02 September 2007
I decided to stay in Maastricht this weekend because the upcoming week is going to be a bit hectic, maybe even a little bit crazy. I'll be leaving for Vienna at 4:30AM on Tuesday where I will be attending a presentation about the study on which I have been working at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). It will be a whirlwind trip, as I will be flying in an out of Dusseldorf, Germany (~1.5 hour drive from Maastricht) and I will be returning home on Tuesday night. Then bright and early Wednesday morning, I leave for a meeting in Berlin (via Dusseldorf airport again). I'll stay the night in Berlin Wednesday night and return on Thursday evening after another round of meetings. I'm guessing I'll be pretty tired by Friday so I didn't want to take my chances by traveling this weekend and wear myself out before the week even begins.
It's been a pretty uneventful weekend. I've had plenty of time to read and catch up on my laundry and cleaning the apartment. If it weren't for getting together with two of my new friends, Laura and Ryan, here and there throughout the weekend I think I would have been pretty lonely. I feel very lucky to be living where I am because there are two couples from Medtronic (Ex Patriots from the US) who have been very friendly and provided me a lot of insight into the particulars of living in Maastricht.
On Saturday morning, I met Laura and Ryan, and their beautiful daughter Ellie, for coffee at the local cafe (not coffee shop - I had to learn to modify my terminology). Wow!!! Great coffee and great company. Coffee Lovers is a place I expect to find myself frequently during my remaining 2 months here. I had a French Breakfast... two croissants and a cappuccino. Perfectamundo. The cappuccino was not only a great drink, it was also a piece of art.
Later, Ryan and Laura (and Ellie) introduced me to many of the great shops I didn't yet know I had been missing. We made our way to a fabulous bakery, the organic food store, the big Albert Hein grocery (about the size of a small Byerlys), and a great store called Beaver (reminds me of REI). It was so nice of them to take the time to show me around. I appreciated the insight and the company.
Since it's the first Sunday of the month today, the shops were open. I spent a little time in the bookstore doing some research for my upcoming trips to Dublin, London and Edinburgh. I spent the afternoon cooking and cleaning, and tonight I'm just catching on my blog. Pretty low stress weekend with not much going on, but it has been nice to get to know Maastricht a little better and spend some time relaxing.
Hopefully I've rested up enough to make it through my upcoming week.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
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