I was born on the 15^th of March in a small village in the Netherlands. Where I grew up with my two younger sisters. After finishing school in 2010, I started my Bachelor’s in civil engineering at the Hanze University of applied science in Groningen. At this time, I was playing in different ice hockey teams, of which one was the university team. There, I met my ex-boyfriend; a guy from Switzerland, which led me to immigrate to Switzerland in the Summer of 2014. There I first worked as a drafter for a small firm in Tagelswangen and from 2016 to 2019 I did my Master’s in civil engineering, specialized in hydraulic engineering (flood protection, risk management, revitalization etc.).

Describing myself has never been my strong suit, but here goes:

I am a very emotional person. I can literally cry with every movie and can feel the pain of every person/animal I know but also do not know. This in combination with being very introverted, has led me on a very interesting, but not easy life journey. Most part of my life I have spent in search of myself, who I am, and what I am worth. Last one I still struggle with sometimes. I have spent a larger part of my younger life depressed, which led me often thinking about suicide (or less suicidal, more wishing to have never been born). It has taken me some time, to truly find myself*. But with this found self-worth, I was able to start our adventure here in Canada.

I love working with animals. I have had Inti (my first dog) since she was a pup (born in March of 2011). I did some agility with her in the beginning, but the most fun we had was with sheep herding. And what a good pup she was! My first dog and such a winner. For me personally, because the saying goes that you will always screw up your first herding dog: and I of course did so too. But what a good puppy she still is! But it is not just dogs, I used to ride horses too, but unfortunately had to stop that due to costs and living situations. My first time in Canada I made this four-day trail, in the Rocky Mountains, on this beautiful quarter horse. That was the moment I knew Canada was the country for me, and quarter horses are my kind of horse breed. His name was Tike (not sure how to write it), but I called him Tikey. The sweetest horse he was. There are so many more animals to name that I like, which I will spare you the reading and me the writing time. Though lastly, I do have to mention cats of course! Fantastic little creatures they are.

I also have this newfound love for farming and gardening** and all other DIY projects for housekeeping, gardening, cooking, etc. I also really enjoy making things like jam and cheese. Which I started quite recently.

I do not have a talent in any field, I am a so-to-speak generalist, good at lots of different stuff, but not particularly good in anything. This often led and is still leading me to believe in not being worthy of anything. But it also gave me my stubbornness***, that every time someone said I couldn’t do something, I would show them wrong.

Further, I am a very creative person and love to learn new things. Mostly intriguing for me are questions about life itself: who are we, who am I, what is our purpose here, and so on. I like philosophy (though I do not read about that a lot), spirituality, and so on. In contrast to a lot of other people; I am not a big fan of traveling. I do like to see new things of course, and I do like holidays, especially hiking holidays or generally holidays in nature, but I do not feel the need to go far away to escape from everyday life. Although in a certain way, we have been escaping our life by starting our new adventure here in Canada. But already before this so to speak “awakening” during Covid, I have not done a lot of traveling. My best holiday though, was with my husband on our honeymoon in Norway. Where we made a five-day backpacking trip through the Jotunheimen national park. Toughest and most beautiful 65 km hike I have ever made in my life!

I think that is enough about me. If I haven’t bored you all out already.

For fun a short listing of likes and dislikes:

My favorite food:	Pancakes, forever. And not just any pancakes. No no, the pancakes that my husband makes!
Favorite restaurant(s):	1. Herberg de wilde Hof (pancake restaurant in Vledder, the Netherlands), 2. Stadsparkpaviljoen Ni Hao (chinese restaurant in Groningen, the Netherlands).
Food I can’t stand:	Multiple, but number one: Boerenkool (typical Dutch meal) Oh and chicory and other really bitter food…
What gets me moving:	Our dream that we are living right now!
What gets on my nerves:	Slow-walking people in the city.
Scared of:	Spiders. To death! Told my husband, that if he ever pulls a prank with spiders on me, we would be over. Up until now, he has been very considerate of my fear.
Favorite holiday location:	Norway and Canada (but I live there now, so I guess that does not count anymore).

*I think I am still finding myself a bit more every day, but aren’t we all, and isn’t that what life is for, and what makes life interesting?
** Fact is: I have like zero experience in this field, so no clue if I also actually have a green thumb!
*** I also have to thank both my parents for this character trait, who both are stubborn as hell too! I really do have inherited the never-quitting attitude from them.