More Training...

A few days later, we were back walking again as our training time together before our big trip to Nepal was running out. This time we headed to De Horsten in Wassenaar on another beautiful day.

As green as De Horsten was, the field where I walk Kati had turned very brown. While we enjoyed the warm, dry summer, it resulted in a drought for the first time since we arrived in Holland.

From Lake to Sea to Forest...

Eventually we made it to the North Sea.

We had a laugh when we saw hondenbier (beer for dogs) and hondenfrites (fries for dogs) on the menu at the beach café.

We were especially impressed with the public toilets’ wall of glass overlooking the dunes. The large mirror over the sinks was the perfect spot for selfies.

We had a picnic lunch and later Carlin spoiled us with a hot tea stop.

The last segment of the trail was wooded, which provided some nice shade on a warm summer day.

We ran into some of the local Scottish Highland Cows, which were apparently introduced along with some other large grazing herbivores to prevent overgrowth on the dunes. 

This is definitely a park I hope to explore further.

Training Walk in a National Park...

It took awhile to convince Carlin and Terri to make the one-hour drive to Zuid-Kennemerland National Park outside of Haarlem that I had first learned about on a hash, but it was totally worth the wait.

While I bought a map just to show my support at the wonderful visitor center, it turned out it was a wise investment as we definitely needed it to navigate between the different terrains of the large park.

The first part of the park was a beach with families enjoying the sand and lake.

Above the lake and then beyond it were dunes.

Last Day of Work...

It was quite a compliment that Veronica was asked to extend her Year-in-Industry by an extra month at GlaxoSmithKline in West London.

Her team obviously really liked her as they gave her an incredibly generous farewell gift. I’m just thrilled that the past year was a positive and enriching experience for her. When she returned to UEA, she applied and was excepted as a Industrial Placement Ambassador to help spread the word about the program.

Ashlynn Melts...

Shortly after returning from Kavos, Ashlynn went with a bunch of friends to Melt, one of the largest electronic music festivals in Germany. It took place at Ferropolis, an open-air museum situated at an old strip mining operation. The old equipment made the perfect backdrop for the festival.

Ashlynn says she had the time of her life as it was 100% the best festival she’d ever attended. She was thrilled to discover her love of Disco House music. She got to see her favorite DJ, Palms Trax, during an amazing sunrise set. Her friends had never seen her so happy while she was dancing to Awesome Tapes from Africa

She even watched some of the World Cup Final and did some yoga. 

She enjoyed swimming in the lake and dancing until 6 a.m. every morning. Each of her 15 friends had their own tent which they placed in a circle. They didn’t get much sleep.

Afterwards, she and Sara took a bus to Berlin for a three-night stay. They went to the zoo, swam at a floating pool on the river, danced at a techno event and walked along the East Berlin Gallery. Luckily there were no problems with her bus ride home nor with Veronica’s ferry ride as they both arrived home less than 24 hours before we were heading out on our family holiday. 

Field Course in Spain...

Also while we were in Poland, Veronica went to Almeria in southern Spain for a one-week field course on climate change. After visiting greenhouses made out of plastic to learn about food waste, she realized that she’d like to concentrate on food security for her Master’s Degree.

As always, she sent us some excellent shots.  

Mars Rising

Once she was back in London, she enjoyed going out for vegan Dutch pancakes.

Graduation Trip to Kavos...

While we were in Poland, Ashlynn flew with most of her year group for a week in Kavos, a seaside village on the Greek island of Corfu. Her friend group chose to stay together in apartments away from the main tacky strip of nightclubs. She enjoyed spending a lot of time in the pool.

Her group of six girls lucked out as their apartment had a kitchen which they hadn’t paid extra for.

Although you can’t tell from this photo, Ashlynn said the nearby beaches weren’t very nice. She was disappointed that none of the other girls would join her when she walked one afternoon to a secret beach with some of the guys. She said it was beautiful, but didn’t have her camera along.

 She clearly got some sun.

They went out clubbing most nights. Ashlynn thought the clubs and the music were pretty crappy compared to what she’s used to in the Netherlands.

On a very scary note, Ashlynn’s drink was spiked on her first night. Luckily her friends realized immediately that something was wrong and took her straight home where she fully recovered. I was so relieved that the girls were there for her as things could have taken a very dark turn otherwise.