On August 15th, the journey started at Chicago O Hare International Airport. It was an opportunity of a lifetime, a year in the making. I will travel to Maastricht, Netherlands, for the next four months. This would be my second and longest time abroad. The first two days here have been about adjusting to life in the Netherlands and exploring what the city of Maastricht has to offer.

The journey started when I arrived at Chicago O Hare International Airport. There, I met up with a few other kids in the Maastricht study abroad program, and we ended up sitting on the plane together. We all tried to sleep, but due to the stark difference in time, the middle of the night in the Netherlands was only the early evening in the US. So we did not sleep on the flight. When we landed, we got through customs, got our bags, and met up with our Maastricht advisors and more students in the program. Meeting everyone that day was exciting; I was ready to have fun with them for the next four months. We boarded a bus to our guesthouse, where we would stay while in Maastricht. That was the only time that day I got natural sleep (I slept the entire three-hour bus ride. Once we got to Maastricht, we checked into the guesthouse and got the keys to our rooms. Spoiler alert, the rooms do not have air conditioning, but I will survive. The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping and finding places to eat around the city. The first day was long, but I soon became more comfortable in my setting. This was prevalent on day 2.

When trying to sleep on night 1, thoughts pondered in my head. Can I do this for four months? What if I don’t belong here? What if I don’t adjust to Dutch culture? These thoughts lingered in my head the entire night, but I soon realized this place was too easy to adapt to. This was the first anxiety that I overcame during this trip. Day 2 was when I began to feel at home in the Netherlands. It started with our group being led on a city tour, where I familiarized myself with the city and what it offers. We ended up eating at a place with the best bread, cheese, salad, and lemon pie I have ever had. After lunch, we went on a boat tour that took us to various caves (technically, they were mines) and explored the caves/mines. I was able to familiarize myself with the surroundings that day, and it made me feel like I was at home, even though I was across the ocean. The day did not end there, as some friends and I went to clubs and danced the night away in the pouring rain. It is only day 2, but my experiences here in Maastricht have been life-changing as they have opened the door to new experiences and taken me out of my comfort zone. An example of this came with going to clubs. I have never been good in crowds. I get nervous and scared as I feel like I am being suffocated. Last night, I overcame that fear because I was surrounded by friends who were having as good a time as me. This motivates me to overcome anxieties and step out of my comfort zone in Maastricht.