Autumn in the Netherlands & a different me!

Autumn in the Netherlands & a different me!

We spent last week in the Netherlands, it was a very nice week! We were mostly very lucky with the weather. We went into the dunes near my parents house for an autumn walk. I like going to this part of the dunes in autumn, as there are incredible numbers of mushrooms!

I first took some photos of the passion flower in my mum’s garden, so beautiful!

Passion Flower Passion Flower

Passion Flower Passion Flower

Passion Flower

And here are the photos taken in the dunes! It was truly a wonderful walk, I could have spend many more hours there, so much to see and to photograph! It was full of ladybirds, at some point I had about 10 of them on my coat!

Autumn in the Dutch dunes Autumn in the Dutch dunes

Autumn in the Dutch dunes Autumn in the Dutch dunes

Autumn in the Dutch dunes Autumn in the Dutch dunes

Autumn in the Dutch dunes Autumn in the Dutch dunes

The reason we were in the Netherlands was the PhD defense of my friend Gert-Jan. I was part of the ceremony, as a paranimf, together with Richard. In the Netherlands, the defense is public so all his family, friends and colleagues were there. Richard and I sat next to Gert-Jan for the whole ceremony. Richard was asked to read on of the hypotheses out loud, but I didn’t have to talk at all. Just sit still, which I did, though once I got a itch in my throat and couldn’t get any water and didn’t want to make noise, I thought I would die!! Anyway, Gert-Jan did really well! There was a reception afterwards and then we all went for dinner. I’ve never worn such smart clothes before, so of course we had to take some photos 🙂 I am not made to walk on high heels all day, I found out you use all kinds of weird muscles doing that, they all hurt the next day!

If you’re interested, you can see all of the defense here: WURTV.

This is me with Gert-Jan (in the middle) and Richard, and a photo of Celia and Gert-Jan:

PhD defense PhD defense

One of Celia and me…

PhD defense

And Paul and me 🙂

PhD defense PhD defense

It really was a special day and I think everyone really enjoyed it. We stayed until the next day, it was really nice to spend some time with Gert-Jan and Celia again!

That’s all for now, I have lots more photos of the Netherlands, but they’ll have to wait. I hope to place some more before leaving to Norway next Wednesday! Paul has a job interview in Tromso, and I decided to come along and see what it’s like. We’re staying for 6 days, so we’ll have some time to explore the surroundings, I’m very excited! We might even see northern lights, fingers crossed 🙂

Till next time!

Hanneke

One thought on “Autumn in the Netherlands & a different me!

  1. Hoi Hanneke!

    Via Startpagina op je blog terechtgekomen, met name omdat ik op zoek ben naar Fairbanks informatie. Ik heb plannen om een semester aan de Universiteit te gaan studeren volgend studiejaar. Ik studeer Circumpolar Studies naast mijn fulltime baan als lerares op een internationale school in Trondheim (Noorwegen) ik lees trouwens dat je naar Tromsø gaat om er rond te kijken.Ik woon alweer een jaar of 4 in Noorwegen en het bevalt me heel goed, heb geen plannen om naar NL terug te emigreren.

    Mocht je nog tips hebben voor Fairbanks…ik houd me van hart aanbevolen…zit bv met mijn “letter of purpose” in mijn maag…wat willen ze horen…?! Ik kan een North2North beurs krijgen dus ik moet daar even goed voor gaan zitten. Succes met alles wat je doet!En mocht je Noorwegen vragen hebben…ik ken Tromsø erg goed. Je vraagt maar!

    Carolien Vandersmissen

    http://norned.bravehost.com

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