So, we shall start with Sunday. It was pretty average as far as Sundays go. The day consisted of eating, family coming over, celebrating a birthday with three different cakes, and good conversation and company. And one of those cakes was a yellow one. Like a legit American yellow cake out of a Betty Crocker box. And they were all drenched in melted chocolate. Let's just say I found myself in heaven for about ten minutes.
Monday, we started the insanity of the week. As planned, I went to Liège with Jordann. I caught my bus at the last second and then caught my train, and surprisingly made it there with no problems. BUT, we shall not doubt the Belgian train system. Without fail, there was a complication. Jordann's train came over an hour and a half late. Talk about a long wait... I spent the time watching Ocean's 11 on my iPod :) Once she got there, we walked over to the MédiaCité to that wonderful sushi place. Remember? The one that Talia and I went to with the magical conveyor belt of all-you-can-eat Chinese food and sushi? Yah. We probably spent two hours there stuffing ourselves full of the delicious food. Afterwards, we did some shopping there and around Liège, managing to avoid paying for a bus. I bought a nice new pair of boots for only 10 euros! I was excited. After our day, my host parents met up with us in Liège and we all drove over to a cinema not to far away to catch a movie. We saw "Le Discours D'un Roi", or "The King's Speech" as you probably know it, after grabbing some food. It was a very VERY good movie. We saw it in French, obviously, but I really do think it would be even better in English. Afterwards, Jordann came back home with us and slept over.
The next morning, we woke up and got ourselves ready for MARDI GRAS!!! We didn't have set costumes, so we improvised. I just threw on every piece of colorful clothing that I own, including multiple scarves and crazy tights and my new boots, along with some nice fake eyelashes. Originially, the idea was that I would be color and Jordann would be darkness. But once the makeup was on, she turned into more of a cat and I don't know what the heck I was hehe We left the house with my host dad, who drove us to the train station in Namur since he was working there that day, and we caught the train from there to go to Binche. We did our makeup on the train and ended up talking to some really nice people who were American. The trains were packed with people who were all going to same place as we were. Eventually, we got there and ended up finding another exchange student who I hadn't known before, Raquel. She was there with her host parents. We walked around, following the huge crowd of people that were all going into the center of town. There were a bunch of guys dressed up in costumes as "gilles". I don't know how to describe the costume, so just look at the pictures. But I can tell you that they wore wooden shoes and marched to the beat of drums behind them through the crowds. It was very interesting and really really awesome! We spent the morning walking around and taking pictures and trying to find an ATM. But almost everything was closed, except for a few places to get food. For lunch, we ended up meeting up with Raquel's host parents and going to a Rotary stand to get some sandwiches. We spent time talking with them and then ended up finding another few exchange students and a rogue Canadian who was there for work (modeling, ha). His name was Ian and he spent some time with us since he was alone and we spoke English. Finally, around 4 30, it was time for the big event: the parade. We met another Australian exchange student, Shaun, and met up with another American girl named Stephanie, and somehow lost Jordann. We planted ourselves in one spot to get ready for the parade. Here, all the gilles and some other groups of people who were dressed up walked down the street throwing oranges into the crowd. For this reason, all the windows and doors on the building were covered in wooden frames and fencing to protect them, because let me tell you, they whipped those things. The gilles wore giant hats piled with feathers as they walked to the beat of drums. Between us four exchange students, we caught 33 oranges. We would have caught more, but there was a guy in front of us who had crazy reflexes and caught almost every one that came our way. We took turns getting on each others shoulders and catching the oranges and at the end, we split them up and went back to the train station to go home, which was also packed tight full of people. But I successfully got home without train trouble!
The next day was Wednesday. It was Ash Wednesday, and I failed to go to church. Which I feel terrible about. But I did spend the day much more calmly than the rest, though I did have to go up to the school for about five hours for a big rehearsal for the dance for the theater. I continued to teach Bad Romance, and we still have yet to finish. I really hope that by the end of things it turns out well. I spent the rest of the day just resting up for the rest of my week.
Thursday was our day in Lille, France. Although there weren't really any problems with the trains or bus, I did realize a little too late that I had forgotten my wallet at home. Well, by this time I was already on the train and couldn't very well go back. Jordann did owe me some money though, so we were able to get our tickets taken care of and I just didn't buy anything all day ha. Monday and Tuesday had been lovely days and Wednesday wasn't bad either. But just our luck, Thursday was pretty ugly. It didn't rain, but it was cold and windy and gray. Still, we managed to enjoy ourselves walking around the city, led by a map, and taking plenty of pictures. We even did a little shopping in the cute shops that were tucked away in some of the back streets. We managed to find a couple second hand stores as well, one of which was called "The Hippie Market". It was awesome! We even splurged and split a speculoos macaroon from a ridiculously overpriced high class bakery. We were very tired though, and after seeing quite a few churches and monuments, we decided that we needed some relaxation and made our way to a cemetery that was on the edge of the city to calm down a little. Then we walked around the giant mall before making our way home. And I was exhausted.
Friday was our day in Maastricht, which is a city in Holland. I remembered my wallet, caught my train met up with Jordann on the train from Liège after being harassed by some creepy kids who sat next to me on the train. But Jordann saved me and we go to Maastricht without problem. That day was more chill. We had no map, but instead just walked around and explored, coming across some churches and big buildings, but mostly doing window shopping. We also indulged and got some fish fry from the market, which was nice for me since at home we go to a fish fry every Friday during Lent. We took some nice pictures there also and caught our train back home. Ben picked me up from the train station and asked me if I wanted to go out with them that night, but it was absolutely impossible because I was DEAD TIRED. So I went home and went to sleep!
Yesterday, I didn't do much of anything until the evening when I went to Brussels with Ben for the birthday of my host sister, Marie, who I had not met until last night. Ben pretty much begged me to go with him, so finally I caved and decided that I had nothing better to do. But then of course, both of us being brilliant people, we got lost for about 2 hours in Brussels and eventually were rescued by some family who led us back to where we were supposed to be. But it wasn't bad because we talked and laughed and joked for those 2 hours. I met a bunch of new people there who all wanted to speak English with me, including my host sister. We ate dinner with everyone and then left around 11 30, managing to find the highway this time easily. We got home and spent some time in front of the television until about 2am, which probably wasn't the smartest decision I ever made, as I was exhausted.
Today, I have literally done nothing but sleep, eat, and sit in front of my computer. But, I figure I'm allowed since I had such a busy week. And no school tomorrow!!
There you have it. My week of vacation for Carnaval.
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