Author Archives: Niki

Marco, Roger, and I booked our plane tickets to the Netherlands! They are going to arrive on the 7th of December, and all three of us are going back on December 17th. So it seems my blog countdown was right all along – I am setting foot in the Netherlands on the 18th.

Of course, the cheapest way to do it was through Aer Lingus, as they do not penalize you for buying “only” a one way ticket (see an earlier post here). So each flight has a layover in Dublin (for 6 hours and 4 hours!). But we are leaving early enough before Christmas that we won’t have to pay an arm and a leg — my ticket was only $584. It goes up $100 the next day, and then $200 each for the next few days before stabilizing around $1050ish that weekend. Yowch.

We also booked a NYC hotel room for two days – Dec 15 and 16 – so we are actually leaving my apartment for the final time on the 15th, not the 17th. That way we can just go straight to JFK from NYC itself, rather than deal with a really long, tiring train ride to get there.

In a more emotional sense, I definitely had watery eyes after the tickets were purchased. FINALLY! It’s been a long time coming. And of course, the way my body operates: stressful situation resolved? Let’s bring on a cold! Figures. 😛

Both Marco and I are getting a bit antsy. The to do lists are looming, with things like closing my credit card account (but merely changing the address on my debit card, to keep paying my student loans) to signing up for short term health insurance, and everything in between. But nothing we can’t handle.

Actually, it’s kind of nice. I had set up a “Stuff to buy & do” document on Google Docs last year — or Google Drive, if you prefer the new name. As it allows simultaneous collaboration, Marco could see my real time typing and vice versa. You will even see a little bit of color to highlight where the other person’s mouse cursor is.

At work, I have started to prepare for my replacement although we are not sure who it will be yet. Little things like typing up notes to help get the person up to speed, or removing my name off of the handouts and making the contact information a bit more generic. I think the most random thing I did this week so far was updating the library Twitter page, so that it uses the newish header feature.

But it still feels all too normal to me, not that that is a problem. Maybe things will change after Thanksgiving. We’ll see.

So, it is slowly starting to sink in. Slowly. In about 5 weeks, I will be in the Netherlands. For good.

On Sunday, I finally got inspiration to start throwing things out. Mind you, I am not really a pack rat, or at least haven’t been since I moved to the east coast in 2008 (just so my parents don’t raise an eyebrow, I threw in that clarification). For at least half a year after I moved here, my “kitchen table” was a (large) microwave box. You get used to things – mostly. The current “kitchen table” is a rather low, small table which still allows me to sit on the ground when I eat. I like that.

Most of my “junk” is in the aptly-named junk drawers and in my closet. On Sunday, I threw out 3 trash bags. I would guess that I have probably 5 or 6 bags to go — not including some things that won’t fit in a trash bag, like old luggage or an airbed I used before having my new bed delivered a few months after I moved in.

And then the next task would be seeing just how heavy the luggage I am taking with will be… Hmm.