This is a smart thing to clarify… leeches will sneak up on you in packs and be your death if you are not careful! It’s best to recognize and deal with this early on or life will start to become very difficult around level 40. It can impact your workload very severely and cause the whole quest for level 60 to extend by many many months. Personal experience here…
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I definitely need to be more careful about getting things wrong because of typos then 
I’m a bit scared of the visual image of packs of leeches hunting me down now too hahah
ahhhhh yes. Level 8, the moment I too questioned if I was going too fast. You’re gonna have to forget this post. Just keep going and plowing on through.
In all seriousness though, I’m deviating from the “do all your lessons in the same day” approach, and opting for “doing what’s required of the level for the first day, then spread the new vocab across 3 days evenly.” This has been a much better way of doing it while maintaining the same pace I am/was of 7-8 days per level.
Just keep in mind that yes, you will have days with 140-150 reviews, but they only happen like once a month. I rarely have that many reviews, but I also am proactive doing reviews in the morning and at night. So don’t slack off and even if you feel like not doing it… push. Just keep pushing because your lack of motivation will pass. You’ll get to that glorious next chapter and remember why you’re doing it, then after slogging through the next be back in the same place only to get to the next level remembering “I did all this to get here, am I really going to give up now?”
Best of luck. ファイト！
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Like @Pep95, I try to keep my apprentice items to around 100. I do feel sometimes that reviews are a bit lacking so I go over the 100 limit sometimes. Sometimes it seems I keep getting a lot wrong so I let it fall around 90. This is rare though as it is on or over 100 most of the time.
Hi, I am at the point you are talking about and have encountered the kanji you just mentioned. I often mistake one for the other and it is frustrating that I have guru’ed some then they fall back to apprentice because I was not paying much attention. I can totally relate to what you are saying.
This! I was going to say this, but of course @jprspereira already said it. He has wise words @tomds , you would be wise as to heed them.
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If you at least know the 4 meanings (resp. Hoist, Guts, Sunlight and Hot Water), there is a simple way to remember the differences.
- In general, if the 月 radical is used (most of the time on the left of the kanji), the kanji can be describing an organ or something to do with the body. This is the case for guts 腸.
- The 揚 has a hand radical on the left side. Hoisting is something you do with your hand.
- The 湯 has the tsunami radical on its side, which usually implies something water related. Therefore this is the hot water radical.
- The remaining kanji 陽 doesn’t really make sense with the given radical name, but it’s the last one, so that one is sunlight.
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Wow! How insightful.
Now I will have to ask you in person where to get the best Stroopwafels when I eventually visit Den Haag, and Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, and the list goes on… 
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You can buy them in a store anywhere, but the taste won’t be much different between each store. Plus those can be imported anyway.
My advice is therefore: find a stand at a marketplace. Often there are small stalls that sell them freshly made and deliciously warm, with the syrup still slightly liquid and sticky. It’s the McFreaking best. You can buy super big ones too, for even more enjoyment.
Here are locations and times for outdoor (and indoor) markets in
- The Hague: The Hague - Leisure
- Amsterdam: Markets in Amsterdam | Amsterdam.info (not very informative, but lists some pretty commonly visited ones
- Rotterdam: https://www.cityguiderotterdam.com/shopping/shopping-areas/market-rotterdam-centre/
Also, not sure if you have your whole trip planned yet, but Utrecht has a pretty nice city center too. Not sure what you’re into though (architecture, culture, food, etc)
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So much great advice. I was going at full speed until I got close to level 10. Between hitting new kanji and life my reviews piled up. I realized I needed to start slowing down my lessons. As other recommended I started keeping my apprentice pile between 80-120. Before I started getting reviews for burning it was 120. Now that I have a flow of items to burn (or fail) I keep it at 70-100 depending on the flow. I try not to learn too much vocab at once (10-15) so sometimes it takes a few days to build up. I also consider how many reviews I am getting. If I’m getting a lot of 50+ reviews then I slow down on lessons so I can focus on the ones I missed.
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Haha, nice. It’s actually more of a bucket list. I want to see Centraal station in person for sure and I have others on a list somewhere. Maybe I should verify with you to see if they are even worth visiting???
Sorry OP, did not mean to hijack your post with stroopwafels, Rotterdam, and other Oranje related posts. You will be fine managing the workload, me and @Pep95 promise. 
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If you don’t mind, I’ll look through your travels tomorrow it’s 12 in the am over here 
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Oh no worries. My trip is not anytime soon and besides, I told you visiting the Netherlands was part of my “lijstje van dingen die je nog wil doen in je leven”
So this trip may be sometime waaaaay in the future. 
Also, the location of the list is something I have to remember. I do not know where the list is as of this moment. Hahaha.
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Ah, that’s OK then Hit me up anytime you need to know something though
Also if you have the time when you’re here, have a look at the Efteling 
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@inspectatoro seconding the Efteling. I went there recently and it was awesome.
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I did take a look! Thank you both for the suggestion. Now my list of Tivoli Gardens is not alone. Hahaha. I know it is in Danemark not Niederlande but it is in Europa after all.
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If all of Europe is in scope, I also recommend the Europapark in southern Germany 
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Don’t mean to be generalizing, but I guess you’re either Australian or American based on those distances meaning nothing or you 
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it’s not about how fast you go, it’s about remembering the kanji and being able to use them. it’s not a race, it is to some, but not to me. enjoy the process, slow down on lessons, keep your sanity and remember things for more than eight months.
Noted! Now on the list.
Well I envy European trains and train systems, so I will ride them as much as I can when I do visit. Hopefully suggestions of both @Pep95 and @Ornantius are reachable via the rails!
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Anything is reachable by rails in the Netherlands, as long as it is at least a small city or along the rail anyway. If you want to go from the Netherlands to Germany by train, have a look at the ICE. You need to reserve an actual ticket for that (I think). I think it goes up to Berlin.
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