Hello from the Netherlands

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Hello Everyone!!

Well I just finished the 2 lectures we were given today. One was a cross-cultural workshop and the other was an Introduction to the European Union. Both were very interesting, but the second was very long. With a full belly from lunch and jet lag kicking in..it was a very long two hours, but interesting! We just found out there are two students studying here this semester and will be having dinner with them tonight. We are headed to have a special Maastricht meal but they won't tell us what it is...a little scary for a picky eater like myself! 😊

So..about that 4 hour layover in Philadelphia, well it turned into a 9 and a half hour layover. First, we found out it had been delayed two hours (to 8pm) and moved to a different gate. Once at that gate we found out it was a maintenance/mechanical problem with the plane. Then, once they had fixed the small problem, the mechanics noticed a larger problem that would delay us two more hours (to 10pm). Then, around 8:30 we heard good news (ya right) that they had found another plane we could take so it would be just a little bit longer before we left. So, once again we moved to a different gate. We then found out it was a smaller plane so all of our seats had to be re-assigned and people with connecting flights had to find new flights before we could leave. We finally started boarding around 10:45 and didn't take off until around 11:45. We were exhausted but none the less excited to finally be on our way!

We landed around 12:30 pm local time (we arer 7 hours ahead of Kansas) and were greeted by Bert. We then found out all of the other students had been waiting for us..we felt so bad! But they understood when they had heard what happened. We then took an hour and a half bus ride to Maastricht. We all got our room assignments and then went out for dinner to the town square. We got back to the room around 7pm and crashed. Emily and I woke up around 10 and it was still dark outside so we thought maybe we slept til morning! But, we hadn't and went right back to sleep til we got up around 7:30 this morning to come to the University.

Hope all is well back home and pray that everyone stayed safe through the storms! Miss you all!

Love,
Ashley

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