A House is not a Home..

Today marks one month since I've abandoned the homeland for Amsterdam.  Even though we technically didn't arrive until one month tomorrow, you get the point.  Unfortunately, I've been pretty homesick the past few days.  It's probably just a combination of over exhaustion/stress/oh I don't know, living in a foreign land.  In reality though, I think culture shock has officially set in, and I also think God is working with me by inspiring my grandparents to send me a care package which has just arrived!  I'm tellin' ya, the key to this girl's heart these days is American snacks.  Yeah buddy.

You know, it's weird because before I left all Em and I could think was "Holy crap 4 months is forever how are we going to survive!?"  Then, after we'd been here for a week or so it turned to, "Holy crap 4 months is no where near long enough to do all the stuff we want to do while we're in Europe!"  Now, we're regrettably thinking, "Holy crap I can't freaking wait for Christmas/my bed/a real shower/The Cheesecake Factory/home!"  And it's not that we're not having an amazing time, we'd be idiots for admitting that even if it were true, but really being away from your home like this is hard.  Not only that, but a rug and a candle from Ikea don't really homify a room as much as you'd think.

Today though, I needed to go to a classmate's flat outside of Uilenstede in order to work on a group project.  After getting crazy lost (imagine that) she found me, and we made our way to her place.  A lot of the housing here in Amsterdam is like townhousy/apartment style.  To be honest we really haven't seen "houses" aside from the canal houses and some individual homes at the beach last weekend.  This being said, I was expecting to arrive at an apartment just like those here in the complex where I live.  When she opened the door though, my jaw dropped.

I mean, it was probably just like any American college student's apartment, but it was so refreshing.  She gets to live with her friends in a 4 or 5 bedroom flat with a REAL kitchen, REAL bathroom, a nice couch, a dining room table, etc.  How strange for me to get so jazzed about some wooden adornments but just by walking into the living room I felt an incredible sense of home sweep over me.  It was such a good, long awaited feeling.

Even though all we were doing was working on a wiki page about the background of Hiberno-English in Ireland, she made me a cup of coffee and we spent some time chatting just about how we had ended up in Amsterdam and whatnot.  A couple of her house-mates came and went and were so kind to me, I really felt at peace, like I belonged there or like we were already friends.  This probably sounds creepily stalkerish, but these are the kinds of things I value.

kindness

coffee

the comforts of home

motherly figures

conversation

As I walked the 10 minutes back to my apartment you couldn't have smacked the smile off my face.  The sun shone on my cheeks and I was peacefully floating on a cloud.  Now, as I sit at my Mac, looking out the window at the plethora of bikes, smelling the crisp afternoon air of my favorite season, the stylings of Brandi Carlile in my ears, trying to resist the tempting Reese's cups on my desk, I am just plain happy.  What a concept, huh?  How many times have I admitted to being genuinely happy, with nothing to really worry about, no pressing issues giving me anxiety.  It's a good feeling that I'm going to cherish into the evening and the rest of my week.

Happy Monday, y'all!  Thanks for the support as always. xoxo