A new chapter of adventures!

*Note: Je vais essayer d’écrire mon blog en français ET anglais désormais, donc si vous voulez voir ce billet en français, réglez votre langue en français dans la barre à droite, ou choisissez “Français”en bas.*

In a month, Mojo and his humans are moving to the Netherlands. Yoohoo! As a result, we spent a week there 2 weeks ago, to scope the place. Arriving on a Sunday around noon, the whole city was still asleep.



Groningen is a very cute university town. About 180,000 inhabitants, a charming town center, canals all around, and bikes, bikes, bikes. Ryan got a job as a professor of chemistry at the University of Groningen, which is at a very good international level in his field. The science buildings are just outside of town in a big science complex, but the university in the town center is the oldest in the country, to the left below.



The center of town is car-free (and everything is flat), so the most efficient way to get around in by bike. The university has recently implemented a rule that forbids students and staff to drive to the university, so the parking lots on campus are falling apart with weeds growing between the cobblestones. Obviously there is a lot of vandalism with bicycles.



The city is surrounded by canals that sailboats use to go to the North Sea in the summer. All the bridges can be lifted or opened in some fashion. I can’t wait for the summer to sit down by a bridge and watch the boats go by. In the winter you can still enjoy the house boats all around the city.



On my end I have almost found a job in a big Dutch consumer product company that everybody knows. I’m still crossing my fingers that the HR agree to hire me despite the hiring freeze, as a few positions are still open and I am a pretty ideal candidate for the one I applied to.



We rented a super cute little Dutch house just outside of the town center, with a little garden and 3 narrow floors. No photo of our house yet, patience! There will be plenty of photographic opportunities in the next couple of years, as Ryan is hired for at least 5 years before the tenure review. We hope to have a lot of guests! The town is really really cute, and I’m sure that the surrounding countryside is wonderful for bike rides.



The order of priorities on the road in Boston is: 1) Pedestrian, 2) Car, 3) Bike. In Holland it is reversed: 1) Bike, 2) Car, 3) Pedestrian. Better be careful when you cross, you could be run over by a bike.



It’s funny because it’s Europe so everything is a little bit like France, but everything is a little bit different. It will give us plenty of occasions for cultural discoveries. Ryan has to teach in Dutch in a few years, so we’ll start taking classes soon. It is totally possible to get around in English, but it’s more fun to be able to understand what’s going on in the local language.



To move, students can rent a wheelbarrow-motorcycle, and they carry the couch on it.



On the way back we took a short break in Amsterdam to say hi to Roberta who also moved from Boston to Holland. It’s a really cool city as well.



It’s only 2 hours and a half away by train, so we’ll be going there regularly.



We were told that we were very lucky with the weather: we only saw blue sky and a bit of fog during our week there.



Uh-oh it’s not so straight... That’s the most fun part of Amsterdam in my opinion, the lopsided houses with the facade tipping forward.



So that’s the news over here.



Now we need to finalize the technical details, pack our stuff, give Mojo a rabies shot, and off we go!