well, this week has defiinitely been packed full but it's been great! This past weekend I went to Brussels and that was really fun and a good way to start of the trip... I ate belgian chocolate and waffles and bought some lace to take home....I saw the EU and several churches....the atomium, which is really amazing to see and is actually from the World Fair when it was in Brussels...so that trip was great and that was also where I accustomed myself to all the walking I would be doing while here!

My host family is really wonderful and I think I lucked out on being paired with them. Theyve had alot of students studying abroad that have stayed with them and so they know what to expect and how to handle everything which is great. Christa is a great cook and definitely a mom to us while we've been here! The other night we had pancakes that were really different than our own in America but really great too...they were made with wheat flour, I believe, instead of self rising like we might use and so they were thin but very dense... she put all kinds of toppings on the different ones, she had plain ones, one with apples and cinnamon, one with blueberries, one with ham, and the last with cheese because apparently that closes the stomach..so needless to say, I really want to learn how to make them because they were amazing!

Yesterday we went to Cologne and took alot of tours and it was really interesting because I think we really made the best of our time while we were there...We saw the cathedral which was awesome and I really didnt realize how big of a deal it was until then! We had gone to the Wallraf Richartz Museum and after our tour we went upstairs and saw alot of paintings that were centered around Christ and his crucifixion. There was one painting The Last Judgement by a German artist named Stefan Lochner in 1435. It was really disturbing in a way but very interesting and I really liked it...later when we went to the cathedral there was actually a painting by him there as well and you could definitely see his style in it so I thought that was really amazing to see and I wonder if he must be a famous artist in Cologne or maybe all of Germany? I don't know but its something to google i guess!

Well, its been amazing so far and I can't wait to see what im going to experience next!