It was a busy day here in Cabana Land. CB and I woke up at 6:30 in the morning and drove down to the city centre where we parked in the student area so I could get my bearings a bit. At this point Gent sort of feels like a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle in which some sections are close to complete and I can really see the picture while all the areas in between are still in thousqnds of pieces and scattered all over the floor. Student area, city centre, CB’s immediate neighborhood: those I hqve mapped fairly well in my head, at least to the point where I can find certain landmarks to get me back to where I’m familiar. If you asked me how to get from one of those places to another you’d most certainly get a blank stare in return. Once I’m there, it’s all good, but all the space between point A and point B is taking me a long time to learn (yes, I’ve only been here for 36 hours, but still, usually I’m not too bad at familiarizing myself with places).

Anyway, we went to the town hall and registered me as a student living with CB. Within the next week or two a local police officer should be stopping by to confirm that I am, indeed, living here. I was considering flinging a bra-full of tampons at him, just to prove I am intimately established here in the house, but that silly “social decorum” part of my brain just won’t let me. After that we went and got a coffee (shops weren’t open yet) and then went on to shop. It was a real marathon shopping day; we were out until about 3 in the afternoon. I got pretty cranky towards the end (hours walking in chilliness + blisters on the backs of both heels + severe jetlag do NOT a happy Korie make, my friends) and we finally headed home where CB mercifully let me take a nap. We’re trying to get me used to the time change as fast as possible, seeing as I start class in less than two weeks, but it’s not looking like it will be easy. Even with a pretty full night sleep, I was already starting to yawn and rub my eyes and drag my feet by 8 in the morning (it was 2 a.m. according to my Eastern Standard Time oriented body clock). And yes, after rereading that, I’m thinking what you’re thinking and yes, I do act like a toddler missing her nap when I’m exhausted.

So anyway, after supper this evening we took the car back to CB’s parents’ house and brought back some things they had picked up for us at Ikea. We just finished having some cocoa (cacao in Dutch, but not how you think it’d sound) and CB is watching some television. Like I said, I’ll try to update every other day or so if I can. After New Years CB goes back to work and I’ll have a lot more time to be online rather than gazing adoringly at my boyfriend.