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SPRING BREAK 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me preface by saying this was the BEST spring break I’ve had so far. I mean, I’m in Europe — how could it possibly fall short of that!?
This is how it all went down:
Dad and Suzy showed up in Brussels the Saturday morning before Easter, they stayed in a 5 star hotel near the Grand Place. I met them there a little after noon, and we started exploring the Grand Place, and we had lunch ON the Grand Place at a restaurant called Le Roy de Espana, which means The King of Spain…and of course us Americans called it “Leroy despana” haha. After we ate, we started to walk around and were planning on doing some shopping, we spotted the Opera house and said “hey, let’s just go in and see if they have anything there this weekend that we might be interested in…” Turns out, they had a Mozart opera playing that night at 7! So we rushed back to the hotel for some clean up, and headed to the opera. It was a bit hard to understand, lyrics in Italian, subtitles projected in French and Flemish…a lot of culture all at once, I really enjoyed it! After the opera, we went and got dessert from a little place down the street.
Easter Sunday we went to St. Michel (the notre dame of Brussels, and also where the royal family goes to church) for mass. This was one of the coolest things to see, being Methodist, I’ve never been to a Catholic mass so it was interesting to see how it worked. It was also to see the diversity of the crowd, as well as the alter boys, etc. Brussels really IS a melting pot! Directly after mass we went on a city bus tour, which was really cool and a good way for both for them to see the city! We also got to go to a chocolate demonstration in Grand Place, which we were so impressed with that we came back after some beers and cheese at Delirium to buy some of the delicious chocolate.
Monday, we went to Bruges!! Of course I had to show them one of my favorite cities in Europe. Right when we got there, we had some lunch at a small local restaurant, where I literally had HALF of a chicken. Soooo that was interesting, haha. After lunch we went on a carriage ride around the entire city, followed by a boat tour through the canals. Both were really fun, and the weather wasn’t that bad so it made it a lot more enjoyable. While on the boat ride, I noticed an antique sale/market…so OBVIOUSLY I had to go. At the market, I found 3 really old post cards that have pictures of places I’ve been in Brussels. A couple of them actually have letters written on the back…translate later.
We went to Paris on Tuesday! The weather was PERFECT! When we got there, we signed up for a double decker city bus tour. Since dad had never been to Paris, we figured this was the best way for him to see all the major sites without having to rely on a map and a metro. The bus tour was actually perfect, we got to “hop on and hop off” at the sites that we wanted to further explore. Half way through the tour, we got off at the Eiffel Tower and laid (fell asleep) on the lawn next to it. That was so much fun, I really loved doing that. I felt like a local, and it was just fun to relax and be able to close your eyes only to open them to the Eiffel Tower. Best thing to wake up to.
Dad and Suzy left Wednesday morning, and I headed off to Barcelona to meet some friends. I was a bit nervous to travel by myself because up until this point I hadn’t flown to any of our destinations yet. It took a some effort to get to the airport, and conquer the Barcelona metro, but it was a great sense of accomplishment after. Realizing that I can travel efficiently and effectively by myself is one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt. I feel so independent, and reliable — makes me really happy!
We went out to a few really cool bars in Barcelona, a couple of them were:
Dow Jones — where the prices of drinks fluctuated with supply and demand, just like the stock market!
Chupitos — a shot bar, where almost ALL their shots were lit on fire, so fun! and toastyyyyyy
another one was where you asked for a vodka drink, and instead of making it for you…they handed you the entire 5th and a diet coke and you made it yourself, for 3 euro.
Noooowwwww, we didn’t just go out in Barcy, we also went to Parc Guell which was designed by Gaudi, probably the most amazing architect ever. We also went to Sangrada Familia, Las Ramblas, Place Catalunya and of course Barceloneta beach.
I really miss Barcelona, it’s definitely a city I can see myself living in — especially if I knew spanish. I’ve never missed a city that we’ve visited like this…kind of pathetic, but really great at the same time?!
Becky Slogeris, a friend from high school is coming to visit this weekend and I could not be more excited! I’m really happy that I get one last visitor before I head off to Rome for a week, and then home.
This semester has gone by so fast, and I wish it would just slowwwwwww down. I know when I get home all of this is going to hit me and I’m going to realize what a huge impact this has had on my life. I know it’s greater than I can even imagine right now. It’s like one of those things you don’t realize how it’s changing your life until you step back away from it…you know what I mean?
I wouldn’t have changed this for the world.
All things German
Sorry I’ve been lacking. But, I have been really busy the past week!
So last weekend, we went on our last art trip to Trier, Germany. I didn’t know what to expect of Germany, but it really is a beautiful country. Trier is the oldest city of Germany, and it was pretty small too. But incredible, nonetheless.
In Trier, we saw a couple amazing churches. One was decorated in almost ALL gold on the inside. It was so cool! We also went to the Porta Nigra, which used to be the “gateway” to the city. It’s a huge building with open windows, etc made out of stone! It was really cool.
I think one of my favorite part of Trier, was the vineyard we went wine tasting at! We went to a small family -owned vineyard in the countryside. It has been in the same family since the 1800s. They grow their vines/grapes on the side of a steep hill so that the sunlight hits the grapes just perfectly. We got a quick tour from the owner (who I think had been in the sauce some, haha he was great!), and then we got right into the tasting! We tasted 4 different kinds of their wines and they were all sooooooo good! We also had freshly homemade bread with our wine, SO GOOD. I bought a bottle of wine to take home 🙂
My other favorite part of Trier was the Amphitheater, where the gladiators used to fight! This was fun because Bruns, Molly, Cat, and I did a bit of role playing/charades and chased each other around the arena. Yes, we’re five years old…it was so much fun!
Okay I lied, I have another favorite part too. The Imperial (Roman) Baths were really cool too! We did a lot of climbing on the walls, etc here. It was an awesome trip, even in the rain!
So a while back I applied to volunteer at the Brussels Forum, which is put on by the German Marshall Fund and it’s a big conference where US and EU officials meet and discuss issues and how they can improve the “transatlantic relationship”. The German Marshall Fund started after WWII, as an effort to keep the two Atlantic neighbors friendly. The conference was being held at the Conrad hotel, probably the nicest hotel I’ve ever set foot into. I was volunteering all week with the communications team, which I was SO happy about — I got to do sooo much! I wrote bios for the web, drafted up some press releases, and did a lot of other things too! Did I mention we got free food and drinks all week? IT WAS SO GREAT
Okay so the actual conference was this weekend. again, amazing! I saw so many cool people: Madeline Albright, Herman Von Rompuy, President Barroso, journalists from BBC, editors from The Economist, and the list seriously goes on, and on, and on, and on. I got to work in the actual press conference room all week, so I saw journalists working real-time and it was so fun! In the press conference room, I just answered questions, etc. nothing big — so I was able to watch all the panels discussing major issues too.
Both Saturday and Sunday nights were a blast. Jamie (another volunteer) and I snuck down to the dinner with all the important people. You should’ve seen that spread! Probably the MOST expensive food in the world for FREEEEE!!!! I tried foie gras for the first time…not my cup of tea. But I’m glad I tried it…just probably won’t happen again.
Sunday night was the huge staff party at Club Tribeca, again free food and free drinks…word was I didn’t make it home until pretty late! So, all in all it was a really successful week. I’m really glad I did that, I met so many amazing people and learned so much!!!
Hootennany to the Hilton…upgrade of the century!
Wow. London.
Well we got in late Thursday night, and immediately started heading towards our hostel…which was located in Brixton…come to find out, that’s a place where people say you SHOULDN’T venture to. Our hostel was called, Hootenanny. I think we were intrigued by the name and the extremely low rate when we booked it. We finally showed up to our hostel…it was a reggae bar. We checked in AT the bar…and walked BEHIND the bar up a flight of creepy stairs. As we walk into our rooms, we see that there are 3 other girls (in each) permanently living there. From what I understood hostels were like hotels…you stay for a couple nights, pack up and move on. But from the sign on the wall “Let us know if you would like to stay here long-term…”, I was obviously wrong. Well, at least about this particular hostel.
This is the moment we all turned towards each other and in unison said, “we’re not staying here”…we went back down to the bar…got our 11 pounds back…and booked it back to the tube station. This is when the real panic set in, it was 11:30 – the tube was closing at midnight, and we (as of that moment) had nowhere to sleep. We got on the tube, and decided to head back to where we had just came from. A few tube stops in…Molly looks at all of us and says “Where’s my purse?!!!!” ….so did I say we were panicking yet?!… our hearts sank to the stomach and we jumped off at the next stop. We finally got a hold of our friend Lindsay who is studying abroad in London, this is where Bruns and Molly went back to the hostel to retrieve the purse, and the other 3 of us headed to Lindsay’s flat. In the remaining couple hours…Molly’s mom (an angel) helped us book a hotel for the night. So when all was said and done, we were safe and laughing about what had just happened!
The next morning, we met our teacher Gareth in front of Parliament. We got to sit on a debate about tanning beds…what else. Haha, despite the odd topic, it was very interesting. In Parliament, they can’t insult each other so when ever they address one another they say “my humble friend”. After that we went to the Economist and had a chat with the editor. They have the perfect view of London from their conference room, and the most enthusiastic editor I have ever met! She was so great! After that, we went to another debate between two MEPs in the EU. It was VERY interesting, they had a lot to say to each other…not all nice either. Gareth had to interrupt to mediate more than a couple times. During this debate, we found a way to use my friend Carley’s dad’s Holiday Inn points to get a free room for the night. We booked it over there immediately after the debate, and then met up with everyone else for a night out.
Once we woke up, we called another friend we knew that was staying in town, Ralle. We begged to stay on her couch, floor, anywhere and luckily she’s very nice and said yes :). So yes, we switched our sleeping place for the third and final time! After we dropped our bags off at Ralle’s, we started walking around…We went to Westminster Abbey, past Big Ben, and Parliament and headed down the Thames. We walked along the Thames for a very long, trying to make it to the Tower of London before it closed. It was such a nice day, I didn’t mind the walk at all. We stopped in the Tate to see the Andy Warhol collection and then headed home after that. We rested our feetsies and then went to a local pub for some fish and chips and of course a few beers.
The next day, Bruns, Cat and I went on the Harry Potter walking tour. It was a really neat way to see the city, and we got to see sooo many of the spots where they shot the movies like the leaky cauldron, platform 9 3/4, diagon alley, and a few more! We took a boat ride on the Thames too, which was also really cool. After our tour we went to Harrod’s for a couple hours and just shopped around. I bought a new pair of sunglasses, that I was in desperate need of. So that was successful! After Harrods I had to catch my train back to Brussels!
All in all, it was a really good weekend! Next weekend we’re off to Trier, Germany with our art class.
My first batch of visitors!
This past week Aunt Lulu, mom, and Catherine came to Brussels to visit yours truly! Mom and Catherine even made it after they put up a fight with AirFrance. Those French…always messing with your mind. Because of complications with air traffic controllers, or something of the sort in Paris, Catherine and mom’s flight was postponed until Monday morning. I’m just glad they made it here, and got to stay an extra day!
Anyway, the week started with Aunt Lulu’s arrival! I was pleasantly surprised with the hotel room that was essentially bigger and nicer than my apartment. Needless to say, I stayed there most of the week. Once Aunt Lulu arrived I showed her around a bit and then went to Fatboys (the American bar), and had a delicious BBQ burger and Leffe Brune (which is now one of my favorite brews). The jet lag and time difference was catching up with her, so I joined her for a nice little cat nap. After that we met Bruns and Molly in Place Jourdan for some beer and frites and stayed out until 2 am…so proud of her!
Sunday, the plan was to accompany Molly to Bruges, but the hurricane like weather made us change our minds. Especially after Bruns’ umbrella literally broke in half when she was walking to the hotel. So we took the opportunity to have a PJ/movie/study party. (I had my art history midterm Tuesday morning), this was actually pretty successful. Although we did have a very successful shopping spree at the fresh market (mmmmm. lasagna) and ate the first cafe I ate at in Brussels! I forgot about that cute little place.
Monday, Catherine and mom arrived early morning! We spent no time lolly gagging… and headed straight for the Grand Place. We saw the Mannekin Pis first, and Aunt Lulu and Catherine had a street vendor waffle (the best kind). We also did some chocolate shopping around the area. I showed them the beautiful square, and went to Chez Leon for moulles et frites! After Chez Leon we did a bit more chocolate shopping, and then headed to Delirium for a beer. It was weird being at Delirium during the day, but I liked it…a nice calmer vibe and we actually got a table. I introduced them to the famous Kinder happy hippos, and they all fell in love — I knew they would. Mom and Catherine were exhausted…so they wanted to take a nap, which was perfect because I needed to study.
Tuesday, was my art history midterm at 8:30 am, barf, and then I had to work afterwards. The other 3 ladies went to Bruges! After getting a bit lost, they found their way and had a really good time I think. I’m glad they liked Bruges so much, and had good weather for it too! After they got back we went to this pizza place Mamma Roma and had suchhhh good pizza and a couple bottles of red wine! I had my first slice of truffle pizza, it was actually pretty good…but I probably couldn’t eat more than one piece of it.
We went to the comic museum Wednesday! Did you know Brussels is famous for it’s comics? The Smurfs and Tintin were created here! Although all the comics were in French, I still had a really good time admiring the artwork, and laughed at the ones I could actually figure out! After the museum we did some shopping at the City 2 mall that was really close by. After that, I showed them where I worked and a couple of my favorite parks.
Thursday, was perfect weather and we went to Ghent! It was the most beautiful city I think I’ve ever been to. Yes, I know I said this about Bruges…and yessssss I really mean it about Ghent! We went to the biggest church I have ever seen, St. Baafs Cathedral. We also went to Graveensteen Castle…I’ve never been to a castle before so it was really neat! I think my favorite part was walking up and down the canal just admiring the dutch inspired architecture…picking out my future homes and such. I definitely want to go back, perhaps tour it on bike this time.
Friday, I showed them Cantillon Brewery. I liked my second trip with them a lot better because it was in a WAY smaller group and we got t see a bit more. The were actually in the process of brewing too, so we saw it all in action! I think this brewery is one of the coolest things Brussels has to offer. It’s the last family owned brewery in Belgium, and they ferment the beer in the open atmosphere. So it can’t be produced anywhere BUT Belgium. I did look on their distribution map and noticed there’s a spot in St Louis, MO where I’ll have to get my fix of Cantillon Geuze…after I turn 21 of course. After the brewery I showed them my favorite town in Brussels…Sablon! I showed them the cathedral, and park full of tradesmen…I think they really enjoyed it. It’s practically impossible not to. After this we headed back to our new favorite bar in Place Jourdan and got frites with samurai sauce from Maison Antoine and enjoyed Aunt Lulu’s last night. After a few drinks, Catherine and I met up with my friends and headed out to a few bars…including Delirium where I met Franziska who was out for her birthday!
Saturday, Lu left very early in the morning…sad to see her go 😦 The weather was once again perfect, and we headed back down to Grand Place to look in some comic book stores and walk around. We found a cool one, and I bought a new Banksy coffee table book. I’m obsessed with it! We then wandered around and listened to a bunch of different street performers…it was pretty interesting. I’m always amused by street performers. We found a veryyyyyy VERY yummy cookie shop, and picked up a few and headed home. We then met up with my friends at Fatboys to watch the Mizzou/KU basketball game. Unfortunately we lost, but the beer and company (and mexican nachos!) were all very good!
The next morning Catherine and mom left…I didn’t want them to go AT ALL! I was so happy they came! It really does give you a new perspective when you play tour guide…the “oohs” and “ahhs” from visitors really gives you something to be proud of. A somewhat “homey” feeling. Brussels has become my home, and I love it more and more everyday.
This Thursday we’re off to London, and I’ll be there until Sunday! I can’t wait! We get to see Betsy, Wolf, and Strick!!! FISH AND CHIPS FISH AND CHIPS HARRRRRRYYYYY POTTTTERRRRRR!
Sorryyy I’m tardy!
ahhh! I know I know, I’ve been a slacker lately.
So let’s pick up from where we left off…
The weekend after Paris, we went to Antwerp! It’s a pretty hip, rich, buzzing city. I didn’t think it would be, but it’s VERY different from Bruges, and a lot more like Brussels. We went to a couple museums…my favorite was the house (now museum) of Peter Paul Rubens. I always love when you get to walk through something so historic. You know when you say to yourself “I can’t believe I’m standing in the same spot as…so and so”, a good feeling. My other favorite of the trip was the printing press we visited, Plantin Press. I was dyingggg to use the old machinery…just ONE time. But of course…no hands allowed — bummer. But, in all reality it was incredible to see the time and effort that went into just making ONE small page of text. We have it so easy…
Alright, this last weekend…Amsterdam. Boyyyyy ohhhh booyyyyy, talk about culture shock. As one of my friends said “If Vegas and Bourbon street had a baby and they let Panama City babysit, that would be Amsterdam.” haha…and I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Some of my favorite things we did were: Van Gogh museum, canal boat tour (where we saw the narrowest house, and narrowest alley!), Anne Frank’s house, the Jewish history museum, synagogues and churches, and the Pretty Lights concert we went to Saturday night.
We also visited the “coffee shops” and red light district (a bit disturbing, haha). But that’s all I’ll say about that!
At the Jewish history museum, we had a fantastic, cute, little tour guide named Mia. She took us through the entire museum and finally when we got to the last stop she told us a story. The story was about a Jewish family during WWII and she started out by telling us how the father of the family had been approached by someone who asked if he would like to be saved. Of course the father was intrigued, but there were some conditions…being that the entire family (mom, dad, 3 girls) would have to split up. One person to a different house, with different names that none of their other family members knew about. The father had a long discussion with the mother, and decided it was in their best interest to trust this guy, and try to make it through the war — even if they had to be apart from each other. So they did, and all ended up well (this is obviously the short version of the story)…and after the war, they met back up with their family and lived on. The father did have to get help because of the mental trauma from the whole war, but all in all everything was alright. After she ended this story, she then informed us that this was her family!
It was really cool, and she was so sweet that I was tempted to just go up to her and give her a big ole hug!
Catherine, Mom, and Aunt Lulu are coming this weekend — I’m unbelievably excited!! I’m going to have to draft some sort of itinerary for them when they come 🙂
Par-eee
PARIS PARIS PARIS!
This weekend we went to Paris, and had such a blast! Bruns and I stayed with my friend from Mizzou, Tracey, and all the others stayed in a hostel. Tracey lives in the 3rd district, right down the street from the pompidou!
The first night, we all met up and went out to a place called the Panic Room (“and boyyy did we sure panic”). It was pretty fun! We didn’t do much this night because we didn’t get in until around 8 so we just grabbed a quick dinner, got ready, and went out!
We woke up pretty early on Saturday, ready for a full day of walking! Bruns, Tracey, and I walked EVERYWHERE! Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, up and along the Seine, Shakespeares & Co., The Louvre, Champs Elysees. One of my favorite parts of the day was when I got to play the piano upstairs in Shakespeares & Co! For those of you who don’t know, Shakespeares & Co is a really old bookstore that houses struggling writers for free if they work there during the day. One of the most famous “struggler” writers that stayed there was Ernest Hemingway. I really love this place, I could spend hours upon hours just wandering and getting lost among all the text — and of course sitting at the piano and just “tickling the ivory”.
My other favorite part of that day was this bridge crossing the Seine and leading to the Louvre. On either sides of the bridge there were pad locks with lovers names written on them and the date they locked it, to show the strength of their love. I thought it was pretty romantic and sweet. So sweeeeettttt 🙂 [][][]
Saturday Night we went out to a hipster place called Pin Up. it was actually really fun, but expensive. Bruns bought a bottle of Carlsberg for 6.50 euro. — that’s when we realized we missed our 3 euro Duvel back home in Brussels! But it was still really fun!! There was about an hour of the night where I danced by myself, haha. Gooooooddddd times!
Sunday we woke up SUPER early. We did a quick walk through of the Louvre, so Bruns could see Mona Lisa, Winged Victory (my favorite), Venus de Milo, and all the other famous ones. After the Louvre we went back closer to Tracey’s house did a little bit of shopping, ate some Macaroons, a banana and Nutella crepe and sat and watched this man make the BIGGEST bubbles outside the Pompidou. After we devoured our crepes we actually went in the Pompidou. I LOVED IT! It’s a lot more interesting to me than the Louvre. It’s a lot more modern and interactive!
Needless to say, Paris was awesome! I have officially decided it’s one of my favorite cities everrrr!!!!
This weekend we’re going to Antwerp (another city in Belgium) and then in 3 weeks I have visitors!
In Bruges
Yesterday we went with our art class to Bruges! It’s a small city just about an hour outside of Brussels (I slept on the train both ways :)). The city is sooooo old and romantic, and GORGEOUS! It snowed a little, but afterwards the sky was perfectly clear and blue! When it did snow, it didn’t snow flakes, they were chunks rather. I loved it! It was so much fun to play in, it looked like we were all wearing coats made out of snow, and that we had all aged 50 years with white hair.
We saw a couple museums, a church that has an original piece from Michelangelo, a “double church”, the town hall, the town square…everything! I think my favorite was the double church. It’s called a double church because there are essentially two separate churches in one. The first floor is for the peasants, or lower class people, and the top floor is for the noble people of the town. You can really tell the difference, the upstairs church has much more decoration, seating, and just all around more beautiful. The best part of this church is that they claim to have Jesus’ blood in a vial. There’s a priest that sits in front of the vial, and gives the public a chance to touch it and have a personal prayer with him. Of course, I touched the vial! I felt like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I couldn’t pass up… it was actually a very moving experience.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy Bruges, we are planning a trip in the spring so we can ride bikes around the entire city! A lot of rivers run through the town, and are mostly populated with swans. So that was cool, and picturesque. I can’t wait to go back, everyone NEEDS to go to Bruges!!! It’s so great 🙂
J’adoreeee les frites!
Monday I started my internship, and I really like the location! I pass the Royal Palace, America Embassy, this HUGE awesome park, and so many other pretty buildings! The job — eh. Not to keen on it, really. But I’m still going to have a positive attitude about it, maybe I’ll switch later…maybe it will get better! We’ll see, no worries!
Tuesday we had our first class at Vesalius. It’s art history, and we get to go on a lot of trips — so I’m really excited! We’re going to Bruge next weekend…just for the day, but it should be really fun. Everyone raves about Bruge, so I’m glad I get to tick it off my list early!
Wednesday, we had our first night french class. We’re taking 4 sessions of it, and so far it was really fun! Our teacher never spoke English once, which yeah was hard but kind of a relief I feel like. I don’t know, I feel like Americans can get by almost anywhere, and it was like she was demanding we speak her language instead of ours. So it was cool, and I bet we actually learn quite a bit — even in just 4 sessions.
Thursday, we went to our weekly Cafe Belga. Soooo fun! It always gets so crowded but we manage to still find a table. I love that place sooooo much!
Today was the nicest it’s been here so far, I went for a run in Leopold Park, and watched some kids play soccer. It was really nice 🙂
Real work starts tomorrow!
Friday was so fun, we had a school wide (Vesalius) organized pub crawl! We started off at a bar that’s ON our campus, called Kultuurkafe, and then went to Delirium, and then to O’Reilys. I think O’Reilys was my favorite, I can’t wait to go back! The upstairs was like a dance club…so that was fun! I also met a new Belgian friend that goes to my school as well, her name is Franzisca. I hung out with her and her friends all night, and I think we’re going to become friends — she lives pretty close! So hopefully she can show me where the REALLY cool places are!
Today we went to the fresh market up at Place Flagey! It was so fun. They had all kinds of fresh produce, FRESH OLIVES!!, fresh quiche, bread, cheese, meat, wine! EVERYTHING! We got a lot of yummy stuff 🙂
My internship starts tomorrow, It’s about a 25 minute walk from my house. Not too bad! I’ll be walking with Bruns and a couple of other girls who have internships by mine too. So I’ll have people to walk there and home with, and maybe even go out to lunch with some days! I’m nervous to start, but my office is pretty small so hopefully I’ll get to know my employer really well, and get to do a lot of work.
I’m off to help make homemade mac and cheese. I’ll try to upload pictures later tonight!
Walking tour of the entire city
Yesterday we went on a walking tour of the entire city. Which…granted Brussels isn’t THAT large, but cobblestone, narrow, uphill/slanted sidewalks were bound to make it interesting. Ha! We walked from our apartment up to Place Flagey where we spend a lot of time, our favorite Irish Pub is there, Cat and I’s new favorite Cafe, Cafe Belga is there, the fresh market is there on Sundays, and a TON of fresh, very very good smelling bakeries and patisseries as well.
We then walked up to the main square, where a bunch of high end shopping is and the most beautiful church (the name escapes me at the moment) I’ve ever seen. It may even top Notre Dame in Paris. After that, Grand Place — probably the MOST BEAUTIFUL spot in Brussels. ahhh it’s so gorgeous. You just stand in the middle and do a slow 360 and try to pick your jaw up off the ground. There we ate “moulles et frites” (mussels and fries) at Chez Leon, a place that is highly recognized for the delicacy. It was very good, but I probably won’t eat them again except for on a special occasion.
We saw Mannekin Pis (a famous monument), it’s SO tiny!!! I was a bit disappointed with size, but still satisfied that I got to see what all the rave was about.
After all this, we went on a tour of European Parliament, and actually talked to a member from Latvia. It was quite interesting, and very cooly to see how the EU works. Gareth (our program director) took us for a drink at “Fat Boys” an American bar, decorated with vintage american sport paraphernalia — I even spotted a Kansas City Chiefs flag!!
Today we have our orientation at the school we’re attending, Vesalius College. Apparently we get a “buddy”, a student who attends regularly — should be interesting!
[PICTURES TO COME!!!!]
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