The last 2 days being in Maastricht I have felt nearly every emotion but I am beginning to become more comfortable and adjust.
In the CES program that I am a part of, there are about 112 American students of which 15 arrived this quarter. All the CES students stay in the Maastricht Guesthouse which is an old hospital that has been converted to a dorm. Half of the building still functions as a hospital and my room that I was sharing with another student definitely gives off major hospital vibes. However, my room was quite large and did have a little kitchenette.
All the students who arrived this quarter go to UC schools and are psychology majors. They all had the same schedules and were taking the same classes. They were quite cliquey and as the only DU business student, I felt quite left out. I found myself being rather quiet and just not connecting with anyone. At the end of the second day, I finally found one girl who I bonded with since neither of us wanted to go out to the clubs.That night we made dinner together and met some of her floormates who were very cool! We just spent the night chatting and getting to know one another.
When I first arrived I was very anxious and overwhelmed by everything. There were so many things I had to figure out how to do from changing my sim card to navigating grocery stores to cooking my own food given the constraints of the little kitchen. There were also so many new people I just constantly ran into at the Guesthouse. I decided that the best thing to ease my anxiety would be to make a list of things I wanted to figure out and simply just start asking people and the coordinators for help. I asked someone in my hall who had been there since the start of the year to help me with my laundry and then asked my coordinator about how I would schedule a doctor’s appointment. I realized that while it was a lot, there are so many people who can help, you just have to reach out.
Now as I head into my first week of classes, I can confidently say I am feeling prepared and much more confident about how to navigate everything.
