One weekend in COLOGNE

Another thing I wanted to do being here in Maastricht is going to Germany! Because I’ve never been before! Instead for a transit from Vietnam to France, 5 hours transit in a German airport (I don’t even know which one! Long time ago) and I learnt that there (at least at this time) there is a special menu in McDonald’s for the morning and lunch, and they are not serving any fries before lunch! 😱 Even for 15 min earlier… 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️😢🍟

Nevermind! I wanted to visit at least one big city of Germany and I choose Koln (Cologne) 🇩🇪

I organise the weekend with 2 other French friends 🙂

We left by train early in the Saturday morning, we had 4 trains to take and we almost missed our 2nd train because we stoped 1 station before the actual station! Had to walk quite fast my to catch the train 😂 You know in Germany (opposite to Belgium) your train tickets only for the train you booked, at a specific time so if you miss it … You miss it (in Belgium, the ticket is valid for the day, of course you can use it only once, but at anytime of the day 🙂

Finally in Koln! We’ve directly been to the Cathedral as it is actually in front of the train station! More than 500 steps to start the day, after a run in Heerleen 😂🏃🏻‍♀️

Then we’ve been to the fish market area, with really nice architecture! Love the color of the house and the old design!  We had lunch there 🍽 Got myself a local nice dish! (With black pudding though, so you better like it…)

Then we just walked around 😊 We made it to this long bridge with all theses locks! It reminded me the Arts bridge in Paris, also used to be known as the bridge of Love with all these locks but they all have been removed for security reason!

Also visited a museum on Andy Warhol! I discover all his works on CD covers, that I didn’t really know about!

Then just had a snack in a café, got myself a sweet bretzel (because I don’t like the normal ones!) and a hot chocolate (always) 🍩☕️ (I know it’s a donut and a coffee)

Then we spent sometime in Primark as shops were opened until quite lately… (not like Maastricht!) I believe until 9pm but better to double check because it’s not all the shops 🙂 I have brought my nice Christmas pullover! And my dress for Christmas as well, Pusheen (the cat 🐱 on Facebook, btw I LOVE this cat) Christmas socks (yes I love Christmas as well) and a Hufflepuff pullover (HP Lover ❤️🧙🏼‍♀️)

Walked back to the hostel, and walked again to have dinner in nice streets full of bars! We stayed at the same place to have some drinks as well 🍻 I was pretty pretty pretty … Exhausted! Falling asleep while friends were drinking and talking because not a lot of sleeping hours the past days 😭😴

DAY 2

We’ve been to Phantasialand 😍 It’s a theme park! Reminds me of Disneyland kind of! 🏰🎡🎢🎠 (Yep that was my idea)

Prices are pretty attractive (compared to Disneyland for instance ahah, even if Disney is bigger and opened longer during the day) and it has been nominated best parc in Germany!

They have lands according to countries / regions or the world (Asian, African, Mexico, etc …)

We never queued too long! 15/20 min max I would say 🕑 Except one of the attraction (Taron I believe?) where my friends waited for a little bit more than 1 hour… But it is definitely the best of all in terms of sensations! Too much for me, so I choose to watch indoor shows instead 😍👯‍♀️ I am not a big fan of crazy attractions! (I wasn’t AT ALL before actually working at Disneyland Paris, then I learnt to -kind of- tolerate them!)

One of the show even has aerials in there 😍 Pole dance, aerial hoop and silk… ✨ I was thinking « Omg I want to do the same! I want to be an aerial dancer in a themed park for one season! » Unfortunately I think this is the only park where I can do that 😂 And I don’t speak a word of German!

We had a LONG 10-hour day in the park! But it was nice ☺️

But that’s not it… Our way back to Maastricht was another pretty epic challenge. Because of important train delays, we miss our transit and actually, the last train for Maastricht from Aachen… 🤦🏻‍♀️ And of course, not one from the train station was there to help us find our way home! Fortunately we found a bus going directly to Maastricht! We arrived even earlier than planned thanks to that! 🙏🏻

Some pics from my Koln trip!

*Will be posted as soon as I will be allowed to!*

One weekend in BELGIUM

Hi guys!

I’ve joined one of the ISN trip, Discovery Belgium Weekend! We visited 4 cities in 2 days! INTENSE 🇧🇪

They ask people to be (a little too much) in advance (for me) in the early morning to take the bus to Antwerp (we waited 45 min, omg sleep is precious guys)

Antwerps is a nice city 🙂 Lots of shopping! But didn’t get the chance to visit much on myself as I’ve been to a restaurant with a friend and spent almost all the free time there 😂 We were participating in the Crazy 25 challenges to do during the during! Best team win rewards 🙂

So after the restaurant we’ve been to the train station to ask questions to some strangers!

The bus almost left without us, while we still had 2 min to arrive! #JustOnTimeIsSOFrenchy

Then we headed to our hostel in Leuven! Not much free time neither, except after dinner and before party, so we had a pre drink with friends in a very nice cocktail bar! 🙂 (Yep, I’m not a beer drinker, at all) 🍹

I danced on the bar during the party to complete one of the challenge 😂

2nd day, direction Bruges! Very nice city, very cute 😍 Loved it! This time we got some free time, I’ve brought quite a lot of presents over there! Also got a nice lunch and waffle 🤤 (but a bit on the go)

Then we finally headed to Gand! Oh wow, really looove this city, so much left to visit like Church’s and Castle! I’ve been to 2 handmade artisanal markets, where I got me (and my boyfriend) some stuffs 😂 I got me a bag vegan made of cork and a warm hair band 😍 and got my boyfriend a beer candle 🙂 (it’s a candle in a real glass of beer which actually really looks like real beer! But no no worries, it doesn’t smell beer ! 😂🍺)

Yeah I’m a kind of present person 🎁 (it’s my way to feel less guilty to spend money 😂💸)

There’s a very nice café that makes delicious hot chocolates! But they have this special HUGE milkshake! But I was too full to have it 😂😢🍫

Then time for the boat tour, that we sadly miss, even if we were there in advance! Okay, they ask to be 15 min in advance, and we were like 10 min instead of 15 … And the boat was already pretty well in the middle of the water, with a group of almost 50 people in there which means they left earlier than 15 min in advance … #Sad At least we got a selfie with the boat!

We actually walked with them 😂 Claire and I were hoping to find a police man on the way to feel better having missing the boat, as getting a selfie with a policeman was one of the challenge, 10 points out of it! But we didn’t see ANY policeman during the weekend, except 2 times but they were driving in their car so it’s complicated to stop them 😢👮🏻‍♂️

After their boat tour, we walked (quite a looong way) to the pizzeria for dinner! And finally got back to the bus to go back home ☺️🏠

In the bus, we showed the crew members all the challenges we completed! (Yep, we filmed everything!) 📹 And also got them presents as it also was one of the challenge! And I had the great idea to take ALL the free things we could get, as presents for the team! 🎁 Stuffs like napkins, cure dent, tea, dessous de verre (they have a nice collection!), set de table, candy, jam, butter (yeah we stole quite a lot of stuff from the breakfast ahah), old cold French fries (from the previous day! 🍟), sauces to go with it, perfume bracelet, cakes, plastic bags… And guess what? THEY LOVED IT 🤩

They announce the winners and it was obviously our team 😎 We got nice souvenirs from Belgium!

Again, here are some pics! 😍📸

One day in ROERMOND

On Sunday, I’ve been to the Roermond Outlet with a friend. Apparently, biggest outlet around!

We initially wanted to go to Aachen, but learnt that everything is actually closed there on Sunday, really dead city!

On Sunday, you have a nice offer at the train station which is, for 18,50€ I believe (around that) you can travel 5 times with someone else (and 2/3 kids I reckon) in the Eurogio region, which means from Liège to Aachen, up to Sittard! But you need to always be all together.

For some reasons, since I came back from Australia, I lose a bit of interest for shopping. I used to be a HUGE shopping addict! My friend brought quite a lot of stuff and just last minute, in an ONLY shop, I got me 3 items because they were on sale (the offer worked only with 3 products), a jean, a jean jacket and a nice top to go out at night!

Also got a present for my boyfriend.

On our walking back, we visited a church and also had a cocktail, just enjoying the weather 🍹☀️

For shopping addict I would highly recommend you to go there 🙂

Sharing some pics!

One weekend in AMSTERDAM

Mid-October, I’ve been to Amsterdam!

I took a train early in the Saturday morning, from Maastricht to Amsterdam (obviously) and then, I directly took the ferry to the Old Port (the ferry is free!).

Luckily, this day was the Open Day of Artists Studios over there and there also was an exhibition of different artworks! I’ve easily spent 3 hours walking around it! And ate some sushis there as well!

Then time to go back to Amsterdam (I mean, on the other side!) and I straitly walk towards the Red Lights District (did not really wanted to do that by night time!). I’ve visited the Red Lights Secrets Museum, about prostitution (I haven’t plan it and just chanced upon it, again!). Well actually I was planning on visiting either the Sex Museum or the Erotic Museum but actually, the one I visited is even better than the 2 other ones. It was really interesting to see the backstage of this business.

Then I just walked around again, towards Anne Franck House, in order to visit it but I did not know that I had to book my ticket online (and it is possible only online) and sadly when I arrived, the museum was already full for the day 😦 (good reason to come back!)

Then walking again, towards the CouchSurfing place, in the South of Amsterdam! I like to do CouchSurfing when I am travelling alone and staying only one or two nights. I’ve found a lovely French girl to host me!

This area is very different from the inner city, way much less people (and tourists!) and streets are bigger as well.

My host was really nice, she cooked dinner for me and another friend of her! We had a very interesting conversation during the evening (and night… Oops…) and I left the day after in the morning.

I wanted to go to the Van Gogh museum but same happened as Anne Franck House… Booking only available on the internet, already fulled for the day… As this museum is located in the museum area of Amsterdam, I went for the Moco Museum, about Banksy! I like this kind of engaged art. I recommend you to go there!

Then I join my boyfriend, his mother and his boyfriend, they were on trip in Amsterdam as well! (And they got the chance to visit the Van Gogh museum grr)

We went to Vondelpark and had lunch over there, sitting next to the fountain lake!

Then we walked (again for me) to the Anne Franck house, but this time I’ve actually seen it (you need to go through 2 houses to access it).

Also seen the littlest house of Amsterdam! (Thanks to Pokémon Go ❤️)

Also enjoy some cheese in the -non official- cheese museum 🧀 and went to the shop of the -non official- tulip museum! 🌷

Then we all had a drink together in a café and walk to the train station to drop me 🙂

Pretty nice weekend! Amsterdam is actually quite different from Maastricht! Obviously more touristic, but houses and street are also slightly different (comparing each city center). Of course I haven’t been to the rest of Amsterdam, except the South part for me Couchsurfing, which is already quite different from the city center!

I definitely need to go back! Still need to do those ones:

Anne Franck House

Van Gogh Museum

Heinekein Experience

Cannabis museum

Sharing some pics!

One Day in LIEGE

Hey everyone!

One cool thing about being a Student at Maastricht University is you have relatively some time to travel around! + Maastricht is a super location to travel around (except to travel -back- to France, where it gets a bit more complicated).

I’ve been in Liège (Belgium, only 30 min from Maastricht) in September! Unfortunately the weather was not super nice in the afternoon but still, it is still enjoyable to spend a day off somewhere else!

So I arrived to the train station with a FlixBus, then I walked to the city center, I’ve visited a music exhibition on the way. Then I also visited a Church. I’ve stoped to have lunch in the city center, and I just walked around Liège 🙂

Then the weather was getting rainy, so I’ve been to a shopping center (with Primark!) and got a waffle and hot chocolate! (Well, actually it was not super good so I would not recommend you to go there). Then, on my way back to the train station, I’ve walked through a park and visited the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Arts of Liège! It’s free for students!

Here are some pictures of my day there:

One day at FACTS

Belgium convention on Super Heroes (kind of comic con) with more Japanese style / atmosphere in it (it’s like Paris Manga if you know it).

FACTS took place in Gent, at Flanders Expo, on September 28/29th.

I chose to attend this event because JMO OMG.

Okay let’s do it from the start, I am a huge fan of Once Upon A Time! I’ve already met some actors of the show in 2 conventions in France.

But I didn’t get the chance yet to meet the actress who’s playing the main character, Emma Swan (played by Jennifer Morrison “JMo”).

And she actually attended this event!

She’s also attending the Comic Con in Netherlands, in Utrech on November 24/25th (TO CHECK) and I was not sure on which one to attend.

EDIT: She canceled the Dutch Comic Con, Rebecca Madder (the Wicked Witch) is going at her place!

I finally chose FACTS because it was sooner, so of course more guests were announced, I had nothing schedule for this weekend and the entrance ticker was cheaper! (Especially when you wear a cosplay, which I did).

Also few weeks before I found out that Tom Felton was also attending the event 😍 (aka Draco Malefoy in… you know right? 🐍)

I’ve met him already, years ago at the very first Harry Potter convention in France, back in 2010. At the time his extras weren’t that expensive! So I chose not to take extra with him and just assit to his Q&A panel.

(For those who don’t know what a convention is; it’s an event organize by an organization, usually around a film or show like Harry Potter, Lords of the Ring, Once Upon A Time, Arrow, Flash, Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries and all those things… The event lasts 2/3 days in a location, usually in a hotel. During this event, actors of the movie / shows are invited, sometime producers / scenarists as well, and also French voices. You can buy photo shoots and autographs with your favorite guests, of all of them! Different passes are available to attend a con(vention), obviously the cheapest one includes nearly no extra and the most expensive one is the one which includes the most (but not all). There’s also Questions & Answers (Q&A) session / panel with actors. Organisation try not to put any autograph / photoshoot sessions at the same moment you everyone can assist to everything. During autograph / photoshoot sessions, they organise activities like cosplay competition, singing competition, quizz etc …

Some cons also offer Meet & Greet (M&G) where, as mentioned, you meet your idol for 20/30 min in a small group (around 20 people max)

Some other cons also offer other kind of activities like this like dinner meet & greet, big meet and greet with all actors with selfies possible etc …

I know it could sound completely weirdo to do that and could be seen as a waste of time and money but I am into it! And honestly, I am definitely not part of those you buy several autographs / photoshoot with the same guest several years in a row with M&G and so on…)

FACTS is not a convention in that way. It’s just a big event around super heroes, as mentioned in the beginning or my article 🙂

I attended this event on Saturday! Here are some pictures:

SPORTS AT UM SPORTS

Hoi!

First of all, I swear I am not receiving anything from UM Sports to promote them! 😂 But they do deserve some promotion!

So far I’ve been enjoying doing a bit of sport almost everyday!

For those who don’t know, there are 3 kinds of membership at UM Sports:

• Basic, access to all the walk in classes (on a first arrived, first served basis)
• Sports, access to all the walk in and course classes (course class is a kind of extra class with an extra fee where you need to sign up, which means you always have your spot in the class) + the is the membership you need if you want to join a sport association / club
• Gym, basically an access to the gym and to some classes reserved for the gym!

And Zuyd students are very welcomed! (However sports and gym memberships are more expensive for them as their school don’t pay anything to UM Sports)

As I don’t like training at the gym, I just have a sports membership!

When I arrived in Maastricht (for the 2nd time, after introduction days as I came back to Paris for my long weekend), I literally brought a bike few hours after my arrival, the same evening I was at the Krav Maga class with a friend! 🤼‍♀️

I hadn’t plan on buying a bike but didn’t realize that UM Sports is actually 1-hour walk from my place 🤔🙄 vs. 20 min bike (just because I am biking a bit slow…) 🚲

So let’s analyze all the classes I’ve tried so far! (I am going to either update this article or make a new one because I am definitively not going to stop there!)

Following classes are listed by order I’ve tried them:

Krav Maga, self defense class! 🤼‍♀️ I really enjoy this class, I always wanted to learn self defense because I don’t always feel comfortable walking in small streets in Paris being a girl… I’ve met more than one weirdo!

The most tiring part of the class: definitely the warm-up! The warm up at the 1st class was okay, at the 2nd one it was just freaking killing me!

EDIT: Actually the class itself is now really tiring as well ahah

The only one thing is from one week to another you tend to forget everything you’ve learnt 😕 So I asked the teacher if next time it is possible to repeat what we’ve learnt at the begging of each session of we remember!

Cheerleading try-out, the life of my life! I had to send my resume for the try-out, and learn a dance routine. Unfortunately I have not been chosen by the teams, essentially because I am here only half a year and they are looking for people who can contribute the whole year for the coming competitions and honestly, I suck at tremblings… Only learnt how to do a cartwheel 2 days before the try-out!

Salsa intermediate class (just after my cheerleading try-out, how fun!), as is was the free try-out, the room was really full of people! And as it was the 2nd class of the evening, the room was pretty sweaty as well… I like the class! But I think it was a bit too overcrowded…

Muay Thai

Boxing

Gymnastics with Saturnus! I’ve joined the association, in order to develop my skills… I have no gymnastics experience, except I am a little bit more flexible than the average (but not that much compared to some girls there!) I am currently focusing on floor but I also like to do uneven bars, even if I cannot do much and always need help! Beam as well 🙂 But my skills are still low! Unfortunately classes are quite late (from 21 to 23) and I am loosing motivation with the cold and dark!

 

Hatcha Yoga (actually don’t remember when I tried this one exactly…)

Climbing (at UM Sports and IVY): I’ve joined MassSAC association, because I always wanted to get back to climbing. I’ve climbed for 2 years and a half in France, during high school and first year of University, I used to climb with my best friend but our schedules did not work anymore! I’m really happy to be able to practice it again. The walls are so nice at IVY gym (in Sittard)! Highest walls are 20 meters high, which is actually super high ahah!

Strength and conditioning

Body and mind mix

To come:

Power yoga

Box-it

Karate

And probably some fitness class (steps, core power etc…)

And that’s not it!

One of my thing is POLE DANCE (yeah the sexy thing with the barre)

I’ve started in Australia, in March, during my internship. I’ve been training quite a lot there, I would say 10h per week on average over the months… Started with 3 hours per week… Up to 25 hours when I was preparing my competition… 😬 (yeah I manage my internship + my pole training + my babysitting)

No pain, no gain! (And pole dance is actually really painful!)

Back to France I had to stop for a bit (summer holidays…), took some classes sometimes…

I was hoping to get back to it in Maastricht! Unfortunately the only place which offers pole dance class is in a fitness center.

I’ve done a trial there, I didn’t enjoy it… the class was not really well prepared, all the levels are a bit mixed, we are 2 to 3 per pole… we were a bit on our own to try to do the moves the teacher was showing… at this level, some moves  are a bit dangerous to try without someone to spot you… But the classes are very cheap so it can worth it in a sense.

However, I’ve decided to train on my own, because fortunately I have my own pole in my room!

And guess what, I’m also OFFERING INTRODUCTION AND BEGINNER POLE DANCE CLASSES! Contact me for more details 🙂

💪🏻🧗🏻‍♀️🤸🏻‍♀️🚴🏻‍♀️🧘🏻‍♀️🥊✨

FINDING AN ACCOMMODATION – Short term stay and avoid scamming!

Hello guys! 🤗

After a (quick) introduction to myself, here is my story in finding an accommodation for a SHORT TERM. I’ve struggled guys, for real.

I’ve visited many many (many) websites, I’ve even paid for one! (Kamernet) It did not help me at all, I did not find anything on these website, because every rental contracts were for at least a year.

I could find 2 or 3 rooms on one website though, but it was unfurnished and a bit over my budget (400 to 600€ per month).

I’ve started to join 3 or 4 Facebook groups and literally sent messages to everyone, and activated the notification to receive every single new post.

Luckily, I have found a room and I would never ever thanks Marika enough for letting me sub-rentingrenting her room.

My room is a student room, and I’m sharing the appartment with 3 other students. The rent is even lower than the budget I’ve settled! It’s 20 min walk from SBE (and yes I am going to walk! Playing Pokemon Go makes it so much funnier). My room is 22 meters square and I have everything I need!

I’ve found this room only few weeks before arriving in Maastricht.

I did a Skype visit as I was on holidaysI did not have much options! And fortunately, everything went well. I was pretty anxious about that because I’ve been scammed in Australia… and quite a big amount of money…

Here are some of my tips to recognize it and avoid it!

From my experience, first of all the room / apparement has an appealing price for its location.

Scammers send you very long messages, not always making a lot of sense…

They explain you the reason why you can’t visit the room… Never accept a room you can’t visit, you need at least to see it through Skype so you know it’s real!

They ask for a high deposit, usually the deposit is plus or less 1 month rent, up to 2 months for long rent BUT NO MORE.

To sum up, be extremely careful with scamming, I know it is truly hard to find short term accommodation but don’t be too seduced by too appealing offers…

Your best chance are certainly Facebook groups, by subrenting someone else’s rent because (s)he is going away for an exchange as well or for an internship!

Good luck ✨🔑🚪

INTRODUCTION TO MYSELF

Hi guys! 🤗

I’m a French exchange student for the coming fall semester at Maastricht University! More particularly at SBE (School of Business and Economics)

My name is My-Hanh but you can call me Cassie so you don’t misspell my name! By the way, all my social media are under the name of Cassie (it’s a long story, back in the time when I was a gamer).

I have Vietnamese backgrounds (I do speak Vietnamese as well) and I’m turning 20 on September 13th! (Celebrating my birthday in Netherlands, isn’t it exciting?!)

I’m so excited to write on the school’s blog about my experience / life / adventure (can’t find the word I actually wanted to use) during this Erasmus!

Few (or quite a bit actually) more words about me:

I’m from Paris (actually I’m from a place closed to Disneyland Paris) and my home university is Emlyon business school (better known as EMLYON). I’m in my 3rd year of Global BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration).

I have 3 other Emlyon students with me! 2 are from Paris as well, another one is from St Etienne campus.

I’m an only-child, but I have / had many animals. Currently, I have 2 female dogs, named Tina and Chloe!

To be honest, SBE wasn’t my 1st choice, it was my second and I was pretty sure to have my 1st choice so I didn’t really paid attention about what I’ve put after. However I don’t think I am going to regret it and one good thing about Maastricht is it’s pretty closed from Paris and actually from other countries which made it easy to travel around and go back home sometimes!

For period 1, I chose Marketing Strategy and Practice and Mobilising resources for entrepreneurial start-up and growth.

For period 2, I chose Global supply chain management and I am still hesitating between Brand management and Job performance & the employment relationship.

Finally, for period 3 (skills training) I chose Creativity and concept development.

I don’t know exactly what I want to do after my studies but I don’t think I am going to do any master!

I have a lot of hobbies! I am kind of passionate about everything that touches Arts, especially theatre arts (dance, music, circus shows, drama…) and cinema! 🎬🎵🎶🎭🤹🏻‍♀️🎪🎟

I’ve been focusing on music for some years, I’m playing the piano, the guitar, I’ve been singing as well, playing in some bands and choir, writing my own songs, doing concerts… Also started to learn how to play drums and even brought a drum kit on an impulse! 🎤🎹🎸🥁🎫

Now I am currently focusing on dance! I’ve started with ballet, went through hip hop, new style, dancehall and so on, ended with developing a passion for every girly dance styles! It helps me having confidence, honestly seeing me IRL and dancing looks like I am 2 different persons!

Currently focused on pole dance 💪🏻 Would love to teach it somedays! 👯‍♀️

Already teaching and dancing for ELGO DANCE, check it out on YouTube! 😋👠💃🏻

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @Elgo_Community (because I DO manage it! 🤣)

Besides that I am quite enjoying doing sports as well! But that is going to be a topic of one of my coming articles 😉👟

STAY TUNED!

Meet My-Hanh Nguyen!

‘I AM A FRENCH EXCHANGE STUDENT, COMING TO MAASTRICHT TO STUDY AND DISCOVER A NEW CULTURE!’