2007

Well, well, that was quite a celebration for New Year's Eve. We flew to Holland on the 31st, together with Edith and Rob. Poor Edith had a horrific toothache and wasnt happy at all... We celebrated NY with friends of Fedor in the center of Nijmegen. Fedor was very happy to see them again and we had a good time. The next day, we were happy to find out that one of our appointments got cancelled, so we only had to see one couple with a new flat, and Fedor's father. All in all a good January 1st. The following day, we went to my parents for lunch and continued to go and see BarDs new house in Groningen, which was very lovely. After dinner at my brother's, we went out with Jorryt and others. It was quite a lot of fun, but I must admit I am starting to run out of friends in Groningen! I guess it didnt help that we were there during the holidays and about 80% of my acquaintances appeared to have gone skiing...
The next day we had another reasonably early start (considering the late finish, anyway), because we went to Utrecht to go and see Wouter's new flat. After that, we continued to Rotterdam, where we met with Joost in Café Rotterdam. We enjoyed a lovely meal (and randomly ran into another friend of mine from Groningen) and got updated on Joost's life again. We stayed the night at the house of Ellen and Kim, who were kind enough to let us stay there even though they both had to go to work really early the next day.
Thank god, we didnt have to and we took it very slowly. In the afternoon, we returned to Nijmegen and went to another appointment with Ilse, who also had a new gorgeous flat. After a lovely dinner with Margo, we ended up at Café Van Rijn, where Fedor had invited all his study friends. His friends obviously do not go skiing as much as mine, and nearly all were indeed present. Friday morning, we managed to get up in time to have a last lunch with Jolien, before returning to Milano.
I must say that I did enjoy seeing everyone again in Holland, but honestly: it is really exhausting... People should simply come to Milan to see us. That way we have more time for each other and we are able to talk much more thoroughly than having to repeat the same questions again and again.
Oh well, next time it will be the same again, I am afraid...
Ciao,
OJ
PS The sales have started and today I went for some real shopping. I finally managed to buy 2 pairs of trousers, which I have been trying for nearly a year... And I bought a new winter coat: thanks to global heating (or something), my old winter coat was actually too WARM. So I am happy to have a new one, which is a bit thinner...