It is almost two o’clock in the morning while I’m typing this blog, and that’s not because I am a die-hard party animal, but it’s because of my travels to the Land of the Free, of which I finally returned. After a long 9 hour flight with much delay, an airport connection from London Heathrow to Gatwick, and a short flight to Schiphol, I was happy to be home again. My first night of sleep was fine because I was so terribly tired of the flight and all the impressions that not even a jet lag could hold me back. The second night, however, was a disaster – a nightmare, literally. I woke up at two o’clock and couldn’t get any more sleep until it was five. I was not going to let that happen again so last night I took a sleeping pill. Yet, even medicine couldn’t help me now. All my limbs are tired, my eyes keep on closing and it’s all warm and fuzzy under the blankets but there is no sleep. And that, a jet lag, when you’re in the middle of moving to another town, is terrible.

Seriously – I’m the kind of girl who usually goes to bed at ten and sleep until eight, and that keeps me happy. No late night parties for Inge. I need my sleep, because I need the energy for things I do during the day. And now, I need that energy more than ever. Signing letters for the public transit card, taxes and rent, putting all my stuff in boxes and buying furniture at IKEA is a lot easier if you’re not terribly tired. Even though I loved buying all my red and white stuff at IKEA, I would have liked it a lot more if I wouldn’t have been yawning half of the time. And then there’s another matter of great importance: to paint or not to paint. Half of my Facebook-friends say that I can surely paint in a Bagijnhof house, yet the other half assures me that they’ve called Woongoed and that those guys wouldn’t give them permission. So before I’m buying paint, brushes and all that other stuff, I need to call Woongoed too, as soon as possible.

Yet, through all the sleep deprivation, life has to go on. I’ve packed everything – my room is disturbingly empty and I believe that it seriously echoes here. Tomorrow I’ll the spend the day and night at the boyfriend, and the next day, Thursday, I can finally pick up my keys to my new home! There, I have to find out about if there are any common pots and pans or whether I have to buy them myself. I also have to be able to find my way to the closest grocery store (Albert Heijn!) and do some of my first living-on-my-own-shopping. Then the boyfriend will return home and I will spend my first night at the apartment with nothing more than an air mattress to sleep on, since my real furniture will be delivered the next day by IKEA. Another night of sleepies at the house and then Saturday the family and boyfriend will bring all the boxes and then I will officially be living in Middelburg, and after that the IntRAweek will start.

However, first things first. Number one? Buying some sleeping medicine that actually works..