updates!

Hi folks,

Sorry for the months-long hiatus! It’s been a while, with exam preparations and hospital attachment straight after that =S

It’s the start of the last week of our 6 weeks of hospital attachment, and our progress from the last post (which was in March by the way) hasn’t gone very far.

Insofar:

• Mrs Tjioe has kindly offered to pick us up from the airport when we arrive real early (about 530am NL time) in Amsterdam! and we might be joining our host family for their weekend golf trip to Maastrich, the south of Holland! =)
• meeting Yixin in NL! Tentatively we’ll be going to the Alkmaar Cheese Market in Arnhem on 4th July (Friday), and the next day we’ll be going to Burger’s Zoo (cute name!) in Hoge Veluwe National Park, near Nijmejin to picnic and catch the park performance in the evening!
• meeting Joris, who will be in Rotterdam doing his final posting! =)
• touring Belgium with Kelvin and 2 other pharmacy grad seniors who are arriving at Brussels on 26th July (about 6 – 7 am)
• We’re going to Brussels and Brugges on the 26th and 27th of July, but Jwen and I will be arriving in Brussels on the afternoon of the 23rd, check in and explore abit of Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent before they arrive =) we’ll be based in Brussels by the way.

Other random information:

• Most of trains leave the station at 7pm
• It only takes 2+ hours to reach Cologne, Germany via train from Brussels
• Antwerp and Brugges are within 50min by train from Brussels. Ghent is about 30min away.

Hostel Booking:

• By the way, www.hostelworld.com is a good site for online bookings and review of hostels =)

For Belgium (Brussels) we’ve taken a look at:

• Hotel Opera: http://www.hostelworld.com/availability.php/HotelOpera-Brussels-6062
• A Taste of Belgium: http://www.hostelworld.com/availability.php/ATasteofBelgium-Brussels-21303 (top of our list though more expensive than Hotel Opera)
• 2Go4 Hostel: http://www.2go4.be/quality/en/info.htm
• Hotel the Moon: http://www.hostelworld.com/availability.php/HoteltheMoon-Brussels-6189

Pre-Trip:

• Insurance is more or less settled!
• Left with currency exchange to do later this week =)
• We can share Dove body foam
• HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Much stuff to do, like deciding on where to go in Holland and Germany so we can start booking hostels/ bed and breakfasts to stay in during the trip, especially now that it’s the peak season for tourists =S

Was talking to my preceptor after work one day and he gave me some travel tips! =)=) Shall go find the travel guide (sth along the likes of “Backdoor to Europe”) he recommended, apparently it introduces some lovely spots in the country that aren’t too touristy, and rather off the beaten path routes and places in an interesting, narrative manner unlike the typical guidebooks. Sounds like a good read! =)

And this reminds me of the SOAP case that I’m supposed to be working on now haha. I’m currently chatting with Yixin and Jingwen; just emailed Joris and Mrs Tjioe; and feeling uber excited now that we’ll be in NL NEXT FRIDAY MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!! =)

But it’s 3.10am and my bed beckons! That’s all for now folks! =)

xoxo, Xue Fen =)