Happy Mother’s day

To all the moms with big and small families; the moms who work and stay at home; the moms who have a partner and those who do it alone; the moms who take care of their bonus or adopted children, and the moms who have lost their own; and lastly to the mothers I’ve forgotten and of course my own mom,

I wish to say:

Happy Mother’s day!

We see you, we appreciate you. Even if we don’t always show respect or life is so hard that we express our frustrations out on you, we love you.

Mam, daanke datse dr altied veur mich bis gewees, en datse nog altied veur deze jong volwassene wils zurge. Fijne moederdag 😘

Travel Nostalgia: West USA 2012

Hey readers! In the series “Travel Nostalgia” I look back on the travel adventures I’ve had with my parents in the past. I’ve seen so many amazing things and sometimes I can give advice on where to go and what to skip. Or you’re just here for the pictures, that’s also totally fine! Today I talk about our time in the West of the USA in 2012. Enjoy!

I quit volunteering (and feel guilty about it)

When I started this blog, my plan was to talk about all the new hobbies I’d find during 8 weeks of no studying and to write more scientific posts. I also mentioned I was going to volunteer. In the last few weeks, I found a place where they take care of a house with parents who have to stay close to their sick child in the hospital. They aren’t able to go home, so volunteers try to make the house a little cosier.

Short update on studying, music, summer plans and covidiots

Hello readers! Nothing too big has happened the past week, so here is a short update on the smaller stuff!

Help I got baby fever!

Baby fever: “A strong emotional urge to have a child.” ; “The yearning one gets after holding, seeing, or being around a baby. Typically happens in childless women of a young age.” This has been me for a couple of years now. I’ve always said, that if I don’t have a partner who wants children by the time I’m 40, I will raise a child on my own. It’s true. Fortunately for me, Saapjen wants children too. Fortunately for him, I want to wait. It’s pretty difficult to wait though.

What I want to let anyone know who’s struggling with talking in groups

During all 3 years of my bachelor, I have opened my mouth voluntarily perhaps 10 times in total. 20 times at most. Universities in the Netherlands pay special attention to having lively debates – tutorials – in which 15 students or less try to solve a challenge by discussing what they’ve read. With around 2 tutorials each week, I had approximately 216 tutorials to get over my fear of public speaking. Only this year – after receiving my degree – I’m finally learning how to take control. The covid-circumstances have helped, but there are some other things I learned that I want to share with you.

The future of my blog: An update on my experiences

I started blogging at the end of January this year. It kept me busy during the weeks that I didn’t have to study and gave me the structure that a university course normally would. Next week the last statistics course is going to begin, which means I won’t have much time to blog anymore.

Diversity on children’s television: GEWOON. BLOOT.

As someone with a deep desire to have children one day, I’m already thinking about how to teach them to be unapologetically themselves. Social media isn’t going to go away any time soon, so how would I handle that as a parent? How would I handle the insecurities that come with having an online self? Body image issues are part of puberty sure, but I will take any strategy that can prevent this, or at least make it less awful. You can imagine how happy I was finding a television show that exposes children to real, normal and different kinds of bodies!

A busy week for an introvert or part of adulthood?

There’s still only one day left of this week, but I’m already exhausted! I haven’t really gotten the time to write about something interesting I discovered, so I will share my thoughts about it some other time. Today you can read all the things I’ve experienced. Enjoy!

Don’t go biking without glasses!

Saapjen convinced me to go mountain biking again. I have to say that I do enjoy it now; every time there are challenges that I have to face and it makes me proud when I overcome them. This time there was a different sort of challenge: biking with new people. Saapjen had arranged a double date with his colleague. I can be quite a shy person, so the idea that his and his girlfriend’s first impression was of me sweating, made me nervous.