2020 Recap: An unexpected year

 For no good reason it has been wayyyyyyyyy too long since our last update, but here we are.

Our 2020 year in review:

All the way back in January, when Covid was around but not yet a serious concern for me, I started my second semester of school. After all our Christmas gallivanting around Europe it was nice to be back in Nice and to see all of my classmates. We were still able to take a couple trips in early 2020, one to Bordeaux and a very quick weekend in London. Within days of coming back from London, France shut down and my University closed. You were no longer permitted to leave your house except for groceries or to go to a pharmacy. If you did leave your house, you had to wear a mask the entire time and carry around a hand written note swearing you were being a good, considerate citizen to the republic of France. The risk of not following these rules was a 500€ fine. Nice distributed 2 mask to anyone living there and patrolled the streets with police and (supposedly) drones, so no excuses. And to anyone that thought we were crazy for bringing our dog to Europe all I can say is thank god we did! Having a dog meant that you could go outside to walk them. So, several times a day we got some fresh air (unless it was raining, then it was just Dale and Koki).

We're smiling, promise

J'adore le pain. Vive la baguette!

Classes eventually started up again 100% online and our final school trip to Singapore was officially cancelled.😞 My plans too changed for what I would do for a final project and I ended up writing a thesis. I had really wanted to be able to spend the summer in Nice. But you know what they say…careful what you wish for.  I finished classes and had a mini break before I wrote my thesis which was due September 1^st. By June, France had opened up again but would continuously change their policies, which meant that most things were open but with much less tourism than normal. This allowed us to get in some hikes and beach time. I managed to finish my thesis on time and successfully completed my MBA early September! 🎓

Glam shot overlooking Nice

Hiking with friends at Cap-Ferrat

Post MBA: living the visa life.

Due to corona, Americans were no longer permitted to be tourists in Europe. Which meant that if you have a residence visa already you were ok to be in Europe otherwise you are not. I was able to fairly smoothly extend my student visa, but Dale was a different matter. We submitted his paperwork for an extension in August and still have not heard back. Although after much debate with anyone that we could get a hold of we discovered that he probably wouldn’t be approved since the visa type he was on doesn’t do extensions. He would have to go back to American and apply for another visa from there (which because of corona were not being issued). The good news is that we were like 60% certain that he could stay in Europe as long as the extension for his visa was still being processed. When they do officially tell him it is rejected he would have 90 days to leave the country/Europe. The website for visas in France was not updated, the number to call did not work, and emails never were replied to. He managed to get into the physical building but wouldn’t be seen (he needed an appointment which they would make whenever they actually reviewed his paperwork). We finally decided that we did not have a good enough understanding of what to do and called an immigration lawyer. The extension of Dale’s French visa was all so that he could just stay in Europe. This would allow us to stay together while I sorted out my citizenship in the Netherlands. A very long, complicated, confusing story later Dale opened a business in the Netherlands and is now the proud founder of Wahl Analytics, a data science consultancy. This visa will allow him to stay in Europe, work for the US, or have clients in the Netherlands. It will also allow me to stay in Europe when my student visa expires in March, work in the Netherlands without needing a work permit, and allow me to regain my citizenship after one year. This is all still in the works, but we are hopeful tit will be completed this Jan 2021.

Once the paperwork for this visa was started Dale was allowed to be in the Netherlands as things were being processed. We pack up our things in France rented a van and drove to the Netherlands. After a year in Nice, we are sad to leave on home and the climate but ready for the next adventure.

A grand merci to Nice for the lovely times.

We are near to some of my family in the eastern part of the Netherlands not far from the German border.  Where we are staying there are lots of fields for Koki to run around in. After being here about two months though Koki still has mixed feeling. She, being the city dog that she is, is still terrified of the goats, sheep, donkey, cows, and horses (in that order) that we see on almost a daily basis.

When we both arrived in the Netherlands, they had just started a “social lockdown” which limited groups, visitors, and shops were takeout only. Now we are back to an almost complete lockdown with everything closed except grocery stores and pharmacies. The exception is that you can have two people visit you in a day. Which for us means that we are in total lockdown except when we go to visit my Godfather and his family. We are so grateful for them and any human interaction besides each other.  I am happy to note that Dale and I haven’t killed each other yet.. and we even still love each other (most of the time). We keep busy with job searching, loooong walks with Koki, board game, books, and of course Netflix.

Our daily walk in Delden, Netherlands

And here’s to hoping we post more than just one blog in 2021!