Last Days

My last few days in Maastricht included watching my friend get her first nose piercing, indulging in fried dough balls filled with warm apples at the local carnival, walking in solitude through fields of wildflowers, and a day trip to Brussels which ended up in an overnight adventure. My friend and I decided to do a day trip visit to an old childhood friend of hers from Colombia who is now living in Brussels, Belgium (which is only about an hour train ride away). A simple day trip turned into sampling massive quantities of Belgium beers and chocolates, a homemade Colombian dinner, salsa dancing, shots of Aguardiente, and partying until the wee hours of the night. Never thought I would get to brush up on my Spanish speaking skills in a French speaking country, dance salsa or drink Aguardiente in Belgium, or add to my list "randomly stayed overnight in a foreign country with no luggage." Haha...life never ceases to amaze me! So, nevertheless, I had a blast and got to meet some really great people. It was a nice way to end my stay in the Netherlands, although it was a bit of a rough and tiresome start to my solo backpacking adventure to Italy and Switzerland...