Let the Semester Begin!

So, once I got to the hotel, I experienced first-hand many of the “differences” between the United States and Belgium. Even though I was expecting these differences, having them hit me right off of a horrible travel experience was not how I wanted to start my semester in Europe. When I checked in to my hotel, I simply asked for my key (room 306) and got on the elevator. Naturally, I pressed the third floor and walked all the way down to…room 406? Thoroughly annoyed, I got back on the elevator and remembered that in Europe, they have “Floor 0” – otherwise known as the ground floor. For me, this makes no sense, seeing as zero doesn’t actually exist so any floor called named “zero” would not exist either. Anyway, despite my insistence that there is no Floor 0, the Europeans think so and consequently, room 306 is actually on the 2^nd floor. Go figure.

Thon Hotel, Brussels Airport (my first hotel)

Once I got to my room, I threw my stuff down and started exploring. The room was fine, but oddly enough, there was no towel in the bathroom besides the hand towel. I went down to the front desk to ask, and they informed me that it would cost 1 euro to get a regular-sized towel. When I asked if there was WiFi available, they said “of course…for 9,95 euro.” Unfortunately, I then found out that my hotel was located about 15 miles from the nearest restaurants and grocery stores, and the only food available was the full dinner service from the hotel restaurant for 30-something euro. Even though I was starving, I needed my cash for the taxi ride to the new hotel in the morning, so I passed on dinner. To entertain myself for the rest of the day, I wrote my previous blog post, read all of my email, went on Facebook, and watched some TV on the internet. Thank goodness for the World Wide Web.

Finally, it was late enough on West Coast United States time to call the family, but then I realized my phone was off the hook. I went back downstairs, where they told me that they could give me phone access for another 2,25 euro. At this point, I was too exhausted to care and paid for the phone hook-up. Naturally, after all the hassle, my calling card didn’t work with the hotel extension number. Ultimately, I was able to talk with my family briefly on Skype (the best invention EVER). The latest I could force myself to stay up was 8:00 pm….my eyes simply wouldn’t stay open any longer. Fortunately, I only woke up once at 4:30 am, and was able to fall back asleep by 5:00 am after a couple of Sudoku puzzles. I was up at 9:00 am and ready to go by 11:00 am, and I took a taxi into downtown Brussels to my next hotel – the Hotel Ibis, St. Catherine.

As it turns out, the taxi ride was one of the most entertaining parts of my day. My driver’s name was Ghakran, and he was a very loud and entertaining Turkish man. I thought it was hysterical, because my “taxi” was a brand new Mercedes-Benz, and my “driver” was a huge (I would guess 6’5”ish and maybe 240 lbs) Turkish guy in a grey Armani suit with flashy silver accents. And with the blacked out windows on the car, I felt pretty important as I sped through the city. When I said that he was entertaining, I meant it! He talked the entire way (which ended up costing me about 48 euro). I learned all about his taxi cab business, his enormous Turkish family, and his crazy ex-girlfriend. I saw pictures of his two nephews and his niece, which he pulled up on his Blackberry as we drove at 140 km/h. Also, he said I was very nice, and that if only I was Turkish, he would ask me to have drinks with him sometime. I laughed, and quickly assured him that I had absolutely no Turkish blood in me whatsoever. He gave me his number anyways, for “just in case.” A nice gesture, but I don’t think I’ll ever take him up on it. Well, that whole experience made me laugh pretty hard afterwards!

After I got dropped off at the hotel, I found out that check-in wasn’t until 2 pm. Since it was only 11:30 am, I left my all of my luggage besides my backpack and started walking. The first thing that I saw as I walked around the corner of the hotel was the beautiful Cathedral St. Catherine.

Cathedral St. Catherine

I got to walk inside and take some pictures – and then my stomach growled, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten for almost 2 days. Thankfully, I remembered that there was a McDonald’s and a promising-looking bakery on the drive over. Thanks to my memory and directional sense, I found them and ended up choosing the bakery. Of course, the bakery was delicious and I had a sandwich and tea. The McDonald’s was really interesting to look in though, because it was very different than what I had been expecting (and I didn’t really like anything on their menu!). I have officially fallen in love with the old-Europe feel, the architecture, the little side streets, and the general hustle and bustle of Brussels. After the bakery, I kept walking and found myself at Grand-Place. It was spectacular, and even more so because it was unexpected. Funny enough, the Belgian Beer Weekend is happening right now, so the square was packed. Also, the Deutschland vs. Spain football game was today, and each nationality definitely showed their support. However, there were a significantly larger number of German fans than Spanish. Here are just a couple of the tons of pictures that I took of the Belgian architecture and the Grand-Place:

One of the streets leading into Grand-Place

Brussels Town Hall in Grand-Place

Guild Halls in Grand-Place

As I was walking back to the hotel, I ran into Josey and Rita from my program – they had just arrived and were about to go explore. Since I didn’t want to just sit in the hotel all by myself, I decided to go with them. We went back to the bakery I had eaten at, and I ordered some delicious tea. It was fun to catch up, and not be completely alone. After walking around for a while longer, we returned to the hotel for orientation. The orientation went smoothly – it appears that there are 24 of us total (a rather large group according to the director, because this program is going more popularity). Dr. Jerome Sheridan is our director and our professor for the majority of the classes that we are taking (the only exceptions being the defense class and French). He has lived in Belgium for almost 20 years, and certainly knows his stuff. After the orientation, we had a few minutes to get ready and then we went out to eat at Le Grand Café. While it was fun, I did run in to a spot of trouble when I found out that the director had already preordered the same thing for everyone. The first course was an interesting cheese/spinach/beef biscuit, which was beautifully plated and tasted delicious. However, the second course was veal – a meat that I absolutely will not eat. So, I had the noodles and gravy, but missed out on the majority of the second course because there was no alternative. Finally, the dessert was a fresh fruit cup with a slightly minty ice cream scoop on top. As our dinner was ending, the Germany vs. Spain football game finished and the mass of German fans and their flags went on a victory march done the middle of the main street of Brussels. At probably two hundred strong, they easily stopped traffic in downtown Brussels! Since everyone was so tired and it was starting to get crazy outside, we all headed back to the hotel relatively early. Some other girls and I played cards and talked in one of the hotel rooms before going to bed, but finally just called it a night.