About

Hello! I'm Laura and I am a traveling expat in the Netherlands! I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'em Horns) and I cant imagine having graduated anywhere else! People are always repeating that cliche that college is the best four years of your life- but that's the funny thing about cliches... they tend to be true.

After college I got my dream job as a chemist in Halliburton- let me tell you it is nerve wracking to be a science major who is not planning on an MD or PhD.. but if you can get a job in the industry- that is the lucky break! My friends and I took job planning as a full-time job, filling in applications non-stop, writing essays, doing phone interview after phone interview, and flying around the country to try and impress. While trying not to despair, while packing for a life in Madison, WI, I got a phone call one day asking me if I was a natural born leader and if I wanted to discover the next 12 uses of bentonite! I was like this sounds like Albus Dumbledore and the 12 uses of Dragons blood!! Turns out the voice on the other line would be my future boss, Charlie, and it would be a job I loved since day 1.

So then I became a chemist, doing R&D and traveling around the US testing out my products... two years passed and I was happy. Then the inexplicable happened... a job opened up in a small town called Ijmuiden. Next thing I new, I was being asked to apply right as they were rushing me on a plane to the interview- within 6 months I was living in Haarlem, Netherlands... smack dab in the center of Ijmuiden and Amsterdam, Netherlands!!
Now, I'm here, I'm young, and I have my handy dandy iPhone to snap the pictures that allow you to experience Europe right alongside me! Thats the amazing thing about living in 2014- no DSLR needed.. haha... this is the handy Texan's way to a picture blog!!

Be sure to check out my Travel section for my favorites and tips on what to do when in some of Europe's (and some other areas) best cities!! I promise I wont steer you wrong!

Kisses,