Spring break visit

In Michigan it is time for spring break so Kristian and the kiddos packed up the car and ventured out for 8 hours of going east. We had sort of planned that they should have arrived last Saturday but we wanted to squeeze in a college visit for Teresa at Penn State. Well - she was notimpressed and I guess it is also of value to see places where you do not want to be😣 According to her they have better resources in her high school classrooms than what was available at the engineering program. but she survived and they all arrived safely Monday night where Kristian unloaded a bunch of stuff such as a small TV, some shelves, a lot of candy, and that gin I got as a gift but had hardly had time to taste myself. And honestly - living in a state where you can’t buy alcohol in most grocery stores really makes you appreciate a small selection in your own home.

I also took a few days of work. Unfortunately starting a new job in the private sector also means that vacation days are limited for the first few years so I try to spend them wisely and we had planned for a Philly visit even though Teresa has an SAT to study for.That day turned into another college visit however, as UPenn happened to have an available slot on Wednesday. So here we were. Teresa and I. At an Ivy League School.

And according to Teresa the crowd was - ehm - slightly different than the one at Penn State. Such as Asian girls asking how little sleep you should prepare yourself for if you plan to double major😳 But campus was beautiful and seemed like such a good place to live.

I am glad that she got to see that Pennsylvania also has nice stuff to offer. There are still more college visits to be done and way more thinking as well, but for now she needs to focus on her SAT.

Thursday we spent like this:

Slouching in chairs at a car dealer ship because I REALLY needed to get a car! Did we get the car we originally came for? Bwahahahahaha. Of course not. Did we get something cheaper? Bwahahahaha. Of course not. But after 8 hours!!!!! of trying cars, visiting a mechanic, trying to get to the DMV, signing papers (and teaching the car salespeople how to say thank you in Korean - they do sell Kias after all) I now have this parked outside:

And I know it is a car you either love or hate. Kind of like cilantro. I happen to love it, but Teresa is very disappointed. She did admit though that she thought it looked slightly nicer after we bought it (she still doesn’t get to drive it though!).

Kristian and Luca also managed to make it out to our beloved Atlantic Ocean. The place where Denmark is just on the other side, where the air smells like salt, and the sound of waves is all you can hear despite Manhattan being in plain sight:

At home we have been working on a puzzle almost every night:

And sitting there with a puzzle while having your mind free to chat has been such a needed activity. As kids become teenagers having time like this feels like a rare treat.

But all good things come to an end, and they have just left for the drive back to Michigan. We did debate whether they should have stayed another night, but getting up Monday morning after spending all of Sunday in car, returning home late to an empty fridge was not really a pleasant option, so they left today. Luckily I get to see them all again in just 2 weeks where I’ll fly back for the weekend

Random ramblings from the past week

I am still here. Haven’t lost my sanity yet! But being so much by myself really have me appreciating that I have a family waiting for me that will eventually be here too. Truth is that my life has been all work and family and family and work for a couple of decades now and it is kind of scary to look at all these hours every night and every weekend and not really have any clue about how to fill them out. Books and cross stitch is OK (finished a project BTW):

But it is not human interaction. And I have very conveniently blamed everything on “well I don’t have a car yet so I can’t do much but just stay here in my little bubble”. Time is counting down though and when Kristian visits next week we have car finding on the agenda. Which means I no longer have excuses for not getting out and do stuff. But what stuff? And how? And where? Sigh. Meeting potential new friends with my kids friends parents, kind of doesn’t work anymore. And I also know that before long work and family will swallow me for a while. I have a few ideas such as signing up for dog cuddle volunteering at a local shelter (I miss Bailey SO badly😔), perhaps something crafty? Ideas from you out there would be very welcome!

I have spent more time in Philly and I am getting to know the city a bit better. But somehow my inner map is tilted 90 degrees so I keep thinking east-west is north-south whenever I get off the train which kind of confuses me, and makes it hard for me to follow google maps. I have learned to look out for the City Hall though which is a giganormous fluffy building literally in the middle of the street:

I have also learned that Philly has it’s own Alcatraz called the Eastern State Penitentiary:

Apparently Al Capone also served time there and I am looking forward to going inside. Kind of love old abandoned prisons. I just find them way more exciting than many other places.

And then there is the food! I am currently trying out some of the vegan places so I am ready for when Teresa visits. Came across this one Saturday:

And tried their vegan Philly cheese steak:

Yep. That’s vegan. It was hard to tell but it was really good, so no complaints from here. I plan to go back there this coming weekend. Living in no-sidewalk-ville makes me appreciate all the walking I can get done downtown:

3 weeks in

The first 3 weeks of my new “semi charmed life” are over and things are slowly getting better. Work wise I start to have a little bit of an idea about what I will actually be doing. And I have been assigned my very first lab task where I will do things I have never done before such as doing siRNA knockdown in human adipocytes😬 but hey - you live you learn right? And I have people around that can teach me how to do it. But it stills feel weird to go back to this stage of knowing nothing and needing help with most things.

In the evenings I try to be better at reading books and getting my crossstitching done so I don’t just sit there and scroll through Instagram videos. Ahem. And there is definitely some progress:

I am also finishing up my 4th and last book) book so I decided to celebrate Friday by ubering out to Barnes & Nobles to stock up on books. This was right next to - sort of - Montgomery mall. And there were sidewalks! Gasp! So I could walkthere😱 and spend a little time hanging out at the mall instead of sitting at home. I have to admit though that my ability to shop is just getting less and less. I hate to spend money on “things” (something that really got to me when our stuff in Denmark burned down. Things are just things and you might lose them). And also from an environmental perspective I just can’t justify all that waste. Seeing their use of plastic bags has started to make me feel sick.

Now I am back”home” with lit candles, a glass of redwine and a crazy thunderstorm outside. Kind of cozy actually:

And my bed is waiting for me. Right here next to me in the living room! After having spent night after night gritting my teeth over the noise from the upstairs neighbors stomping and shouting and snoring like a truck (well, actually they are just walking and talking and breathing heavily when they sleep, but in these ridiculous cardboard buildings you just can’t tell the difference) I finally pulled my mattress into the living room. And now I can let out a big sigh of relief when I hear them getting ready to go to bed, instead of getting really stressed out. Yay me!

Home visit

This weekend was my first visit back to Michigan after moving and for the very first time in my life I was genuinely super excited about going to the Detroit airport. Sigh. You don’t always appreciate what you have until it is gone, right? First stop was the pool at Huron high school where the high school synchronized swim teams had their final meet of the season - the state meet. I didn’t see all of Teresa’s routines but made it in time for the very last one, and also got to see her team go second in the state. I am glad I made in time as my flight was delayed and as I arrived all the way down the other end in the looooooooong terminal:

Ulrik also came home causing the poor dog to almost get a heart attack from confusion with both of us being gone for a long time and then suddenly arriving back home at the same time. He jumped on my lap, rushed over to jump on Ulrik, ran back to sit with me, and was completely confused.

And you may ask why Bailey is wearing a party hat? That’s because Kristian managed to plan a real surprise party for me Saturday night. I had NO clue. He did cook an awful lot of food Saturday, but I thought it was for feeding the family next week as the newest wonder in the Frikke household is a microwave. I have heard a lot about that darn microwave lately and in my mind it made perfect sense that he wanted to have food in freezer for next week.Nice job Henriette 🤦‍♀️Even Luca managed to keep it a secret! I hate to admit it but I might have cried a little bit when I saw everyone. But it was such a great night. And I got to talk to everyone and have plenty of cake and that ridiculously delicious raspberry brew, that I don’t even know where to get myself:

So it is kind of a deflated feeling to be here in the airport again to go back to my new “home”. But it will only be a couple of weeks before the kids and Kristian have spring break and will drive over to visit me in Pennsylvania.

A Sunday in Philly

Today has been a good day! Yep. I actually had a good day today which was highly needed. To be honest I was kind of tired this morning and it sort of crossed my mind that maybe I should just skip having any plans. On the other hand I also know myself well enough to know that I might go good old fashioned crazy from staying in all day with nothing to do, so I made some coffee and got going. This time I was much better prepared for the train ride as I had make sure to buy a packet of 10 tickets the day before and it went just fine. But there was a lot of squabbling middle aged women on the train, which I suspect has to do with the current annual flower show. They went in one direction when we arrived at Jefferson Station, and I went in the other and took a route that got my through the old town with all the history. Here's a statue representing the signing of the declaration of independence. Which of course they would have lifted up to the sky like that as the dab was not invented yet, right?

There was old cobble stone:

And as I kept on walking (in the sunshine) I eventually made it out to Penns landing:

There's a bridge to New Jersey, more statues, and that stupid American tradition of placing a multi-lane highway right next to the water....... I always ask myself why they did that in the past.




I didn't feel like doing anymore cultural stuff so I did what is known as an instant mood changer for most of the female population in the US: a trip to Target of course! I had a few things I needed such as nails to hang my pictures from the walls, a new face-lotion, some vitamin D, a pair of scissors etc. Those kinds of things were Target just has it all. And when my growling stomach could no longer be ignored I regained a little piece of that soul, that seems to leave me as soon as I step into my apartment, by getting some ramen noodles:

It was a decent bowl, and I highly enjoyed it, but it didn't come close to that one place in NYC last spring though.


I kept wandering around a bit longer and I must say that I highly enjoy the murals, that are all over the city. Here is one depicting the Philadelphia muses (whoever they were - I have not checked up on it):

I didn't stay long though, and managed to make it back to Jefferson station just in time for the 3:26 train (full of squabbling middle aged women + all the stuff, they had purchased at the flower show.......). It was snowing quite a bit when I got back, but I still ventured out to Aldi, where I had the hardest time deciding what to buy. Usually I just fill the cart with whatever my big family consumes in a week, but when it is just me, it is much harder. I did get some stuff though although it kind of felt pathetic to look into the cart

And now my tired feet and I have called it a night and will not go any further. But with 25000 steps yesterday and 21000 today, I guess that's OK.

Has it been a week or a month?

Tonight it is exactly one week since I arrived. And what a week! I will start with the good things:

I have furniture! Yay. This means I no longer spill soup all over myself while eating dinner in the floor and I have a real mattress to sleep on. I got my IKEA delivery Monday night and right on time. And despite a few Flottebo couch hiccups (such as inserting one side of the steel frame the wrong way. Sigh) I had everything assembled by Tuesday night, and I now get home to this:

Still a bit minimalist but way better than before!

I have really nice new colleagues. Especially an older scientist, who happens to also live away from his family and has a 1BR in the same complex as me. He picks me up every single morning and gives me a ride to work. And if I happen to go to the workplace gym at night I can also get a ride home (I do plan to get my own car though).

Work is awesome. I can already tell it will be good! I have the first bit of an idea about what I will be doing and I am currently trying to get an overview of other studies testing the same system for drug development purposes. And within my first week there has been seminars, a “black history month celebration” in the cafeteria with wine, food, and jazz, a happy hour, and a request to block out a few days in May for an overnight department trip.

There are trains going straight to Philly, so that’s where I went today. I booked a ticket for the annual flower show, which was really nice. And quite crowded. My absolute favorites were little miniature landscapes with scenes from books. Here’s an old car lady with the last little piece of nature in a neighborhood, where new construction is everywhere:

And I kind of fell in love with a very hippie camper-in-the-desert display (live size - this was not miniature)

On the not so positive side is that I am terribly homesick for Ann Arbor and my family. I just really really really miss my life there and I feel so lonely. I keep repeating to myself that it is temporary but that doesn’t help much when every week feels like month and half a year by myself extends into feeling like ages.

And this apartment sucks my soul out. I don’t know how else to describe it. The floors and walls are so thin I can literally hear my upstairs neighbor snoring at night, and there is absolutely nothing to do in the neighborhood! I tend to go to bed quite early as I don’t know what to do with myself. But once I get a car I hope this will help. Kristian will help me find a good deal when he visits in a couple of weeks. Until then I look forward to next weekend, where I will be flying back. Can’t wait to see the kids. And Kristian. And Bailey❤️