Well today is the last day here in Maastricht.  We decided not to do any travels this weekend and it has been quite relaxing.  This past week was full of class and finals so we attempted to focus.  The two Australians we met in Barcelona visited on Wednesday and Thursday night so that was a lot of fun.  Friday was the day we had our final for ICC( intercultural communications) and the international business class.  To celebrate the end of the program CES put on a nice evening for the xavier students, lebanon valley students, and our teachers.  We had drinks and appetizers in the afternoon at the CES building where we received our UM t shirts.  Afterwards the Xavier students went to the d'Artagnan statue to take group photos and then we headed to the dinner.  The dinner was absolutely delicious and CES picked up the bill!!  I had an interesting appetizer that was like a prosciutto wrapped piece of goat cheese on a bed of field greens.  The main course was a ribeye steak with a cheese rub served with carrots and potatoes.  The dessert plate was a combination platter with a lemon liquor drink, dark chocolate mousse, and a coffee pudding.  Afterward we visited shamrock, Cest la vie, and alla.  These are some of our favorite places here in Maastricht.  Several people left Friday night with some more leaving on Saturday and Sunday.  The main group heads home Monday morning.  Yesterday we had kind of a lazy day with just a bit of shopping around.  We had sushi for dinner that was very good.  Today the plan is to head to a local park, where for like 6 euro we can canoe and kayak for the afternoon.  The wake up call for tomorrow is 5 am so we wont be out too late tonight.

I have really enjoyed this trip and will probably never travel in this same way again.  I learned so much about the world, myself, traveling, europe, and other cultures.  Sure we had two classes but what we learned was our observations and interactions every day.  I liked the experience but in many ways it has reinforced the aspects of America that i cannot live without!!  For all of us this trip has reminded us of why we love home and ultimately we want to be there.  Can't wait to see everyone this summer!!! Cheers!

Hey. Just wanted to give a quick update.  We are heading to Brussels in about 5 min for a tour of all the EU headquarters buildings and the city center.  We leave at nine tonight to head to dublin for the weekend.  We get back to Maastricht sometime monday afternoon.  I probably wont have any internet access the rest of the weekend.

Hey... well yesterday we had the day off so we spent most of the day relaxing.  We have group projects today in our intercultural communications class so in the afternoon our group met to plan out our project.  Yesterday was a holiday to celebrate Pentecost (which is intriguing to have a religious holiday like that in such a secular country) and as such most stores except of course bars and coffee shops were closed.  We eventually found our way to McDonalds for lunch after trying endlessly to find a local place.  For dinner we hit up Nora's our favorite kebap and pizza place.  We have class today through thursday before heading on a class trip to the EU headquarters in Brussels on Friday.  It should be very interesting to see all the EU buildings because of the wide influence of the EU in our everyday lives while visiting Europe.