ThatDutchGirl's survival guide: citytrip.

Hey there!

As you all may know, I love travelling. Whether I'm going on a long vacation far away or a short citytrip to a city not too far away, I love travelling. The feeling of being in a new place, discovering new things, seeing and doing things you've never seen and done before, meeting new people and maybe even making some new friends. I love everything about it but most of all the feeling of being free. When I travel I forget all about the worries I had at home, the things I forgot to do or still have to do. When I travel I don't worry about any of those things, the only thing I might worry about is missing my flight. Being in a new place, for me, is like a chance to start again, to discover new things about yourself and to become completely at peace again. 

Now in this blog I would like to give you some tips on travelling. More specifically I would like to share some of the things I've learned whilst planning and going on a citytrip. 
A citytrip is mostly a short vacation to a specific city. Preferably a city you've never been to before and you have yet to discover all of it's wonders. A citytrip lasts mostly 3 to 4 days.

So now you know some things about a citytrip let me share some of the tips and tricks I've learned over the last few years.

Deciding on the destination.
Before you go on a citytrip you have to know which city you're going to. This kind of depends on who you are and who you are going with. When you have bought tickets to let's say a convention in a city abroad, the destination is kind of decided already. Sometimes you and your friends know exactly where you want to go because you've always wanted to go there or because one of your friends has been there before and tickled your curiosity so you decide to go there. But there are also times where both you and your friends are absolutely clueless about where to go or maybe you just don't care. When that happens I can absolutely recommend the travel agency 'surprise me'. They are a travel agency where you can book all kinds of trips including citytrips but the whole thing is that you won't know your destination up until you are at the airport a couple of hours before your flight departs. I have never been on a surprise trip before but a lot of my friends have and they all recommend I go on one in the near future. Click HERE to go to their website. If a surprise me trip sounds a bit too much for you you can also decide to print a map from let's say Europe, close your eyes, drop your finger somewhere and go to the city it has landed the closest to. 
When you go all by yourself the choice is all yours which might make the deciding bit a little easier.

How to get there.
When you have decided where you are going you start finding out how to get there. Maybe you can get there by train, by bus, by boat or by plane. Decide which way of transport suits you, your budget and your time schedule best. I personally prefer travelling by plane but mostly because I enjoy flying and because travelling by plane has been the best option for the cities I've been to so far. Look up the different options for, for example, travelling by bus. Which agencies offer to take you there, how much do they cost, how long does it take to get there and what are the references. I personally always check the different kinds of references on a transport agency as I think quality is very important. When travelling by plane it is important to know how much luggage you're going to take with you. Do you need nothing more than a small suitcase then you don't need to take anything more than cabin luggage. If you are going to need a big suitcase then it's important to check the prices for that as well. This might make your flight more expensive so it's important to check the offers of different flight agencies and whether or not extra luggage is included in the price. Prices of flights change over time so when you want to book a flight you might want to look up when the price of your flight will be the cheapest. However this is no guarantee that at that specific time the price will be the cheapest. It is up to you to figure that out and to know what you want to spend on your flight ticket. 

activities.
On a citytrip you are going to explore the city of course. It might be handy to make a list of things you really want to do or places you really want to eat before you leave on your citytrip. Thankfully Dr. Google knows all about the great spots in every city. Besides you can always ask friends and family members who have been to that city before if they know any amazing spots or things to go and do and or see. I always make a list if places I want to see, things I want to do and stuff I must definitely eat or at least try. This just makes my trip a little more organised and I love an organised citytrip although I'm all for the chaos as well as it adds a little more excitement 
to your trip, I think.

Hotel / hostel.
Of course you will need a place to stay the night. And by this I don't mean a bench in the park, no I mean a place with a roof and heating and beds and stuff. Whether you stay in a hotel or a hostel is completely up to you. I personally prefer hostels as I just love the atmosphere most of them have and you are more likely to meet other travellers of your age and start a conversation with them. This is because hostels tend to have one central living room and kitchen which means you're going to bump into fellow travellers one way or another. You are also very likely to sleep in bunk beds in a bigger room with strangers but hey it's fun, you can talk to others, ask them if they know some things you haven't seen or done yet. Of course hostels have their less great things too because you don't really have a place for your own but hey they are mostly more fun and cheaper than a hotel. Obviously there is nothing wrong with booking a hotel. If you want a room of yourself, breakfast included, an en suite bathroom and just a little more luxury I definitely recommend a hotel. If you want to know about the hotels and hostels and their availability you can always check the website booking.com as that website holds a lot of hotels and hostels and is perfect for getting some ideas for possible places to sleep. 

What to bring?
This all depends on the length of your citytrip and the city you go to. Things you will always need are a toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, shoes, pyjamas, clothes, a coat, your phone, the charger for your phone, a travel lock, a suitcase or backpack and possibly a scarf or sunglasses. Just the basics. How many of these you'll take with you depends on the length of your citytrip and who you are as a person. We are all different so we'll all pack our suitcases and backpacks in a different way. 

Of course there are more things to think of when you go on a citytrip but I feel like these are the most important things to keep in mind when going on a citytrip. If you have some additions to this list please add them in the comments below. Together we can become the best prepared bunch of travellers the world has ever seen!

I hope this list has been somewhat useful to you! If it was please press the like button and share it with your friends.

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

Internship nr. 2.

Hey there!

Let's talk about health care and being a nurse (student) again! 

The world of health care holds a very wide variety of health care settings. Just take a look at hospitals, mental health care, home care or care for people with a disability of any sorts. These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to different health care settings. Health care is all around you and as a nurse you have to be able to work in every type of health care setting.

Being able to work in any let alone every type of health care setting comes down to a decent and broad education. During the nursing course I'm currently taking we have to go on, relatively, a lot of internships. During our first year we had one internship of 10 weeks and now in my second year we have to go on a 15 week internship. From the third year on you're a non stop intern in 3 to 4 different health care settings. 

At the moment I'm in my 2nd year and past the halfway point of my 2nd internship. During this year's internship I'm working with people with all kinds of disabilities. I work in two different houses that are connected to each other on the inside, this way it's easy to move from one house to the other when extra help is needed. In both houses there is room for 7 people with a disability and at the moment that's also the number of inhabitants we actually have. One of the houses inhabits only men whilst in the other is 'filled' with women. The men and women don't really interact with each other though. 

In the "men" house, the men have a moderate to a severe mental retardation whilst the woman have a severe to a profound mental retardation. Switching between the houses and the sort of care they need was something I found pretty difficult in the beginning, now I know the amount and sort of care every individual needs and I'm able to offer that help. 

During the 11 weeks I've been on this internship I have often been told that working with people with a disability acquires a special skill set or that it is one of the more difficult fields of health care. On some level this may be true. For example you need to know that with all the things they are unable to do there are so many things they're still able to do and they will still enjoy. Then you might also want to realise that despite a physical disability or a different intellectual level they are still people like you and me and no different from you and me they want to go outside, go to work and socialise.

Compared to my previous internship in a home for the elderly, I much prefer this internship. Now please get me right, I do respect elders, I respect them very much but they were just much less interesting or willing to socialise or go do things than the people I get to work with on this internship. I absolutely love this internship and everyday I leave feeling satisfied with the work I've done and the smiles I've seen. This internship is basically like running a family with over-sized kids and it gives you a lot of joy to see them being proud of something they did at work or something they've achieved whilst doing sports or at work. 

To people who work in health care and are looking for a new challenge I would definitely recommend working with disabled people. Or if you are looking for a place to volunteer I would definitely recommend this field of health care as well. 

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

Renée Reviews: All the bright places.

Hey there!

Since I haven't done a book review in quite a while and my eyes have been reading more than a few books in the mean time, I thought why not inform you guys about the books I've been reading. Which is exactly what I'm going to do! 
Just a little side note here: I'm sorry if I accidentally spoil a book for you in one of my reviews, please don't kill me.....

So welcome to my new series: "Renée Reviews"! Because obviously everything that involves more than one blogpost needs a ridiculous name. 

Let's get started. All the bright places an amazing book by Jennifer Niven. 
"When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the 'natural wonders' of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It's only with Violet that Finch can be himself - a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who's not such a freak after all. But as Violet's world grows, Finch's begins to shrink."

The book is (obviously) about Theodore Finch and Violet Markey. As is written on the back of the book: "Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kills himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. Whereas Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death."

Theodore, better known as Finch, meets Violet on the ledge of a bell tower. To add a certain cliché factor to this book Finch is this weird guy that doesn't really have any friends and Violet is or was this very popular girl with a lot of "friends". As you can read in the summary above they pair up for a project and it's this project that changes their world. 

Now all of this might sound like your average chick flick book, or at least that's what my first opinion of the book was before I started reading it. Whilst reading it however, I discovered there was so much more to it than just your cliché story. The book is written from both Finch's and Violets perspective which allows you to learn so much more about both characters. You delve into their past and present, their thoughts, feelings (for each other), fears and struggles. This was just one of the many things I liked about the book as I love books that give you an in depth view of the characters. The book takes you along on their project to discover the 'natural wonders' of their state, this project gives you more insight on them as persons and their relationship as well. 

It's pretty easy to read which makes it easier to get into the story. Where I was a bit reluctant to start reading the book at first, you know due to the whole cliché girl book thing, I started finding it more and more difficult to put the book down as the story continued. As the book goes on you want to know more about the wonders they visit, the time they spent together, everything that goes on in their heads and all the other things they face in the book. Where you see Violet grow throughout the book you will see that Finch is slowly starting to fall apart.

The book portrais the symptoms, thoughts and feelings of someone suffering from mental illness in an amazing way. Everything about it sounds very familiar to people that suffer from mental illnesses in real life. Then there is Violet who is still mourning her sisters death, another important issue portrayed in a great way.  

At the end of the book I was devastated, which is something I feel at the end of many books. I felt like I had gotten so close to Violet and Finch and their problems throughout the book that it wasn't easy to say goodbye. To close the book and put it back on the shelf. The book itself was still physically there but it felt like a whole world had disappeared the moment I closed the book. The story of Violet and Finch living on only in my head, in my head and the heads of thousands of others all over the world.

I would definitely recommend you all read this book! It's easy to read, it has a great story, very interesting characters and it's written in a way that keeps you from putting the book down. For everyone searching for a great book I would say, go to a nearby bookshop, purchase this book and dive into Violets and Finch's world.

(source: www.goodreads.com)