MOVE IN DAY
On August 15th I flew from JFK into Brussels, Belgium ready to start my journey abroad. Nerves, excitement, and anxiety flooded my body as I departed to Europe for the first time in my life. We took a bus from Brussels to Maastricht and arrived at the UM Guesthouse, a building for international students attending Maastricht University. This was a great opportunity to make friends from all different places! We unpacked our bags and immediately went grocery shopping at Jumbo in the Brusselport Mall, just a 10 minute walk from the UM Guesthouse. I highly suggest downloading the Google Translate app before going abroad, because to say grocery shopping in a Dutch store was overwhelming would be an understatement. It's not unmanageable though, and its super easy to ask a worker for help (everyone knows English) but its helpful to have the app handy! I also got a Dutch SIM card from the coordinators here at Maastricht, so I am able to use data on my phone! There are tons of stores that you can buy SIM cards at as well, but do not buy one from the airport because they will charge an absurdly high price!
NIGHT LIFE
For dinner we ate at Harvey's ( <-- click on the link to see)! Although the food was delicious (I got chicken pesto pasta with Ham) it was very expensive for Maastricht. I would go somewhere more inside the center city for a cheaper dinner. We also visited Vrijthof Square which is surrounded by tons of restaurants with outdoor seating. We went to Momus for drinks, which were also a bit pricey.