Last Weekend: June 8th-11th

AmsterdamReally big chess!Luxembourg In Aachen, Germany A bicycle bar! lol More in Amsterdam
On Friday Ryan and I woke up early and headed to Aachen, Germany. We just explored and shopped, but left pretty early to go back to Maastricht. By those last few days I think we were all very exhausted and ready for a break from traveling. The highlight of the trip was souvenirs and gelato. Ryan got Bier flavored gelato! Weird! I got mango… clearly the better choice! That night a few of us went out and we met more of Marc and Steven’s friends. It was a pretty laid back night of just hanging out with friends.

Saturday was the first day I slept in late in four weeks. It was amazing! Megan and I got ready, and then Steven came and hung out with us. We were all going to go bowling, but there were leagues, so we played pool at the Sham instead. After a couple of poor games of pool, we went to the square because there was a Multicultural festival going on. It was pretty entertaining and we actually saw a bar that was on wheels… bicycle wheels at that! Marc and Steven bought Megan and I dinner. I had the most delicious salad of my life, and also it turns out that tomato soup is vegetable soup! Anyway, we all headed to the Sham for the evening and while there, we played Max and met some more friends. I spent awhile chatting with Phil, who is in the British army, but is Scottish, and he taught Megan and I funny Scottish and Dutch phrases. The end of our last night in Maastricht came far too soon, and it was rough saying bye to everyone. It’s funny because really I had only known them all for a short time, but I just could have seen myself staying there forever!

Sunday was a travel day. Leaving Maastricht was very bittersweet! Megan, Shannon and I hopped a train to Amsterdam! Shannon and I chatted the entire way, and I am so glad I finally got to know her better! In the dam we got lunch, then checked in and wandered around a bit. Then we went to the Anne Frank house, which was incredible, interesting, and very sad. Afterward we meandered around Amsterdam and made it to the Hard Rock Café for dinner with the group. I wandered some more with Dr. Havey and Sarah, but eventually we went back to the hotel and slept. On Monday was the long trip back to Chicago. :-\ sadness

Maastricht: June 4th-7th

Speechless Missing home a litlte Megan and I
Wow… the last week went by far too quickly… I have so many feelings and so much happened, and I have desperately avoided writing because I know I won’t be able to capture everything. Ugh!

Monday was pretty low key during the day, but a bunch of us went out to the highlander that night. It was a great time, and I learned to play “Cheer’s Governor”… good times. Then a few of us hit up the Shamrock and shot some pool. I also got to spend some time chatting with my bartender friend Steven. Steven and Marc talked us into going to another place on the square when Shamrock was closing. It was very techno, but we all had a great time. Me and Eric left around 3:30 because we were both ready to turn in… by the time I got back, I got in about 3 hours of sleep before class… good memories. Good people!

Tuesday was field trip day again, and we went to a Roman bathhouse... not very impressive, not much to say. That night we went out to the Highlander, and then the Shamrock again, where Steven was annoyed with me for leaving early the night before (lol, yes, early at 3:30 am). Megan and I stayed at the Sham till closing, then Marc and his friend Sam joined us to hit up the techno bar, and when Steven got off work we all hung out. They walked us back around 5, and yes the sun was coming up... The weather and sky was beautiful. I’ll keep that memory.

On Wednesday we went on another field trip… this one to the American Cemetery & Memorial for WWII. I can’t even put into words how emotional the day was. The cemetery was beautiful, tragic, and very sobering. We all sort of split to have our own time, and I thought about my older brother, his wife, and my niece… he’s in the Navy, and I just can’t imagine how much losing him would hurt! When we got back, the entire group went to and Italian place for dinner. Really amazing food. After dinner Megan and I got ready and met Marc and Steven for pool at the Shamrock for a while… we also met more of their friends and learned the game Max. We went back pretty early to study for the final the next day, and to actually sleep, lol.

Thursday we took the final, then around noon Ryan and I went to Luxembourg just for the day. We took pictures, but came back pretty early. I did laundry, hung out with Eric a little, and made it an early night.