J'adore Paris!

On Thursday, September 30, a few of my friends and I took a night bus to Paris for a three-day weekend. Our hostel was right by the Sacre Coeur in the Montmarte district of the City of Lights. We hit the streets early on Friday morning and, by the end of the day, we figured that we had walked over 5 miles and climbed approximately 2,000 stairs! We started the day at Notre Dame, went to Les Invalides (Napoleon's tomb) and the Pont Alexandre III bridge, saw the Sacre Coeur and the Montmarte district, strolled through Pere Lachaise cemetery (where we saw the graves of the Impressionist painter Georges Seurat, the Doors frontman Jim Morrison, and the composer Frederic Chopin), and ended with a nighttime tour of the Louvre. By the time we left the Louvre at 10 pm that night, all we were able to do was stumble back to our hostel and crash for the night. Overall, my favorite part of the day was hiking through the Montmarte district and Sacre Coeur, and the most surprising part of the day was our exploration of Pere Lachaise cemetery. We had heard that it was impressive, but we were blown away by the size, age, and sheer tranquility that it achieved in the heart of a giant city. Here are some pictures from day one:

On the steps of Sacre Coeur (my favorite part of Paris)

Pere Lachaise Cemetery - an oasis in the middle of Paris

Notre Dame in the early morning

Saturday ended up being an early start as well. Although we didn't have as much climbing to do, there were still a lot of sites on our list that had to be seen. Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower, then we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Elysee. After we shopped for a couple of hours, we walked through La Concorde on our way to the Latin Quarter. We met up with some other people from our program that were also in Paris for the weekend, and hung out in the neighborhood for the rest of the night. A quick pictorial overview of day two:

Eiffel Tower

Excited about shopping and eating on the Champs Elysee

Arc de Triomphe

On Sunday, we went to the Musee d'Orsay for a couple of hours before catching the bus back to Brussels. Overall, it was an exhausting tour of Paris but I loved every second of it! As a teaser for my regular readers, the title of my next post (which will be up soon): Bummin' in Berlin. Until then, au revoir!

Fun in Flanders: Leuven, Antwerp and Ghent

On the weekend of September 24-26, our program did a weekend trip through the major cities of Flanders. On Friday, we visited Leuven, which is a very pretty little college town. It had lots of fun bars and cafes, a typical Belgian town hall in the gothic architectural style, and a couple of cathedrals. The university itself was interesting to see, as it is one of the oldest in Europe and has had some of famous individuals walk through its doors - from Erasmus to Herman Van Rompuy (the current president of the European Council). Also, it has a gorgeous library that was destroyed by the Nazis and that the Americans helped to rebuild. The only other cool things in Leuven were that the original 12th century walls that were erected to repel the Vikings are still standing, and the original Alma Mater (yes, she is the reason that each university now has an alma mater) is located in the Leuven Cathedral.

12th century Leuven city walls

The Leuven University Library (destroyed by the Nazis in WWII and rebuilt with American aid)

The original Alma Mater, located in the Leuven Cathedral

On Saturday, our group travelled to the bustling port city of Antwerp. Antwerp is the second largest port in Europe, and it has the largest diamond district in the world. We walked through the diamond district, which was interesting, but unfortunately, we were slightly let down due to our timing. The Antwerp diamond trade is run mainly by the Hassidic Jews, and we were there on the Sabbath. Consequently, there was no activity in the diamond district aside from the synagogue. It was still cool to walk through though, and imagine the massive vaults of diamonds beneath us! After the diamond district, we went on a very long walking tour through Antwerp. Two of my favorite parts of the trip were entirely focused on art - Peter Paul Rubens' house and studio, and the Antwerp Cathdral (which houses some of his most famous works). As a side note, the Antwerp train station was gorgeous and was the sight of a very famous flash mob dance to the Sound of Music. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k. My friends and I tried to reenact the dance and failed miserably. We ended the day at an Asian festival in one of the main squares, and got back on the train to go home full of yummy Asian food and Italian gelato (the best combination that I have ever had). Here are a few pictures from Antwerp:

Antwerp Cathedral from a distance

Raising of the Cross by Peter Paul Rubens

Overlooking the Scheldt River by the Port of Antwerp

In the gardens of the Rubenshuis (Peter Paul Rubens' house and studio)

Gelato at the end of a long walking day!

Finally, our weekend tour of Flanders ended in Ghent on Sunday. In contrast to the huge metropolitan city of Antwerp, Ghent is very laid back and cute. Naturally, because it is smaller, there is less to do, but that didn't stop our professor from taking us on (yet another) 2 hour walking tour. We saw some very interesting cathedrals, squares, and canals. However, the highlight of Ghent for me was the castle! Although castles are not uncommon in Europe, the Ghent castle is very rare because it preserved its original architectural style and purpose. Most castles' structures changed as their purposes evolved and different weapons were created. In contrast, the Ghent castle (which is from the 12th century) was built to defend against early medieval weaponry and then a town built up around it and made the castle defenses unnecessary. Therefore, they are perfectly preserved for us today! It was all very neat to see. Another highlight of Ghent was the Jan van Eyck masterpiece, "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb," from the 15th century. Ghent was very relaxing and beautiful, and it was interesting to contrast it with the commercialism energy of Antwerp. In conclusion, here are some pictures of Ghent. More summary posts will be coming in the immediate future, and I appreciate everyone who is still reading!

The famous view of Ghent - the 3 Towers and the overwhelming view of stone to symbolize the staying power of the city

Sara and I over a canal in Ghent

The Worst Blogger in the World

Hi everyone. It's been a very long time since I have even tried to think about blogging - after my last post, my life erupted into a whirlwind cycle of sleep, work, school and travel. However, I said that I would blog my way through my semester abroad, so I will! I'm back with a vengeance, and now my goal is get all of you caught up with my life. At the moment, I am on my fall break, but I've decided that I am going to put up short summary posts about my travels up to this point. Hopefully, I will be able to go into more detail in the future. But for now, I think the most important thing is to get everyone up to speed. So, there will be a number of fairly short summaries appearing on this blog (with pictures). For everyone that has been reading my blog, I apologize for my lack of consistency - it won't happen again!

Speculoos

Bonjour et surprise! I'm actually updating more than once in a couple of days....what is the world coming to? Well, this is just a short post because I have the time today and probably will not tomorrow, and I wanted to let you all know about my fabulous internship. Once again, I am so so so so happy that I got the US Chamber of Commerce and I think that it's going to be a great semester. Since my real supervisor, Peter Chase, is currently conducting business in Prague, I reported to Elisabeth Roderburg (the only other person in the Brussels Office). At 10.30 am, I met with her and we got to know each other, she showed me the facilities, and I got an official badge and a key ordered. As you probably figured out, since there are only two people in the Brussels Office, we only occupy one room in a building in Schuman Place. However, it is prime property with high-up neighbors! The two buildings next to us house the Commission and Council of the European Union, and the offices on the same floor as us are rented by Intel, Rolls-Royce, and the Slovakian Embassy. Honestly, I feel like a pretty cool kid now that I'm getting my own key and badge to the building. Not only do I love the people, the work, and the location, I now have a new goal in life...to buy the drink machine that is in our kitchen at work. It is a giant machine that has a million different options on it (so they all call it the Monster apparently), and I have already tried three different drinks. There is everything from a white mocha button to a hot chocolate with fat-free milk button on it! When I saw it, I almost died. It was love at first sight, sound, and taste. Anyways, besides the Monster, the work day was fairly short and to the point. Since Peter is in Prague for the week, I have to wait until next week to get the details on my project. For now, I've been given a few different studies that they are working on and some EU policy papers that are relevant...and now I have lots more reading to do. I pretty much read for the rest of the day, with a short lunch break that included a walk to a delicious local sandwich bar, and then was dropped off at home by Elizabeth at about 3.30 pm. My first internship day passed by peacefully and successfully - I am certainly a lucky duck. But now that I'm home, I have a test to study for, some trade policy to read, and some tea to drink. This brings me to the name of my post - Speculoos. It is my new favorite substance...quite frankly, I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it looks like peanut butter and tastes like peanut butter/honey/graham crackers in a jar. It is DIVINE. I just finished spreading it on two pieces of whole grain bread to go with my tea and I can barely contain my excitement. So, I thought I would share my newest taste sensation with you all - if you see it at the grocery store, buy it. You won't regret it. And until next time, ciao!

Weekend in Amsterdam

Salud! I'm back from my long weekend in Amsterdam, and I'm trying to stay committed to my "timely posting" promise that I made last week. So, here is a review of the last few days - Thursday (Sep. 16) through Sunday (Sep. 19). On Thursday, we had class all day, but I could barely focus because our internship director was sitting in the next office reviewing all of our interview results....and we were going to find out as soon as class was over! I drove my housemate Rita absolutely insane with my nervousness, but I was dying to know what I got before I left for Amsterdam and had no internet access. Right before I had to leave, I checked my email and found out that I had been placed with my first choice internship - the US Chamber of Commerce, Brussels Office!!!! I am ridiculously excited, because it seems like a job that I can do very well and that fairly addresses my interests in both policy and business. My first day is tomorrow (Tuesday, Sep. 21), so I will let you know how it goes. Just based on the interview, I believe that I am going to be very happy...hopefully, my gut is right. Anyway, after I figured out which internship I was placed in, we had to rush to the Gare Nord to catch our bus to Amsterdam. All in all, it was about a 3.5 hour bus ride that didn't turn out to be as awful as I had expected. I was staying in a hotel with Rita, Josey, and Hannah and we took a taxi straight from the bus station to the hotel, found some food to eat, and then crashed at about 1.00 am.

We woke up early(ish) the next morning, ate breakfast, and left for a full day of touring Amsterdam. Our hotel was located in a prime position for touring; it was approximately a two-minute walk to some of the largest museums, and a ten-minute walk to the heart of the city. We started with the Van Gogh museum, where we met up with Kelsey and Sara in the line. The museum was lovely, and I really enjoyed the way that the museum had the exhibit set up to progress through his different stages of artwork. From my art history classes, I was able to recognize a fair amount of the paintings that were on display, and I appreciated everything that I had learned in those classes a lot more as I stared at the original painting than I had when I looked at a picture on a PowerPoint slide. After the Van Gogh, we walked out into the park between it and the Rijksmuseum to the "I amsterdam" and took some pictures:

Sara and I on "I amsterdam"

After we each got a few pictures with the sign (which I loved), we walked into the cafe right next to it and relaxed with a very long and leisurely lunch. This slow pace worked in our favor, because we ended up lunching right through a rain shower, and once we finished, it was sunny again. After lunch, we headed to the Anne Frank House and we were able to see a fair amount of Amsterdam on our walk to the museum. Amsterdam is known as the city of 1,001 bridges, and I absolutely believe it. It seemed that we were walking on bridges just as much (or possibly more) as dry land. Besides bridges, the other thing that Amsterdam has in abundance are bikes. They are the preferred mode of transportation in Amsterdam, and it is both fascinating and hilarious to watch them. There are bike streets, stoplights, parking spaces, etc. They operate with the exact same rules as cars, but there are more of them! It was incredible to observe the differences between Amsterdam and the United States...and even between Amsterdam and Brussels. We finally found the Anne Frank House, and it was exactly as I remembered it from the last time I was there. The group moved fairly quickly through it, because there was a fairly large amount of people packed in and it was slightly uncomfortable. Overall, I still think that it was a good thing to see and was worth the 8 Euro. 

Sara and I on a bridge in Amsterdam

Sara and I with the Anne Frank memorial statue

Post-Anne Frank, our group continued to wander through downtown Amsterdam. We ended up walking through a small alley bordering the Red Light District. Once we figured this out (which didn't take very long at all), we changed direction and headed back towards the shopping district. Our wandering ended at one of the canals, where we rented paddle boats and set out for a water adventure. According to the guidebook, this is the best way to see Amsterdam - and I couldn't agree more! No other view of Amsterdam could beat the one I had on my little boat.

View from my boat :)

Paddle-boating is extremely exhausting, so after our hour of water adventures, we went back to the hotel for a nap and then checked out a local pub for dinner. After dinner, we found some other AU students that were visiting Amsterdam as well and caught up with them in one of the squares. In short, the first day was full of education, art, history, physical exercise, and the laid-back, off-beat vibe of Amsterdam - a complete success.

Day 2 of Amsterdam was much more exciting for me, because...we rented bikes!!! It was 13 Euro for 24 hours (with insurance against theft), and it was 100% worth it. The bikes made it easier to get around, allowing us to spend the morning biking around all of Amsterdam and past sights that we weren't going to see because we hadn't wanted to walk so far. These included the Rembrandt House, the local weekend market, Centraal Station, and St. Nicolaas Cathedral. Plus, riding on a bike made me feel like a true Amsterdammer - and by the end of the day, I think I was finally obeying the rules of the road.

With my rental bike

After the aimless sightseeing on the bikes all morning, we went to the Heineken Brewery (which is one of the things that EVERYONE told us to go do in Amsterdam). It was really cool to see the inside of the giant brewery and go through an entire museum devoted to the history of a brewing company. Here are a couple of pictures of the Heineken museum:

The enormous Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam

The old part of the Brewery - now part of the museum

For Alisah: one of the Heineken Horses!

Group picture at the Heineken Brewery

After the Heineken Brewery, our little group split up because Josey wanted to see the Alexander the Great exhibit at the Hermitage and the rest of us wanted to go to the Amsterdam Zoo. Unfortunately, after we dropped Josey off and biked to the zoo, we discovered that the entrance fee was twenty euros - more expensive than anything else in Amsterdam. Naturally, we refused to pay twenty euros in Amsterdam for something that we can get in to for free in DC. So, we sat and had hot chocolate and coffee at a local street cafe while we waited for Josey to finish in the Hermitage. We worked our way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and then found a delicious Greek place called Zorba's. Part of me was excited to go there because I genuinely enjoy Greek food, but the other part of me was just super excited because the name reminded me of Dancing Zorba's in the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which I LOVE). After Zorba's, we met up with John and Sara to lounge in the main square and people-watch. I had a delicious apple pie while I watched the night life. Eventually, we saw some more of our classmates walk by, so we got to hang out with them too. After a few hours, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel for a few hours sleep before we had to catch the bus.

The next morning, we returned the bikes (even though I really didn't want to). Then, we went out for a final lunch in Amsterdam and took the public transportation to the bus station. Unfortunately, our bus ride took about six hours to get back to Brussels - it was a comedy of errors that, while funny now, was miserable at the time. For someone who doesn't like confined spaces, road trips, or being late, it was absolutely crippling. I think that freaking out would be a gross understatement for my reaction to each new event on our bus ride. Fortunately, I managed to make it home intact. When we got home, we were greeted by every member of the Ghysens family - it was family dinner night, and we were celebrating two birthdays in the family. Since Rita and I were both exhausted, we struggled to make conversation and keep up with the fast-flowing French everywhere. However, we were both officially made a part of the family by surviving our first family dinner and we have adapted to the Belgian greeting/farewell of a kiss on the cheek. Even in my fuzzy state of mind, I remember being extremely happy after the dinner - my host family is one of the nicest families I have ever met, and I am so thankful that I ended up with them! 

I fell into bed as soon as everyone left, and didn't wake up until my alarm went off this morning. Today was very uneventful. It was just classes for the entire day - from about 10.00 am to 6.30 pm. Basically, it was a very long and mentally exhausting day. As I said earlier, I start my internship tomorrow and I go every Tuesday and Wednesday for majority of the rest of the semester. And on Friday, we have our very first exam of the semester and then leave immediately for Leuven, Antwerp, and Ghent. Hopefully, I will be updating on Wednesday night or Thursday to fill you all in on the first few days of my internship before I head out to tour Belgium for the weekend! So until then, au revoir everyone and thanks for reading!