I chose to study abroad because I felt like I needed a change of pace, and I wanted a new experience. I selected Maastricht because I heard good things at the study abroad fair. Many people recommended the program. Additionally, it was one of the few programs that could be done as a SOL Price major without going on a USC program. Lastly, Maastricht is very centrally located in Europe. That gave me a great opportunity to travel.

There are genuinely so many. I really enjoyed the Berlin trip with the Program. This trip was during the first week after we arrived in The Netherlands, and we were all exhausted, sleep deprived, and a bit nervous. However, the trip had an incredible walking tour, awesome visits to local museums and cultural sights, and a good amount of down time to explore by yourself or with friends. This trip allowed me to make close friends in the program, and it was a nice mental break for me. It was less intimidating to spend my first week abroad on a ‘vacation’ of sorts to Berlin instead of staying in Maastricht and coming to terms with the fact that I lived there now. It was truly such a fun trip. Berlin is an incredible city with great food and awesome nightlife. I highly recommend the city and the Maastricht program both.

Moving across the world is intimidating. As someone who has struggled immensely with mental health concerns and anxiety, this experience was a challenging one to walk into. That being said, the experience itself did so much more to help my mental health than staying in the US would have. Physical activity is built into daily life there so it was easy for me to force myself out of the house. Once that’s done it is much easier to have a productive, positive day. DO IT. Genuinely, you will not regret it.