• finding employment at Albert Heijn.
• unequivocally failing my maths test; entering a period of low academic morale.
• travelling to Malmö for the Eurovision Song Contest in May; meeting the lovely Violetta on the quarter; proceeding to rock out to Cezar, our rambunctious Romanian! ♡
• adopting Koos, a 70-year old tortoise who had previously been under the ownership of my grandfather - a charming creature, but a little hard for us to maintain accordingly, so we've since donated him to a pet shop.
• sojourning to Reykjavík in June to convene with Violetta once again; exposing myself to the marvelously quirky Icelandic lingo; seeing the Hraunfossar waterfall and aurora borealis (exceedingly beautiful!) before sampling traditional Norse rutabaga with vinegar for the first time.
• flitting into a canalhouse on the Brouwersgracht; discovering my old Dutch teacher (whom I adored) is now a neighbouring resident; subsequently being enrolled in a new school and befriending Irene and Rafaël.
• beginning an evening course in German - so far, I suspect I'm doing rather well! in my first assignment I got 94% :)
• participating in a frantic 22 hour frenzy with Catharijne (and Noortje, but only as far as Maastricht) in which we traveled to every major city in Holland by train and by ferry. *
• my birthday, which coincides with the annual Koninginnedag celebrations; taking a few sneaky pear ciders to the Vondelpark with Elka and Maartje; later rushing into the square at the Paleis op de Dam (dressed in an orange regalia, of course) to see the abdication of the queen; consuming the rest of the day at the vrijmarkt, where I found some lovely floral crowns.
• having my bicycle (which I paid 180€ for) stolen.
• going on, well, a date (of sorts!) with Isaac at La Perla on the Tuindwarsstraat; pondering subjects of varying importance (eg. university, sex, partaking in a possible trip to Poland, etc) whilst sharing a pizza; later receiving a kiss on the cheek from him at Centraal Station. ♡
• getting 100% on my biology exam.
• laying a wreath of white poppies in Belgium to commemorate those who have perished in the name of war.
• unearthing the notion that, as of March 2014, I shall be spending three months in England as part of a cultural exchange program with a Lincoln-based school! ♡
• getting tickets for Eurovision 2014 in Copenhagen.
• failing another maths test, albeit marginally - however, in the absence of having a proper maths teacher, most of us failed, so that dilutes my embarrassment, somewhat.
• having a lovely Sinterklaas. ♡

in no particular order - oh, and to be continued.