Lets Get Orientated

Monday and Tuesday marked the first official days of orientation here at the Maastricht University. It was really rough getting up at 8 after having nothing official to do on the weekend. Both Monday and Tuesday consisted of a lot of important handouts, which I should probably read at some point, and three  tours of the city. I was able to break out some serious knowledge about what the Netherlands is because of this video my dad showed me a while back. My intelligence really knocked the girls off their feet!

Anyways, I actually did learn a lot about the city. For example, the reason the "coffee shops" are closed to tourist is because the French, Belgians and Germans would all drive up to purchase...goods and were illegally parking all around the city causing too much traffic. Thus the mayor of Maastricht made it illegal for foreigners to purchase said good.

My lovely mother showed me this article before I left which has ranked the most beautiful book stores in the world. A book store in Maastricht is actually number 1 on the list. Mom instructed me to go so obviously I obliged, because as Dad always says, "Mom is always right." Low and behold it was actually quite an amazing place. It is actually located in an old church. However nothing is bolted into the foundation, walls and floors so it could actually be turned back into a functioning church in a moments notice. It even has a Cafe with a multiple beers on tap inside. Needless to say I will be studying there.
For those to lazy to click on the link here are a few of my photos:

So... I leave for Berlin tonight at midnight. Our group is taking an 8 HOUR bus ride. 8 HOURS! Should be fun. Anyways, I will be there until Sunday morning and I do not think I will be bringing my computer so I might not make another post until then. I might be able to post something small from my phone so keep checking back anyways!

As always, thanks for reading!