Days 341 to 345 – Making our way to Greece while the sun shines

Day 341 – (Wed) This trip was totally spontaneous and only happened in large part thanks to Nakita’s strong desire to go somewhere warm before she went home (and my strong desire to go back to Greece).  After a couple of days of procrastination (read: searching for cheap flights to cool places) Nakita found us cheap return flights to the Greek island of Kos – somewhere I’d not really heard of, and not one of “the” Greek islands on the must do list but it looked lovely on the tourist websites and would be a bit cheaper thanks to its lower profile. Only problem – we had to fly in and out of Brussels!!! As loyal readers may remember Brussels is the hated travel destination of most exchange students, and we were headed to the terrible and ‘remote’ Brussels Charleroi airport. Nonetheless, we (being me, Nakita from Sydney and Ally from Canada, whom you may remember from the Faro, Portugal post :P) were stoked to be heading for 4 nights of sun, sand and Greek food!!


First glimpse of Greek islands!

We got in late at night so there was really only time for dinner. We stayed at the Koala Hotel (which I almost didn’t want to stay in because of the name) but it was a great deal for a triple share room (a bit hard to find – and Greece doesn’t really seem to ‘do’ hostels, kind of like Bali because the hotels are so cheap to begin with) but the hotel ended up being great. It was run by a couple of Aussie-born Greek blokes who were really helpful, friendly and down to Earth. They recommended a place for dinner down the road so off we went. About half an hour later (after walking down a mildly dodgy feeling street with no street lights – a sign of austerity?) we were seated at a table covered in different meals to share, cold beer/wine and good company J

first dinner

From the moment we landed it was just so nice to be in Greece. It was definitely in the top 3 of my favourite countries (which rotated frequently between Greece, Croatia and Germany). The air was warm, no cardigan necessary, able to wear a dress without leggings, a nice breeze, not too humid… perfect beer and swimming weather. And speaking of swimming, if we leaned out over the balcony of our (air-conditioned … haven’t used that stuff in a while) hotel room (probably a bit further than was safe) we could see the beach J The landscape was quite arid and really reminded me of Australia, gum trees included! We got a good look at it on a bus ride from the airport in the centre of the island of Kos to Kos town on the north-east end.

One of the strangest things about this place though is that it was almost mini-Maastricht… but with better weather. The first sign that we were actually heading to a Dutch island was the abundance of Dutch people on the plane and airport bus. Other signs included restaurant menus in Greek and Dutch (not English), signs to hire things in Dutch, Greek waiters greeting restaurant guests in fluent Dutch and… the biggest giveaway… the bicycles on every corner (including signs in Dutch to hire them!). We were told by locals that because the island is mostly flat and has always had a pretty good cycle network with good bike paths etc its become quite the popular destination with the Dutchies. Still it was enough of a change of scenery for us!

our bikes and the scenery

Day 342 – (Thurs) Our first day was spent taking it pretty easy, starting with an orientation walk of the area, from our hotel down to the beach, along the water and around to a marina. Dotted around Kos town are random areas of cordoned off old ruins and of course the cycle paths. It was quite hot already though so we made a bee-line back to the hotel to hire bikes nearby which made getting around a whole lot easier – and more fun. There was a great breeze as we whizzed back to the marina for a bit more of a wander and a look around some of the squares, stalls etc. The rest of the day was spent lunching and lounging on the beach swimming and (unfortunately for me) getting a ridiculous tan line that lasted the rest of the trip! We found a restaurant/bar on the beach with free lounge chairs and indulged in cocktails (Nakita, do you like piiiiina colaaaaadas?!), Greek nibblies and dipping into the water right in front of us. By June the water had time to warm up a little but it was still quite fresh. Eventually we cycled back to the hotel and, after a quick stop off at the shop for more bottled water (lucky it was cheap but I wouldn’t suggest drinking the water on most greek islands, very salty… as is the sea water around the place – think crispy skin after coming out of the water!) we headed out for dinner again. The plan was to avoid the really touristy places, anywhere with pictures of food or a hawker out the front (or definitely both) was out of the question. Eventually we found an unassuming place one building back from the main road along the beach with a nice waiter who didn’t hassle us – perfect. The food was really good, nice and authentic, well cooked and fresh. I had moussaka and the mascot of our trip – the obligatory Greek salad.

our view for lunch

a dip after lunch

Day 343 - (Fri). This whole day was spent on the water. We’d booked a trip the day before on a sailing boat to head out to three nearby islands. A 9am start and it was already hot under the sun (unfortunately this meant a bit more unwitting sunburn – it seems my Australian sun radar was a bit out of whack… I figured they have Ozone up there, she’ll be right… not so much … but lesson learnt for the next trip to, Croatia, I assure you). After about an hour and a half of relaxing cruising out into open waters we came to the first stop, Platti. Bascially it was a little cove with a flat white sand beach and some really cute classic blue and white buildings a bit back from the beach. We didn’t have long, about a half hour by the time we got down from the boat but it was enough for a quick dip. Back on the boat it was time for lunch – everything you’d expect; lamb skewers, rice, salad, tzatziki, bread etc etc. Was delicious and clearly home made (well, boat made… but with lurv :P). The crew on the boat were great; our captain Georgie, we called him, his wife and daughter in the kitchen by the looks of it, and … the entertainment… Kosta, the boat clown effectively. This guy was trouble – typical cheeky Greek sense of humour and only took it too far on a few occasions :P

relaxing on the boat


our 'mate' Goergie!

After lunch we puttered off to Kalymnos where it was SO stinking hot that all we could do was find the nearest geltai shop to the boat and sit in the shade and watch the harbour. It was bloody good gelati tho (I spotted an old guy nearby who had a fresh looking fruit salad and gelati so I copy-catted that). After about an hour it was back on the boat (where we were treated to some home-made delicious Greek donut thingies OMG SO good!) and then full-speed ahead for the last stop – Pserimos. This was a tiny little alcove where we could jump off the boat into the water (which I convinced Nakita to do and then we both paid for it for a while after with water up our nose!) and then just walk up around the bay or explore a little church above the rocks. Somehwere along the way we also saw some dolphins and Gorgie slowed down for us to have a look. The best part of the whole day though was simply the warm wind in our hair and that reassuring motion of the boat over teeny waves. Eventually it was time to head back to Kos Town. Dinner that night (we’d worked up an appetite swimming and lazing around all day remember!) was on the edge of a lovely little plaza in the middle of the old town. Really we just ordered a collection of starters; dolmades, lentil patties, the obligatory Greek salad etc. I was surprised to find I like dolmades these days (maturing taste buds and all that). We sat in the warm evening air with a light breeze and watched little kids run around the square. The only downer of the night was the waitress telling us we were ordering too much! Ha! We told her we were on holidays and we’d eat what we wanted!!

Nakita and I celebrating surviving jumping off the boat

'hanging out' at the front of the boat

Platti

Kalymnos

Pserimos

Day 344 – (Sat) Our last full day in Kos and we decided to hit up the hot springs for which the island is apparently famed. They did not disappoint. Usually I imagine hot springs these days to be concrete pools dug out of the ground with hot water being pumped in, completely commercial and charmless. What we were greeted with when we arrived at the beach (after a great bus ride up a slowly ascending hill, affording amazing views of the cobalt blue sea and swish resorts on the hillside) was literally some sand dug out of the ground, a few big rocks placed on the sea-side of the dug-out to stop the ocean waves coming in and a trickle of really, really hot water coming in from the cliff side up the beach. There was a smell of sulphur immediately and we could see little bubbles rising in the water. Foolishly, our first entrée into the hot spring was in the hottest side, where the fresh hot water comes in, so it was really bloody hot. It took quite a while to adjust and was honestly pretty uncomfortable at first, but after we adjusted I could see how it felt nice. Later we discovered if you sit on the ocean side, a little of the cooler ocean water seeps in and makes the temperature more bearable. The rest of the afternoon was spent lying on a sun lounger under a palm frond umbrella, reading a magazine, a quick dip and then back to the bus stop. It was a steep walk back up to the main road from the beach below, and at the top we were greeted by a real mountain goat… who decided he wanted to eat my shorts!! Thankfully an ice cream vendor was on hand to deftly shoo him away :S

Hot springs


Cliffs on way to hot springs


Goat trying to eat my shorts!! (and a great shot of dodgy arm tan line!!)

Our original plan for the day had been to cycle to the beach, but we soon changed our mind when we found out how steep it was to get up there. By the time we got back on the bus to Kos Town it felt like 100C (I think my aussie internal thermometer had been turned down during a Dutch winter and I was feeling it a bit more than usual). Sitting on the bus also gave us the chance to take in the views.

The evening consisted of a swim in the hotel pool and cocktail hour with one of the hotel guys, Angelo, who made us cocktails! He also recommended a place for dinner, a little way down the road along the beach in the opposite direction to the Marina where he said locals eat. We cycled there and pulled up to a place that was LITERALLY on the water – as in there was our table, a little wooden fence and then the beach. We could see Turkey out in the distance (Kos is only 20 minutes from Bodrum on the Turkish east coast) and there was, again, a lovely breeze. Don’t know about the locals eating there though – we ended up at a table next to some Dutch people we met coming off the plane! Again there was plenty of food for dinner; the highlight of my meal – a piece of chargrilled octopus that looked like a hand!

Angelo's crazy cocktails

My octopus 'hand'

Day 345 – (Sun) Time to go home. I started our last day with a little solo cycle in the opposite direction for a bit of an explore. Later we lunched at the Museum Restaurant, recommended to us by a fellow exchanger where again we ordered A LOT and again the waiter told us it was too much. But we showed him! Lunch was followed by a stroll in the Marina to buy a few paintings as souveniers and then a sweaty walk to the airport bus stop with our luggage. Once on the plane it was announced  that we would be stuck on the tarmac for 20 minutes. But it was OK, we passed the time staring at a gorgeous baby and his equally gorgeous Greek dad (flying solo) in the row in front!

Arriving back in Brussels “le shit-hole” Charleroi Airport (as we have now dubbed) it, we entered into the nerve-wracking process of procuring a hotel in jumbled English-French to take us to the expectedly dodgy hotel we’d booked for the night seeing our flight arrived at 10.45pm and there were no trains running back to Maas til the next day. We had low expectations of the place given its reviews but I was actually pleasantly surprised. Don’t get me wrong, it was VERY basic and a bit grimy, with that faint smell of cigarette smoke that never really goes away. But it was generally clean, the guy at the front desk was surprisingly helpful and it had wifi and even breakfast included (those chocolate croissants I have now decided I love!).

Day 346 – (Mon) Up early and back to Maas by train. While other parts of beligum are really picturesque (think Bruges of Antwerp) but Brussels and especially  its outerlying areas really aren’t. Most of the time you just feel unsafe and dirty! Although I am going to miss good train travel….

Days 334 to 340 - Last hop across the pond

(I realise I have been VERY slack updating of late... I've been kind of busy :P ... but I'm endeavouring to catch up! so here goes...)

Day 334 – Two days into the final study block at UCM I finally twigged to the wonders of the Eurostar and enjoyed a smooth, four-hour journey to London (as opposed to the about 7 hours it takes to fly a crappy budget airline with luggage restrictions!). My reasons for heading West were many and varied this time, a mixture of family and business. I had promised myself while in Europe I would visit some foreign newsrooms, given I have only ever worked in one. So with the much appreciated help of a former Advertiser colleague (who some of you long-time readers may remember I visited at the Telegraph newspaper offices last July when I was fresh off the plane) I was able to line up a visit to two of London’s most exciting newsrooms; The Guardian and The Times. Around the same time there was also an influx of Shore family members descending on London so I was able to catch up with long lost cousins, aunties and uncles – a welcome treat at the end of a long year away from family. And finally, ALSO around this time, two good friends from Maastricht had headed over to London (one returning home, another to start an internship). So it was to be a packed 6 days.

After the delight of the Eurostar trip (involving a normal train from Maastricht to Brussels and the Eurostar from there to London) I arrived in the centre of London in late afternoon, in time to catch cousin Kelly Shore (of Adelaide/Bunburry origin) for dinner and a quick squiz at the Westfeild shopping centre (haven’t seen on of them in a while!).

Day 335 – After a good chin wag with Kel the night before, it was down to more serious business the next day, meeting her for my first visit to the infamous Harrod’s department store. I had every intention on this trip of trying to see a wider area of London than I had previously and there were some specific things on my to do list, of which Harrod’s was right at the top. It truly is an amazing concept; doormen with tophats and tails, old fashioned candy stores inside, almost a whole floor devoted to merchandise for the department store (can you imagine the same in Myer or DJs?!), a milk bar, pizza restaurant, bakery and more downstairs, another floor converted into an art gallery and a centre-piece Egyptian themed escalator-well rising through the guts of the builing. Of course everything was exhorbitantly priced so I shopped shrewdly, but did treat myself to some Harrod’s choccies Kelly insisted were worth the about $6AU for a small box (and indeed they were).

Egyptian themed excalators

crazy ceiling of the escalator-well

Harrod's dogs in the merchandise section (they're Westies!!)

The lolly section

The rest of the day was filled with lunch (a pie – at last!!), a quick visit to the portrait gallery where I stood in front of an award-winning wall-length portrait of people bathing at a nude beach in Corfu (including a full frontal of an old man!) and then spent about an hour in a bookstore… filled with book in English! (In fact, I delighted in the opportunities to read publications in English, spending one night in bed surrounded by newspapers and magazines). That night was spent having a good catch up over wine and nibblies with Uncle Pete and Aunty Di, swapping travel stories and plans.

Day 336 – Friday was newspaper day – the main reason I was there. The diary showed a visit to The Guardian in the morning and The Times in the afternoon. I realise how privileged I was to even get in the door (it really is who you know) and it was one of the most exciting and interesting days of my whole exchange year. First up, The Guardian was colourful, funky and busy. It had a really good vibe about the place and is clearly all about the digital age (massive Mac screens everywhere as just one example). The building was open and light and interestingly designed and the newsfloor about 4 times the size of the one I am used to, and with way more staff (one generous member of whom gave me a private tour). The real treat of the morning was being able to sit in on morning conference (a snappy affair through which I sat quietly in the corner trying to keep the smile off my face!) Its an open door policy for conference - two sliding doors on either end of the room, lots of glass, a canary yellow couch arranged in a square around the room and anyone can come in, ask questions and toss around story ideas, opinons etc. As we left the conference room the absolute highlight of the morning occurred … a casual chat with the editor Alan Rusbridger (“Ah, this must be our Australian friend”).

In the afternoon it was over to another side of town to The Times, with a view of London Bridge. First impressions – an impressive building housing more newspapers in one place than I’ve ever seen. The vibe here, being a News Ltd paper, was much more what I’m used to and reminded me a lot of The Advertiser, but of course on a much larger scale. Inside, again a larger newsroom and very organised, with signs above sections of desks detailing the rounds being covered by those below (my favourite was Real Estate = “Bricks & Mortar”). As mentioned, the view was spectacular over the Thames and London Bridge. Again I was privileged enough to be able to sit in on conference, lasting longer in the afternoon. It was fascinating to sit (quietly again of course) and watch these powerful newspaper people decide the fate of the next day’s paper; who else will have that yarn, how could they make a story better, which was the best pic for page three, and of course, what to splash with. To be privy to that process felt like being let backstage somewhere I shouldn’t be!

The day was finished with a visit to the Hammersmith neighbourhood to meet up with a mate from back home (loyal blog readers will remember Matty, from Victoria, coming to visit me in Maastricht late last year). I met Matty and some of his Aussie (house)mates at the Southern Belle pub (interestingly named for that part of the world I thought) and we drank Swedish cider and watch an AFL match on a big screen (it was even my team!).

Matty and I enjoying a beverage

Day 337 – Another lovely thing about being back in London (for the fifth time!) was being able to check some things off the to-do list that I still hadn’t managed to do. So this morning I set off for the Portobello Rd Markets (not put off by the usual tube disruptions!). After a solo wander I headed back to South Kensington to meet the old Advertiser colleague who helped me set up the previous day’s newspaper excursions. Over lunch we discussed a) my gratitude! b) living abroad c) how hard it is to get a media job in London and (among other things of course) d) how it is to go home.

No rest for the wicked – that night brought an opportunity to catch up with a friend from Maastricht, Andra (and a friend of hers also living in London) for a Chinese food fix (to redress the lack of a Chinatown in Maastricht) and some drinky poohs. But it STILL wasn’t a final goodbye for Andra… I would see her again on Monday…

Day 338 – European Father’s Day apparently so it was off to brunch around the corner with Uncle Pete, Aunty Di, cousin Sam and his girlfriend Lexi – quite the nice little family catch up, hearing tales of their visits to the Royal Ascot Races and other fun London things. Afterwards, it was time to leave the comfort of a faux-home with family and head to a hotel near the train station in preparation for my leaving London on Monday. After getting more than a little lost (I turned left out of the station instead of right) I finally found the place, dumped my gear and headed to Covent Garden for a wandering afternoon with a spot of gift shopping and boutique cuisine. Tonight was the aforementioned night spent surrounded by newspapers (and watching English shows on TV).

Day 339 – Last day… time for the final catch up with Andra – high tea at the Grosvenor Victoria Hotel to celebrate yet another Maastricht mate Leah’s birthday. In the fancy surrounds of this classic old English hotel (think chandeliers, plush couches, marble floors, cupcake stands and champagne) we had a celebrity spot – Elle MacPherson was lunching in the dining room. I found out later she was hosting UK Next Top Model at the time. At the end of this pink-in-the-air affaif it was finally time to say goodbye to both Andra and Leah, dash for a quick shop on Oxford St and then back to the hotel to pack.

Leah and Andra enjoying high tea

Day 340 – On the road again – after a truly satisfying trip it was time to head “home”, thankfully on the Eurostar again, not a budget airline! And I made it in plenty of time for my afternoon class!

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!