Time actually flies which is mildly terrifying because I am absolutely not ready to be a quarter of the way through my exchange already. Before I go on, I forgot to do the introductory stuff in my first blog so I’m going to do it now:
Hey, I’m Doria, I’m 19, and I’m Taiwanese but born and raised in Hamilton, New Zealand. I am halfway through the second year of my Bachelor of Management Studies at the University of Waikato, majoring in strategic management and minoring in marketing and economics. I do not watch rugby and I haven’t seen the Lord of the Rings, so I’m just about the worst representative of NZ you could possibly get. However, I’ve found that the kiwi accent is a great source of entertainment; I can’t say the words “deck” or “six” without a massive uproar, and “ay” is also apparently not part of the rest of the world’s daily vernacular. As I mentioned last time, a disproportionately large chunk of the Guesthouse is Australian and American, so we’re not swimming in much cultural immersion there, but I get my dose of diversity from Birthing New Ventures, which is a really awesome course that I genuinely love going to.
Market at the Markt
The two main squares here are the Vrijthof and the Markt, and on Wednesdays and Fridays, there’s a market at the Markt. Katie, Dane, and I have taken to hitting it up on Friday mornings, and there’s a hefty selection of fresh fruit and vegetables which are way less pricey than what you’d get from the supermarkets. My recent staples have been a huge bundle of spring onion and an even bigger bag of mushrooms. The kip (chicken) is amazing too, as well as the bread and pastries. They also sell clothes, accessories, spices, flowers and various other market-y type things. I’ve never seen so much gorgeous, flowing fabric in my life, but unfortunately, I’ve got zero room in my suitcase for that. This is also the only time that I ever go across to Maastricht-Centrum or anywhere near the river, so it’s nice to be out there and sit along the Maas. I really need to do a bit more exploring in this city, but exchange life is a super busy time!
Biking pt. 2 & Nightlife
Besides occasionally falling off and frequently knocking other people’s (parked) bikes over, I’ve managed to avoid any more mishaps this past month. We literally bike everywhere though: to class, to the Flixbus stop, to the club, in the rain, to the club in the rain, etc., though getting home is a whole different story. My favourite thing about this is that we don’t have to splash out on Uber every night we go out. Instead, we cycle along the uncomfortably bumpy streets, try not to run anyone over or get run over, park the bikes and hope they don’t get yoinked, then head in without a single euro shed. In comparison to New Zealand, the nightlife here seems a lot more bar-y and there’s less of a club scene. The Lab has been a bit of a hub, especially for the exchange students, and they run a bunch of events. This week we discovered a new spot though, so it’ll be cool to see what else we find. The big nights out are Tuesdays and Thursdays for us which is weird because at home, places like The Outback can only get a fully packed crowd on Saturdays. Briefly back to the bikes: it isn’t rare sight to see people riding together, so blurrily pictured here, we have Shabublé clutching onto Logi:
Finances, Friends & Accommodation
I lived at home before coming here, so I don’t really know how much food is supposed to cost, but I do know that things seem deceivingly cheaper here than they actually are. The New Zealand dollar converts to about 55 euro cents, so everything I look at is almost double the price of what it appears to be. If it’s any indication, I think I bought a carrot for a euro and a carton of six eggs for €1.79 last time. My day to day culinary skills are passable but highly unexciting, so it’s always fun when we get together and do shared food. We’ve only had a general potluck, Mexican night, and waffle night so far, but there’s a heap of ideas just waiting to be eaten which I’m hyped for. Living at home, I never got to have the whole halls experience, so it’s been so nice just having people around all the time and being able to spontaneously do random stuff together without needing to traipse across town or lug an overnight bag around. The Guesthouse is definitely the place to be (especially C building ❤️), and I’m so glad I booked myself in early. I think I started looking at accommodation in like December (which is very extra, you don’t need to do that), and I officially reserved my room in early April. It’s 15m² and €21 per night which is a tad pricey but so worth it. They recommend that you do it before June for the fall semester, but don’t wait that long- there will literally be nothing left, because I checked in June out of curiosity, and the UM Housing listings were bare. I did mine after I had been provisionally accepted into Maastricht University, but before my residence permit had been approved. Also, the whole building is literally a hospital that’s been converted into rooms, and there’s still an actual hospital attached. Sometimes we study out in the lobby, and there’ll just be old people waiting for their appointments.
Travel Update
Since last time, I’ve hit up Düsseldorf, Strasbourg, Paris again, and I’m heading to Dublin this weekend. After a big night out for Logan’s 21st, we got up at the crack of dawn for a trip to Düsseldorf. It was only a two hour bus ride from Maastricht, and we spent the day walking along the river, going up the Rhine Tower (which is 240.5 metres high and gives a 360 ° view of the city), taking a nap in the park, intensely hunting down ice cream, and counting cars (hello Katie).
Strasbourg is definitely the prettiest place I’ve been to so far, but we made the wildly dippy decision to take a 12am-6am Flixbus to get there, and a 1am-7am bus to come home 19 hours later. We were dead tired, but it was amazing to walk around before dawn and catch the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg in all its streetlight-lit glory without a big gaggle of people around. During the day, we also visited the Ponts Couverts, Musée historique de Strasbourg, Orangerie park, and a big fair/event thing at Strasbourg University. For dinner, I checked out a sauerkraut pizza which was an interesting experience. I probably wouldn’t go for it again, but it wasn’t terrible and it was only €3.40! Before we went home, I had the hilarious and beautiful experience of riding a vintage merry-go-round at midnight in Strasbourg’s historical square. We also lay under the stars in front of the cathedral while waiting for our bus which was surreal.
I despise beer with a passion, so while everyone else headed to Munich for Oktoberfest (which looked amazing by the way), I took a trip down to Paris to visit Rebekah. Shut Up & Go happened to be running a street art tour on the Saturday I was there, so we spent the afternoon walking around the 19th arrondissement learning about some awesome stuff. We also went up to the roof of the Galeries Lafayette, visited the most BEAUTIFUL Starbucks in the world, came across des gilet jaunes + the popo, ate along the Seine, and popped into some cute bars.
The novelty of being here still hasn’t worn off, and I hope that it never does. Sometimes I’ll see my reflection in a glass door or something and it’s just like wow: That’s me. I’m in Europe. My game theory course is genuinely by far the most treacherous and traumatizing thing I’ve ever encountered in my life and I’ve never felt so deeply incompetent, but other than that, I’m super happy. I’m not sure how I’m going to deal with the weather as winter creeps in, but I guess that’s a story for next time!
Study abroad 