Busy driving hazard reports...

Sorry about the relatively long silence from my side. I haven't been turned into road kill just yet if some of you were wondering if maybe that first driving lesson I told you I was going to have two weeks ago turned out to be fatal ;) No, I'm still alive and kicking and quite busy too!! Driving is just awesome, I absolutely love it :) But it also takes up quite a bit of time, and since I've also got two exams coming up next week and also have a social life to keep up with, I just haven't been able to find enough time to sit down and write an update. So make yourself a milo like I just did, or whatever sort of cuppa you love, coz this could take a while...

As usual, I'm going to start with where I left off last time, which was my first driving lesson coming up. Me in the driver's seat: probably a scary thought for many people, but most of all for me :) By now it's already been two weeks since I had that first driving lesson, but I still remember it very well. It was just so awesome :D I had the biggest smile on my face when I was behind the steering wheel, trying my very best to keep on the right lane and not swarm to the left. I wasn't really successful at that, as every time I went around a corner I ended up on the wrong side of the road or nearly on the sidewalk :) I was laughing at myself so much :) Not sure if the other people on the road were so happy with me let loose on the road... But I had a great time trying to work it all out at the same time. The gas and break and gear changing went quite good, I thought. I was really proud of myself, because a lot of people had told me changing gears was really hard, but that went alright. Also because the driving instructor was telling me exactly what to do and when to do it of course, but I was still proud of myself :) It was the steering that caused serious problems though. Like I said, I don't think I took any corners without ending up everywhere but where I was supposed to :) I was too worried about crashing into the other traffic or the cars parked beside the road, so I kept looking at those, which obviously I wasn't supposed to do, haha. My driving instructor kept telling me I'd go where I'd look, so I should just focus on where I wanted to go instead of worrying about what was happening beside me or right in front of me. So weird to be driving, but also so awesome. Just so awesome :) They've estimated I need about 40-50 lessons, which is pretty average for a big city like Utrecht (for Dutch standards it's big at least...) and if everything goes well, I'll have my full licence on the 13th of April, which is when I have my driving test. How exciting :)

So the past two weeks I've been having more lessons, 8 hours so far. In a driving simulator, which is kind of weird if you think about it, because my first lesson was out on the road. But that's just how my driving school works I guess, and I don't really mind either, coz I don't have to worry about crashing into anything. It's really funny to be driving in a simulator though, it's kind of like a computer game :) But it does help a lot... First lesson the instructor said I had to remember I wasn't driving in England, but by the second lesson I was pretty much able to stay on my own driving lane all the time, even when going around a corner :) But then again, last lesson I ran a red light once, the engine cut off a few times when stopping in front of a traffic light and I was speeding a few times apparently, so I definitely need some more practice :D It's so much fun though. I absolutely love it :) Tomorrow I've got another two hours in the simulator, so we'll see how it goes then...

Well, apart from the driving I said I had a social life to keep up with, so I've been doing some stuff on that department too the last two weeks. Or actually only really last week again. I went to my friend Maarten last week and we made a beautiful lasagna verdi together for ourselves plus Quinten, which is not only a friend of mine, but also Maarten's flat mate. (to make things complicated for you guys, haha) Anyway, as Maarten was 'denied access' to his very own room because his other flat mate Lotte had installed herself behind his computer, Maarten and I were forced to install ourselves in Lotte's room and watch the very first episode of Sex & the City, haha. It was so funny :) Eventually, after about an hour or so, Lotte was finally done on Maarten's computer, so we played blufpoker with the three of us. I started out pretty good, but after two rounds I lost almost every game. It was great fun though :)

And I also had a uni-party last Thursday, which I went to with my flatmates. Even though we had sort of planned beforehand that it would be a wild night out, we ended up all being so very tired by the time we were actually going, that it wasn't such a wild night after all :) It was definitely helpful that it was literally freezing outside as we biked to the city where the party was, because that woke us all up a bit :) And we all had a really good time while we were there, just dancing and having heaps of fun :) We went home relatively early all the same, even though I still ended up with only about 3 1/2 hours of sleep before I had to get up and go to class. Don't really know what happened in class somehow...

By now, we're up to the weekend, in which my grandma celebrated her 83rd birthday. All the family got together, which was really coowl, because all my cousins were there too. Catching up with them was good :) And we played Risk, which ended up undecided, although I'd like to think I was closest to victory :) The truth is probably that I wasn't winning any more than anyone else though, haha. It was a good day, it was fun :)

Today, my last class before the exams ended quite early, so Roos, Anouk (friends from uni) and me went to this little bakery in Utrecht, which was just such a cute place. And they had the best hot chocolate and brownies :) Really beautiful place, like those quaint little old country town bakeries. I loved it!! And we had a good time before we had to start studying for the upcoming exams again :) Which is what I've been trying to do the rest of my time, really. Even though my motivation level isn't too high at the moment :) But I'll be fine...

Well, hopefully I've timed this whole update in such a way that you've just finished the cuppa you decided to make for yourself, coz there's no more news from me at the moment. There's some exciting things coming up for me, like shopping in Amsterdam with Roos and Anouk next week, so you'll probably hear from me quite soon again :) Until then, take care!! I hope you're all doing great :)
Love Carine