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Author: Hanneke

I started my first blog when I left the Netherlands (my home country) for an internship in Alaska in 2004, to keep my friends and family updated on my adventures over there. Little did I know it would be more than 13 years before I'd move back to the Netherlands! I spent a year in Toulouse (France) before starting a PhD in meteorology at the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK) in 2005. That's when I started this current blog, first in Dutch but I soon switched to English. I really enjoyed life in the UK, and was actually planning to stay there after my PhD, but "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" and I ended up moving to Tromsø in Northern Norway in 2009. Tromsø is a photographer's dream, surrounded by spectacular mountains, with the light ever changing from the midnight sun in summer to the dark days compensated by aurora-filled nights in winter. I learnt Norwegian and got a job as a weather forecaster - I got thrown in at the deep end, doing radio interviews and speaking with fishermen with way-too-strong dialects straight from the beginning, before I was anywhere near fluent in Norwegian :D I survived though, and slowly started to do some research on the side. I got more and more involved in research projects and in August 2015 I moved 2000 km south, to Oslo where I started working 100% as a researcher. A year after moving to Oslo, I met Michiel at a music festival in Brussels :) and we started to travel very frequently between Oslo and Rotterdam, where he lives. You can't do that forever though, and I soon realized I found the perfect "excuse" to finally move back home, something I had been considering many times before. So since July 2017, I'm living in Rotterdam! I'm actually taking some time off before finding a new job, and I'm looking forward to lots of adventures in the near future - so stay tuned!
Rainy weekend

Rainy weekend

We had another weekend of +5 °C and rain… Lots of the snow has melted, even on the mountains. So no skiing this weekend! But to avoid being stuck inside the flat all weekend, we did go for a drive this afternoon and walked along the beach for a while. It was nice to get some fresh air, to smell the sea and even smell soil and plants – wow! The wind was very strong and the rain pouring down, it made the landscape look really wild. 

But never mind, click on the image below to see the weather I will be having next week…

Not bad!! I’m going to Mexico City for a week, to attend Paola’s wedding. Tanja and Nicole will be there too. We were all PhD students in Norwich in 2005-2006, but then Nicole moved back to the States (haven’t seen her since!), Paola left for Spain and then back to Mexico, and Tanja moved to Cambridge. I’m really excited about going there, spending time with them, attend the wedding, see Mexico City… and enjoy some sunshine of course!! I’m leaving this Wednesday and coming back on Friday the 13th (hmm). I’m not taking my laptop, so I don’t think there will be any updates until I’m back in Tromsø – but I am sure I will have LOTS of photos to share then!

Trollvasbu

Trollvasbu

We were planning a ski trip yesterday, but unfortunately found out that our alarm clock had stopped working! A real shame, as it was a very nice day. I took this picture from our balcony, the sun is finally back for real! We saw it on Friday too, but just when we were having lunch and it only came above the mountains for about 15 minutes.

Today, equipped with a new alarm clock (vekkerklokke) ;), we got up early and drove north on the mainland. We skied to a cabin called Trollvasbu. We had never been to any of the mountain cabins before, and we stopped for lunch so we could see what they are like – very nice! Inside a fire was burning, and a dad was having a meal with two young children while 4 girls were playing cards.  This cabin had 4 bedrooms, would be nice to go on an overnight trip and stay in a cabin like this! Below on the left is where the wood is kept, and where the toilets are… and on the right the main cabin.

All the ski’s next to the entrance… the ones on the left are mine! Meanwhile Paul was becoming impatient (and cold) while I was taking photos…

The dad with the two young kids was dog sledding! He left when we were just about to leave as well, so I managed to take some photos.  Both the kids are inside the sledge, it looked really cute!

The days are not very long yet, so we turned around there and went back to the car. This area is really nice, real Arctic tundra with very gentle slopes – great for my skiing abilities 🙂