Antoni Lewa

Hello from Maastricht!

Finally arrived here last Sunday after 14 hours of flight from Jakarta.

My first week here is full of orientation activities/parties, meeting fellow exchangers and exploring the city by bicycle. There are more than 300 students from 35 different countries coming to the Maastricht University, School of Business & Economics this semester. While I still meet many Asians (I haven’t met one from Indonesia though), most of them came from the EU.

The Netherlands is not complete without bicycles. Cycling is the main transportation mode here, so I rented a bicycle for 29.9 euros/month, which apparently is a little bit too expensive as my friend managed to get a second-hand bicycle for 40 euros (My friend told me that the dealer said my friend could get a 10 euro bike if he wants). I guess there is some truth to what my roommate told me (jokingly) when we just arrived: “In Netherlands, you either buy a bike, rent a bike, or steal a bike.” Nevertheless, I’m quite happy because for the first time in my life, I can cycle so much without worrying about cars and hot weathers!

And of course, this blog entry won’t be complete without talking about: food! Surprisingly there are lots of Indonesian food here, which I find really amusing. Even my German friend, Jan, told me that he was served “Sate” during his orientation (He’s in a different faculty from mine, by the way). Also, beers are ridiculously cheap here. A can of beer is literally cheaper than a bottle of water (in supermarkets, you can get a can of beer for as cheap as 60 cents!). Other than that, the food here is actually quite good and is priced quite reasonably (around 3-5 euros for a decent meal).

So this shall conclude my first entry. In the next few weekends, I might be travelling to some other cities. So if it does happen, I’ll probably write about it on my next entry ;)