterday, I finally made it out to the forest area for an afternoon walk.  I really thought I had missed most of the leaves (all the trees by our place are bare by now), but I was pleasantly surprised to see some trees still full!

Dutch Thanksgiving

Well, another Turkey Day has come and gone and, though there was no turkey consumed this year, it was a solid Thanksgiving celebration!

Living abroad is really fun.  You're constantly encountering new things whether that is a new food, a new word in a new language or a new friend.  It's easy to find the excitement in all this newness.  However, it's also very easy to miss what you're used to.

There is nothing in this world that can replace the comfort of being surrounded by all the people you care about most, and there is nothing that can make me miss home more than family and friends getting together and not being able to join in.  I know every time a birthday, a holiday, or even a simple dinner party with friends rolls around I will be disappointed that I cannot join, and I know it's something that will take time to get used to.  However, with all the newness around here, comes along the opportunity to share tradition and create new ones too! That's why as Thanksgiving approached, I felt the need to plan a dinner.  I knew it wouldn't be the same as it was at home, but it was the perfect opportunity to ward away a heavy heart and share a Canadian tradition with some Dutchies.

All in all, our first Dutch Thanksgiving was a huge success.  We shared an amazing meal cooked by all of us (thank you everyone for contributing!!) and it was the best start to a tradition here.  The evening was perfect and I couldn't have imagined anything more.  I also want to send out a huge THANK YOU to Sander for putting up with the crazy Canadian in me, to Linda for coming early to help prep (and play Agricola....which might be something we have to do again next year), and to Ted and Jan for helping with the never ending pile of dishes!

September Summary

Wow, can't believe it has been a month since I've last written! I wish I had some wild and crazy stories to share, but unfortunately, I'm living a fairly normal life over here.

School is going great so far.  I am absolutely loving learning more about cancer and being challenged intellectually.  The program set up is really working well for me too.  We do one class at a time and it runs for only one month.  It can be stressful since you have a lot of material to cover in such a short time, but it's nice only having one class to focus on.  Also, my favorite part is that every 4 weeks, you're guaranteed a free weekend with no studying!

That free weekend happens to be this weekend, and I'll admit, I'm taking the relaxing to a whole new level! It has been a perfect mix of hanging out at home and visiting with friends! Last night we celebrated Jorine's birthday with some pretty fancy cocktails, and today I'm hanging out at home and toying around with the idea of making a Thanksgiving dinner here.  If anyone has some recipe ideas to wow these Dutchies, please share!

That's all I have to update on for now.  Hopefully in the next month I'll be more diligent with keeping everyone in the boring loop that makes up my life. ;)

For now, I'll leave you with a lovely pic I snapped last weekend while out for my Sunday morning run with the running group.  The sun was shining and there wasn't a breeze.  The canals were so insanely calm and their glass-like water was absolutely gorgeous!

Never Ever

If you had told me 5 years ago that I'd be doing a master's in oncology in Amsterdam, I'd probably have laughed in your face and gone on my way. Looking at my life with an objective eye today and clearly seeing (and appreciating) how lucky I am!!

As you may or may not know, I started school again on Monday.  This is wonderful as it is super nice to be back in a routine, however, I can already tell that it's going to be claiming most of my free time. For those of you who aren't sucked into the deep black hole of Facebook, I cannot promise to write proper updates often enough. As a compensation, I'll be sharing snip-its via photos and quick messages.  I know it doesn't quite suffice, but I'll try my best to fill in the details as I go along.  

Part 2: Hiking

According to the famous saying, a picture tells a thousand words. However, I'm not sure a picture nor a thousand words are enough to convey the experience of hiking in the Alps.

There is no way to capture the satisfaction of hiking uphill for hours and finally reaching that spot overlooking the entire valley.  You cannot photograph the feeling of aching muscles and blisters nor the thirst and hunger.  There is no way to share the warmth of the sun, the sound of the wind rustling the grass, nor the sweet smell of the mountain air.

Pictures just don't do it justice.

And I'm not entirely convinced that words can either.

There were so many moments throughout our hikes where we stood completely dumbfounded by the beauty of mother nature.  I hope that everyone has the opportunity to experience something of the sort in their lifetime. It truly leaves you breathless and grasping for words.

Anyway, without further ado, here is my measly attempt at bringing the Alps to your computer screen.

I sincerely hope that one day I can return and continue to explore.  Due to Sander's broken toe, he was not able to join in on the last hike we did.  It was honestly one of the toughest, most terrifying and inspiring things I've ever done and I would love to relive it one day! I walked over a mountain with my own two feet.  I climbed rebar ladders and walked next to a glacier.  I somewhat regret not taking more photos and videos during this hike, but due to safety (read: I didn't want to lose my footing and tumble down the mountain to my death), I thought it was best to pack it away.  In the end though, I have my own memories of the hike and you guys will just have to go experience it yourself!!