It was more than an half year ago that I went to Milan to linejudge at the European Junior Championship. When I came back I couldn’t wait until the next tournament. I waited to a new invitation and the time was still flying.
After my birthdayparty I began with a new course at school. My last course was almost excellent. I’ve never had grades like this before in just one course. I had an A (it’s similair to a 10 in Europe) for my favourite subject: Spanish.
But a lot of other things went wrong.I lost my badmintonmatches. I think I focussed too much on winning and not having fun.
And I also failed again for my drivingexam. I didn’t make mistakes this time. I drove almost perfectly, but I was too slow in the beginning. I think I was to nervous. 
After the bad things it was time to have  fun. Netty invited me some months ago for the Irish International. Of course I couldn’t say no. I booked a flight from Amsterdam which means I had to go alone to Dublin. My brother and especially my mom know how scared I can be an airplane.

Wednesday 02 December: I was still upset that I failed for my drivingexam the day before, but I was also excited to go to Dublin that day. I had to go to school first, because I had to make a bonusexam for Spanish (and I realised that it could be important for my end grade). After the exam I went as fast as I could to home. My suitcase was already packed. I had just 20 minutes at home. I said goodbye to my mom and I went to the train station. I was a little bit too late to walk so I decided to go to the train station by bus. Unfortunately, the bus was too late and I missed the train. It was not a big problem because I thought I could take a train earlier than I planned (which was only possible if the bus was on time). 
I arrived at Schiphol Airport and I checked in. I was feeling a little bit ill. I had a heavy headache and I was shivering all the time. The flight was okay and the landing was perfect. It was nice to land in the darkness because of the lights.
Someone was waiting on me at the airport and brought me to the hotel shuttle bus. After 15 minutes the bus came and it took only 2 minutes to go to the hotel.
The first thing I did in my hotelroom was sleeping for an hour. After an hour my roommate woke me up and we went to a meeting in another hotel. It was a waste of time because it was more for the players than for the linejudges.
When we went back to the hotel the other Dutch linejudges were also arrived. I sat in the lobby with some other Dutch linejudges until I was tired. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sleep and I was being more ill than therefore.

Thursday 03 December: I was still ill and I couldn’t have a normal breakfast. I decided to go to the hall but I didn’t think I could be there the whole day. During the briefing I was being very dizzy and I think I made a bad impression. I went to the hotel after the briefing. I was watching tv and I saw a playstation controller, but no playstation! I turned off the tv and I felt asleep. Four hours later I woke up and I was thinking about what to do. I walked a little bit in the hotelroom and I fell still ill. I fell asleep again and I woke up around 4 o’clock. I decided to go to the hall to have a dinner. I was stupid that I didn’t bring my clothes with me and Netty asked if I could linejudge. I was being better so I had to go back to the hotel. After an hour I was back in the hall and I linejudged just 2 matches. Luckily, the hotel had a free wifi connection this time and I could internet a little bit. I slept very well the whole night.
I had the next matches:
WS: Joycelyn Ko (CAN) - Carolina Marin (ESP)
MD: Joe Ledwidge & Niall Tierney (IRL) – Daniel Magee & Mark Topping (IRL)

Friday 04 December: I felt much better than the day before. It would be a long and tough day, because we had to linejudge two lines. Sometimes the umpires were doubting about my decision and I think I wasn’t the only linejudge. But there wasn’t enough linejudges to do only one line.
I was happy that I felt not ill anymore, but I had pain in my ear. I heard myself twice because there was a lot of pressure in my air. This was very annoying because I though the whole time nobody could hear me.
I had a good dinner and after a long day I went back to the hotel. I had contact with my brother and I was glad to hear everything was okay there. I think they were very happy I was gone for few days. I sat in the lobby with some linejudges and I was being tired. I went to my room but I couldn’t open the door. My key (card) didn’t work. Luckily, they could fix the problem.
I linejudged the next matches: 
XD: Dave Khodabux & Samantha Barning (NED) - Sam Magee & Chloe Magee (IRE)
MS: Peter Mikkelsen (DEN) - Wong Beryno Jiann Tze (MAS)
WS: Larisa Griga (UKR) - Yik Man Wong (NED)
WS: Karina Jorgensen (DEN) - Perrine Lebuhanic (FRA)
MD:  Richard Eidestedt & Tim Foo (SWE) - Rasmus Bonde & Simon Mollyhus (DEN)
WD: Olga Golovanova & Anastasia Prokopenko (RUS) – Kirsty Gilmour (SCO) & Sandra van Rooijen (NED)
XD: Tim Foo (SWE) & Anastasia Kudinova (RUS) - Robin Middleton & Mariana Agathangelou (ENG)
WS: Li Shuang (TUR) - Susan Egelstaff (SCO)
WD:  Mariana Agathangelou & Heather Oliver (ENG) – Samantha Barning & Eefje Muskens (NED)

Saturday 05 December: It was a special day in the Netherlands. December the 5th is a traditional holiday in the Netherlands which is called Saint Nicolas. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the Netherlands to celebrate this day.
The quarterfinals were started in the morning. After one match I didn’t linejudge anymore because we had enough linejudges and I was a little bit in a bad mood. I didn’t linejudge anymore until the semifinals. I had some fun with the linejudges but the pain in my ear came back. It was 15.00 and the semifinals started. Finally, we were with more than 6 linejudges on a court. The semifinals were amusing.
After the semifinals we went back to the hotel. Netty invited all the linejudges and umpires, who didn’t go to the dinner, for something special. Because it would start at 21.30 I ate something in the lobby. I think my whole mouth was burned because of the hot fries. After my lovely dinner I went to the other linejudges and umpires. One of the linejudges from Belgium introduced the evening and she told everybody about the holiday Saint Nicolas. She said that we were going to celebrate also Saint Nicolas. I thought at the same moment that Saint Nicolas could be only one person, Freek (a dutch umpire). Freek and Ben (a dutch linejudge as black piet) enjoyed everyone with this performance. My compliments, guys!  
After this performance I sat in the lobby and had some fun with other linejudges. I think I went a little bit late to bed. 
I linejudged the next matches:
XD (quarterfinals): Sam Magee & Chloe Magee (IRE) - Johannes Schoettler & Sandra Marinello (GER)
XD (semifinals): Mikkel Delbo Larsen & Mie Schjott Kristensen (DEN) - Johannes Schoettler & Sandra Marinello (GER)
MS (semifinals): Rune Ulsing (DEN) - Peter Mikkelsen (DEN)
MD (semifinals): Mads Bonde & Simon Mollyhus (DEN) - Mads Conrad Petersen & Mads Pieler Kolding (DEN)

Sunday 06 December: It was the last day of the tournament. It would be a nice day and I was right. They started with two courts and they ended with two matches because some players had to take a flight later that day. I wished I had the women’s single, but I wasn’t lucky. I had to linejudge the baseline and between the rallies I watched the women’s single. It was amazing to see how a 16-year-old girl (runner-up European Junior Championships )won her first tournament. I think she will be a big player in the future.
I recorded the last few points of the women’s single:

I was happy that the mixed doubles was played in two games. I had to linejudge the serviceline in the men’s single but I didn’t make any calls. After those two matches I went to eat something in the cafeteria and when I came back they said I had to linejudge again. I had to linejudge the whole middle line of the court. I looked a little bit weird because it was also impossible to linejudge the whole middle line. Every linejudge laughed at me when they heard I had to linejudge the whole line, because they know you couldn’t see the other part of the court. 
After the finals we went back to the hotel and we decided to go to the city in an half hour. I went to my hotelroom but my card didn’t work again. Luckily, I saw a employee of the hotel and she opened the room for me.
We went to the city with a shuttle bus and my first impression was a old city with some modern buildings. We went on a tour bus trough the city. I sat upstairs and I was freezing because the backside of the bus was open. I don’t know how the guys could sit there. It was a nice tour and after the tour we went to eat something in the Burger King. After a nice milkshake and some fries, we went to a souvenir shop. We bought a lot of funny things. We went back to the hotel and I went to the reception because my card still didn’t work. The employee told me that I had already checked out. I said it was impossible because I was flying on Monday. Netty came to explain them that I had to stay for one more night. She also suggested them that I could sleep in another room with a linejudge of my age. It was no problem for her and the hotel. I had some funny conversations with the linejudges and than it was time to sleep. 

Monday 07 December: I woke up early and I hope I didn’t wake up my roommate. After my last breakfast I checked out and I went to the shuttlebus to the airport. It was time to say goodbye to the other dutch linejudges because I was flying on 09.45 and they were going to the city (because they were flying later that day). The airplane was delayed and I was being crazy of anxiety. After an hour I landed safely on the ground and it took 20 minutes before the airplane arrived at Schiphol. It landed near Haarlem and that’s far from the airport. I think I would be faster by car.
It was weird to be at home after some days, like I came from college and it never happened. After all, it was awesome tournament and I can’t wait until the next one!
Special thanks to Netty, because she invited me!  

I didn’t make pictures of the tournament because I was ill, I had no time or I was to lazy. But I made some pictures of the city tour: