One of the biggest advantages of living in Maastricht is its cross-border location, situated right in the middle between the borders with Belgium and Germany, enhancing the opportunity to travel and explore beyond the Dutch grens. And I, personally, do not know a student, who would not at least once go to Aachen to see the cathedral on the random weekend - or at least make bankrupting shopping in the DM, because it takes less than an hour by train to commute there and find yourself surrounded by the sounds of a different language.
And when it comes to languages, Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor whose royal chapel was constructed into the Aachen cathedral and became this city’s symbol until this day, once said “to learn another language is to possess a second soul”. And honestly, I think there is no other quote which would fit so perfectly with the multilanguage environment of international students. All of them know at least two languages, and the vast majority know more than three, mostly due to mixed ethnicity or frequent domicile changes. And this means that with every language, there is a history to be told and an additional layer of someone’s personality to be unveiled, gifting a person additional lives. Because of this, those polyglots-by-accident can make a lot more connections within much more environments and get across to the hearts of people. Just imagine, you speak with someone in English and then it turns out you both speak some other language, preferably native to at least one of you. The chat itself progresses, shortening the distance between you.
Being able to speak in different languages also comes with a trade-off of losing one of your personality traits – sometimes it is hard to express a Spanish thought in Finnish: maybe because such an expression does not exist? Maybe in German you are not that funny? Maybe in Polish you curse too much? Maybe in English you cannot speak about emotions?
This is why, you should never forget to incorporate gesticulation – after all, it is a language too, that could clarify the chaos coming from your mouth. But if you ever happen to be in Middle East, you can do without thumbs up. Unless you really mean it - and your broken middle finger is stopping you from using it.
Rita Wiśniewska, a third-year European Law student