A Transition Year - 2022

2022 started in Friesland, Netherlands with family. It concluded 2021 which was a year full of exciting and incredible moments in multiple countries with my best friends for our master’s. 2023 started in Friesland with my whole family (happy Robin). It concluded a year full of transitions and new steps in life.

In January I went back to Austria to finish up my final courses. Besides the exams and presentations, it was also the last time I would be in school with my PAC classmates who have become like family throughout this master’s program. It was all quite bittersweet. I then went back to the Netherlands where I lived with my sweet grandparents until June. This was a transition from a high paced international master student life to a calm and routine way of living. This time was spent writing my thesis and applying for jobs. It was also spent hanging out with the coolest grandpa and grandma, playing games, drinking wine (had to keep up with my grandma), finally working out regularly again, and enjoying the freedom of planning my own time.

The ability to control my own schedule and work on my thesis from wherever meant an extended spring break with my family and family friends in Sint Maarten, a trip to Frankfurt with friends, and attempting to be a tour guide for a couple of groups of friends who visited the Netherlands. I was also able to go to my boyfriend’s house regularly since we finally lived in the same country again.

Pake & Beppe

Teletubbies

De Collectie Ritsema Opening

Half Marathon

In June my parents, brother and sister came to the Netherlands for the opening of De Collectie Ritsema, an art collection my parents acquired. I then flew back to Kansas with my parents and brother Austin. Meagan went to Sint Maarten for an internship. The summer was spent wedding hopping, quickly catching up with old friends, showing my boyfriend around the great USA for a couple of weeks, and of course, taking a trip to Sint Maarten. Many mixed feelings this summer as it was the last one “home” with my family and the last one before immigrating and starting my career.

At the end of August my dad and I flew to the Netherlands. He was going to help me move and my dad’s mom was going to celebrate her 89th birthday. However, moments after we got off the plane my grandma passed away. This was an unexpected and rough start to the whole immigration process. After having said a heart wrenching goodbye to my mom and siblings in the States, they all flew to the Netherlands for the funeral. It was nice to have the whole family back together, but all the extra goodbyes made this transition even more difficult.

I moved in with my boyfriend and started a job as “financial professional” at Finanxe in September. I had my doubts about the move. However, despite all my ideas, reconstruction, and redesign of many aspects in the house, Don stayed (mostly) calm, cool and collected. The past few months have been great with him. The full-time job has been a bigger adjustment. I have learned lots about working in the Netherlands and finance, my professional Dutch has improved tremendously, and earning a little money also isn’t bad. Unlike all the past phases in my life, this one doesn’t have a concrete end date. The thought of doing this for the rest of my life stresses me out. When talking to my friends I believe these are common struggles when starting the working life, but I am hoping 2023 brings some clarity about the future and some mental ease.

Lucky #13

Sweet visitors

Masters

Family time in England

Siblings

December was very busy but so fulfilling. I had my official graduation ceremony for my master's degree at JKU. My parents flew to Austria and I got to see my PAC again. My mom then stayed in Europe the remainder of December and the rest of my family also came a couple weeks later. Meagan came a week earlier so the three of us with an aunt went to England to visit our other aunt who lives there. Christmas went a little different than planned. My grandparents and cousin had corona and therefore my family stayed at our house in Groesbeek where we spent the holiday, just the six of us. We postponed our plans and went to Friesland to celebrate a delayed Christmas and New Year together. Family has always been such a stable and important component of my life. With an ocean now between us, these moments are extra special.

Here’s to 2023. Wishing you all a very happy new year.

A Master