guiselaine capella - The 19 Things I Did In Zeist

My parents arranged a landlady (hospita) for me, when I moved to The Netherlands in august 1997. The landlady was a family with a spar room with a separate entrance near Utrecht Central at Brederoplein. The family was making more noise than I did, so I had to move. That is when my whole family came to The Netherlands to arrange my move to Zeist in the fall of 1997.

The TorenFlat In Zeist

My parents arranged a lease with Elf provincien in Nieuwegein to rent a studio for me in de Torenflat in Zeist. I paid the rent myself and my parents stood surety (borg). I was happy with the move to Zeist and lived there for 2,5 years. In 2000, when I quit my veterinarian study and my middle sister was going to study in Eindhoven, The Netherlands I moved to Lunetten, Utrecht. My half-brother* and his new girlfriend living together in Tilburg helped me move. He moved to Curaçao, after the dead of our father in 2011.

The Bijlmer Of Zeist, Laan Van Vollenhove

The Torenflat was located in what I and some others call the Bijlmer of Zeist. The Torenflat was one of the high-rise buildings in the street. At the time, Laan van Vollenhove was the only street in Zeist with a concentration of large flats like the Bijlmer had. The layout was similar: lots of greenery and high-rise apartments.

Torenflat VS L-flat

I lived in the Torenflat and a former friend of Surinamese descent whom I had met during my tennis lessons in Utrecht lived in the L-flat. I noticed the difference between the flats, although she was paying a lot more for her apartment. The L-flat didn't have a good reputation. She and her boyfriend moved to Uithoorn to race their kids. Actually the entire Laan van Vollenhove didn't have a good reputation, but the L-flat was known for throwing furniture in the park in front of it. I had to be careful when I left early in the morning or after the afternoon rush hour. I liked the fact that in the Torenflat there was a couple who acted as 'huismeester' during working hours. Nothing happened in the Torenflat when I lived there.

Bus Stop At Jordanlaan, Zeist

The direct bus from Zeist to The Uithof stopped at Jordanlaan. I didn't like using this bus stop, because there were a lot of male asylum seekers hanging around the bike shed (fietsenstalling) at this bus stop, looking for a girl to marry. It is not nice to say this, but it is the harsh truth. And the most bizarre thing is that they got angry at me when I didn't talk to them and followed me while shouting at me in English and French that I was not okay for not talking to them. It gets even weirder, because healthcare workers who got off at this stop or hung around this bus stop told me that I had to be nice to them because they were asylum seekers. I would have talked to them if they had been friendly to me. I am not interested to being called names and I wasn't and I am still not looking to get married to anybody or have a relationship with anybody. I don't know if their strategy worked and they got married. I opted to use another bus stop in the 2,5 years I lived in Zeist.

Shopping Center Vollenhove

The Laan van Vollenhove starts with the shopping center Vollenhove, then there are some houses and the street ends with three large flats. The shopping center looks better now than it did back then. I visited Laan van Vollenhove in 2025 to take pictures and see what had become of the street. When I lived there, there was a Blokker, a supermarket and some other shops and restaurants. I only went to the supermarket there if I had no other choice. I did most of my shopping in the center of Zeist or sometimes in Hoog Catharijne, Utrecht.

Swimming Center Dijnselburg

I loved that there was a swimming pool near my studio. I used to swim there a few times a month in the morning. The swimming pool was well maintained back than and a very up to date facility. Nowadays it needs a makeover, but it still has a good swimming pool. I swam there again in 2025.

The V&D In The Center Of Zeist Didn't Sell Bikes

I needed a bike living in The Netherlands and I opted to get a new bike, although that is not the thing to do as a student. I bought my bike in 1997 at the V&D in Hoog Catherijne Utrecht in 1997, because the V&D in Zeist didn't have one. My bike lasted till 2010!!! Yes, the same bike, it took me to all my tennis matches, my study when I was studying in Utrecht, to the center of Zeist, to the swimming pool in Zeist and all other places I needed to be if I didn't walk or take public transport.

Quitting My Veterinary Medicine Studies & Choosing Business Economics At HES Amsterdam

I passed all the subjects on animal handling and genetics in one go. The difficulty with the Veterinary Medicine studies for me was in biochemistry and physics. These subjects are essential to become a veterinarian, because they form the basis for the knowledge of medicine. When I returned from successfully lambing sheep in England (blog 'Redeem Sheep' & 'Lambing sheep in England'), I quit my studies during an exam. I simply walked away during the exam, because I knew everything that was asked and I did not want to be a veterinarian anymore. I chose to go to a former friend of mine in Eindhoven that weekend. We talked about his boyfriend the entire weekend and not about the fact that I had quit my studies. After the weekend I investigated my options and decided to start Business Economics (Bedrijfseconomie) at HES Amsterdam in September 2000 (blog 'Hes Amsterdam Bachelor'). He was a former childhood friend of mine and after he moved to China with his husband in 2014 I didn't hear from him anymore.

Working At An Insurance Company

After I quit my veterinary studies, I looked for work through an employment agency. I got a 2 jobs. One at an Insurance company to do data-entry near my home in Zeist (blog 'Data-entry'). And one to promote pet food in an animal suit (cat and dog suit) in the Beursgebouw in Eindhoven. It was fun to do promotional work. After I moved to Lunetten and started Business Economics (bedrijfseconomie), I asked the employment agency for more promotional work. They placed me at Bananas in Hoofddorp to promote the food brands Coca Cola, Pringles, Aquarius and Hot & Steamy (read the blog 'Promotion officer').

Bye Bye Laan Van Vollenhove

In 2000 I said goodbye to Laan Van Vollenhove in Zeist to move to Lunetten in Utrecht. I was back in Utrecht, where I had started as a student in The Netherlands. I switched studies and was able to work as a student assistant at HES Amsterdam and as a promotional employee in addition to my HBO study. Although Lunetten is in Utrecht the same applied for cycling to the Uithof as to Zeist, be vigilant. I got my HAT unit in Lunetten by being subscribed to Woningnet (Nowadays it's called DAK) waiting list for 2,5 years. My waiting time was enough to qualify for the 22m2, including a balcony and a bathroom and kitchen at the front door. A deposit (borg) was no longer necessary, because it was social housing. And I applied for housing benefit from the government (huurtoeslag).

Network On Inclusion In Sports

I started in 2005 as a project employee (projectmedewerker) at E-Quality (Atria) and almost immediately had my first network assignment for the project gender budgeting in Sports (blog 'Doelgericht Begroten In De Sport'). The senior could not attend and neither could the intern who was placed on the project. I was asked to go to the network meeting at KNVB in Zeist. I had all the network practice during my studies Business Economics (Blog 'Networking with sports'), but had forgotten one thing: to look at the public transport timetable. This meant that after the network event I had to walk on my heeled boots for more than half an hour to another bus stop, because the bus stop near KNVB wasn't running in the afternoon. That wasn't fun!

Visiting My Parents' Ex-Neighbor In Her Apartment In The Center Of Zeist

I don't remember exactly what year it was, but I was looking for another apartment. My mother told me that her old neighbor was in The Netherlands and had an apartment in the center of Zeist. She rented it out to people when she was on Curaçao. It was a nice apartment in the center, but for me it was not an option.

Training For The 4 Daagse Van Nijmegen

My former doubles tennis partner and I came up with our second challenge: hiking the **4 Daagse van Nijmegen (blog 'Co-Organizer MYBODYWALK'). One of the training hikes was from Utrecht via De Bilt to Zeist and back. In Zeist my former doubles tennis partner and I had a stop at Diakonessenhuis Zeist, so she could change her work schedule and we rested a bit. On holidays and Sundays, it is hard to find a toilet on this hiking route, which made her work a good alternative to pee.

A First-Year Classmate Moved To The Entrance Of Laan Van Vollenhove

A first-year classmate (Brugklas) and her boyfriend moved from Tilburg to Kanaleneiland in Utrecht for work after their studies. They exchanged their apartment in Kanaleneiland for a house in Zeist, the Laan van Vollenhove district after getting maried. I no longer lived in Zeist at that moment, but I was invited to view their house at the beginning of the Laan van Vollenhove district. This part of the district differs somewhat in terms of population composition and appearance from the other side of the district, with the three high-rise flats.

Infographic Congress, Theme Beauty + Facts = Truth

The Infographic Congress is held annually. The year I was there, Information is Beautiful himself gave a workshop the day before in Amsterdam. I was also allowed to attend the workshop. The infographic congress was one of the best in terms of information about infographics and for acquisition. I got 3 or 4 gigs out of this congress held in Figi Hotel in Zeist. These gigs were about Excel and making infographics. It was also the year that snow and hail fell outside during the congress.

Station Driebergen- Zeist - Maarn, NS Wandeling

Zeist has a lot of greenery. One way to enjoy it is to hike through it. During the COVID-19 lockdown I hiked the NS Wandeling Zeist-Maarn of 15 km. There was a distance of 1,5 meters between people in effect. Everyone had to get use to this and it looked strange to pass other walkers and keep to the 1,5 meters distance. Most people were polite, when passing each other and keeping their distance during my hike from Zeist to Maarn. It was at the beginning of the first COVID-19 lockdown that I hiked this hike alone. It is a beautiful walk through the forest and nature.

Fieldwork At The Jail For Foreigners Which Have To Leave The Netherlands

For Inview I did my scariest fieldwork assignment: handing out surveys to prisoners in prisons all over The Netherlands. I wrote the blog 'Surveying 1 Question In Jail With VOG' about this gig. One of the prisons I visited to hand out surveys was the prison in Zeist, where foreigners were held who had to leave The Netherlands. It was a once, but never again fieldwork project.

Fieldwork At Driebergen- Zeist Station

At Driebergen- Zeist station I carried out two fieldwork assignments for IPSOS I&O:

One was handing out surveys to travelers renting an e-bike in the 'fietsenstalling'
And the other one handing out surveys to travelers on the train platform.

Handing out surveys at travelers using the train platform is the fieldwork survey I am still doing and I have done the longest. I enjoyed the fieldwork with the e-bike the most.

Looking For Patterns In My Housing Choices In Archive Of Zeist

My apartment in Nieuwegein was handed to me in August 2019 with many defects. Now, in 2025, there are still defects that have not been remedied by the Housing Association, even though the defects were already there when my rent started. It is the apartment with the most defects I have ever had and also the most work to make it habitable. My next apartment must be (almost) new or transformed into new apartments. To discover how I can prevent an apartment such as in Nieuwegein form happening again, I went looking for patterns in my previous housing choices. In the archive of Zeist I looked up my old studio in Laan van Vollenhove and the neighborhood around it. I think this will make me take a smarter next step in the rental sector.

I lived in Zeist for two and a half years from 1997 to 2000. I rented a studio from 11 Provinciën in the private sector. It was about 50 m². Before moving to Zeist, I lived on Brederoplein in Utrecht, and after Zeist, I lived in Lunetten in Utrecht. I lived alone in all my homes!

*My half-brother is the son from my father's first marriage

**I walked the Nijmegen 4Daagse Marches in 2009. And in 2016 I saw the walkers walking through Cuijk, after I hiked the ***Camino Portugues and before I moved to Arnhem. I have never been to the 4Daagse feesten and I will not visit the 4Daagse feesten in the future. Never been a party animal and never will be.

***I hiked the camino to think about what I wanted further from life and Databeet, not to party like some do on the Camino. I talked while hiking with my fellow hikers, but did not party with them or others. I am not a party animal and liked the quietness and calmness of the camino.

The 19 Things I Did In Zeist

Index

Moving To Zeist