Week 1: From Brussels to Bruges

Well, after only a week in Belgium, it appears that I have already failed on my posting promise of every two days! This first week was a hectic mish-mash of different orientations, tours, and get-to-know-you sessions that completely threw off any routine that could have been established. Fortunately, because of the daily changes in schedules, Rita, Alex and I have actually begun to figure out the public transportation system and use it as efficiently as possible. Since it has been almost a week since my last post, I am going to just do a quick overview of the week (fortunately, it was not that exciting) and then go into depth about my trip to Bruges yesterday - we'll save the best part of the blog post for last. Alright, here is the week in review:

Monday, September 6th =
The entire day was devoted to an orientation to the American University Brussels Center (AUBC) and the academic part of the program. We got a tour of our school, which is one of the campuses of the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL). It is a fairly small campus, because it is mainly for medical students - the main campus is actually south of Brussels in the Wallonia region of Belgium. The campus is pretty and the food is pretty cheap, so I'm happy with the place. All in all, Monday was not a very interesting day.

Tuesday, September 7th =
This was internship day. At 9:30 in the morning, we all met at the AUBC to have the internship orientation with our director, and then, throughout the day, each of us had a scheduled appointment with the internship coordinator to learn about which internships we were interviewing for in the next week. Since a lot of us didn't have interviews until late in the afternoon, a group of students decided that we would go buy the abonnement (Brussels monthly metro pass) that Jerry had recommended that we buy to save on transportation. Naturally, our anticipated 30-minute excursion turned into an almost two hour ordeal by the time all of us had gotten our abonnements. As painful as getting the card was, it has already almost paid for itself. When I get back to DC, I'm going to recommend that the SmartTrip card system be converted to the abonnement system. All you have to do is pay 35 euro per month for unlimited metro train/tram/bus service throughout Brussels, and simply pay the flat refill fee every month. The simplicity and ease of this system astounded all of us. After lunch, I returned to school for my interview session and learned about my interviews. Fortunately, I'm excited about all of my interviews and would be happy to get any of the internships that are on my list.

Wednesday, September 8th =

After a safety orientation with a Brussels police officer, we went on a walking tour of Brussels. Of course, my camera would chose to die ten minutes into our tour...but I wasn't too worried since I will be visiting most of the sites again.

In front of the European Parliament in Parc de Bruxelles (right before my camera died)

Jerry left us downtown at the end of the walking tour, and some of the other girls and I went to go try our first Belgian waffles. I had seen them the other day, but hadn't gotten a chance to try them yet! My first waffle had nutella and powdered sugar on it, and it was DELICIOUS. We ate them while sitting in the Grand-Place, and then walked through part of the shopping district.

Thursday, September 9th =
Thursday was the first official day of "school" since it was our first set of lectures, but the lectures are still background material for all of the classes. We don't actually start going to specific classes until next week, after we have our internships decided and all of the other housekeeping/orientation tasks settled. The lectures were interesting overall, but because of my extreme obsession with European history, I already knew most of the material. Therefore, I started to lose focus after a couple of hours (the day was divided into a 2.5 hour lecture before lunch and a 2.5 hour lecture after lunch). The overview lectures covered the basic structure of Belgian government.

Friday, September 10th =
Lectures, lectures, and more lectures. Friday was really just a repeat of Thursday, except that the subject of the lectures was the history of Belgium rather than the governmental structure.

Saturday, September 11th =
This was the day that I had been waiting for all week...our program trip to Bruges! We all met at the Gare Central station in downtown Brussels for the 11:00 am train and rode for an hour to Bruges. On the way, I read my handy Rick Steves Travel Guide to figure out what I wanted to see. Upon arrival in Bruges, Jerry took us on a two-hour walking tour of the city (which is much smaller than I imagined it to be) and pointed out many of the sights that we would want to go visit during our free time. It was a gorgeous day - sunny and in the low 70s - and our walking tour was filled with beautiful architecture, blue skies, and flowers on every porch and in every window. One interesting fact that I learned is that Bruges is known as the "Venice of North Europe" because of its extensive canal system. Here are a few of the many, many pictures that I took just during the walking tour:

On the bridge over the first canal on our walking tour

The group walking through Bruges

2 of the things that Belgium is famous for: Frites (Fries) and Moules (Mussels)

Another Bruges canal shot

In front of a mansion from the 15th century

The "postcard" shot of Bruges, overlooking the main canal with the Bell Tower in the background

Beautiful Bruges

The Bell Tower of Bruges

After the two-hour walking tour with Jerry ended in the main square of Bruges, the groups divided up and started touring the city. I spent the day with Valentina and T, and we already had our route planned out from the train ride. Right after the tour stopped, we climbed up the Bell Tower (all 366 steps!). Because of the clear day, the view from the top was amazing - we could see all the way to the North Sea. The climb and the 5 euro were definitely worth it. Check out the view:

Gorgeous view from the top of the Bell Tower

Naturally, 366 steps up and down works up an appetite, so we hit up the frites stand in the main square and ate/people-watched from the steps of a statue in the middle of the square. Belgian frites really are delicious!

Frites :)

The chocolate museum was the next stop on our route, and it was quite interesting. The museum told the story of how chocolate was discovered, the evolution of chocolate from a drink to a candy, and how it grew in popularity all over the world. The final part of the museum is a demonstration and an exhibit of chocolate statues...with free samples that were to die for. Fortunately for me, the Belgians are most famous for their dark chocolate - my absolute favorite! From the chocolate museum, we walked through a the local flea market to see the only Michelangelo statue that is north of the Alps. It is a Madonna and Child piece and it is housed in the Church of Our Lady. The statue was very beautiful, and the church itself had a wonderful Gothic feel.

Michelangelo's Madonna and Child

Church of Our Lady, Bruges

After the somber church visit, we decided to liven things up with a canal boat tour. And thanks to my Rick Steves guidebook, we got a euro discount on our boat tickets! The boat tour was a half-hour long, and it was really enjoyable to just cruise around the canals and listen to the stories that our tour guide told us. If possible, Bruges might be even prettier from the canals - I went a little photo-crazy while we were on the boat because I loved every minute of it!

Going down to the canal boat

On the boat in Bruges

Approaching the oldest bridge in Bruges

My favorite part of the day!

Even though we were starting to get hungry, we wanted to get as many sights in as possible before they all closed for the day so we ran to the Basilica of the Holy Blood. After Napoleon and his troops burned it down, it was reconstructed in the Napoleonic style. It houses a reliquary that is said to have a piece of cloth with Christ's blood on it from the age of the Crusades. The Basilica was stunning, and the reliquary was very interesting - it is amazing how huge and prominent the part of religion is in Europe, even in a day and age where most Europeans are not practicing.

Basilica of the Holy Blood

Reliquary in the Basilica of the Holy Blood (the vial is in the silver chest in the center)

Most tourist sites and stores start closing at 6:00 pm, so we decided that it was high time to eat some food. We went back to the main square and went menu-surfing, and eventually decided on the Restaurant Central. It was absolutely delicious, and we sat outside and were able to people-watch in the square while we ate. It was all very relaxing and satisfying. After dinner, we walked through the oldest pub in Bruges, which has been operating since 1515, and then went to the Bruges BeerFest. We arrived at about 9:00 pm, and it was packed. We caught up with some of the other students, and we spent the last hour and a half of our day enjoying each other's company, meeting new people, and trying small samples of the famous Belgian beer. All in all, the day in Bruges was a complete success - a brilliant combination of art, food, boats, sunshine, and chocolate...what more could you ask for?

One of the other popular pictures of Bruges (restaurants on the main square)

Our restaurant - Restaurant Central or "Central" Brasserie

Dinnertime on the square

We left Bruges on the last train back to Brussels (which left the station at 10:30 pm), so I got home about 12:30 am feeling exhausted and exhilarated all at the same time. And today, I simply tried to catch up with my life (reading for school, cleaning my room, and of course, blogging!). My interviews begin tomorrow, so wish me luck! I will know which internship I am doing by Thursday, and in the meantime, I'll keep you updated on the process. For now, au revoir!