Two weeks deep in Maastricht

G’day team,

It’s been exactly two weeks since I started my time hear at maastricht, and hopefully now I’ve got enough material to write a somewhat bearable blog that will give you a couple of useful insights!

Something I found when I first read these blogs before I left for exchange was that it was hard to get an understanding of the type of person the author was, so I’ll give you a couple of insights into who I am so you will be able to get a quick grip on what interests me and my perspective on things (so I don’t waste your time). First of all,  I study Business at UTS with a major in Finance and sub major in Management, and live in Bondi Junction. I am originally from country NSW, but have moved to Sydney and live with three of my mates in a share house whilst I study at Uni. I have previously travelled too Europe, New Zealand, Canada and America and am a keen skier and surfer.

Back to business, I flew into Brussels airport after a delayed flight from Abu Dhabi and a connecting flight from Sydney to Melbourne, which despite the jet lag was worth the extra couple of dollars I saved. Which brings me to my first fun fact, you will spend more than you intended to when you first arrive so feel free to cop a connecting flight and an overnight stopover if it saves you a cheeky couple of bucks. When I finally arrived in Brussels and eventually touched down in Maastricht, I had landed on my birthday which despite the travel lag I managed to celebrate with the first major Mecc party which is an Inkom event. Which brings me to my second insight of the morning, if you are interested in getting to maastricht a bit earlier for some fun nights out and a chance to meet some new people I would recommend signing up for the Inkom introduction week and then exchange student week, which follows it, before you start university.

After my initial night out, and birthday celebration, I spent the next day meeting some people and making mates from my new accommodation – Maastricht Guesthouse Building C. From all accounts this is the accommodation you want to be in, as its a fun and vibrant building with other exchange students from all over the world – to which I recommend without doubt. After my initial day of bagged meat and greet, I then spent the next day buying a bike (aka big silver or big silv) and then the one after riding to Belgium along the river to Brasserie Onder de Brug for a picnic and a couple of beers. Since then the last couple of days and nights have included the ISN pub crawl, and a couple of outings to De Alla and the Irish pub the Shamrock, alongside a couple of fine cafe sessions at Alley Cat (best coffee’s in maastricht). I must also make note for all you fellow Kebab enthusiasts out there, the best kebabs are found at Isis Grill, near the great Shamrock.

Now University has started, I presumed the honeymoon period of exchange was over, but for the next couple of weekends we have lined up a festival in Berlin and a couple of rascally outings to Oktoberfest so maybe the engines will be cooled at the end of the first month, or subsequently when I run out of money and excusable tutorial no-shows. On account of a lost phone I currently have no photo’s of my so called ‘new friends’, ‘days to Belgium’ or ‘Sunny Maastricht outings’ so here is one from the internet, and I’ll make up with plenty for my next blog post.

Cheers and stay fly,

Jock Rayner 12015412 Business