The Adventure Beings

Hey everybody! Well, I guess this is it. After the abundance of pressure from family and the desire to keep my Nannan updated on study abroad experience I have created this blog. For those of you who are not completely in the loop, I will be spending the next 4.5 months studying at Maastricht University in Maastricht, Netherlands.

The long treck to Maastricht University started with a 5am alarm, a flight from SFO to ATL, a layover, a flight to Brussels, and a bus ride to Maastricht. Of course it wouldn't be an adventure without a bump in the road. Unfortunately this bump occurred before I even boarded the plane in San Francisco. As I was checking my bags at the lovely Delta Airlines kiosk I was informed that I was not allowed to check-in because I did not have a visa to stay in Belgium for 3+ months. If you are playing attention, I am not staying in Belgium, I am simply flying there. Of course I didn't have any paperwork printed out to prove I wash't staying in Belgium. I was sent over to the special services desk and half an hour and a few supervisors later I was able convince them of my final destination and they let me check it.

The first leg of my flight, from SFO to ATL, ended up being a breeze but not before my worst nightmare almost came true. As I took my seat (window seat in a 2 seat row), plugged in my iPod and got ready to snooze the flight away I saw a very, very large man making his way down the plane. It was still early in the boarding process and there were still a few empty seats on the plane so I wasn't too worried. As he approached my row my fears were realized. He sat down next to me. However, he soon realized that our row did not have declining seats and requested a seat change, which was granted. So I ended up with a row to my self for the first leg!!

When I arrived in Atlanta I had a few hours to kill so I decided to got search for some food. I was able to find a small brewery called Qdoba. They had their own micro-brew called Corona! It was amazing!

After my lovely meal at the local brewery I boarded my 8 hour flight to Brussels. A pretty uneventful flight highlighted by the above average brownie I was served with my dinner. 

When I landed in Brussels I had to stand in the passport control line for a solid hour and a half. An email I had previously received told me to meet my group at the Java cafe in by the baggage claim. However the only person who was there when I showed up was my lovely friend from Denver who is also studying abroad in Maastricht. So we decided to enjoy our time at a local bar while we wait for the rest of our group, and our bus to show up.

 After a 5 hour wait we boarded our bus a were shipped off to Maastricht! I will show you guy my dorm and the really cool, high-tech phone they gave us next time! But for now thanks for reading and have a great day!