Facing the horizon @adelaideexchange-blog - Tumblr Blog

View from my dorm room

Glenelg Beach on one of the first sunny, warm days of the year

National Library of South Australia, Adelaide. So breathtaking, overwhelming and beautiful

An ode to home

It’s crazy how these things work. I’ve been in Australia for a little over five weeks now and I feel like I am finally settling in. However, settling in had the side effect of being homesick more than ever. I miss my friends and the comfort and support they provide. I miss the spontaneous nights in which nothing really happens, yet we have the time of our lives and eventually pass out on the couch, cuddling up to each other and the dog.

But I also miss the little things. I miss Maastricht’s cobble stones and being able to bike everywhere - even though the same cobble stones make biking very noisy and tiresome. I miss appelmoes. Hell, I miss Shamrock and the nightshop across the street from it where I always buy Flügel, Vogue cigarettes or ice cream. I miss the overpriced - yet cheap compared to Australia - Albert Heijn. I even miss the stupid Arriva buses that are never on time and always seem to be on strike when you need them most. I miss the familiarity of the city. I miss knowing what’s behind every corner, and I miss how there are no big roads or traffic lights anywhere in the inner city. I miss the weekly markets and the market stalls full of veggies, fruits and bread. I miss how people complain about nothing. I miss the coffee, the affordable alcohol prices, the random conversations with elderly people at bus stops.

Most of all, I miss home. I now realise that Maastricht has become my home in these past two years. They say that distance makes the heart grow fonder and I now realise that it’s true. It took me moving to Australia to realise that I have a city to come home to. I’ll have an entire city to come home to when I return to the Netherlands. And that is the most comforting thought possible. I’m going to do everything in my might to make these next 4.5 months amazing. After that, for the first time in my life, I’ll be coming home. Not just to the people I love, but also to the city that has become my first real home on this earth.

There she is, isn't she everything?

Frank Turner - There She Is

I never realised how much I needed a song like this until I heard this song. Now that I’ve got the song tattooed onto my body, it will serve as a permanent reminder to never settle for less than this. It reminds me to never settle for someone who is unwilling to compromise or to put in effort. One day, there will be someone who looks at me and thinks: there she is, isn’t she everything? I will give, I will give anything. And until then, I will not settle for less. Because this is what I deserve and what I’m worthy of.

#Frank Turner #there she is

My interpretation of the album cover of Frank Turner’s There She Is.

So happy with the way my first (!) tattoo turned out. Both the song and roses mean a lot to me and I am really happy that we managed to incorporate the two into one tattoo.

#Frank Turner tattoo #Frank Turner #tattoo #there she is

Adelaide Arcade

#Adelaide #Bird

Victor Harbour near Adelaide

#Adelaide

Let's be young, let's be crass enough to care. let's refuse to live and learn, let's make all our mistakes again. Just for one day, we can fight and we can win. And only for a little while, we could insist on the impossible. Leave the mourning to the morning. Pain can be killed with asparin tablets and vitamin pills, but memories of hope, and of glorious defeat, are a little bit harder to beat.

Frank Turner, Love Ire & Song

Honestly, it is songs like these that pull me through my latest depressed episode. There’s always hope, it’s okay to screw up. Life will hurt sometimes but it’s worth it.

#Frank Turner