As I mentioned in my previous post, my boyfriend and I are going to be leaving Utrecht this summer. Right now, we are in the process of selling our house – in fact we just accepted an offer on the house yesterday – so it is all very exciting. In this post I will share my thoughts on leaving Utrecht and moving in general.
Moving forward
We have been living in Utrecht for almost three years now. It has been a wonderful experience and we really love the city. For me, Utrecht will always have a special place in my heart. After all, it’s my student city and the first place in the Netherlands that I have been able to call home. Utrecht is where I have made some amazing friends. It is also where I have figured out what I want my life in the Netherlands to be like.
Yet, as happy as we have been living in Utrecht, it seems that time has come to move forward. The past year both me and my boyfriend have been adding more and more items to our wish list for the next house. The house has begun to feel more cramped and little by little the idea of moving crept into our minds.
Then, a month or so ago I realised that come August, I will no longer be bound to Utrecht with my studies. I will be doing my internship in Amsterdam and after that I only (hah) have my graduation assignment to write, which I can do wherever I want. My boyfriend works in Amsterdam, so he is also not really bound to Utrecht either.
However, the biggest reason for us to be leaving Utrecht is that we want a slightly larger home. Unfortunately, two-bedroom places are not very affordable in Utrecht, or you have to be very flexible with the location and the condition. So, we had to look elsewhere for our next home.
Mixed feelings
As excited as we are to be moving, I can’t help but feel a little sad. Moving should come easy for me, seeing as I have done it almost twenty times already. Yet I already know that there will be some tears involved before we hand over the keys to the new owner. After all, we are saying goodbye to our home, the place that has seen so many great moments. This house has become my comfort zone, a place that somehow manages to exist in a weird cultural limbo between Finland and the Netherlands.
Of course, the new house will have all of those things, eventually. At first it will be anything but comfortable though. We will live in the middle of the renovation project, but I already know that it will all be worth it in the end. Just need some Finnish sisu to get through.
Good thing we have plenty of it.
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