Hey guys!
A couple of years back I was positive I was going to end up living elsewhere. Away from my hometown, the further the better. It took me some time but here I am. Probably living the furthest from home I ever will. Living in South-Africa. Same timezone, different side of the equator.
To be honest. It's a lot different from how I imagined it to be. First of all, it's temporary. Second of all, even though I never thought I would, I kind of start to miss home. When I say home I don't really mean my family, my mum, my dad. I do really miss my youngest sister though, no matter how much of a grumpy teenager she can be, she's still the younger version of myself. The only difference being the diabetes, and she actually likes the vampire diaries. We couldn't be that similar now could we. But most of all, I miss home. My own trusted environment and the structure it holds and the peace that brings me.
Life here is different, the people are different and the culture is different. Adapting here wasn't the difficult part, it was pretty easy. The South-African way of life is much more easy going and slow paced than the Dutch way, and that is something I really like. The South-African way gives me more time to process, to take in everything and to live my life. It's settling here that is giving me my problems. This constantly nagging feeling in my stomach, leaving me feeling very uncomfortable at the strangest moments. Keeping me from enjoying my time here to the fullest. Rooting here, for however briefly that might be, is something I would love to do. To let go of my ties to home for a little while, to not be remembered of that return flight home but to just enjoy every day that passes instead of counting the days that are left. Can the glass be half full for just a day? That would be great.
For some reason my heart and mind have lost touch of each other. The heart trying it's hardest to escape the iron grip my mind has gotten on my life. Conscious living I call it, but not the good kind of conscious. It's the being aware of your every step, your every breath kind of conscious. The one that won't let you enjoy what you are doing, whether that is taking in the most beautiful views or interacting with the most incredible wildlife. Not even planning my holiday road trip could make me feel joy, or excitement. It's as if my heart, my feelings have been captured, not able to move around, not able to make me feel no matter how desperately I want to. No. My mind has taken over and it has me counting every step I take. It's driving me crazy.
South-Africa is definitely the best choice I ever made and I love being here and doing all these crazy things. To be a teacher, to meet new people, do crazy things. It's the best time of my life but something is holding me back and it makes me feel so utterly frustrated. Maybe just maybe, my mind will realise how ridiculous it's been behaving, that I don't need to be kept closed off from my feelings like this. That I am allowed to feel, to love, to get hurt, to feel sad. It's okay. It's totally fine and I am ready for my mind to realise this.
I will keep you updated.
Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96
Thursday 28 September 2017
Friday 15 September 2017
A month in South-Africa
Hey guys!
So I've been pretty absent again. Mind the again. But I'm back for now. It's just that I really love having a space to write down all my thoughts and adventures but the space I created is not how I want or like it anymore. For now it'll have to do but I'm thinking of redesigning my blog, the idea of my blog and what I want to do with it. So keep an eye out for that in the future.
*snaps fingers* Back to the present.
As the title subtly gives away I have been in South-Africa for a month now. Renée why are you in South-Africa?! Well let me explain, for the entirety of my last school year I have been busy getting into and preparing myself for an internship abroad. This has always been a dream of mine and the opportunity to go on one was actually one of the reasons for me to choose the university I'm currently in. So when the chances finally presented themselves I jumped upon them. It took a lot of sweat and tears to get in but look where I am!
Right now I am living and doing my internship in Pretoria, and I am in love with this city. It's definitely on the list of favourite cities I've visited so far! The internship I'm on is with TLF (Tshwane Leadership Foundation), TLF has different projects and the ones I'm working on are Inkululeko and Potter's House. Inkululeko being a preschool where I support the teachers and give my own lessons. Potter's House being a shelter for vulnerable women who left their home situations for different reasons. Both really interesting and challenging as a nurse as the things I can do there as a nurse are much less obvious than my fellow students having their internship with disabled people or in hospitals. But I love the challenges I'm faced with and the creative thinking that I have to do to succeed here. It's absolutely brilliant!
Than there is the city itself. Even though I have been here for a month already I've not seen too much of Pretoria yet, and still I'm already in love with the city. There's so much to do and explore in Pretoria but also Johannesburg and the surroundings. What I have been doing is a safari, visiting South-Africa's biggest theme park, and hanging out at a local foodmarket 20 minutes from my accommodation. The easy going South-African atmosphere has got me hooked, and an unsafe feeling isn't something I've come to experience here yet, thankfully. The accommodation I'm staying at is called F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Yes it is written like the TV show, but the name honours itself. It's an accommodation aimed at foreign students and it has a lot of options to hang out by yourself or together. As we also have a social manager here who organises hikes or dinners you get to know your housemates quite easily and during this month I have grown rather fond of them. I love this accommodation and the people I'm staying here with. I have definitely made friends here already.
One month down, 2.5 more to go and I can not wait to see what they will bring! If you have the option to go abroad on an internship or travel abroad for a long time I can't do anything else than recommend it to you! It has been a great experience so far and it will only get better! Besides just going abroad I would also like to recommend South-Africa and especially Pretoria to you. Some might say Cape Town is the place to be here but I disagree, Pretoria has so much to offer and there are so many incredible things to do and see nearby. Swaziland and Kruger are only a three hour drive, the nature here is amazing, a lot of national park and safari options are nearby, plus it's South-Africa's political centre and it holds a lot of history. What more to say than visit Pretoria if you get the chance!
For my time here I decided to vlog so I will put the links to my vlogs down here for you to watch: (mind you, the spoken ones are in Dutch but please feel welcome to add subtitles to them to make them more accessible for non-Dutch speakers as well)
Catch up with you soon!
Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96
So I've been pretty absent again. Mind the again. But I'm back for now. It's just that I really love having a space to write down all my thoughts and adventures but the space I created is not how I want or like it anymore. For now it'll have to do but I'm thinking of redesigning my blog, the idea of my blog and what I want to do with it. So keep an eye out for that in the future.
*snaps fingers* Back to the present.
As the title subtly gives away I have been in South-Africa for a month now. Renée why are you in South-Africa?! Well let me explain, for the entirety of my last school year I have been busy getting into and preparing myself for an internship abroad. This has always been a dream of mine and the opportunity to go on one was actually one of the reasons for me to choose the university I'm currently in. So when the chances finally presented themselves I jumped upon them. It took a lot of sweat and tears to get in but look where I am! 
Right now I am living and doing my internship in Pretoria, and I am in love with this city. It's definitely on the list of favourite cities I've visited so far! The internship I'm on is with TLF (Tshwane Leadership Foundation), TLF has different projects and the ones I'm working on are Inkululeko and Potter's House. Inkululeko being a preschool where I support the teachers and give my own lessons. Potter's House being a shelter for vulnerable women who left their home situations for different reasons. Both really interesting and challenging as a nurse as the things I can do there as a nurse are much less obvious than my fellow students having their internship with disabled people or in hospitals. But I love the challenges I'm faced with and the creative thinking that I have to do to succeed here. It's absolutely brilliant! Than there is the city itself. Even though I have been here for a month already I've not seen too much of Pretoria yet, and still I'm already in love with the city. There's so much to do and explore in Pretoria but also Johannesburg and the surroundings. What I have been doing is a safari, visiting South-Africa's biggest theme park, and hanging out at a local foodmarket 20 minutes from my accommodation. The easy going South-African atmosphere has got me hooked, and an unsafe feeling isn't something I've come to experience here yet, thankfully. The accommodation I'm staying at is called F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Yes it is written like the TV show, but the name honours itself. It's an accommodation aimed at foreign students and it has a lot of options to hang out by yourself or together. As we also have a social manager here who organises hikes or dinners you get to know your housemates quite easily and during this month I have grown rather fond of them. I love this accommodation and the people I'm staying here with. I have definitely made friends here already.
One month down, 2.5 more to go and I can not wait to see what they will bring! If you have the option to go abroad on an internship or travel abroad for a long time I can't do anything else than recommend it to you! It has been a great experience so far and it will only get better! Besides just going abroad I would also like to recommend South-Africa and especially Pretoria to you. Some might say Cape Town is the place to be here but I disagree, Pretoria has so much to offer and there are so many incredible things to do and see nearby. Swaziland and Kruger are only a three hour drive, the nature here is amazing, a lot of national park and safari options are nearby, plus it's South-Africa's political centre and it holds a lot of history. What more to say than visit Pretoria if you get the chance!
For my time here I decided to vlog so I will put the links to my vlogs down here for you to watch: (mind you, the spoken ones are in Dutch but please feel welcome to add subtitles to them to make them more accessible for non-Dutch speakers as well)- Vlog 1: A bad beginning.
- Vlog 2: Table Mountain.
- Vlog 3: A week in Cape Town.
- Vlog 4: Internship week 1.
Catch up with you soon!
Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96
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