Summary of the Week

As I'm hours away from leaving for the weekend, wanted to get a blog post in before I left. Thought I could do a brief little summary about each of the last few days and the eventful things that occured:

Friday (19th): Cantus! What is this you may ask? It's a traditional beer drinking and singing event, and apparently there are other areas in Europe that have Cantus as well, so it's not solely a Dutch thing. It was one of the highlights of my trip so far, hands down. Picture a room of 50 people, singing LOUDLY to songs like Piano Man and Wonderwall (and if you didn't sing, you were punished)...while consuming beer. Also - there are multiple rules about how your beer must be consume, and any rules that are broken also require a punishment. Punishments usually entail being called up to the front and having to consume beer in a strange way or perhaps with other ingredients mixed in. I followed the rules, no worries! There is another Cantus in May, and all my friends and I are already excited to go back! It was a great time!

Saturday (20th): My new roommate and I had a fun, lazy day. I made us pototo salad (Mom's recipe) for dinner, and we both hung out in our jammies all day. It was wonderful! We both got a little studying in, but it was mainly about just relaxation. (sigh)

Sunday (21st): My Canadian friend Ben was on a skiing trip in the Swiss Alps all weekend, and unfortunately broke a bone in his hand. His trip was cut short, and his dad (who had been on this trip with him) came back to Maastricht to get his hand looked at. His dad wasn't planning on coming to Maastricht at all, so it was kind of a silver lining for Ben. But - his dad took Carolyn, Ryan (the other Canadian) and I out for dinner! We went to an Indonesian restaurant and had rijsttafel. This is a Dutch word for 'rice table'. The whole table shares many small dishes of spiced meat, spiced vegetables, different sauces and different kinds of rice. You can make whatever concoction you want out of the different options. It was one of the best meals I've ever had, in my 21 years. So filling, and had so many wonderful flavors...from curry to the spicy peanut sauce, to coconut on the chicken...oh MAN! So good! It was a wonderful night and we were all extremely thankful to Ben's dad for his generosity.

Monday (22nd): Monday was mainly school focused, as I've been trying to study as much in advance for my accounting final (on April 1st) because I'll be gone this whole weekend. I got quite a few chapters looked through on Monday. I also was finally able to stock up at the grocery store! Stores here are closed on Sundays, and they don't open on Monday's until noon. I just had a little misc food left, so bringing home new food from the grocery store was a good feeling. Plus - I enjoy grocery shopping. :)

Tuesday (23rd): Tuesday didn't start off that great, but did end on a good note. I had forgotten about a load of laundry I had put in the washer the night before, and remembered moments before I had to walk out the door that morning. Had to hurry and lay everything out to try to get the wrinkles out. But - my coat had been in this load, so walking to class in it was a bit damp and uncomfortable.

Gave a presentation that day, which went well. But, in my Consumer Behavior class we got back a group paper from our tutor. He basically had ripped it apart, and told us that we could redo it. He did allow other groups to redo theirs as well, but his issues with our paper were so nit-picky. Also, a few of the words we had used, he misinterpreted to mean other things. I was frustrated, because as English is my native and ONLY language, the way a word is used in the paper is true to how it's used normally. BUT - there are many words that are used differently in 'European English' and we had to struggle to figure out how to change the words in our paper. The rest of the afternoon I was in the library on campus, studying Accounting.

Afterward, Carolyn and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients to make bruschetta! Some friends of ours, who all live on the same corridor, take turns cooking every night. We had been invited, for the second time, to eat with this hallway. We felt like we should bring something along, and bruschetta it was! Theresia came to help us cook it...and if I do say so myself, it was amazing! :) Dinner that night was a creamy pasta dish with chicken and mushrooms, cooked by our new friend Chris (who is from Manchester, England). Delicious!

Wednesday (24th): Looking back, a lot happened yesterday. First, started off the BEAUTIFUL DAY (close to 70 degrees here) by going shopping down in the market square area with Carolyn and Theresia. I was in need of some flats, as the ones I had brought give me bloody heels. I was successful! I found some cheap but comfortable knock-off boat shoes at HM. WIN! I'm wearing them on the trip today in fact! After shopping, we sat outside one of the many restaurants surrounding the Vrijhof Square, sipping Fanta and sharing a big ice cream between the three of us. It was lovely to just sit and feel the sun on you (no coat or fleece required) and taste the ice cream on your tongue. It was wonderful!

We split up from there, and I headed to go pick up my residence visa. This little plastic card required so much stress and money. There was a huge amount of paperwork that was required to be sent in last Fall, and I've never been more excited to see a little plastic card in my life. I've also never had my passport inspected as thoroughly as it was before they gave me the little plastic card. What a relief! In the same building, there's also the University gift shop. I'd been eying one of the sweatshirts since the day I got here...and gave in finally. I bought a greenish/turquoise one and am also wearing that today on my trip. With my new red shoes. :)

The rest of the afternoon was spent either working on the group paper for Consumer Behavior - which is 98.2% completed at this point, or working on Accounting. Then, last night I hosted the dinner club (Ben, Ryan and Carolyn), but it was just for dessert. We ate a tasty tiramisu-like cake with jam inside. This we did purchase at the store...can't take credit for making it. But, it was delicious and the perfect size (a half-cake) to share between the four of us! Then, back to studying Accounting for a bit - and then time to pack!!

So today, Thursday (25th): I'm headed to Dublin, Ireland!!! I'm SO excited, not only to see this beautiful country, which has been at the top of my list of must-see's...but my parents are meeting me there! I know I've already mentioned this fact, but I'm SO excited to see them. Even with being an hour and a half away from them normally at the U, I still see them at least every month. This is the longest I've ever gone without seeing them, and although Skype helps, it'll be wonderful to actually see them in person. I leave today in about two hours, take a bus to the Maastricht train station, the a train to Eindhoven, then a bus to the Eindhoven airport, then a plane to Dublin, and then a bus to my hostel in Dublin! Shall be a crazy day of travel!! I'll be in Ireland all by myself tonight, staying at a hostel, and then will meet up with Mom and Dad tomorrow morning. Their flight gets in around 8:30 AM, so I'm going to simply meet them at their hotel, only a short walk from my hostel. Then, the three of us will explore Dublin for the next two days!! I fly home on Sunday around 4:30, and will get back to Maastricht around 9 probably, with all the trains and buses required. I've been looking forward to this trip since Christmas...when the trip was announced. YAY!!

I'll write up a FULL report about the awesome-ness that is Ireland. I'm sure you'll see multiple pictures as well. :) Hope everyone is enjoying the Spring weather, wherever you may be! I'll be back people...Sunday night!