Freeke van de Voort
Cardiff!
I recently moved to Cardiff (a few weeks before everything shut down) and in with my partner. My lockdown hobbies include hiking (no Alps, but Wales is beautiful), knitting a sweater really slowly, and playing with my pet rats. I also started tooting my bassoon again, after many years of silence. Can't wait to start scuba diving again and explore underwater Wales.
Munich
Would have loved to stay longer in Munich. Really enjoyed my time exploring the city and its surroundings (Alps!).
Around the world in well over 80 days
Moving itself is not something I enjoy, but living in a new city, new country, new continent is an amazing experience and well worth the effort. I have lived in different cities in Germany and in the US for many years, have spent several months living in France and in Argentina, and semi-lived in Taiwan for a few years. Next up is the UK. I did fly around the world in less than 80 days once, when I had to go from California to Taiwan to Europe and then back to California.
Leiden, where the journey began
Not certain how best to summarize the decade of my life I spent in Leiden, but it was awesome and educational.
The early years
With a name like mine, it may not surprise you that I grew up in The Netherlands. In the neighbouring villages of Hulsel and Bladel, to be precise, in the southern Dutch province called North-Brabant. (The southern part of Brabant is in present-day Belgium, south of my Brabant, in case you were wondering about the name.) As one of the more rural areas of my wonderful country, the best parts are the not-so-wild outdoors and its friendly people.
The night sky is pretty, but I don't think I have ever been fascinated by it directly. What drew me into astronomy was learning about general relativity (and not understanding it). At the time I never thought I would pursue a career in astronomy, but there is still so much we don't understand and I'm having a lot of fun helping to figure it out.