You all know how fond I am of a list...

...so here's a few I've been keeping.

Things I missed about home (other than family and friends of course):

• Fruchocs
• Tim tams
• Allen’s lollies (they're a better kind of chewy than the Haribo gummy bear type lollies that abound in Europe)
• The buzz of a newsroom, after work drinks, work freebies and events

• Heading out before midnight!
• Wine tours and nice wine (I think I’d forgotten the difference and for a while there was subsisting on 3 euro bottles and exclaiming that everything was just “very drinkable”)
• A nice shower in a clean bathroom
• A proper mattress and pillow... on a a bed bigger than a kiddy bunk
• Windows with bug screens
• Fan heaters
• A couch!! In a living room
• Watching AFL
• My car (but only every now and again - like when it was freezing or raining, although having said that you didn't need to scrape frost off a bike's windscreen and it always started in the morning!)
• Sea  water and the sound of the beach (even in winter)
• Living 5 minutes from my boyfriend
• Cheaper public transport
• Eavesdropping! (although my Dutch reached a level just before I left where I could listen in on the odd conversation going on around me)
• Confidence in brand names and being able to ask for advice when shopping
• Philli cheese in blocks (they only sell it in tubs in Maastricht)
• Copperpot Houmus (I finally found a brand of houmus mildly as good in Jumbo and like 3 weeks later they discontinued it!!!)
• Haighs (clearly - within days of getting back to Adelaide I went in and bought a bag full of all my favourite flavoured chocolates)
• Waking up and its 30C (instead of minus something degrees)
• Swish dancing (although there was an abundance of 90s music played at random Dutch pubs its just wasn't the same)
• Beer weather
• Getting dressed up (nobody does that in Maastricth, the hoodie is the official uniform of most evenings)

Things I miss about Maas:

• Stroppwaffels and stroopwafel mcflurries (although I've found a place in the central markets that sells "syrup wafels" imported from the Netherlands and I'm going to recreate a strropwafel McFluffy by ordering a caramel sundae and adding the crushed biscuits)
• Gouda cheese from the supermarket (it was the cheapest brand, like Balck&Gold here and it was the smoothest, tastiest, meltiest cheese ever)
• The crazy gusthouse cleaning lady yelling “CLEANING!” as she comes in at 8am on a Thursday morning
• Dutch ads (they’re hilarious even if you can't understand them, in fact... they're probably hilarious because you can't understand them)
• Dutch subtitles (good for practice)
• My roomies
• Sitting on the Vrijtof drinking beers in the sun, eating bitterballen ... or sitting on Emma's balcony drinking Pimms eating chips!
• Biking (most of the time - I really need to get my bike sorted here but its a kind of mountain bike thing and I miss the nice bikes with pretty handle bars!)
• Being able to just wander down the corridor and be at a friend’s place
• Living in a TRULY 20 minute city, which Adelaide no longer is
• Having a common room at uni where people play musical intstruments and stage plays with bananas as guns... just because
• Studying crazy stuff like Theorising Terrorism and analysing Aqua songs for assignments
• Being surrounded by well-informed people who debate politics over pizza
• My new friends :'(
• Being able to pop over to another country for the weekend!
• Authentic pubs that are small, with dark wood and cool bartenders (not the huge modern things we have here which can get a bit sterile)
• Communist dinners (the sharing of ingredients among guesthousers)
• Cycling as a posse on a night out
• The choice of beer (Belgian, Dutch, German ... fruit, white, dark...)

Things I don’t miss about Maas:

• Cobble stones and resultant bingo wings (this one's for you Katie!)
• Cycling up the steep cobble street out of the city (I will never forget the dread of that street as long as I live)
• Getting letters in languages I can’t understand!
• The banking systemSchizophrenic weather (13C one day, 30C the next, raining the day after)
• Being able to hear a pin drop from everywhere in our tiny flat
• The teeny tiny bathroom and crappy shower, and generally no fans in European bathrooms
• Worrying one of the little neighbourhood punks is going to puke in the guesthouse entrance again
• Getting soaked on the bike
• The dread of being ONE minute late for a class at UCM
• Lack of wine choices in Jumbo
• Working out time differences
• Television shows being interrupted for adbreaks at the stupidest times (like mid sentence) or the intervals at the cinema!

Things I didn’t expect back home

• Stripper heels and fur-trimmed vests are fashionable now
• Lunch for 2 cost $62!!
• Stamps are now 60c
• Bus route names have changed but the routes are still the same!
• How much I would mind not having a car
• How much I would be bothered by not having a job for a while
• How unenthused I would be by uni back home
• How much I would appreciate having a dishwasher again
• The sunny winter weather (I think I luckily missed the worst of the winter here)
• To feel as though I've been back for SO long when I've only been back a month at this stage
• The odd feeling like the whole exchange almost didn't happen - its really hard to get my head around the fact that I was there and now I'm here but other people are still there... or elsewhere ... if that makes any sense!

Day 350 (can you believe it?!?!?!)

A week from today I leave Maastricht.  A bit over a week after that I leave Europe. Man has that come around fast. I mean, not really of course, it has been almost a year, but it feels like particularly the last few weeks here have been set to warp speed. I remember achingly counting down weeks and days for other milestones (Brett coming, 100 days til I get home, the start of the last study block etc.) but now it seems I can't keep up. It feels like just minutes ago I was saying "one month left"!

My last post went up as the first of my friends began the slow dribble out of this bath-town with the student plug pulled out. Now the bathwater is almost completely gone and the drain is making that weird squeaking noise as the air tries to escape down the plumbing! There is literally NO-ONE here this weekend. I went for a walk around the guesthouse perimeter the other day (on my way to throw out the first few of MANY more bags to come of rubbish, old clothes and collected crap that needs to be excavated from my room before leaving) and of the 80 or so flats in these large buildings (which house 2 people each) there are about 5 occupied. And walking past an empty flat where friends used to live and knowing they're not inside is a surprisingly lonely feeling. I feel a bit like Will Smith in that movie "I am Legend", the only person left on the planet it seems sometimes, like some airborne disease wiped out all the people here while I was on my last holiday and I've come home to find the landscape unaffected, but EMPTY!

The only two people left in the guesthouse whom I know (Nakita and my roomie Emma) are away on last-ditch weekend trips. Nakita and I technically leave on the same day - next Friday, a week from today - but she goes home while I make my own last-ditch attempt at a "Summer" with 8 nights in Croatia. While I'm there Emma leaves and then its all over. I'll come back to Maastricht for just a couple of hours to check out of the guesthouse and grab any extra packing and then the looooong journey home begins. Catching that last bus from the guesthouse to the train station is going to be an odd combination of excited butterflies, melancholy and mild panic I think!

After all this jetting around Europe the past year I'm rather used to one or, at a pinch, two hour flights to most places. I have become spoilt. And now I'm facing about 20 hours in the air, separated by a 16 hour lay over in Kuala Lumpur (a far inferior airport to waste time in than say Singapore, which has a free movie theatre!). And before I even think about getting on the flight home I have to fly from Croatia to Germany and then get a train from there to Maastricht. That's about 6 hours travelling, plus a train from Maastricht to Amsterdam airport is another 3 or so... which means over four days I'm looking at about 40 hours traveling time and a whoooole lotta waiting.... The upside though is saying goodbye to budget airlines. If I MUST be trapped on a plane for so long, at least Malaysia Airlines is going to feed me, entertain me, attend to me and provide me with all sorts of unpaid for extras :D

In the meantime, this last week is going to be a mad rush of:

• finishing study (which I have come to describe as an annoying mosquito near the back of my ear - not exactly hard but annoying and I wish it would just go away)
• the continued dismantling of the flat (which I began a few days ago but can't yet bring myself to put away all the things that make this place home and face staring at 4 white walls and empty cupboards again like it was when I arrived)
• last minute catch ups with friends (I said "doei!" to my dear Dutch friend Iris last night, with an open invite to Australia)
• dealing with bureaucracy (I apparently have to deregister with the city administration, give back my ID card, close my bank account, check out of my accommodation... etc etc)
• and general panic attacks (have I packed everything, have I seen everyone, have I been everywhere i want to?!?!)

And then, like that, it will all be over....

Day 330 - The Maas exodus begins...

Today I said goodbye two the first two of my good friends in Maastricht to leave – forever. The mass exodus of Maas has begun. One by one, over the next 6 weeks or so, we’ll drop like flies, at least until I head home in 39 days. We all knew this time was coming, but it comes with mixed feelings now. There’s not a single one of us I’m sure who isn’t excited for some reason or other to be heading home soon (some are looking forward to seeing boyfriends or girlfriends [maybe even Mum and Dad!], visiting a favourite restaurant again, hearing TV ads in English once more or regaining easy access to vegemite). But I’d wager there’s also a part of all of us that kind of wishes we could stay here forever (our friends and family could all move here right… we could import Vegemite right?). Not just physically (because the weather would eventually drive me mad) but in some metaphysical way I’m sure most of us have at least one moment from our time in Maastricht that we could “be in” forever. Some of mine may be soaking up the sun on my roommate’s balcony and finally feeling “at home” here, watching snow fall for the first time outside a classroom window or racing along in a posse of fietsers (cyclists) to a party in town. Of course these moments are different for all of us, but I’m sure a lot of them are also shared memories.


In the coming weeks people will leave, almost every day, and the guesthouse will begin to empty again. In a strange way, for those of us here for the past year, this place is starting to revert back to how it was when we first arrived. The weather is getting back to those late August days, there are just as many bugs in the air and flowers in the ground, there’s people moving in and out of the guesthouse and every last experience of something reminds us of the first time … but instead of buying bikes and toasters and bed pillows everyone is trying to get rid of them. Instead of  “hi, my name is … and I’m from… where are you from?… what room are you in?” the talk around the guesthouse is now “how do you think I can get all my crap home?”, “who wants my flour when I leave?”, “where do you fly out from?” and of course “what day do you go?”.

Every day I have a little panic attack about something I still haven’t done here – quintessentially Maastricht things that I’ve always said I would do but have put off in favour of some buitenland (or other land) adventure because Maastricht would “always be here”. But now, like sands through the hourglass… Maastricht’s days are numbered and there’s still so much more to be discovered. Just tonight we walked past two bars that looked really cool and I’d never either seen or thought about going to before. Every time I cycle past the vrijtof square in the centre of town I’m reminded that I must climb to the top of that church and see the view everyone is talking about. It’s similar with people. Despite being in the same guesthouse for the whole year (or even half a year), there are plenty of people I’m only just starting to get to know better. And now of course I don’t want them to go!

And when everyone is gone (and they all pretty much will be by the time I’m packing my bags) this place will literally feel empty. For at least a couple of weeks right at the end of my stay there will only be one or two friends left with whom to do all these things still on my Maastricht bucket list. I fear it will be a tad lonely … especially as the homesickness increases. Tonight, some of us were debating the merits or otherwise of going early vs being the last one standing. Those who go early might feel like they’re missing out, or a pang of jealousy or nostalgia at hearing what we’re still getting up to over here, but those of us who go last have to go through so many goodbyes and the unsettling feeling that something is missing. We had a goodbye celebration for one friend tonight, but by the time I leave it's looking like an intimate dinner for just two as Nakita and I say au revoir before leaving on the same day.

For me, in the meantime, I spend a little more time each day thinking about home as it gets closer and closer. Sometimes I imagine what it will be like to emerge at the airport, looking like the black “luggage turtle” who left last year, into the no doubt cold Adelaide morning and be “home”. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll bring my children to Maastricht one day, like how my parents showed me where they lived in their 20s in London. Other times I dream about the day I can chuck out all the crap in my flat here, pull down all the photos, pack up all the clothes, strip that God awful mattress/block of foam and jump on the first train to Amsterdam airport! However, I imagine it will be a weird sensation, to say the least, when all that is done and I look at my flat and it appears just as I found it – four white walls, a bare bed and a hotch-potch assortment of IKEA furniture.

When I left Adelaide for this big scary adventure my biggest fear actually was not missing home, the language barrier or losing my passport – it was worrying I wouldn’t make good friends. Reliable friends. Real friends. Thankfully, as usual, I worried for nothing. While no-one can replace the people in my life back home, I was lucky enough to meet a group of people here who have made it just that little bit less horrendous to be away from everyone else. And as skype/facebook/TNT post have helped maintain the relationships on hold back home, when they resume, I have no doubt we Maastricht Alumni will put those methods of communication to use in reverse. From long-distance relationships to Australia to ‘doing long-distance’ with friends scattered all over the world. (And of course, knowing I always have a bed for the night in Scotland, Canada and Sydney at the very least :P)

This post has clearly been my most “mushy” so far – and this blog is not intended as a personal diary – but I wanted to record (and share) these thoughts because I believe they are a crucial part of the “exchange experience”. Let's see how things pan out over the next 38 days...

Day 325 - Wandelen in Maastricht

Last post I complained about the unpredictable weather.... and it has continued. At the moment the sun and rain seem to alternate one day on, one day off! Nonetheless, on the sunny days, I've taken to exploring our surroundings. Each day I'm reminded of how little time I have left here, relatively speaking (the first of my year-long friends leaves in a week and then they drop like flies about once a week from there until in 6 weeks I'll be gone myself! - last (wo)man standing!). So, I'm trying to make the most of the sunny weather and explore parts of our neighbourhood previously unaccessible due to snow!

It really is a wonderful little part of the world we live in here; a neighbourhood of cute rows of identitcal little houses with manicured front gardens, parks and playgrounds dotted in amongst big conrete 70s looking apartment blocks (the Dutch are particularly good at creating useable open space but particularly bad at making mass housing look good), sprinklings of shops (or winkels in dutch - love that word!) and then BANG ... cow fields! it's so weird, you walk up the street and then at the end it might open up into a corn field, or a horse in someone's front yard, or cows just chilling in a paddock by the river. The dog walking continues as people traipse out into fields with their dogs... and everywhere you go you can see either a church spire or a wind turbine on the horizon. It really is a mix of suburbia and farm life in such a small area. It's a wonderful feeling to have so much open space around but also be so close to the cosmopolitan centre of town.

While cycling is definitely the preferred mode of transport here there is something nice about walking, which we tend to forget as we hurtle off on two wheels to uni most days. Being able to tromp through a field or find a little dirt path behind some Belgian houses that opens into an expanse of daisies... it's very easy to explore but almost impossible to get lost! The only downside... NO ONE picks up their dog poop here! so its EVERYWHERE :(

Some of the more memorable things I've seen/experieced on recent walks include being asked what country we were in (standing on the Dutch side of a river that divides Maastricht from Belgium) - never had that one before, the surprise of coming round a corner and being confronted with a rolling field ending in a majestic group of four huge white wind turbines (I honestly think they're quite graceful, just spinning round and round, but never frantically, just big and slow and quiet), seeing a mother cow and calf in a field I found down a little farmers lane ... and generally, the fact that there are flowers all around, be it poppies, little daisies or rose bushes :)

I guess this is bit of an effort to explain to those of you back home who are interested,what it's like to live in Maastricht. So, to help paint a better picture... here are some pictures :P


Emmaplein roundabout and church - a central point between our guesthouse and town/uni


the street leading up to our guesthouse


our local Jumbo supermarket - closed for a public holiday, just like Adelaide!


the little rows of white houses, so cute :)


the most awesome houses in Maastricht - like little canal/caravan houses but on a proper street ... elcectic might be the word to describe them...?


wind turbines :D


church spire


HORSE! (note the wind turbine in the distance :P)


the river-border between netherlands and belgium, photo taken on the dutch side and obviously the bridge is the "border crossing"


COWS! - makes me miss the MooMobile

one of the many playgrounds

park in town, next to the river, behind uni - where the cool kids hang out in the nice weather :P

old cobbled pedestrian bridge over the Maas river in town at dusk - with the obligatory church spire in the background!

Days 261 to 265 - Far, Faro away

(NB: I TRIED to be more succinct this time but its clearly going to take work!)

Day 261 (Tues)
So I did something naughty this week … I left the country without finishing an assignment - GASP! (Don’t worry Dad, I did get it finished when I returned!) but in the meantime I took a little sojourn to Portugal for 4 days with 4 lovely girls. On this trip we had the pleasure of flying out of Maastricht Airport, literally half an hour away by bus compared to 2 hour train rides to Amsterdam or Brussels airports, and it’s a pity we can’t fly out of “home-base” more often but unfortunately the routes from there are limited to say the least.


Regardless, we made the most of it this time, and after a truly stellar effort by Andra (Canada) to get to the bus stop in a flat 7 minutes after sleeping through her alarm (fully dressed and brandishing all the necessary documents no less!) we were up, up and away. Our destination was the port town of Faro in southern Portugal. All the travel guides recommend using the place for its budget airline airport, staying one night and moving on but we actually had the most relaxing and engaging 4 days without getting anywhere near a big city.


The gang for this trip


The first afternoon was spent wandering around the Marina, with views over the ocean and the airport which juts out over the water, discovering the old town and receiving an impromptu tour for 5 of the most interesting church I’ve seen in Europe so far, comprising about eight different altars. At dinner time we were sucked in by the “Playboy of Portugal” to eat at his restaurant – no joke this guy is apparently famous on YouTube for being a bit too smooth with the tourists! But, after watching us struggle to de-bone our whole (albeit delicious) fish, he did help us find a cosy, as the Dutch say, little bar for few caprihna’s and portugese beer afterwards.


AMAZING lunch on the first day - that's one WHOLE slice of bread!


Crazy enormous birds nest - and they were everywhere in Faro!


Day 262 (Wed)
The plan today was to get a ferry out to the Ilha Deserta (literally the deserted island) off the coast of Faro but when the solemn-faced man at the ferry ticket office told us the boats weren’t running that day because of 5ft waves (or was it 5m, I’m no good nautically) we weren’t complaining – we headed for the beach instead. A 20 minute bus ride out of town, there’s this curious strip of sand with crashing waves on one side, a few holiday houses in the middle and this kind of bay on the other side which abuts the airport (and means crazy views over the beach as we landed yesterday). The sun was shining but there was a fair wind whipping up the beach. It didn’t stop us from settling in with our supermarket picnic lunches and soaking up the rays. (Now, Dad, I’ll admit, I got a bit of colour, but can you blame my poor skin, its been eight months since it saw proper sunshine! Nothing too serious though). And, I’m proud to report we even went swimming – the waves were crashing, the water was probably about 10C and quite deep past the break point, but we dived in and pretended to like it! Mostly though it was just wonderful to have that sandy, salty, beach feeling again after so long. Back on the beach there was time for a cheeky beer (although its actually legal to drink on the beach) and then back into town for dinner (featuring eel stew, if you fancy!)

Bright sun over the beach

Day 263 (Thurs)
To the edge of the world, and beyoooond! That was the plan today as our group took a 3-hour train/bus trip to Sagres, the south-western most point of continental Europe (sometimes called “the edge of the world”) where these imposing cliffs rise straight out of the water, and the wind whips across the landscape, roughing up the waves. Looking out over the sea the next land mass is apparently Canada so there was just nothing as far as the eye could see and the sea just seemed to melt into the sky above. It was pretty sobering to think of explorers just setting off from a point quite like that and not knowing what they’d come across or if they’d ever return. Just as coursgeous were the crazy fisherman perched on the high cliffs with fishing rods! And heading back to the bus we experienced the other highlight of the day (of course involving food) - cracking a cold Sagres Portugese beer in its namesake town :D

The girls looking out over the cliffs which formed a few bays - Canada out to the right of this photo somewhere!

Sagres in Sagres!

That night we had a taste of the Portugese nightlife and it was the first time I have felt truly European because we didn’t head out until about 1am! All the euro kids in Maastricht head out to pubs and clubs so late they make us Aussies look like grandmas with our dinner at 8pm and home by maybe 2am. This night we had dinner about 11pm (where Andra scored meal of the night with an intriguing octopus and sweet potato hot pot type dish), drinks for a couple of hours (included a few glasses of Faro’s finest 1 euro-per-glass red wine!) and then explored a few clubs down some cobbled streets. When the last place closed at 6am we strolled to the Marina to watch the sunrise and flopped into bed about 7am :)

Sittin' on the dock o' the bay - where we watched the sun come up

Day 264 (Fri)
Our last full day in Faro was spent recovering(!) and soaking in the 28C weather, about 13C warmer than when we’d left Maastricht. I also continued my tradition of an espresso (which I seem to like every now and then in Europe but will probably never drink again when I get home) and these awesome portugese custard tarts. After a stroll to a park with gum trees(!), Ally, one of the other girls (all of whom were Canadian), and I went on an open boat tour out into the harbour and ocean. The water was beautiful and calm and the weather perfect. Even better was the company, a bustly mother from London and her gorgeous 3 year old son Joe, who took QUITE a liking to Ally. After trying to hold her hand numerous times little Joe even got up the courage to ask Ally if she’d like to go home with him?! Now there’s the real playboy in Portugal :P


Ally and her Portugese 'fling' :


Ally's amazing shot from our boat of a boat out on the water


Day 265 (Sat)
Unfortunately it was a very early flight home (leaving for the airport at 5am) but at least we were flying directly back to home-base. Pity I was also flying home to a 4000 word essay to finish … but definitely worth it :)

These times they are a changin'

Just takin' some time out to put down a few observations of late.
This blog comes slightly out of order, in that I’ve just got back from 2 weeks holidays with the lovely Brett (which I will blog about soon I promise but its looming as a massive undertaking for another day) but I’ve noticed a few things which I wanted to share.


Spring has finally sprung in Maastricht. I’ve been waiting for it for so long because I got here in time to see the trees change from green to autumn colours to deathly black sticks and I’ve been so looking forward to seeing all the leaves and flowers come back. Now don’t get too excited, the signs are only small at the moment – but the promise they hold is making everyone here noticeably more happy. Little daisies are starting to sprout in the green lawns now that they’re no longer suffocated by snow, and rows of yellow or purple flowers are popping up in random clumps in large patches of grass (for example there’s a rectangular sort of section of flowers out the front of our guesthouse building in the middle of a whole field of grass). Japanese blossom trees are flowering and there are daffodils in people’s front gardens. (All of this bodes very well for our planned trip to the Netherland’s largest display of tulips and other flowers up north in about a month’s time).

     

(a taste of the Keukenhof flower gardens - maastricht doesn't quite look like this yet!)

The weather also has pulled its finger out – it got to a whopping 16C yesterday! (although the average has been more like 13C during the day and about 4C at night.) Still, there’s sun, oh glorious sun. It was actually warm in the sunlight, like ‘break a small sweat if you were mildly physically active in said sun’ warm. My new roomie even hauled a chair out on to her balcony (which I don’t think anyone else has used since I’ve been here) to read a book in the sun. And it won't be long before Nakita gets out those shorts she's been longing to wear (and so whinging about) for months! When we first got here all the Aussie gave these Euro wimps crap for ripping off their tops and dining alfresco as soon as the weather tipped above 10C but after months of sunlight deprivation and night falling as early as 4.30pm we know understand. When Brett and I left here 2 and a bit weeks ago it was about 5C, gloves, scarves and hats were necessary. On my return I find I need only wear 2 layers now and I can even get away with cycling without gloves. I don’t even need the 5 pairs of woollen socks I’ve accumulated. Over the last few days I too, like some deprived European sunflower, have begun turning my head to the sun every chance I get (although I argue it is still a bit too chilly to sit outside to eat).

I am most pleased though at the extended daylight hours – it’s now light until at least 6.30pm which means less riding home in the dark. AND its lighter earlier in the mornings which, yep, you guessed it, means less riding TO uni in the dark. All in all the weather over the past few days has reminded me a bit of home, those days between summer and autumn where its no longer beach weather but its perfect for a drive with the window down or a walk on the beach (but not a swim).


However, I am weary not to get ahead of myself. We have had bursts of nice weather before (say a week of 8C days in between weeks of frost and fog) and even during one day the weather can turn – you leave the house without a scarfe, hat or gloves because you think it won’t be necessary and end up coming home an ice cube. So I refused to be suckered in completely. But it is officially spring here and the signs are good for a gradually move back to that elusive European summer I experience for just a few weeks at the start of my trip.



And on another note, I know I've been a bit slack with your Dutch lessons (although I've still been going to mine) so here's some Dutch I've learned:
"Helas pindakaas!" = "that's crap!"
spijkerbroek is the Dutch word for jeans (go firgure)
and a cute one... krumeltjes = crumbs! :)

Day 217 - Cologne in a nutshell (and in a day)

Day 217 - Weeeee got a ticket to riiiiiide :D

After my Turkish room-mate (who only stayed about 2 weeks in the end) disappeared to Cologne for the weekend on a spontaneous trip I decided it might not be a bad idea. However, we only went for the day but still, going to another country for the equivalent of a ‘Sunday drive’ sounded pretty spontaneous to me! So Nakita (Sydney), Andra (Canada) and I hopped on the bus/train and less than 2 hours later we were in Cologne, Germany.

the intrepid daytrippers

Not knowing a lot about the place and having done minimal research (that wouldn’t be very spontaneous would it!?) we decided the easiest thing to do would be to jump on one of those oh so cool tourist buses (double decker of course) with the nifty headsets that tell you about the place in a bajillion different languages. Good thing there was no walking tour option (which we would have taken) because the city is actually quite spread out, over two sides of a river, and it was unusually cold that day both in Cologne and Maastricht, cold enough to get tiny tiny little flecks of snow at times. So we sat on the bus for about an hour and a half (along with a guy who, no joke, burped loudly about 5 times during the trip!!! with not a hint of bashfulness) as we were driven past the place that actually first made cologne cologne (you know, the smelly stuff of the same name - but to be honest the stuff stinks!), the zoo and botanic gardens (which would NOT have been a pleasant stop on such a cold day), a chocolate factory on the river bank and most memorably a brewery on a big square where we promptly marched back to for lunch after the bus tour!



the cologne-ery
 Our waiter was hilarious, taking every opportunity to put another glass of the beer brewed right on premises down in front of us. It was nice, refreshing beer with a windmill as its logo. The place was small and cozy, like a slightly dwarfed version of a normal german beer hall, and the food was great – schnitzel just how we like it (tender and pan fried pork) with whatever kind of potatoes you can think of to ask for. Of course we had to indulge in some streudel for dessert … and a couple more beers (which we really HAD to indulge in, the guy wouldn’t say no, even Nakita had more than one!! ;P)


After a stroll back through the shopping district (a network of pedestrian malls which are pretty well advertised in Maastricht etc as a good place to spend a day melting the plastic) we arrived at the real attraction in town – the Koln Dom, or Cologne Cathedral. Now this thing is just awesome – literally. A textbook example of a gothic cathedral, all grey and black and imposing. It’s so tall (can't fit it all in any of our camera lenses), and so detailed and SO old (like 600 years old) and so big inside. EVERY window is filled with detailed leadlight and the most vibrant colours (even on an overcast day) that I wonder how they actually produced such colours back then. Unfortunately we had intended to climb to the top of it for the view but the bloody stairs closed at 4pm! (remember I said we didn't do any research) so we admired from the ground.

cathedral

some of the beautiful leadlight

Given the frosty weather, the only things left to do were a pit stop at the souvenier shop and a bakery (to grab a berliner donut for the trip home) and a quick squiz down at the waterfront (as the train station was near the river) and then it was back on the train/bus to Maastricht. Home by about 7pm – not a bad way to fill a day :)

Days 145 to 147 - Madriiiizzzz

In an act of pure insanity, I decided after seeing a piece on the news about an interesting photography exhibition being held in Madrid, that I wanted to visit the Spanish capital... asap. So after convincing Scottish Kathleen she should celebrate her 20th birthday in Madrid met mij we booked our tickets and were off to sort-of-Sunny Spain (where thankfully no rain fell on the plains during our visit).

However, our good luck stopped there. We were due to fly out of Eindhoven (an hour from Maastricht by train) at 9.15am and arrive in Madrid at midday. Everything ran like clockwork getting to the airport (despite having to get up at 4.30am!!!) and then the fog descended ... literally. We couldn't see two feet past the airport windows ... we weren't going anywher :( eventually the airport PA system told us in Dutch (which I actually kind of understood) and then English that we would he put on buses and sent to another airport ... in Germany! So we were herded like cattle outside to wait for about an hour in the freezing temperatures for coaches to take us about an hour and a half in the wrong direction to Dusseldorf airport. By the time we arrived there it was about the time we should have been landing in Madrid. NOT HAPPY JAN!

waiting for the buses at eindhoven airport

The influx of unexpected passengers at sleepy little Dusseldorf airport was not dealt with well. The result - a jam packed boarding lounge, mass confusion, more delays and eventual panic. It actually got a bit scary at one point as people started shoving and shouting and airport staff started closing security doors to keep the tired, hungry, grumpy masses in check. And the Ryan Air staff were USELESS. I'm sorry, I know it would have been a tough day for them but they lived up to their reputation as an unreliable airline by not even being able to find out what gate we were supposed to go to! Regardless, we eventually took off for Madrid at about 3.30pm and arrived around 6pm.

The decorative atrium in our hostel

Stepping off the plane it was immediately warmer!! A turn around of probably 20C, we walked into 16C temperatures and it never dropped below 9C while we were there. What a pleasure not to have to wear gloves, a hat or thick scarves ... and only one pair of tights!! Bliss (although of course it was the complete opposite coming home which was so depressing). Although we'd missed 6 hours of tourist time we resolved to make the most of what we had left and headed straight for the nearest tapas bar, where we promptly ordered (in a mix of Kathleen's high-school Spanish and my pointing gestures) mojitos and a plate of the tastiest chorizo I've ever chewed. Next was 6 euro paella (platefuls that could feed an army each) and our first Sangria at a joint recommended by our hostel. It didn't disappoint, and the whole meal was watched over by a giant stuffed bull's head.

With full stomachs, we set off to wander the streets. The Christmas lights there put Aachen and Maastricht to shame. Every street was choccas with fairy lights in all patterns and colours, dangling, chaped into globes and, our favourite, the designer red and green enormous christmas tree in the puerta de la sol square. Also, there were people everywhere - another novelty compared to Maastricht. And shops were open. And it was "warm" enough to just be able to 'wandel' as the Dutch say (loosely translated means wandering with no real purpose except maybe to get food at some stage!) And indeed we did. Early on we stopped at THE COOLEST place I've ever been to have a drink. It was like a butcher/small goods store, bar and restaurant in one. Apparently they're everywhere in Madrid but we were genuinely amazed. Full of locals, including old and young, these places serve really cheap but really good sangria, beer and tapas at a bar smack in the middle of what would otherwise look like a shop. Hanging all around are legs of ham while the glass cabinets showcase cheeses, sausages and cured meats and even desserts! Bizarre... Later we capped off our night with churros and hot chocolate as pseudo birthday cake for Kathleen at midnight, and an extremely strong Spanish gin and fanta (that's a new one... but surprisingly tasty)

the butcher bar

giant christams tree decoration - you could even go inside it and look up, trippy view



The next morning it was up and at 'em (after a delicious croissant for breakfast at the hostel - better than any i had in france) to visit the 100 Years of Vanity Fair photography exhibition - our raison d'etre in Madrid (to begin with anyway). The images were beautiful, quirky, shocking, old, new, colour and black and white. It was a wonderful hour spent just wandering from frame to frame peering at the famous people who have been captured by the influential magazine. It was also interesting to consider the images outside of the context of the stories they would have originally accompanied.

By the time we were done it was about midday so we headed to Plaza Mayor where Madrid's excuse for Christmas Markets were being held. While the city excels at Chrissie lights, their markets were a bit laughable in comparison to Aachen. Although all the kids and sickeningly in-love couples were strutting around in these cute reindeer hats or crazy coloured wigs! After a spot of obligatory tourist shopping it was time for tapas lunch. We scored a bargain - 17 euro lunch for drinks, calamari, ham/potato croquette things and fried potatos with chilly sauce. They were all the things we saw they locals eating and seemed to be really popular. Oddly, the calamari came in a short baguette type roll ... everyone was eating it like that, must be a local treat. But I couldn't bring myself to so I ate the calamari first, then some of the bread.

lunch!



What happened next is truly the most "local" thing I've ever done in a foreign city... we went back to the hostel for a siesta!!! Really. It was about 2.30pm so we popped back to the room for a quick nap before our planned walking tour. Just before we nodded of a Spanish girl came into our hostel room and hopped into bed too!! When in Spain... We awoke refreshed and ready to traipse parts of the city we didn't know existed, learning that the bear and the berry tree and the neptune fountain are symbols of madrid, there were lots of important kings who built stuff in madrids history and the writer's quarter is where all the cool cats lived (and some other more informative facts I've momentarily forgotten!). After walking for an hour and a half we were in need of refreshment so we headed back to our favourite new local, the butcher/bar for a cheeky sangria on the run. This tided us over til we stumbled across a classy indoor food market selling everything from raw produce to artuflly created sweets. Wanting to keep the local theme running we chose creme catalan for a pre-dinner dessert! This gave us the necessary energy to trek to the end of a very long main road to see the Royal Palace all lit up at night.

                                 UFO-like Christmas lights at Plaza Mayor Christmas Markets

Unfortunately, after a wonderful and jam-packed 24 hours our travel luck turned sour again :(
We had found a place that was supposed to have a flamenco show on that night and chowed down some less than desirable spanish fast food equivalent in order to make the show in time, only to find out it wasn't on that night afterall!!! Although we tried to make the most of it by following up with an ice cream for dessert (not really possible or desirable in freezing maastricht) and felt at least satisfied that we'd adhered to Spanish time by eating after 9pm.

Up at 4.30am the next day to return home (grudgingly) and of course all travel plans ran like clockwork on the way back to Maastricht! I was even treated to the Ryan Air trumpet - a voice over noise they play when a flight arrives on time. Oh the irony... grrr.

Day 136 - apparently there's a downside to snow...

So after all my gushing a few days ago, it has come to my attention that there is in fact a downside to snow! I know, it looks so innocent right... all pure as the driven you-know-what... its got quite the reputation in movies etc, bringing happens and beauty to all. Until it gets a but mushy... or dirty... or hard and icy... then we're in trouble.

I always knew it was going to be a bit more difficult getting around on two wheels once the white stuff fell, but I severly underestimated the trickiness. Its even difficult getting around on two feet!
This stuff is crunchy and slippery and has a mind of its own! One minute you're rolling along at a steady pace with your eyes on the road ahead - the next minute the wheel hits a clump of snow/ice and your wheel shoots off in a different direction altogether. No warning, no way to control it, just hold on!

I have already learned that the No. 1 rule is Don't Panic. Other tips include:
No. 2: Two hands kiddies - always two hands on the handle bars.
No. 3: Hit the lights - just like cars in gloomy weather, its smart to put the bike lights on.
No.4: Know when to admit defeat (there's always the bus)

But this brings me to another observation - is there some shame in taking the bus? In Australia, most people drive, so taking the bus is the moral high ground. Here, everyone is expected to cycle, so the bus isn't exactly better for the environment than peddle power. And if you can ride, why pay for a ride right? So I feel as though taking the bus is copping out... But, thankfully, I was assured by one of my Dutch friends this evening that, no, it is ok to take the bus and, yes, people here do do that when the weather is out to get them. Even so, its not cheap here, and I've been warned it can take longer because vehicle traffic increases during the snow and traffic jams abound in a city filled with roundabouts and bike lanes.

Still, there are definitely those determined souls who remain out and about on their treddlies, all rugged up, you can barely see their face as they brace against the arctic chill. Honestly, it is beyond cold here now (If you won't take my word for it, believe the forecast of -11C one day this week!!!) Normal layering ain't cutting it anymore so I look like the Michelin Man every time I step out the door now. I don't understand how there's women out there who still manage to look fashionable in this weather!! (Although a Canadian friend consoled me with the epiphany that all the fashionable women are just cold! Beauty is pain, right?!). As for me, I got busted by a friend in the most hilarious ensemble the other day, featuring black gloves, red scarfe, beige jacket, grey trackies tucked into blue-grey boots and white/pink pom-pom beanie! Nothing matched, and NOTHING was fashionable. Regardless, I looked her (dressed in cute boots, skirt, jacket and tweed hat) dead in the eye and professed "what?! I don't care as long as I'm warm and dry!"

and some pictures of SNOW!!!

trying to ride a bike in the snow

bike seat covered in white, powdery snow

our guesthouse and the pristine layer of snow over the path we will have to cycle on to get out tomorrow!

infamous statues near the uni, given a new look with a dusting of icing sugar :P

the bike park at uni



bike tracks don't make quite as much impact as car tyres in the snow - this is the exit to our uni bike park

undisturbed, fallen snow - reminds me of an iced gingerbread house!

... and one of the aforementioned snow angels

Day 134 - SNOW!!!

OK, so again, this is a bit out of time sequence (only by about 4 weeks!) but I just HAD to write about this now.... today was my first day of REAL snowfall. And it was magical... truly.
When I was six and we lived in Canada for a bit I remember snow on the ground but I don't really have memories of it falling (I'm sure I was in it at some point but there's no clear memories) but today... today will stick in my mind forever!

I was sitting in class, having come in from a light icing-sugar dusting of what I was told was snow but really wasn't satisfying enough... looking out the window at the leaf-less trees and then, more suddenly than I'd expected it started snowing HARD! Bigger flakes were falling, like there was a wind pushing them to the ground, and then they started swirling in all directions and I was mesmerised. I paid very little attention to the class for about 10 minutes and instead just stared out the window with a big stupid grin on my face! Eventually, some classmates noticed and started laughing at me, telling me "its only snow" or "you'll get sick of it soon enough" ... and they're probably right, it will be hell to cycle in, its freezing cold and it will turn from this glorious white powder to black sludge before I know it... but for now, all I want to do is marvel.

I couldn't wait to get outside after class and I reckon it took me about 45 minutes to get home (not the usual 15) as I stopped every few seconds to take picture after picture of the same white landscape. I was also cycling at about 2m an hour because I didn't want to slip (there isn't a lot of grip left on the old girl's tyres :s). Although, for the uninitiated, I learned some valuable lessons today ... 1) cycling around with your mouth gaping open while its snowing will get you a gob full of condensation and 2) snow actually hurts when it gets in your eye! like rain, but more solid... so I'll be wearing sunnies or a cap or something from now on.
But this afternoon, nothing could dampen my spirits... not the uphill ride home, not the loss of feeling from cold in my fingers and toes, not the realisation that if the snow is starting this early its going to be a looooong winter. Today was just for enjoying.

So as soon as I got home I ran down the hall to find som friends and we ventured out for a walk. Stop: picture. Stop: snowball fight. Stop: pick snow up and throw in the air like a 5 year old! I was honeslty like a kid in a candy store... a frozen marshmallow candy store! And to top it off, before we came back inside we dare to drop on our backsides in the frozen ice and make snow angels :) like something out of a movie I tell ya! And in fact, that's what its felt like ... unreal, like I've just stepped inside the ice arena at home for a bit, or I'm on some reality TV show and there's a giant snow machine behind our guesthouse... but, if thats the case, I'm happy to play my part for now :)

Dutch I've learned: "Het is sneeuwing" = "It's snowing"
"Het sneeuwd" = "It snowed"
"Ik hou van sneeuw" = "I love snow!"
... you get the point!

Days 97 to 99 - Impending dooooom ... and by doom I mean exam!

Day 97 (Sat) - Home invader!
Skyped Bwetty this morning ... in my house! (he was housesitting for mum and dad) ... quite odd for me to be all the way over here and him to be in my house, very weird to see all our furniture in the background of his skype ... and getting into an argument over whether a chair was in that spot when I left home or not! lol
Later I headed to 'Dutch Woolies' for supplies for a weekend of not-leaving-the-house-or-possibly-showering serious study. To my delight I managed to find a touch of home on the supermarket shelves in the form of sausage rolls!!! even had them with heinz tomatoe sauce ...mmmm (sorry dad, but I can smother everything with it over here and not risk turning you off your dinner!)
Once home and at my desk it suddenly dawned on me that the last time I prepared for an exam I was 19, in 'first-year' uni and the subject was the devastatingla hard (ahem) Film Studies! Unfortunately, my attempts at notemaking and preparation just transported me back to Year 12!!

Day 98 (Sun) - Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ... oven, oven, oven
After another long study day I had a bunch of Aussie girls over for dinner - and to marvel at my oven :P
We made the biggest, choc-full-of-goodness veggie lasagne, topped off with chocolate cake for desert ... again, have I mentioned I love my oven?! Was nice to be around Aussies to, each reminiscing about the day we left home, making fools of ourselves bawling in the airport! But also quite revealing to see how we all look back now and wonder why we were so scared. Hindsight eh...? I've come to the realisation that I worried far more than I needed to... but how was I ever going to know that until I got here!

Day 99 (Mon) - Handed in essay today (done early so I could whizz off to Berlin soon after the exam) and realised that in one day, I'll have been away from home for 100 days!

Day 90 - Up THAT creek!

Day 90 (sat) - Row, row, row your boat ... not so gently upstream!
Today, while my guesthouse friends swanned around Liege (just over the Belgian border) shopping and 'doing' coffee, I decided it would be a great idea to explore the great outdoors of Maastricht. Earlier in the week I signed up for a kayaking trip on the River Maas (without really thinking about weather conditions, my limited wardrobe at the time or, for that matter, my kayaking skills...) Nonetheless, I cycled down to meet the group of other intrepid UCMers and we headed for the launching point on the river. Literally as soon as we got there it started to rain!
Exhibit A:

Despite wearing every piece of remotely suitable clothing I owned (old sneakers, 2 pairs of leggings, track pants, multitude of tops, mildy waterprood jacket & coopers cap and beanie combo to finish off the look) I got ridiculously wet early on. I teamed up with a French girl who had kayaked before and, while we struggled a bit at first (think round and round in circles or a zig zag effect) we found a rhythm eventually and were at the head or at least middle of the pack of 9 kayaks-for-two for most of the day.

Trudging to our fate!

  Me and my kayak buddy

After about an hour of scenic paddling, passing the odd cow or swan, the novelty began to wear off. The UCM organisers had planned for us to paddle 11km, with the option to stop at 8km, but after travelling about 3m in the first hour that 8km mark became the sole goal!

The 'pleasant' weather from the start of the day continued and we got wet from above and below while out on the water, not to mention the wind pciked up to the point that paddling full-steam meant treading water in one spot. We also ran into some tricky teeny-rapids and bigger-than-we'd-like rocks which all slowed us down. By this stage all 18 pairs of hands were frozen, noses were about to fall off, generally extremities weren't working ... except for one guy who managed to stop on the side bank for a pee! Because of my poor paddling technique, litres of water ran down my arms every time I lifted them to paddle, leaving my gloves wet enough to wring dry over the side! As the next hour dragged on the though crossed our minds that we may never make it and our group would be found as a bunch of floating popsicles by some Belgian farmer as we floated upstream!

Before the going got tough....

Finally, after about 3 hours (it was estimated to take only 2) we spotted a tiny figure on the bank ahead that turned out to be our kayak-hire-guy. Paddles were raised above heads in triumph and a surge of adrenaline propelled us all towards the bank where we flopped ashore. Wet and literally frozen we towelled off and headed for the nearest cafe where hot chocolate and soup brought life back into frozen lips and fingers. But the relief was short lived - while kayak-hire-guy dropped us back to where we started, we all still had to ride home from there!! All I can say to try and describe how cold I was by the time I got home was that it hurt to have a shower in the hot water! Not to mention the bruises on my hands from paddling and the array of stiff/strained muslces that reminded me the next day ... just how much 'fun' I'd had!

We maaaaade it!!

Observations: the River Maas scenery is actually quite picturesque as it winds up from Maastricht into Belgium

Mistakes: Kayaking in the Netherlands in any season other than Summer!

Mini victories: paddling 8km on a foreign river and NOT capsizing! e-Yessss!

Dutch I've learned: "Ik heet dit" = "I hate this"
"Het is heel, erg koud" = "I'ts bloody cold!!!"