Many things!

A lost shoe looking for a comfortable soul out at sea

It's suddenly become so cold! Very sunny, but so very cold, like it's the deepest winter, except the leaves are still more or less on the trees.

I spent a great deal of Sunday in bed, too lazy to get out of bed, and feeling still guilty from the night before for what my big mouth said, and how it hurt my friend. She called later in the afternoon, and we just talked on the phone as if nothing happened. Though, I told her, that I still felt bad, especially because she's someone I care about and love in my life, someone close that I have and that I need.

She was it was alright, and that it was nothing, or otherwise she wouldn't have called me and we wouldn't have talked for almost an hour! Slowly I started to feel a little better.

Well, I started to look into plans for next year. Remember sometime ago I mentioned that I'm planning something big and extraordinary? It's in fact plans to do another study next year... but this time in a land far, far away! After I went to Space Camp last month, I was somewhat inspired to go into more depth on space law, and perhaps one of the best place in the world is actually in Quebec, Canada!

It's a long-term plan, and also something that will need a lot of decisions and organising if I'm going to go ahead with the plan. But really, I want to get away from the Netherlands (most importantly, get away from this place and from my brother), and start a new life. What better way and place than to do so in a totally new country I've not even been to?

There's still a lot of work to be done, esepecially applying for a university, and also for scholarship. I really want to do this on my own, and in fact not many people know about this plan of mine yet. So it'll be some tough decision-making months to come....

My cat watching TV... a programme on the Animal Channel about the African desert! :)

I guess my plans to move abroad has a lot to do with the reason why I started my job at the university. I was expecting and hoping that I'd be paid and could save up some money. Well, after the shock that I'll be making much less than I thought, I'd really have to live on a thin budget in the coming times...

I did try to negotiate a better deal, and after my letter protest, my direct superior took the matter seriously. It turns out that everything has been a great big understanding... Not a good reason, but it explains a lot.

When I saw in August what I'd be making, it was the number that was taken into the budget. That amount of X is actually the amount the university will have to pay in terms of my salaries, my taxes, my insurance etc, etc... which always means that my salary will always be less than that X amount. I just didn't realise it would be 500Euros less, per month. They did some recalculation, and show me some figures and complicated government bureaucratic salary scaling system, and moved me up a little. So now I'll make 80Euros than the amount that was on the contract sent to me. Great improvement, indeed. But still poor pay.

It's the best they can do. My boss said very frankly, the university is not a "big pot of money", and this is the reality that pay is really bad, but they expect you to work hard! But then again, there are many holidays, and also extras like free coffee and the opportunity to meet important people who can really give me a career boost.

It took a few days, and I thought about it... I've come so far already, I've already been working and organising the big moot court for so many weeks now, and I've finally gotten used to my position and made new colleague-friends.... OK, the pay is terrible, but the experience invaluable. So I accepted, lowly cursing at the university, but then accepting my fate...


Another news... probably much better, at least I guess so. I'm meeting a friend for the first time ever tomorrow! Sounds contradictory, but we 'met' online, and have been mailing back and forth for a long while. He actually doesn't live too far away, but it seemed like it.
And last week I proposed to meet in person... a bold step, and I wasn't really sure how he'd respond.

But he actually agreed! :) So we'll be meeting and do somethings together... not sure what yet. Whatever happens will happen, I guess. But I'm looking forward to it excitedly!