Hostel

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Hello All!

We arrived in Aachen, Germany last night (Sunday) around 8:00 pm to our Youth Hostel. A bit of a downgrade from our nice hotels we have had so far. Five girls to one room who have to share one toilet and one shower, it just reminded us of dorm life. 😊 We explored downtown a little last night and got a walking tour of the city this monring along with a tour of the cathedral in the center of town. It was beautiful! There is so much history here it is breathtaking. The pictrues just don't do it justice, but I still took as many as possible!!

On our last night (Friday) in the Netherlands we all decided to go see the Hangover II, how American of us 😊. Then we enjoyed our last night out in the city and met up with a local that knew someone in our group so he showed us around to the good student hangouts.

Saturday we left for Brugge, Belgium, near the coast. It was quite chillly and cloudy there but it was ok with me because my allergies bave been better (knock on wood). We toured the city and did some shopping, as it was somewhat cheaper. We ran into a 'hole in the wall' pasta shop that was amazing! We also had a belgian waffle whenever possible, yum! We climbed to the top of the tower in the center of town and could see for miles, very beautiful.

Some culteral shocks or differences i guess you could say are the portions! They are a lot smaller here, especially the drinks. You always have to buy water, they don't believe in tap water here. So a pop is just as expensive as a water. They walk or bike everywhere, ocassionaly taking the bus. There is so much history here compared to the states. Everwhere there are old castles, cathedrals, buildings, etc. I feel like a cannot take enough pictures or videos. I will try to upload some as soon as possible. Most people speak english, which is nice. Although here in Germany we have noticed not as much English. But, all the professors say students start learning english at a very young age. Something I wish we were required to do in the states is take a different language from elementary school.

We have a lecture today and then a barbeque at the FH school here in Aachen tonight, free food and beer (thumbs up). Miss you all and hope everything is going well!

Love,
Ashley

P.S. my iphone died yesterday so hopefully I can take it to an Apple store over here to get it fixed. if not we are going to try to get emily's phone to work. -->Mom, don't worry we will figure it out!! 😊

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