Rekindling the City Spark: A Guide to Returning to Dam After the Christmas Break

By Hannah Castenskiold, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Netherlands

After spending nearly six months travelling away from home, I finally returned back home for the Christmas holidays, gleefully met by family, friends and more importantly, my dog. It was a precious three weeks to relax, rest and catch up with everyone, following one of my most memorable and adventurous years so far. Yet it made returning to Amsterdam feel almost daunting and I found myself unsure whether I had booked my plane back too early.

Landing back in the city that emotion of uncertainty remained, especially as the cold air minus hit my face and I scurried back to my flat. Although last semester I fell in love with my own living space; being able to host or be in solitude whenever I pleased, it seemed strange coming home to an empty flat after a long holiday filled with people.

The combination of returning back in early January with my university courses only starting up again at the beginning of February, and the realisation that ‘single-semester’ friends would be leaving at the end of the January culminated in an awareness that I was going to have to put in more effort to make the most of January. Amsterdam is a busy, thriving city and we have only explored it for three and a half months, watching it change from glorious summer to a windy and rainy winter. So, coming back after a long, relaxing holiday at home naturally felt different and slightly odd. Nonetheless, it did make me recognise that the year abroad experience will vary for each season, and that the staying engaged with new places, things to do and ultimately the friends you made here will help return the city to how you had envisioned it to be before you left.

I found that the key is to find new things and different ways to love the places you knew before. Amsterdam is renowned for its thrifting, and I delved back into the world of ‘Kringloops,’ which are the underrated treasure-troves of second-hand miscellaneous items and clothing. We found our new ‘go-to’s’, managed to scoop up a free sofa for our friends new flat, and I even bought a cheap sofa bed for my flat.

Since I do still have one exam at the end of January, I started looking for new study spots and cafes: my favourite so far being the Zoku rooftop. These also gave us the space to plan our month of January and materialise the trip we had been scheming. We stumbled across the cheapest Airbnb in the middle of no-where, i.e., the small town of Boxtel, situated south in Dutch countryside with our own private manor, lakes, and grounds.

The extravagant weekend was filled with chaotic forest walks, dinners, baking, human-Cluedo and many more adventures, and culminated with a trip to the Hague on our way back to Amsterdam. We felt exhausted by the laughter and activities, but the trip remains the ultimate play in reigniting that feeling of homefulness for Amsterdam. I started longing for my bed on the train on the way back and couldn’t wait for a relaxing day at home, making me realise the full-circle I had come. So, I can now truly say that I have rekindled the spark and am revelling in this halcyonic period of my year abroad.