My First Blog — Amsterdam: How am I Here?

If someone had told me two years ago that I would be living in Amsterdam and traveling around Europe in the near future, I wouldn’t believe them. The one thing that I have learned over these past few years though, is that you never really know where life is going to take you, and even when we think that we have a plan set in motion, that plan can easily change in the blink of an eye. So how exactly is it that I am here now, sitting on my couch in this apartment right off of one of the many beautiful canals in Amsterdam? To answer this question, one would have to take a trip back in time to a little over four years ago (four years and two and a half months to be exact..but who’s counting?). At that time I was about to start my final year of undergrad at Portland State University and was working at Nordstrom in downtown Portland. This is when I met Ethan. While working on a Thursday afternoon, Ethan walked into the department where I was working. My manager at the time instantly brought to my attention that we had a customer and urged me to help him with the jeans that he seemed to be looking at. To make a long story short, I was able to convince Ethan that a pair of $200 Hudson jeans were exactly what he needed in his life. During our time together while he shopped, we talked and laughed and had even made plans to get together that evening while he was out with some of his colleagues. I never did end up meeting up with Ethan that evening, but because we had exchanged contact information we soon became Facebook friends and I heard from him every couple of months. One year later, Ethan and I had our first date in San Francisco near where I had moved in order to be part of a teaching program. Moral of the story: persistence does pay off, people. We dated for a couple of months before going our separate ways once again (I might go into more detail about that in a future blog). Fast forward two more years, and I had been living in New York City where I requested to transfer with Teach for America and had just finished my first year teaching high school in Queens, as well as my first year of grad school. After going our separate ways, Ethan was often in the back of my mind. I would wonder how he was, and what he was doing. Even while in my relationship with someone else who lived in New York, I would continue to think about Ethan every once in awhile and hope that he was well and happy. These thoughts were what urged me to reach out to Ethan once again (on Facebook) after my relationship ended with “New York guy” who ended up being completely and utterly wrong for me. After talking back and forth a bit over Facebook messenger, and then calling one another, Ethan told me about his plans to move back to The Netherlands for work for a two-year contract. Part of me was bummed that I wouldn’t get to see him again (at least this is what I thought was going to happen), but then another part of me was happy for him because he seemed excited for this next step in his career. All of this changed though, when Ethan decided to fly out to Portland to see me in August while I was back home visiting my family and friends in Oregon. We were both so nervous to see one another, and neither of us were really sure what we were doing or what it meant. He was moving, so why were we even putting ourselves in this situation? Soon after seeing Ethan in Portland, I had to go back to New York City to prepare for my second year teaching. We only waited five weeks until seeing each other again, when Ethan decided to fly out to see me in the city. For the entire year following our time together in Portland, we never went more than five weeks without seeing one another, and after about six months of long-distance, we decided that we were pretty serious about one another and our relationship. That’s when I decided to move to Amsterdam after finishing up my Master’s and my second year teaching. Ok, so I guess I’m not very good at making long stories short, but trust me, there are so many details that are future-blog worthy that weren’t included in here!

I have now been in Amsterdam for three months, and have seen so many incredible places. Even though it has been difficult being so far away from my family and friends, I have never felt this happy in my life. I’m so excited for all of the adventures that lie ahead of us, and am even more excited to start sharing them with all of you over this blog!:) I’m not really sure what I intend to focus on while writing, but this is hopefully the first of many future blogs to come!

xoxo

Kai