Anticipation

My new apartment in Sweden

A part of going to another country is the anticipation of going there: reading about the country, looking at photographs or DVD's. Travel agencies know that and that's why travel brochures are as thick as a book.

Last week I had some time to look up some things about Stockholm, my next quarter away destination. I learned that it's the biggest city of Sweden, that there's a peninsula in the middle called Gamla Stan and that because of all the water it is known as 'The Venice of the North' (which is also the nickname of Amsterdam and Hamburg, it seems that every city with a lot of water gets that name).

I also asked the adress of the place and my Italian friends (who live there now) also sent me a picture. Somehow looking up your new adress on the map or seeing a picture makes the place more tangible. You get the feeling that you know exactly where you go to and that you already know the place a little bit. But when you finally get there, everything you thought of is totally different. It was like that in Hamburg, it was like that in Brussels and I know already that Stockholm will be a big surprise for me. But until I get on the plane, I'm enjoying every second of being back in Holland again.