It’s hard to believe that we’ve lived in the Netherlands for 16 years as of November 22! Once again, the four of us weren’t together. Nor could we follow our tradition of eating at La Lanterna in Scheveningen where we ate on our first night all those years ago, because restaurants nationwide were closed by the time Ashlynn arrived home for the holidays. Instead we made the list of our highs and lows over the last year while eating a homemade Italian meal on December 22. As usual, here are our lows first:
- Not getting to see Grandpa one more time; losing Grandpa and extended family
- Continued hassles of COVID: Ashlynn getting COVID and having to self-isolate for two weeks; Americans being blocked from entering the Netherlands caused extra visa stress and expense; Veronica’s graduation ceremony for her master’s degree and Frozen, The Musical in London being cancelled; Ashlynn’s field trips being cut short
- Travelling during COVID: missing spending Christmas together; constantly changing mask and testing rules as well as costs; Namibia going RED leading to Ashlynn's return flight to be cancelled and Melissa having to spend two days trying to get her home; too complicated to visit Ashlynn in Glasgow or Veronica while she was living in a lovenest with Brett in Exeter; no family trip to Prague; stress of getting US vaccinations accepted into Dutch CoronaPass app
- January 6 domestic terrorist attack on the US Capitol: witnessing potential fall of American democracy
- Incompetency of British government
- Jimmy: high level of drama with major customer but too much commitment to walk away; computer dying; broken Hasselblad with costly repair; breaking finger while working on Bootjuh’s floor
- Melissa: not being able to visit Gillian; Carlin moving away
- Veronica: crashing drone; injured wrist; lack of respect (and response) from PhD programs and job applications; overwhelming climate anxiety; having to spend two weeks in Exeter flat alone; ending up in a long-distance relationship; missing aerial class; unpublished work due to “busy” academics; scary encounter with cows while camping
- Ashlynn: first (and hopefully last) heartbreak; breaking up one day after quarantine ended and then having an exam the next day; insomnia; Bilge drama; realizing the world is shit and science industry is disappointing; continuing problems with head: headaches and disassociation; dating useless men
- Melissa/Jimmy: hash weekends in Belgium and Slovenia being postponed yet again; major drama with Amsterdam H3; German train strike; grim dorm in Prague for Eurohash
- Veronica/Ashlynn: dreaded Dartmoor hike with an iPhone and running shoe lost
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