Afro Headquarters

Sept. 21st

I left Alex’s house in Huerth at 10:45 and followed a print out of a google map all the way to Maastricht. The 95km journey took 7 hours to complete, it could have been faster but when I crossed the border into the Netherlands I saw a sign saying 22km to Maastricht, it was only 16:00 at this time and I wasn’t meeting up with Oliver until 19:00, so I took my time and managed to spread the 22km out into a 2 hour relaxing ride. I arrived at the planned meeting spot (a giant round about near the town centre) at 18:00 and had an hour before meeting Oliver. I put on some music and watched the sun slowly set behind the buildings in front of me. Unaware of my early arrival, Oliver drove right through the round about on his way home from school and didn’t even see me. Also unaware of my presence in the Netherlands, Verena rode by on her bike, but she did see the hair, and thought to herself “it cannot be, that the Canadian is here Maastricht.” She continued home and told her flat mate and boyfriend that she thought she saw a friend but they both told her she wasn’t loosing her mind and that it wasn’t the Canadian she saw. In the mean time, I met up with Oli at 19:00 and we rode back to his place. Oli’s place is really nice, has 4 rooms, a living room, a big kitchen and a back yard, and to top it all off it is only 150 euro a month, really cheap and great for students. I met Oli’s roommate Kathrin and we had dinner together before heading over to Verena’s place (she lives 30 seconds away from Oliver). Standing outside the door to Verena’s, Oli rang the bell and I hid around the corner. Verena’s flat mate opened the door and said “ahh the neighbours are here” and verena came down the stairs to greet Oli and Kathrin, then I came around the corner and shouted “AUTOBAHN!” and the expression on Verena’s face was priceless, she couldn’t believe that it was really me and that I was there in the Netherlands. We then sat around the table talking about what had happened in our lives since Malmo, we talked for a couple hours then went back to Oli’s and went to bed.

Sept. 22nd

On Tuesday I went to class with Oliver and Verena, it was a lab session where the students worked on the skills they were being taught in class. The days topic was Integrative Negotiation, for the two exorcises that we did I sat in as a 3rd party and offered different opinions and insights to help Verena and Oli in their negotiations. After class we went shopping for food and headed back to Oli’s for a big barbecue. The food was excellent and more people kept on showing up until we were almost 20 people hanging out in Oli’s and Kathrin’s backyard.

Sept. 23rd

Wednesday, Oli, Oli’s girlfriend Eva and I went out on our bikes to explore Maastricht. We biked downtown then locked up our bikes and continued on foot. We walked down the shopping streets of Maastricht, and I found a place where I purchased a deck of dutch playing cards. We then headed back towards Oli’s place and I met up with some people along the way at a basketball court to play some b-ball. There was Anthony from France, David from Germany, Scott from Australia and myself the Canadian. We played basketball until we were too sore to play anymore. Then went home had some dinner and chilled for the rest of the evening while Oli and Verena worked on school work.

Sept. 24th

Verena and Oli’s assignment was due today so I just hung around until the evening time when we went to Belgium to visit Ellie and Caro, friends of Oliver and Verena. We took Verena’s car to Belgium and we there in no time. Verena’s boyfried, Nils, was also there so the 6 of us hung out, talked, and played games until some odd hour in the morning. We then went back home to Maastricht and I said goodbye to Nils, as he was leaving in the morning, and then went to bed.

Sept. 25th

I went to class for the second time with Oli and Verena, this time though it was a four hour long lecture that featured 4 guests speakers. After class we went back to Oli’s for dinner and awaited the arrival of Niels Vandeputte and his girlfriend Anna from Belgium. Niels and Anna finally arrived at 9 in the evening and at the same time some friends of Oliver and Verena came over. We hung out at Oli’s place for a few hours then headed to old abandoned factory that had been converted into a concert hall. There was a live band playing and tons of people hanging out having a good time, very different from other concerts I’ve been to, the music was loud enough to enjoy it, but you could still talk to people without having to yell. We didn’t get home until 4 in the morning, at which point we all went straight to bed.

Sept. 26th

We woke up around noon on Saturday, and went for a walking tour of Maastricht with Niels and Anna. It was just Oliver, Verena, Niels, Anna and myself, the 5 of us having all studied/lived together in Sweden. We walked along the Maas River and stopped at a cafe for lunch. We crossed over the river and walked through an older, more residential area of Maastricht that I had not been to yet. The old buildings and stone streets were very beautiful, and there were fewer tourists around, so it was very peaceful walking through this old part of town. Then we came upon a church that had been converted into a book store, in the english section I found “The Silmarillion” by J.R.R. Tolkien. After the bookstore we headed back to Oli’s place. Again we went and bought food for a barbecue, and Oliver’s girlfriend joined us for the barbecue. The six of us sat around the table and ate and talked and talked and talked some more. It was a moment in time that I cannot really describe how I felt, to be there with friends that I had lived together with for 6 months, and had not seen them in a while and won’t see them again for a long time. The whole evening was just perfect.

Sept. 27th

Oliver, Eva, Verena, Niels, Anna and I cooked and ate breakfast together and we hung out for a while before Niels and Anna headed back to Belgium. Saying goodbye to Niels was tough but Niels has said he wants to come to Vancouver in 2010 so I will see him again. After Niels and Anna left, Oli and Verena had to work on school stuff, so Eva, and I called up Scott (the Aussie) to go play some basketball. We played for a couple hours, then went back home for dinner. Then we were hoping to go watch a movie but all the showtimes were pretty late, and I wanted to get a good nights sleep before biking back to Cologne. We ended up watching Pulp Fiction at Verena’s place. Then it was off to bed for the night.

Sept. 28th

I woke up at 9 and started to get my things ready. Verena stopped by on her way to school to say goodbye, and just as I greeted her, I shouted “autobahn” as she rode off on her way to school. I made a quick run to the store to buy some snacks for my trip then packed up my bike and prepared to head out. I said good bye to Oliver and headed out on my way back to Cologne. In the City of Dueren I stopped by a local Real Estate Office and met Oliver’s Mom. She was very interested in my trip and how the time went in Maastricht staying at Oliver’s place. She wished me luck on my way back to Cologne and I was back on the road again. The 95km trip that took me 7 hours to complete a week before only took me 5.5 hours this time around, and I was back in Cologne.