Thursday May 20: We went to class in the morning. This was our global marketing class. That morning we talked about the different ways people negotiate in Mexico, China, Germany, and Japan. This was interesting to see how different these places handled business meetings other than Americans. Then we had an introduction to global marketing and the difference between global marketing and multidomestic marketing. I found this really interesting while others didn't. We had class till about noon, and then we were on own for lunch. I just came back to the flat and had a sandwich and rested.

That afternoon we had a cultural tour of Antwerp. We meet at 13 Prinsesstraat the entrance to the University of Antwerp. The big wooden doors remind me of a castle….like the one I will live in when I find my Duke over here! From there we went to see the historic areas of Antwerp. We saw museums, churches, and a castle on the river. Melanie thinks the cultural tour was good, but it was really boring. She thought that it was really long! It was good and full of history so I liked it.

After the tour some of us stayed to shop at the first gift shop that we found here. After that we walked back to our apartments. Melanie, Kailee, Jenny and I all got separated from the rest of the group so we took a wrong turn and thought that we had gotten lost. We found our way to the university then decided to make a stop at the grocery store. At Aldi we bought wine! For dinner that night I went to a pizza place that offered a student discount so that is always good. Lindsey, Bailey, Jordan, Scott, Kyle, Nick, and I went and split pizza and had a few drinks. After a couple hours there we once again stopped at the grocery to pick up some alcohol. I bought a cherry like drink that tasted like koolade and then Desperado (a tequila beer). Both of which tasted very good! After a day of walking we decided to just stay in and have a few drinks.

Then came the time when we purchased our Greece tickets… what a stressful time that was. Since we had found a good deal for a hotel and flights we just decided to go with it. Melanie being the good saleswoman that she is (and after a bottle of wine) called the Hotel London and negotiated a great deal! We got rooms at 80 Euros a night. Then came the time to order the plane tickets. Oh I should mention that there are 11 of us going. With that many people we had to figure out who would put these charges on their credit cards. Since only a few of us had a big enough limit to do that Kailee, Nyland, Kyle, and I got the short end of the sticks and had to split the expenses. This is the largest amount that I have put on my card, so I was a little stressed out that night. Once again we had Melanie call and try to negotiate our plane ticket prices. This made for many laughs and good times since she was feeling pretty good at the time. When she was listing off the 11 names she would say the name, then start spelling them. "Zachary, Z as in Zach, A as in apple, etc. It was really funny! Well anyways after that whole deal was finished I went to bed and some people stayed up. As I was laying in bed Lindsey and Bailey came down and said that they decided to go out. Well Lindsey just started to try and like beer so she had a plastic baggy and was putting pickles in it to take to the bar with her. Best idea ever!

Friday May 20: Friday was our busiest day all week I think. We started out with our European Union class in the morning at nine. This was rough for many of us since most people were out till around four in the morning. I had a struggle paying attention and I didn't go out but I was up till one a.m. which was the latest so far on the trip.

After class we were free for lunch so we came back to the flat and I finally unpacked my suitcase into the closet shelves. At 1:30 we had a group picture in the quad at the University in business dress. So we all cleaned up and dressed in our business clothes and walked to the U for three pictures that we will get on our last day here. After the pictures Dr. Wright had got Magnum ice cream bars for everyone. Wow, they were so good! I know, Dad, you would LOVE them! They were vanilla ice cream with Belgium chocolate on the top. Once again we walked back to the flat to change out of our business clothes and then turn right back around to school for a class.

This class was with Jim Kelly's wife. She is a native to Belgium and a business teacher at the University, so she told us a bunch a few stories and then some things that new students to the area should know. She was a fun lady to listen to as she had some interesting stories. Although I didn't think she would ever stop talking! After that was over we had a few minutes to just hang out. I went across the street to Jean Pierre, a favorite sandwich shop for students. They had sandwiches in the window so I picked out one that look good, but to my surprise it was a shrimp sandwich. I did not like that at all, so I had a granola bar and fruit snacks that I had in my backpack. I also got a Coke Cola light which is the diet coke over here. It is just not the same, as it tastes like coke. I miss Diet Coke from home!

Then we had a class on basic Flemish, one of the official languages of Belgium. It is a form of Dutch, and most of us kind of struggled with this. Those who knew a little of German didn't have to much trouble with this. Its is nice to have some knowledge of what we are looking at. After we all were familiar with Flemish it was around 7 pm. We walked back to our apartments once again and on the way decided to go to El Polo Loco to eat supper. We had past this Mexican food place on many of our walks. Melanie, Lindsey, Kailee, Bailey, Jenny, Jordan, Nick and I were the group that went to eat together. We had once again some drinks. No we are not getting drunk every time we go out, but the water is not free here so it is just about as much as a beer. When we were waiting for our food a mariachi band of three people came to our table and played us Tequila. It was very good and made us want some tequila shots, but we figured they would be expensive so we didn't get any.

After dinner we came back to the apartments to drank and get to know each other very well! We played card games and everyone got pretty toasted. I know I have made some great new friends on this trip! I had a great night!

Hope everyone is doing good back home and Congratulations to Corey & Jen, Amy & Josh on the two new additions to our family! Can't wait to meet the little guys!!

Love, Michelle