Weddings And Parties And Packing, Oh My!

So I have over a week to catch everyone up on... This is nuts. The fact is that I'm lazyyyyyyyyy and now that it's getting to be the end, the motivation to spend my precious time in Belgium on my blog is fading... And fast. Instead of going day by day, let me just let you all know how it's been going.

Last week was the week of parties. I had barbecues, surprise parties, and nights out every day. It's because people are planning things to celebrate the end of the year. The eventful parts? Well, Thursday was a party that I left early because I had to go to Liège to pick up my friend Jeff that was coming from the States to go to a wedding in Switzerland and asked me to go with him. He was coming in from Germany, and I was supposed to meet him at Guillemins around 8 30pm. First of all, his train wasn't scheduled to come in until 8 44pm, which I realized once I got there, and second, it was going to be a half hour late. So I waited and his train came and passed and he didn't get off of it. On top of it all, my host mom got mad at me cause we were going to be coming back later than expected since the train was late. So I had to call Ben who was out of town and gave me his friends' numbers to call to see if they could pick me up. And I'm super stressed out at this point because Jeff is nowhere to be found and doesn't have a cell phone number in Europe. So I ended up paying 10 euros to get the wifi in the train station to check Facebook and everything and found out that there were problems with the trains (of course) and he missed his connection. So he couldn't get to Liège before 11 30 at night. Well the problem there is that after that time there are no more trains that go back to Landen! He gave me his cell phone number from the States, which I called, draining my phone credit, and it ended up that he was going to stay in Germany that night and take the first train the next morning, which he did. I went back home with one of Ben's friends and woke up early the next morning and went with my host dad into Liège, since he works there. I finally found him and we went back to my house to settle in a little.

But not for long because I had my dance rehearsal and show that day. So we went back into Hannut for that, and I spent the entire day dancing while he amused himself on my computer. That night was the show, which went very well and Ben met up with us afterward (he couldn't get to the show to see it :() to drive us to the airport since we had to be there around 4am for our 6 30am flight to Switzerland. We got a drink and then he drove us to Brussels. We were the only ones there so we got through security and everything really quickly and then found a couch to try to sleep. That was unsuccessful and when we woke up, we found out they had changed our gate so we ran down the length of the terminal at 6am. But we got on our plane and successfully took off towards Geneva. We got to Geneva in about an hour, grabbed some very expensive breakfast, and then got on a train to get to Neuchâtel, which is where the wedding would be. I slept. We were met there by some of Jeff's family, his aunt Sharon and cousin Cerena, who was the one getting married. They were super nice and we walked around the city a little bit to run some errands before going back to their place.

Switzerland. Is. Gorgeous. Everything about it is beautiful. The mountains, the water, the nature, the scenery, it's all one giant postcard. The house that we stayed in had two balconies and overlooked the lake. It was incredible. We got there, took our showers, and then I napped for a while. But soon we were back up because we were going to go out on the boat with Yann-Amael, Cerena's fiancé, and we went tubing! It was a lot of fun and I didn't get sick and I was very happy I did it. Afterwards, I napped and then it was off to Yann-Amael's parents' house for a sort of rehearsal dinner with the whole family. It was beautiful out and we shared a wonderful meal together and spent the evening talking and getting to know one another. I met some awesome people including the man who would perform the ceremony, who is in fact, Belgian! After the dinner, we all went to the church to see the decorating that they had been spending endless hours on over the course of a few days. And it was beautiful! It was like they had completely reconstructed a forest in the church. Just amazing! But we quickly headed back to the apartment for a much needed sleep.

The next morning we got up fairly early to go with Jeff's Auntie Sharon and her husband to Neuchâtel and see the city a bit. We drove there, found parking, and spent the morning looking around and exploring. There was a market going on too, which was cool. We bought some fresh bread and some raspberries that were delicious, and Jeff bought some real Swiss dark chocolate with hazelnuts in it. I took plenty of pictures, no worries! We also stopped by a local grocery shop to pick up some cheese and meat and then headed back to the their place for lunch, which consisted simply of baguette, cheese, meats, and jams. But it was probably one of the best meals I've ever had. They're not kidding when they say that Swiss cheese is the best... And remember the cheese with ashes in it that I used to eat in my first family? Yah, I chowed down on that too :D

After dinner it was time to go get ready for the actual wedding. When we got back to the house, we found that there were two new people there, Kelsey and Miguel. Kelsey is one of Cerena's friends from college and Miguel is her Spanish boyfriend. Kelsey and I bonded as we did our hair together and we all managed to get ourselves ready in less than two hours. I wore my dress from senior year homecoming, and it was a pretty snug fit since I've gained weight here... But we all looked nice and classy and piled in the car to head to the church. We were some of the first people to get there and spent a little while just standing outside, chatting with people, and enjoying the sun. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Eventually, though, it was time to head inside for the ceremony. It was done in French, of course, so I played translator for Jeff, and I have to say, I did a pretty good job. This was, actually, their third wedding (the first was just with the papers, so it was fast and small, and the second was a religious ceremony, but in Virginia, where Cerena's family lives) so it wasn't exactly completely traditional. It started off with a woman playing a violin and singing and Cerena and Yann-Amael came down the aisle together. They wrote their own vows, and Yann-Amael's were actually not words, but a song that he played for her on the piano. There were also times when groups of people would come to the front of the church and do a sort of singing performance. The whole wedding was absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad I got to be there to see it.

Ok so this is Part I. I'll post part II after I get home cause I'M LEAVING TOMORROW