In Omnia Paratus: True Life: I live in a Hospital.

As I reflect back over my previous blogs, I worry that I may have unintentionally deceived you, my faithful readers. Life in the Netherlands is not as glamorous as I make it out to be. There is a normal routine in between my fabulous European excursions. Tonight, I want to introduce you to the dark side of Maastricht... expose you to the seedy underbelly. Or maybe I will just show you a normal week in my life.

Monday: No cultural barrier here. Turns out Mondays are just as miserable in Europe as they are back home... if not worse. I wake up at 8:29, not to my 2 alarms, but to Shay yelling at me to hurry. I realize I have one minute to get down to breakfast. I throw on whatever footwear happens to be between my bed and the door and run out. It is not until my 3rd hallway that I realize I still haven't opened my eyes.

A little information about our "dorm". It is not a dorm at all. It is like a hospital clinic that turned a couple wings into the "guesthouse" as they call it. It is in this hallway that I catch a glimpse of myself in the window reflection of a cardio clinic. My hair looks awesome. Plastic mattresses do well for me. I continue past the x-ray machines and through the medical lobby to head downstairs past 3 more offices.

I find myself in the dining hall 2 minutes late. No big deal though. This is Dutch town. We don't run on a clock.

My heart stops as I approach the cereal corral. Please have cocoa crisps.. please have cocoa crisps... They do!! I am loving this place. I now know it's going to be a good day. I fill up 2 bowls of cocoa crisps and go find a seat. Our faculty sponsor makes her daily comment on my appearance. "Just wake up?", "Like the pjs!", "Nice slippers", "I'm enjoying the fashion show today". Doesn't phase me at all. My mother more than prepared me for such comments. haha

After my second bowl of cocoa crisps I go take inventory on what I can sneak out for lunch. Packets of chocolate sprinkles? Yes please! I shove 5 of these babies in my pockets and make a turkey sandwich. I stealthily wrap it in a napkin and either hide it in my shirt... or if I was really sharp that morning put it in my purse. I pass 3 signs telling me not to take food out of the dining hall assuming that it was a mistake in translation... Then I force myself to stay awake for a re-run of One Tree Hill on dutch tv before I fall back asleep.

I wake back up an hour before my class and run to our sick community showers to get ready. Then I enjoy my delicious turkey sandwich. MMMM.... I'm telling you, it would not taste half as good if they actually offered them to us. I probably wouldn't even take one. Oh the sweet taste of rebellion.

Mondays are so busy that I am forced to bike to class. My 20 min. bike ride through the quaint streets of Maastricht has me once again feeling uneasy. Score! I only cut off 3 people today! What did I tell you about the power of cocoa crisps?

First stop, Graph Theory at 1:30. Four, yes four hours of having no idea what is going on. Apparently they're not joking when they say you need those prerequisites. I leave this class an hour early to run to my French class. For some reason it never crossed my mind that French is one of their languages here. So French 1 means "I'm having difficulty writing French research papers" not "what? France has a different alphabet?" as in my case. I embarrass myself here for 2 hours. At 7:00 I run outside, jump back on my bike and pedal as fast as I can back to the guesthouse. I'm already late for my final class, Journalism. I saunter in fashionably late.. make some witty comments thrilled to be understanding the language.. and finish at 9:00.

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Don't know if you caught this but that is class solid from 1:30-9:00. Boo Mondays. The dining hall is now closed and of course I have nothing to eat in my dorm. How about a 30 minute walk to McDonalds? Sounds delicious. When I get back around 11:00 I either blog or pass out.

Tuesdays: The entire day is spent recovering from Monday. I sulk complaining about how much I hate Monday, remember the classes I had to sit through... Stupid Mondays! Oh did I mention that on my ride home Monday it started raining? because it always does... and for some reason I never see it coming. Thank goodness I have Tuesdays to separate Mondays from the rest of the week.

Wednesday: Far enough removed from Monday, I am able to appreciate Wednesday on it's own. After my journalism class Wednesday night I realize I haven't done any of my laundry and I'm leaving the country tomorrow! So Meg and I sit in the laundry room for 5 hours mainly folding other people's laundry who left their clothes in the dryer.

Thursday: I have my math class again from 4:00-6:00. We have of course scheduled our train to leave at 6:30. So Meg is sitting in the lobby with my bags. We run out of the building throwing on our ENORMOUS backpacks and run 30 min to the train station. Jump on a train and head for whatever random country we have decided upon this weekend.

Friday & Sunday: hitting historical landmarks and having once in a lifetime experiences

Sunday: We get back to the train station around dinner time. On the hike home we pray to find an open restaurant before returning back to the guesthouse. Panicked... I realize that I haven't done any homework for the week and tomorrow is Monday. Gah I hate Monday.