This is August already! This means, more than half of 2017 has passed. And man, does time fly. And here I am, in the second half of the year. Yet another chapter in my life is going to unfold.
So a little update, I am officially Dr. Andru Putra Twinanda now. Yeay! My defense went quite smoothly, everybody was quite happy with how it turned out. My parents were there, my friends came too, and a lot of cool people present at the meeting. Awesome beans.
Look at my widest smile! It was a great day!
After I was done with the defense, I went to vacation with my parents. We went to Spain, Morocco and Portugal. It was a lot of fun. This was the time when I realized that my parents are getting old. I felt they were so much older than the last time they came to Europe which was 5 years ago. And again, yet another proof that time is such a fleeting little thing. But nevertheless, we made the best of our time there.
And then I went back to the lab, continued working on the projects that I was working on. Jointly with an intern, we got a paper accepted at MICCAI, which made this year even sweeter. My contract as a post-doc terminated some time ago, by the end of July to be exact. Some time in June, I have decided to join a startup company in the Netherlands, I will start working in September.
Oh man, so much has changed in such a short amount of time. At the end of my contract in Strasbourg, I couldn’t help but to reminisce all the time that I had spent with my colleagues in the lab. The endless hangouts and laughter with my friends, the restless nights of writing papers, and the limitless possibilities of experimental setups to do. All those things are now just another chapter in my life. Always held dear, but in the past.
So, here I am now, having a little down time, getting my mind refreshed and ready for my upcoming job. I am currently in Groningen, the objective of my visit is to find myself an apartment, and I DID! Mind you, it is very difficult to find an apartment here, especially on such a high season when the students are coming to start their studies here (and Groningen’s population is mostly students [citation needed]). Actually, I just signed the apartment contract this morning. I am really happy that I managed to get an apartment that I really like and very close to my future office. I wish I had taken pictures of the apartment. Did I tell you already that I really like it?
All is well that ends well. As fleeting as our life can be, and as fast as time flies, I cannot wait for my next adventure in the Netherlands. Somehow, I have an inkling that it will be an exciting one. So, till next time!
PS: Still waiting for my work permit, wish me luck!
Jurnal Si Oom 
good.. greetings