One month left.

Hey guys!

Update number 2 from the beautiful city of Pretoria, South-Africa. 

I've been here for a little over two months now and still every day manages to amaze me. During the weekends I get to go on the most amazing trips, during the week I get to work with the most incredible children and in the evenings I get to hang out with the best housemates ever. 

My time here is running out and every outing and every day is becoming more and more valuable. Slowly I start to realise that I'm here for a set time only and the last day is running towards me with a terrifying speed. The idea of going home is not appealing at all, so let's not go there yet. Only the past and near future matter now.

This weekend I'll set for Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe with three Spanish friends, which will be absolutely incredible. But let's take a look back first. A throwback to some amazing events and lovely memories. 

Since my last blogpost in September I've said goodbye to my previous Spanish friends and welcomed a lot of new friends from various countries. I've been having a lot of fun with this new group and we've made some incredible memories already. To start with the chill evenings in the kitchen that are spend together. Then there was the night-drive through Pretoria our landlord hosted. We all went in the back of a pickup-truck and a lot of laughter, snacks and alcohol were involved. Driving through my current home city in such good company and in such a crazy atmosphere made me feel very blissful. A nice sense of peacefulness overcame me and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

Then there are the weekends or days away. Shopping, going out for ice-cream, visiting the food-market. Some more small but fun activities I've done during the weekends (with my housemates). But let's not forget the bigger activities like a weekend in Kruger with two nursing friends from Cape Town. The road-trip to Nelspruit was already crazy funny and the weekend continued on that note. The safari's we had were amazing, we saw basically all of the big five! Let me add that we did have to use some imagination to spot the leopard. The night-safari was quite a unique experience as it leaves a lot of animal spotting to the imagination.We ended that weekend with a day-trip to the Blyde Canyon, which happens to have some really interesting history. Sadly the weather blocked most of our views but it made it more of a unique experience. 
Let's end on last weekend. Hiking in Magaliesberg, swimming in natural pools, having a make shift Braai/ BBQ during a thunderstorm, and playing some awkward drinking games. 

 All of these weekends made a massive impression on me, they all gave me this silent moment during which I felt so thankful for having the opportunity to be here on a university and a medical note. I am so thankful for the people who helped me get here, helped me arrange all that was necessary, no matter how many tears were shed I would not ever take them back if it meant not having this experience now. The kids on my internship only adding to this experience through the endless amount of happiness and energy they share with me. 

Yes you could say I love it here, because I absolutely do and I cannot wait to see what more South-Africa has in store for me!

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

Ps. If you would like some video material from my trips here in South-Africa here is the link to my latest vlog on the Kruger weekend: VLOG (beware it's in Dutch)

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)

• 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

Life can be overwhelming.

Hey everyone,

Life has been absolutely crazy this last month. I've been in the application process for an internship abroad, heard I wasn't in, than was in again, and now am arranging a load of stuff for the internship. I've also been really busy reaching the deadlines on the assignment for my current placement for my nursing course, my diabetes has been a mess, and so on and so on.

Slowly I have been busy crossing things off my to do list and finally I'm at a point where I feel like I'm in control of my life again. The blurry mess has disappeared and made place for an organised mess instead. There are still a lot of things I need to be doing but hey, I will make it through as it's all for a great cause. 

First things first, the rollercoaster that has been the process for my internship abroad. I had applied for an internship abroad in South-Africa, due to the massive amount of applications we would be selected through a group assessment. A few days after the assessment, which went really well, I was told I was not selected. Since high school I had been working toward an internship abroad so as you can imagine my world collapsed. The days that followed nearly lead to dehydration as I couldn't stop crying. The worst thing was that my fellow nursing students, whom I helped with their entire application process, were all selected.. All three were selected and I was the only one who wasn't. So now way I was going to leave it there, nope I called, send a really emotional e-mail and for some miracle (and the fact South-Africa was considered the only diabetes safe country by that organisation) I got in after all. That was the end of crying and my world had turned back to this happy sunny place again. 

By now I'm very busy with arranging my accommodation and getting all the documents for my volunteer visa ready. South-African visa's are not fun to apply for, at all. They ask for at least 20 different documents signed by a lot of different people and wow it's crazy, but hey I'm half way already so I can already see some light at the end of the tunnel. One more pro is that I am going with my one of my best buddies from my nursing course and I've already met so many amazing students from uni that are also going to South-Africa. It's going to be an incredible semester, of that I am sure.  

Then there's my diabetes who decided to join my mood and get very, very low. The dextro energy tablets have taken over my body and I literally can't stop eating. You know as my body acquires sugar to get over those low blood sugars. The even better part (read this very sarcastically) is that most of the low sugars happen during the night, or early in the morning so goodbye sleep. But hey, a few e-mails to the hospital and my sugar levels have been fixed again. So that's all good, yay!

Also the deadlines of my current placement have been met, and they graded me a 9 which is like really really good. I absolutely loved this placement and it was such an amazing ward to work on. Loved the patients, the colleagues, and the work there. So different from the other wards I have been on placement on so far. Might even go back there after graduation. 

So yeah, slowly but surely life is getting back on track which also means more blogposts!! Expect blogposts on all of the above, together with some nice days out I have planned and a few new survival guide and Renée reviews blogposts. There is a lot on it's way!

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

International nursing.

This year I was lucky enough to get chosen to participate in the ENNE IP. The ENNE IP embodies cooperation between nursing students from 14 countries in Europe (and the UK). It also helps them to learn about and from the differences between nursing in different countries through which the student nurses develop their intercultural competences. And we get to explore the city/ country that hosts the programme.

The ENNE IP took place in Barcelona this year and during the programme I was in group 4, the best group. Our first task was to create the ideal nurse, for which we created a new curriculum that we would love to see used all over Europe. So international important health care people, look at the picture below carefully as it shows you the best nursing currucilum you have ever seen! All teachers were impressed which was an amazing achievement as we made it during the first days we were together with our group so we didn't really know each other that well either. So yeah I am very proud of what we achieved with this task. And the other tasks as well, we weren't the best group for no reason.

Never did I think this week would become the best one in my nursing career so far, and will probably stay the best week in my nursing career until it's over. It was absolutely amazing to get to know nursing students and fellow young adults/ adults from all over Europe. We got to share not only a lot of information on our nursing curriculum and health care system but also on our personal lives. I got the chance to meet some amazing and really interesting new people and make a lot of new friends. Plus I now have a lot of places in Europe I have to visit soon if only for an ENNE reunion. 

I was extremely surprised by the crazy amount of differences in both nursing and a health care systems between the countries. Aren't we all here to care for our patients? To make sure the care we deliver is the best care? This brings me back to the amazing European nursing curriculum our group developed above. A curriculum that shows you all fields of health care, makes sure you have enough practical experience and theoretical knowledge, plus it offers you the opportunity to go work as a bachelor nurse all over Europe without having to re-do the bachelors programme in the other country.

So the ENNE IP was super interesting in a nursing / theoretical way, as another task was creating a care plan for a certain case. It was also super interesting and just amazing in a personal and social way. I got to meet so many new people and learn so much about different countries (every country had to present themselves and their country on the first night). But let's not forget the sight-seeing activities we've done with the water activity as an absolute favourite. A lot of people cancelled this one due to the bad weather but the people that went had an amazing time, including myself. I went paddle boarding, and for a first time I think I did amazing. plus it was the best opportunity to do some more socialising with the other students. 

Then there were the parties. We Dutchies organised one in honour of Kingsday that was celebrated on April 27th, where we had typical Dutch games but also a lot of drinks and laughter. It was amazing. The other truly amazing party was the goodbye party, there was homemade sangria, musical chairs with the teachers, students playing music typical for their country, and a lot of tears and hugs. The atmosphere among students and teachers just shifted 180 degrees that night and it was incredible. Saying goodbye has barely ever been so hard, although it was more of a see you later as I am definitely going to visit most of them and their cities somewhere in the future!

Europe get ready for me! Nurses on tour!

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

My journey through 2016.

Dear 2016,

Our time together is nearly over. Just a couple more hours before we have to say goodbye, a final goodbye as 2017 slowly steps in your place. But for now, we're still together so let us cherish these final moments by reflecting on all the things we did together.

2016, you were a mess, a bittersweet disaster. Globally you shook the entire planet and everyone on it. You had us say goodbye to so many influential people and to so many lesser known people as well. Then there were politics, to make politics a more popular item you decided to spice it up. Let me say you succeeded, more people are into politics now then ever. To say I agree with your choices in politics would be a step to far so let's get over our political differences and say goodbye to this subject already. 

Personally, 2016, you were a roller coaster. You've given me a lot of opportunities, a lot of chances and I took most of them gratefully. Some ended better than others but all of them led to incredible adventures. 2016, you expanded my interests and taught me a long list of new things. I found more time for all the amazing books you had for me and discovered some more literary gems of my own. There are a few adventures I would like to go into more detail about. 

First of all there was Elfia, a massive cosplay event on the grounds of a beautiful castle in Utrecht. I went here with an internet friend of mine and it was one of the best days ever. Elfia has this atmosphere that makes you feel accepted, included and not at all strange. Everyone is dressed differently and able to be someone else for a day whilst at the same time being themselves completely. At this event I met some incredible people and I learned that it is okay to like science fiction and fantasy, and that it's okay to be a bit weird. As long as you like what you do what's the problem? Correct, there is none.

Then there was Domaine de Puylagorge, a Dutch campsite in France for families with disabled kids. A wonderful place where I went for the second time to organise the animation program for the kids. This year I was lucky enough to guide to incredibly interesting and wonderful kids with special needs, and I had an amazing time working with them and getting to know them and their families. One of the most amazing things about that campsite is the bond between families and the animation team and families. On this campsite it's okay to sit down and chat with families, to share stories, concerns and happy memories. The campsite is a safe haven for families with disabled kids, parents can let go of some of the care around their disabled child and the siblings can play without having to worry about their disabled brother or sister for a change. Everyone can be themselves which is a pretty rare feeling when you are a parent or sibling of a disabled child. 

To continue my list of adventures I saw André Kuipers live and visited the space expo and the ESA ESTEC terrain in Noordwijk. For a long time now I've been strangely interested in space and hearing André Kuipers talk about his time in space and running around in the space expo surrounded by spaceships, a recreated module of the International Space Station it blew me away. I was like an overexcited child in there, which I still am when I think back at how amazing that day was, including the four hour road trip my friend and I went on to get there.

Furthermore I went to see Twenty One Pilots and Panic! at the Disco live in November. Two incredible performances with two incredible crowds. Crowds in which I didn't feel claustrophobic or anxious for a change but crowds that felt welcoming and accepting. I sang along, jumped and cried without shame, I utterly loved those concerts.

Oh and how could I forget my visit to the Cat Café and the Vincent van Gogh museum. Yet another amazing day in an incredible year with incredible adventures. Another museum to cross of my long lists of museums I want to visit. It's kind of becoming an annual thing now, going to a museum with a friend of mine to indulge ourselves in the artistic believes of various great painters. It's just lovely.

Yes 2016, when it comes to adventures you were amazing I did a lot of amazing things and met a lot of amazing new people in the process. Also those things allowed me to develop myself as a person. The best example, regarding my personal development, may be my current internship. The internship in the hospital. Another adventure, yet this one isn't over yet. This internship might be the hardest one I've had so far, be the most challenging both personally and professionally. As a nurse I learned a lot, I've become a much better nurse already however there is still a long way to go before I feel qualified as an independent nurse on a ward. Personally I learned to deal with my mental and physical limitations in the work field, how it's better to talk about them and make them known at the start of my internship instead of blocking my learning process with them. 

Something everyone I know knows about me is that I'm diabetic, it's a physical issue that is pretty obvious when people go out for lunch with me or when my insulin pump decides to be a bit dramatic in the evening. Still haven't found an off button for the alarm sounds. The things that only a few people know about me are my mental issues. It's just something that you don't bring up that easily and that I don't really have to bring up as it's not something as visible and obvious as my diabetes is. 2016, however, has taught me that it's important to talk about those issues as well. Ignoring them will only lead to the inevitable breakdown and it will limit you're personal and professional development. 

So to cut things short, 2016, you were amazing. The last couple of years have been full of me learning stuff about myself and me developing myself more and more but this year I honestly thought that process was finished. That I was able to deal with my 'problems' and that they wouldn't trouble me anymore. Well 2016, thank you for showing me otherwise and telling me that there is no shame in being different or having a few more diagnoses. My problems are a part of me and there's no reason to act as if they're not. 

2016 you were an incredible tutor and you helped me plan out the first steps of some amazing adventures I will have in 2017. 2016 you will be missed but 2017 the world and I, are so ready for you. A new beginning, a new year, new chances, new opportunities and most important of all new adventures!

Lots of love,

ThatDutchGirl96

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

Train adventures.

Hello!!1!!

Travelling by train, a nowadays very common and efficient way of transporting yourself from one place to another. Massive automatic iron worms crawling forward on an endless iron rail constantly going back and forth on various tracks to various places. A mostly reliable system that goes on all day long and repeats itself the next day. Thousands and thousands of people hop on and off, go to work, friends, events, meetings and many many other places, return to the station and hop on and off again to go back home.

I am one of those thousands of people that use the marvellous train system on a daily basis. Every morning I leave the house and make my way to the station where I patiently wait on a platform that gets more and more crowded with every minute, all waiting on that one specific train that will take us to that one place we need to go. After being on that train for half an hour it's time to hop off, change platform and the waiting starts again. Train number two arrives, this one is bigger just as the crowd waiting for it's arrival. It's one of the main lines that goes all the way from the north of the country to the south. 

The south, that's where I'm heading. I sit down in one of the many pairs of chairs, preferably the chair closest to the window so I can watch cities and open fields fly by. After I sit down I pray for being left alone, to not have a stranger sit down next to me whom will only distract me from the changing sights that will be shown on the nature channel, also known as the train window. Beautiful landscapes pass by in mere seconds to be replaced with a different landscape or a big city or an endless field of grass. Sometimes I spend my time on the train writing stories, on paper, in my head or on my laptop. Other times I decide to listen to stories. Listening to what the people around me have to say. One on his way to an important business thing, others, like me, on their way to school. Catching up on the latest stories and gossips from people I have never seen before and I will probably never see again.












Another 45 minutes later I have arrived, my final destination for the day. Ready to push the stories I just heard and the landscapes I have just seen to the back of my head and create space for all the knowledge I'll have to absorb throughout the day. 

As the day is finished, my head is pounding from all the facts, medical names and lack of concentration. Time to go back home, finally. I don't care whether it's dark outside or not, this is my relaxation time. Back into the iron worm, my seat at the window. Music on and ready to go. The train makes it's way back over the tracks showing me the beautiful sights all over again although this time it's a little darker outside. Lights everywhere. At this time of the day I prefer the cities over the landscapes as they light up brightly like a Christmas tree. 

Hop off and on and off again as I arrive back home. Head filled with marvellous landscapes, beautifully lit up cities and vaguely in the back of my head the medical terms and facts school has tried to teach me.

ThatDutchGirl96