Well, everybody knows that in a cosmopoltan city such as Maastricht a foreign student gets to pains in learning some Dutch because everyone else either speaks English (or German) and thus discourages you to speak Dutch, and even if you do put some genuine effort to integrate, once recognized your weird accent, people will often answer to you again in either English or German, either out of politeness or because they don't want to see you desecrating their language or because it is more efficient if they break your attempt from the start so that you don't waste their time and tell them what you actually want.
However, yesterday it was different. Being in the Academische Ziekenhuis (hospital) Maastricht I was confronted with a Dutch speaking institution and forced to tickle out my Dutch language skills. And guess what, it worked! Being already fluent in German, I came to realize that during the four years I've spent in Maastricht, with only one Dutch course taken, I 'automatically' acquired more of the language than I thought, either through listening to Dutch radio or just trying to understand the plethora of bills and other annoying mail I received on my home address.
De dag in de ziekenhuis was echt mooi..mm..lekker Nederlands praten. Now I ask myself, had I put some more effort into learning this 'melodic' language, would Dutch be now by next mother tongue? Probably yes...and for a German speaking student this has to be quite a frustrating ackowledgement because of a unique opportunity foregone.
Bearing in mind the importance of every additional language to our personal development as well as it being an important value added for us to better come to grips with our 'globalized' environment, I indeed regret that I was not a truly active learner of Dutch, especially when so many Dutch people are active in my favourite field of study/work: development. To say the least I regret this because I could have maybe achieved more in Maastricht if I were fluent in the language of the locals.
Nonetheless, there is no room for desperation or complacency. Instead, let's look to the positive side. I am very lucky to go to The Gambia together with a student from Utrecht and maybe there I will round off my Dutch skills. Believe it or not I hope we will speak it every day at home after coming back from The Gambian jungle of problems.
And you (especially a first-year student from Germany), do not hesitate and learn the language of your host country. It's not only your moral obligation but a true opportunity for your personal development and who knows, maybe a career? Tot ziens!