Staycation | Dutch Diaries Weeks Eleven & Twelve
Week Eleven | Week Elf
After my ten day Italian excursion, I was absolutely exhausted. I’d spent every weekend over the past two months in a new destination, traveling so often that train stations and airports began to have a homie feeling. Late Sunday afternoon, finally back in Maastricht after a long travel day, there was nothing I wanted more than some time to myself in my home away from home.
So, naturally, on Monday afternoon, after my first day of classes of the new period, I hopped on another train. This time, one of my favorite travel buddies and I were headed to one of my favorite cities to see one of our favorite 90s rock bands in concert. With any luck, we might even meet the band after the show.
Those short fourteen hours in Amsterdam didn’t disappoint, as the city was already lit up for Christmas as early as October 28th. Of course, this little spontaneous one night excursion didn’t do much to relieve the exhaustion that had been building for the past two months of nonstop movement.
On Tuesday, I went directly from the train to class, and from class, I went directly to bed. Thankfully, my new class schedule gives me Wednesdays free because when I say I slept for nineteen hours, I’m not exaggerating. Wednesday was spent mostly in the comfort of my bed, and I found myself feeling genuinely excited to have a weekend free from travel. I’d finally get to rest, relax, and explore this little storybook city I’ve called home for over two months.
I could never have known that my Dutch Art History lecture on Thursday would be the perfect introduction to my weekend in Maastricht. You see, I’ve found that one of the very best parts of studying abroad is that class doesn’t always take place in a lecture hall. Instead, on Thursday afternoon, we met our professor at the Saint Servatious church on the Vrijthof, the town square. There, we found ourself immersed in a crash course on early Netherlandish art and gothic architecture along with a brief history of the city of Maastricht and the origins of the church in which we stood.
The Weekend | Het Weekend
Despite my much needed day of sleep on Wednesday, I still found myself feeling run down once the weekend rolled around. Even more, it had been over two weeks since I’d run errands and my trusty pasta stash was running dangerously low.
My weekend would consist of a lot more rest, some relaxation (including a few one euro face masks and newly purchased fuzzy socks), and a good bit of regrouping for the new class period.
In between my naps, errands, and time at my favorite church-turned-gym, I still managed to spend some time exploring my little Maastricht, wandering my favorite European city streets (that’s a bold statement, I know, but this town has a cozy charm that I just haven’t found elsewhere) and stopping for the most amazing and ridiculous pumpkin spice latte I have ever had.
Week Twelve | Week Twaalf
My weekend made it apparent that I really hadn’t spent much time in Maastricht at all. All of a sudden I was over half way through my crazy study abroad experience, and I was still relying on Google Maps to get me from point A to point B in the city I had been calling home. Over the next week, I would try to make a point to incorporate more of those little moments of exploring my new home, even when my schoolwork, job applications, and obligations seemed to pile up.
On Monday, following tea with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while, I decided to stick to that mission, taking a quick detour on my way home. It was on this detour that I witnessed the very first sign of winter in Maastricht, the hanging out the first Christmas lights.
Almost overnight, the town had been lit up, with twinkling lights overhead and sparkling trees lining the squares. That’s the thing I think I love most about Maastricht— the seasons demand to be experienced. Fall means autumn leaves floating down from trees and littering every sidewalk with color, and winter, it seems, is synonymous with Christmas. It’s not hard to get on board with that.
By Friday, the town was so beautiful and festive that I almost didn’t want to leave, but we all know I can’t stay in one place for too long...