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!

Interview Exhaustion

Since my post on Sunday, I have been completely swept away by the internship interview process. Monday was a combination of class lectures and then interviews in the evening, and then both Tuesday and Wednesday were devoted to interviews. At the end of it all, I'm still standing, but I certainly have a few battle scars - blisters from my high heels, slightly less cash from having to pay for a taxi after get lost (twice), and emotional exhaustion from having my CV ripped apart by every interviewer. For anyone that has ever watched America's Next Top Model, this whole process is very similar to the go-see episode that they have every year...unfortunately, my version did not feature haute couture fashion at any of the interviews. Most of my interviews were with lobbying groups that deal with the European Union, so I will most likely be working for the private sector to monitor and deal with the EU (rather than work for the EU directly). The internships are assigned tomorrow, so I let you all know as soon as I found out where I will be working for the semester. Well, that pretty much updates you on the  first half of this week, and the next update won't be until Sunday night. We have a free Friday this week, so a bunch of us are heading to Amsterdam for the weekend. I leave tomorrow (Thursday) evening and get back Sunday afternoon. The bags are packed and the camera is charged, so I will tell you all about it when I return. And in anticipation of my Dutch weekend, tot ziens!

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!

Meet the Parents

I am writing this late on Sunday night (September 5). The last few days have been hectic and without WiFi access, so this is really the first chance that I have had to update. So, I put up two posts, with each covering two days – the 2^nd/3^rd and the 4^th/5^th. I have tried to keep as many details as possible, but since I was rushing around so much, they are not as detailed as I would like. I will try to do better in the future…my blogging skills are definitely a work in progress!

Saturday was the early morning wake-up for everyone (so I was really glad that I wasn’t as tired as everyone else!). I woke up at 7:15 am, got ready and ate breakfast with my roommate T and her friend Valentina, and then had all my bags packed and in the lobby by 9:45 am. Jerry (our director) had us put all of the luggage in two of the hotel rooms, and the rest of us checked out. Then, we went on a walking tour of the Grand-Place, and even though I was just there the day before, it was enjoyable to have Jerry to actually explain what each building was and the history behind it. On the Grand-Place, we discovered that the Manneken Pis was having a costume change that day, so there was a fun parade. The Manneken Pis is a little statue of a boy peeing that is located about two blocks off of the Grand-Place, and the people of Brussels have embraced it almost like a mascot. Apparently, different groups can apply to put a costume on the statue, and this time is was a guild. So we got to watch the costume change and listen to the live band along with everyone that happened to be in the Grand-Place. After that, we had an hour to get lunch, so Valentina, T, Sara and I went back to the Grand-Place and sat down at one of the cafés right in the middle of the action. This was my first successful attempt at ordering my meal in French, and I had the “croque Argenteuil” – a hot sandwich that has egg, cheese, ham and white asparagus on it. It was absolutely delicious, but I could only finish half and so I wrapped the other half for later.

At 12:30 pm, everyone returned to the hotel and a van showed up to pick up all of our luggage and take it to the school.  We students, however, were going to take the metro and learn how to use it with Jerry. The Brussels metro is much nicer and cleaner than any of the American ones that I have been on, and it was very easy to use. I found out that I need to buy a monthly student pass for 28 euro and then I can ride it as much as I want (the system is very similar to the SmartTrip cards in DC). At the Alma stop, we got off and walked right into our building, which was very convenient. American University Brussels Center only actually rents half of the top floor of this building, so we unloaded all of our luggage and went up. There is one classroom and two offices – and that’s all we would see until our campus tour on Monday. We then went through the homestay orientation with Mdme. Benedicte Debray, our housing coordinator. It was intimidating, and by the end of the orientation session, I think every single student was having a slight panic attack. At that point, Mdme. Debray took each of the students in to tell them about their individual family. When it came to me, I found out that I was living with another American University student named Rita. Fortunately, we knew each before Belgium and get along well together. At approximately 6:30 pm, our host parents came to pick us up and take us home. As we walked out to the cars, we quickly realized that while our luggage would fit in their car, Rita and I would not. Therefore, our host mother called her thirty-year-old son, Benoit, to come and help. We drove out from the city a ways, and then into a quaint little area called Oppem. At the house we met their other son (who is recently married and lives out of the house as well), and found out that they also have two adult daughters. The other two people who were at the house were Hughes (who is Benoit’s best mate) and Alex, who is the American University student that Hughes is hosting. Hughes only lives 2 minutes away (walking time) and therefore, Alex is our closest neighbor! Unfortunately, Hughes had a previous engagement, so Alex ended up eating dinner with us – a delicious meal of chicken, potatoes and salad with apple streusel for dessert. After dinner, us students walked around the little village for a few minutes to explore. Since it was very late already, we said goodnight and retired to our rooms. I had a little bit of energy left, so I used it to unpack all of my things so I would feel more at home when I woke up in the morning.

Well, my strategy worked because I was very happy when I woke up the next morning. Rita and I had breakfast with our host parents and then, while they went to mass, we got ready for the day. At one o’clock we had a delicious French lunch that included a platter of meat, cheese and bread, salad, spanakopita, and a goat cheese/onion/asparagus quiche (of which I had two slices), and chocolate pudding. Promptly at 2:15 pm, the host parents, Rita, Alex, and I went to meet some other host parents and their students (9 students in all) and we all drove for about 45 minutes out into the Belgian countryside to visit the Chateau Fort – an old castle that was built in the 12^th century. It was very pretty, and since one of the host mothers is related to the owner, we got to have a private tour…very exciting! Part of the private tour was to go out into the old gardens, which are only used by the owner and his family now, and they were absolutely gorgeous! And even better, all of the host parents surprised us with a pastry picnic in the garden at the end of the tour. Everything was homemade, which meant it tasted wonderful, and we had homemade apple cider to go along with it. It was a very enjoyable afternoon, and it really made all of us students feel welcomed. After we drove back into the city, Hughes had returned and took Alex, Rita and I on a driving tour of Brussels, which was incredibly fun especially since we won’t be driving in cars for most of the time that we are here! Our driving tour lasted about an hour, and then he dropped Rita and I off in time for dinner with our host parents and their daughter and son-in-law. The son-in-law speaks excellent English and works for the Belgian Foreign Affairs department, so I really enjoyed getting to know him. Dinner was beef, potatoes, salad, and cherry pie. My biggest impression so far is that the Belgians certainly eat well! I’m going to have to start walking everywhere to balance out my food intake.

And now that I am all caught up, I can tell you about my home and my host parents. I live with Jacques and Annik Ghysens, a francophone couple in their early seventies that live in the Brussels suburb of Oppem. Obviously, I am not in downtown Brussels like I originally wished, but I am growing to love it here too. I have to admit, I did almost have a heart attack when we first drove out however, because they are essentially at the edge of the countryside, and their village has the laid-back country feel to it. It is very small, and right behind their house is a huge field! Now, I jokingly refer to my home as “the farm,” because this is the closest that I have ever lived to farm fields and sheep (which their neighbors two doors down have). Anyways, my host parents hosted a boy from American University last year, and enjoyed it so much that they chose to host again…hopefully, Rita and I will live up to their expectations! Besides the four of us, the only other inhabitant of the house is Frostes (which I am not spelling correctly) – the two-year-old golden retriever. Although I am not a huge dog fan, I think that she and I will get on very well, because she is very friendly and calm. As part of my lessons in French, I have already learned how to say “paw” and “jump” in French to make the dog do tricks for me! So, I love my host parents, but there is one problem…my host mother, Annik, really doesn’t speak English at all, and Jacques barely speaks it. Apparently, this is one of the reasons that Rita and I are in the same house (despite my request to be solo) – she is officially serving as my translator. At first, I was really annoyed with the housing coordinator, but now I am just using it as inspiration to learn French even faster. The annoyance with the housing coordinator is still there, but hopefully it will fade with time. Consequently, it is a real struggle for me to communicate with them at all, and I am very jealous that Rita can have full conversations with them. So, my goal is by the end of the semester is that I won’t have to be silent at the dinner table!

Other than the enormous language barrier, I am very happy with my new home. My room is very cute, with a very comfortable bed, a desk, closet, set of drawers, bookshelf, a skylight that I can open and even a balcony for me to sit out on! Rita said she didn’t care which bedroom she had (we had a choice between upstairs and down), and everyone knows that I always care. My room is on the second floor so it stays a little bit warmer at night, and the hardwood floors insulate better than the tile that is downstairs. Most of the bedrooms are on the front of the house, but mine is slightly isolated and looks out over the very pretty backyard. Also, the ceiling is gabled, which gives the room a more loft-like appearance. All in all, I am very much in love with my room! I included numerous pictures of the whole house for you all to try and get a sense of the place that I am living in. They have a pool in the backyard, and if it stays fairly warm for the next few days, Rita and I are going to take a swim or two in it! On that note, it is very late and I am exhausted from my day at the castle and trying to relay four days worth of adventures to you. So, bonne nuit, and I plan on updating tomorrow with more pictures after I take my tour of the campus!

P.S. Obviously, I wrote this Sunday night and I’m posting Tuesday…unfortunately, this is because it takes an incredibly long time to upload the pictures on the blog. That’s the main reason that there are so few pictures here. So, I was going to put up two posts the other night but couldn’t remain awake! Also, I cannot get the pictures to go in between text at the moment, so apologies that all of the pictures are at the bottom of the blog this time. I will improve!

Guild Halls at the Grand-Place

Manneken Pis

BELGIAN WAFFLES (sold everywhere at walk-up cafes)

Lunch on the Grand-Place (with Valentina)

My loft room, looking from the door out through to the balcony

Standing at the balcony door looking back

View out my skylight window of the Belgian countryside - the village of "Wezembeek Oppem"

View off my balcony into the backyard with pool, field, and patio right below the balcony

Front of the house as you walk up the driveway

Turning around, down the private driveway (very long!)

Le chien, Frostes!!

Courtyard of Chateau Fort

Rita and I at the gate of Chateau Fort

Beautiful gardens at Chateau Fort

More gardens at Chateau Fort

The AU students that went to Chateau Fort (in the background)