Flying Solo | Dutch Diaries Week Five
The Weekend | Het Weekend
I’m coming to understand that when studying abroad, the weekend is a very loosely defined term that generally translates to “a number of consecutive days without class.” For me, this timeframe can span anywhere from three to five days, making for an ideal workweek, or lack thereof, and plenty of time to travel.
Included in the CES program is the chance to spend one of these weekends in the Hague and Delft on a trip completely planned and facilitated by the Center for European Studies. Unfortunately, since the UC Education Abroad Program (my program) takes part in a more budget friendly version of CES, I did not get to attend this weekend trip along with the majority of my friends. This, though, made for the perfect time to take part in the biggest study abroad right of passage there is: the solo trip.
Over the course of my four day weekend, I traveled to two cities, Amsterdam and Brugge, and stayed in three hostels (some significantly better than others), all completely by myself… And I survived.
Even more, I actually came to enjoy my own company and reveled in the fact that I could choose my own adventure and do so at my own pace. I even realized that even though I loved and looked forward to making new friends at each of the hostels I stayed at, I’m a lot more introverted in certain ways than I ever let myself embrace. There’s something to be said for taking a break from the constant stimulation of being surrounded by people to take in a new place at your own pace.
The first two days spent in Amsterdam, were full of canals, museums, stroopwafels, amazing churches (including one hidden in the attic of a canal house), and a morning run in the park. However, being a solo female traveler, I didn’t partake in any of the usual Amsterdam shenanigans. I felt a lot more comfortable frequenting the cafes than the coffee shops.
After spending two nights in Amsterdam, I hopped on the bus early in the morning for a quick four hour ride to Brugge (or Bruges depending on who you ask), where I would spend the next twenty-three hours before hopping back on that FlixBus toward Maastricht.
My time in Brugge was nowhere short of magical. Even though I was unreasonably hangry for the first hour or two of my time in the city (I will now always either eat before a bus ride or pack a substantial snack), I loved nearly every moment I spent in the adorable little city. I think it’s even an understatement to compare it to the set of a Hallmark Channel romantic comedy. I half expected to bump into that person I’ve been missing in stereotypical meet-cute fashion: with someone being adorably clumsy on one of the old stone bridges, white swans in the canals below.
That kind of romantic feeling in the air, it was a little strange to be there alone, but as I’ve been trying to do over the past month, I decided to embrace the awkwardness. This time, I even found myself dropping ten euro on a canal cruise (and tried my best to ignore the canoodling couple seated next to me) that ended up being the highlight of my trip… Well, that and the mocha made with Belgian chocolate that you have to stir into the hot milk yourself.
Of course, the highlights of my first solo trip don’t stop there, but for the sake of this weekly wrap up, I’ll save the details for later posts about each destination and move on to the study part of this abroad experience (yeah, we haven’t even made it to Tuesday’s summary yet).
Tuesday and Wednesday | Dinsdag en Woensdag
Admittedly, my weekdays are much less exciting now that the semester and my first block of classes is in full swing, and with my usually busy weekends full of travel and other shenanigans, I have to spend any time outside of the classroom either in a cafe or the library… or doing laundry.
Tuesday played out like every first day back in Maastricht after a weekend away. Between going to class, studying, mailing out my weekly postcards from Amsterdam and Brugge, grocery shopping, and doing laundry, I had just enough time for a quick visit to my favorite church (the gym) before heading to bed.
Wednesday, while similarly mundane during the day, brought a little more excitement at night. After finishing my long day of class on the other side of the River Maas, I rushed home on my bike for the long awaited birthday dinner of one of my friends and floor-mates. Craving something that reminded us all of home, we found ourselves at an American restaurant (this place even had the one condiment that has evaded the European diet: ranch) that served all of those so-terrible-that-they’re-good dishes that us Americans are known for and followed it up with a little dancing at one of our favorite Maastricht bars.
Thursday | Donderdag
I rolled out of bed a little tired this morning but just as excited as I was the night before. You see, college in Europe comes with something that college in the United States just doesn’t have: class field trips. Yep, that’s right. I spent two hours this morning at a mini meditation retreat with my positive psychology classmates practicing and learning the benefits of mindfulness at the local meditation and mindfulness center.
Thoroughly relaxed and sufficiently zen, I filled the three hour break between my field trip and my last lecture of the week by meeting up with some friends for coffee and a brief shopping trip to purchase our Oktoberfest dirndls that we’ll be needing when we go to Munich next weekend.
In between now and then, I will be spending a few days in Zurich, Switzerland with a family friend of one of friends here (a trip I’m leaving for at midnight tonight), writing a couple papers (there’s that whole study part of study abroad coming into play again), doing a lot of reading, and hopefully discovering a couple more of Maastricht’s best coffee shops. As of right now, with less than three hours before I hop on the bus for my Swiss adventure, I have to get packing…
