October so far has been a pretty amazing month. We've had the most glorious after-summer weather, we've had big autumn storms, and now in the last couple of days we've had the inset of those bleak pre-Christmassy autumn days. Lovely. So what have I been doing in these past few weeks? First of all, as a general theme for (September and) October, my boyfriend and I have been visiting Dutch castles (aka wedding venues). Oh yeah, the British don't have complete monopoly on aesthetically pleasing country houses. We've been visiting a lot of them the past couple of weeks, and this month we've been to Slot Zuylen..... ...and Castle de Haar. This is actually an AMAZING building. When you look at it, you think it's the height of Dutch Golden Age building...but you'll be deceived. It was actually a little vacation spot for the rich Rothschild family at the turn of the 20th century. It was built between 1892 and 1912 in an absolutely 16th century style. It even has a walkway on the highest story with those tiny windows where there would be an army of archers in case of attack. So all in all built to be aesthetically pleasing and fully reminiscent of the past. Castle de Haar was actually really popular in the 50s and 60s. People such as Gregory Peck (I saw the bed he slept in), Brigitte Bardot, Coco Chanel, etc. etc. Such a fun and unusual bit of history! The castle also had a lovely deer park and huge gardens. We also visited a couple of museums and went out for dinner quite a few times... What else have I done in October? Well, I translated all of the Aeneid XII and am currently repeating it all in preparation of my exam coming friday. Yesterday I already had my exam about Intersectionality. It was a rather intense exam but I think I did well enough. But you can imagine how the past week has centered on me being super busy with exams... But as all of you who are students know: the best time to do anything besides studying is when you have exams coming up. So this week I've been cleaning the house, buying new organise-my-stuff materials. And which is also why I finally ordered part of my lovely IKEA-DIY project online, for which my boyfriend and I also had to make a little outing to Actual Real Life IKEA which of course included Swedish meatballs and buying scented candles. (I have plum ones that are AMAZING). After my boyfriend had left to go home on Sunday (so...the day before I had a big exam...) I decided to bring out my Bob The Builder side, and go to town on this DIY project of mine. My sweet in laws donated their old television to me when they decided to buy a new one. It's been standing on a chair all this time because my bed is too high to find a tv-stand that is remotely payable and alright looking and high enough. So after a couple of months I decided to try and take matters into my own hands. I'd seen some tutorials online and just decided that a Kallax in combination with legs might do just the trick for my TV-situation. Which turned out to be exactly right! Now all I need to do is put in some baskets or the door-extension-pack and then it's done! Super proud of Bob (me). And besides studying, IKEA-ing, country-housing, I did a lot of working and a lot of driving! I'm slowly getting better and the thought of driving a car on my own doesn't seem too far away in the future.
I hope the year will continue to treat me as kindly as it has so far. I really enjoyed every minute of this month. Now I'd best get back to my Virgil; he misses me. Lots of love, Vera
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