After five straight weekends of traveling, we finally decided to take a much-needed break. Even though it was cloudy and raining for most of the weekend, I was very excited to have a weekend to rest, hang out and relax.  Staying in Maastricht for the weekend made me made me take a step back and reflect on my abroad experience so far.  Now that I have grown accustomed to traveling in Europe, it still amazes me how accessible the trains, buses, and planes are.  Especially due to the size of the cities we have traveled to, all transportation systems are extremely easy to get to.  Even though we did not travel this weekend, James and I had a conversation of taking a quick train to Luxembourg or Amsterdam for a day trip, which within itself it's pretty crazy to me. We were also thinking of biking to the border of Belgium, which isn't too far away! Compared to America, it's much harder to find trains that go from state to state, which would also take hours upon hours; usually, people either fly or drive and biking to other cities is very uncommon.
      Other than some of these reflections I grew to realize, my friends and I had a great weekend.  On Friday for lunch, Mike, Ryan, James and I biked across the bridge and went to a burger restaurant.  One of the foods I miss the most from America is Hamburgers, so I was very happy to go.  They had a wide selection of different burgers and beer and it's safe to say it did not disappoint. After we ate, we decided to walk around an area of Maastricht that we have never explored before. I began to notice all of the luxurious clothing stores and upscale restaurants that we were passing by, much like on the other side of the bridge.  We walked to a restaurant call Kobe that was right on the water with an incredible view of the Maastricht bridge and the other side of the city, which I will try to go to as soon as possible.  As we were roaming around and seeing all these stores, I began to realize the wealth, cleanliness and overall structure of the city of Maastricht.   Also by exploring different parts of this city made me feel a lot more comfortable with my surrounds and already, I can consider this city to be a second home to me.

       On Saturday, I woke up, made myself eggs, and later went to the movies with Will, Sean, Ryan, and Mike.  Ever since the beginning of this past summer, I started to watch what kind of foods eat and began preparing food for myself.  Transitioning into Maastricht was a lot easier than I thought, considering Jumbo, the supermarket, is right down the street from the guesthouse, which is also very affordable.   I was also very happy to stay in Maastricht this weekend because I was able to get back on my eating schedule and of course my sleeping schedule.  Around 3pm on Saturday, we all biked over to the movie theater which is to down the street to the left of the big square.  I couldn't believe how nice the theater was when I walked in.  Even just purchasing food and drinks before was like being in Dylan's candy shop in NYC; it was shocking.  We saw Mark Wahlberg's new movie, Deepwater Horizons, that was about the oil rig that exploded in the gulf of Mexico in 2010 which I really enjoyed watching.
      After the movie, we biked back to the square where there was a massive farmers market, which reminded me a lot of being back home in New Jersey since farmers markets are more frequent there.  When we got back to the guesthouse, we booked our flights to Barcelona as well as our hostel we are staying in at the end of October, which was exciting.  We also looked into hostels and Airbnbs for the weekend before when we travel to Amsterdam for the Amsterdam Music Festival.
      All in all, this weekend was much needed.  Traveling every weekend definitely takes its toll and staying in Maastricht was very relaxing and also very productive.  I became more familiar with the city and got to see areas I have not been to before!