In Maastricht

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Hallo alleemaal!

This is my first entry after arriving in Europe, and a lot has happened so far. I would probably be able to remember more, but I have been without internet until now. It's amazing how lost we are without internet, for only three! 3! days.

Anways, we left Portland at 12:00 noon, and took a nonstop flight to Amsterdam. It was kind of a dissapointing flight, because I could hardly sleep at all, knowing that it would doom me once we got to Holland, which we arrived in at 7:00 AM! with a whole day to go!!! jet lag mucho mucho sucks...and im still not over it...anyways, we get through customs very quickly, and hit the most important stop in the Schipol Amsterdam Airport....BURGER KING! just kidding...only Tiffany did that....and it was nasty too...but it was cool to see the slight differences in menus...(Netherlands has more variant options...like miniburgers and onion ring burgers and fish stick thingys)...

Then we took the train from Schipol to Eindhoven to Maastricht....it was weird though...we were supposed to arrive at Maastricht at 11:37, but we arrived in Heerlen, nearby Maastricht, at that exact same time...:P...i was confused...but we took a quick train to Maastricht (which if you didnt know is like the most South you can go in the Netherlands), and didnt get lost or miss any trains or get on the wrong trains like I did on my Spring Break excursion to the Netherlands :P

Anways, me and Tiff get in Maastricht with a shitload of luggage and drop it all of at Dirk's place in Maastricht, which we have been staying at for a few days....of course it took us about half an hour to figure out the lock and get to the right room...but we did it lol...(I didnt think to turn the key ALL the way to the left). We have had trouble getting to sleep on time, however, and by that I mean we have been falling asleep at like 4 in the afternoon! and Tiffany apparently woke up at 3 in the morning today :P....jet lag sucks...

Besides that we have mostly just been expoloring Maastricht, and preparing the rest of our trip. Maastricht is a beautiful city, and Vrijhof, a central square is amazingly beautiful. I would reccomend anyone to come here...I cannot believe I will get to be here for an entire semester...😊

Some small quirks of the Netherlands (or maybe just Dirks house)
1. To change the temperature of the shower...you have to turn if off first...and then put it in a new spot...
2. the hot and cold knobs on the faucets turn opposite ways...
3. Dirk's studenthouse has the most narrow hallways i have ever experienced...i dont think an overweight person would be able to live there....

4. Everything here is smaller...the cars, the people (weightwise not heightwise...holy sh*&they are tall here)...the buildings, the food, the hallways, the streets....everything is smaller...which makes sense since its so crowded here...
5. and Tiffany says everyone dresses better here...which is very very true...i feel like a slob in Abercrombie lol...
6. Tiff says no one wears helmets on there bikes...
7. This isnt a Netherlands thing, but i thought it was pretty funny....there was a giant teddy bear in the front seat of a car...just sitting chilling out in the front seat...haha
8. It is very difficult to find bathrooms, internet (esp. free), benches, and pay phones...
9. Prepaid phone plans are very expensive! I have a new phone now, but dont call me unless its an emergency!!!!! lol
10. And lastly, the Dutch language...although in theory and on paper seems very similar to English, i am not picking up very much at all...hopefully will figure out more later on...

Well thats all for now...I commend you if you were really able to read this whole thing, cuz it was mostly a big ramble...

p.s. I did, however, manage to order fries for me and my sister in dutch...Ik wil graag twee frites normaal, met ketchup 😊
p.s.s. I leave for Paris tomorrow, so I will let you all know about that later on 😊

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Comments

[Julia]

Pictures
Can't wait to see pictures from your trip!

[Susan Andrews]

hope jet lag is over
Hi Myles and Tiffany, Hope you've gotten over your jet lag by now. Do you ever wonder how people like the Secretary of State (Hillary) manage to travel constantly? It's amazing they don't just keel over with exhaustion. Yesterday was Obama's 48th birthday! Of course, it doesn't count cuz he was born in Kenya. Not! Love you guys!

[Bonnie]

Hallo
de curses!

[Marcy Drake]

Myles and Tiffany
So, Myles and Tiffany are traveling through Europe. That sounds great. Keep a running list of all the items you lose or misplace. ;)

[Dirk]

Haha this is fun to look back at, um, something i could tell you some stuff: the thing about the shower that you said is not true, you don't need to turn it off and on, my shower just sucks ;) It's funny cuz by now your Dutch is pretty good and you thought it was gonna be so difficult. Well your classmates thought it was a lot more difficult than you did. Plus we're able to have a conversation by now (little bit) so that's really cool. That teddy bear thing made me crack up hehe, and ur right that's not a Dutch thing hehe... well i'm gonna read the other stories now (i know i'm kinda late cuz this was like 2 months ago but it's still cool to read it)