One of my friends, Natalie, hosted a German foreign exchange student back when she was younger. So we went to go visit her in Aachen, Germany which is only an hour bus ride from Maastricht!
Aachen was so beautiful but it felt almost identical to Maastricht. It was SO neat to have a real local show us around! Her name is Jana and she goes to University in Aachen. She showed us around the small town and told us a bit about the history. There was even a thermal fountain thing that is supposed to give you good health! I washed my hands in it but I wasn't as brave as Natalie... she drank it! The water smelled AWFUL... like rotten eggs.
After exploring, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner! FAJITAS YUM! I know I should have had some real German food... but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for Mexican food. Once we finished dinner, we went to Jana's friends house for a barbecue (aka they were just hanging out in the small backyard of the apartment). This was so fun to get to talk to a bunch of locals! I even asked one guy how to properly pronounce my German last name... Vakel! LOL
Love,
MTW