Back to the U.S.A.

After six weeks of fun (and challenges), it’s finally time for me to go back to the States for a while. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone!

I’ve been doing a bit of reflecting on the past few months while sitting in the Chicago O’Hare airport during hour two of my four-hour layover here. When Brian and I first found out we were for sure moving abroad, I didn’t know what to think. I’d only been to Amsterdam once, and liked it, but hadn’t fallen in love with it and definitely never thought I’d end up living there. Well now that we’ve lived there for a while, I absolutely love the city. It’s so quirky and beautiful and interesting, and the travel opportunities are endless. I think both Brian and I have realized it’s a much better fit for us than Portland (aside from the tremendous distance away from our family & friends of course).

That being said, I am looking forward to a few things in the U.S., such as:

- Trader Joe’s
- Consistently sunny summer days
- A million Portland restaurants (Laughing Planet, Cactus Ya Ya's, Pizza Oasis, McMenamin's, etc.)
- Family of course!

Some of the things I will really miss about Amsterdam:
- Not hearing English everywhere I go!
- Biking everywhere
- Water everywhere (there are so many canals, it’s amazing!)
- Tourists – they make life interesting
- Imperfect things like quirky houses and uneven streets
- The possibility of hour-long flights to amazing places like London and Paris
- Brian and Fishstick, of course (Brian and I have never been apart for more than a week... it's going to be a long month!)

Here are some of the photos from my last days with Brian and Fishstick:

Saturday morning breakfast at Tony's New York Bagels

Riding the ferry out to Noorderpark together - finally!

Father & son hanging out on the couch (there were other moments where Brian was actually smiling but Brian liked this one best...)

Spending last moments together in Noorderpark

- Krista