things people say.

Two days left and I'm still very calm. I have my tiny panic attacks every now and then, but that's normal. At least I'd say so.

Yesterday I was sitting in my room thinking about how I'm leaving. How I will be away for a year. And then I thought about all the reaction I got from other people. It's everything from supportive and hilarious to very frustrating.

Here's a tiny collection.

"So you just finished high school?"

How about no? I'm having a hard time convincing people that I'm 22 anyway. Telling a stranger that I'm leaving to work as an aupair makes them think that I'm 18 or 19. That's the age when most people do this. I get it. 

But hey, I'm not. I'm 22. I could have an university degree by now.

"Where in Holland does your family live?" ...other questions about Holland...Holland...Holland...

I reached the point where I gave up correcting everyone who said that I'm moving to Holland. 

I still don't understand how grown-up people living in Europe don't know that Holland is only part of the Netherlands that has nothing to do with the part I'm moving to. 

When people ask me things about Holland I sometimes reply with "I don't know/care. I'm not moving to Holland." 

Please, if you leave comments here, don't ever say Holland unless you want to say something about real Holland. And to make this even easier to understand, here's a map of the Netherlands.

The arrow points to the area I'm moving to.

The town is called Vught. You're welcome.

Drugs. Drugs. Drugs. And more drugs.

If people have prejudices towards Dutch people it's that everyone does drugs there. Or at least people in Austria always talk about drugs when I mention the Netherlands.

My favorite things I got told are still

"Be carefull, the cookies are different up there"

and

"Don't spend all the money on drugs" - Martin, the moment he handed me my salary.

I'm curious about how the situation really is. How Dutch people talk about drugs. Maybe they don't care about it at all. I don't know. People make such a big deal about it, I don't get it.

The wonderful reactions when I tell them that the family has three kids.

I think I don't have to add much here. 

It's always somewhere between "Are you crazy?" and "wow, that's brave".

Don't scare me, guys!

"Dutch is a funny language" 

Yes, it is. You did a great job noticing. But you know what's even funnier? When people who don't know Dutch try to read it out loud. 

Comments about the non-existent mountains

I'll probably make fun of the landscape all the time. And I probably won't even feel sorry.

And that's why I'm going to end this post with a joke. It's called Vaalserberg and is best known as the highest mountain of the Netherlands. Have a good laugh. Bye.