Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I'm A Little Behind...

So obviously my blog has been a bit vacant for a while... I suppose I shall catch you up with the important stuff.

Saturday, I spent the day in Brussels with my friend, Liza, who is another exchange student. We met at the exotic dinner (remember that?) and we hit it off right away because let's face it, theater kids just get along. So we met up in Brussels at the station Centrale, which is gorgeous by the way, and then spent a good amount of time wandering around, seeing the Mannekin Pis, which is a statue of a little boy peeing, getting lost, making note of where we wanted to eat Chinese food, and eventually finding the road with all the stores. I did some hard core shopping and by the end of the day, I had two new scarves (the true Belgian ones with all the different colors that I've been looking for forever!), a dress, a pair of shoes, a tube of face mask stuff, another scarf, a sweater, and a lint roller. We did eat our Chinese food too, and way too much of it, and had no room for waffles... But it was ok because when I got home, I found out that my host mom had made homemade ones! There were the two little cousins over too. So I sat down to dinner with my host parents, Benjamin, and the two little ones. We had a typical German dish of sauerkraut with different kinds of meat and mashed potatoes, and then the waffles for dessert. I have to say, I didn't care for dinner much. I'm not a sausage/meat/sauerkraut person. I spent the evening hanging out with my host brother after playing a game with the little ones.

Sunday, I felt sick, so I pretty much stayed calm all day. Though I took a couple hours to watch some Big Bang Theory with Benjamin. We bond over television.

Monday was a normal day at school, followed by some normal time at the gym, followed by a normal dinner and a normal evening. There is a lot of crap going on in Belgium right now. We watched the news and it talked all about how there were 35,000 people in Brussels on Sunday for a big rally because there hasn't been a government in Belgium for over seven months now. I can't really explain further than that, because I don't really understand, but from what I get, Wallonie and Flandre don't like each other and there is talk about them breaking apart... Which is quite terrifying actually...

Yesterday was a normal school day, followed by a Rotary meeting that I had to go to. In fact, Karine came to get me to take me there, which was nice because we got to catch up and everything. I got in the car and it was just like the past four months. The meeting was held at a reception center because there were going to be four different mayors from different villages that were going to be there. There was also another guest who was kind of like the dean from the university in Liège. Once everyone was there, including Christian (the Canadian exchange student, you know him), we sat down to dinner. It started off with a salad, then the main course was rabbit with potatoes, and cinnamon pineapple and ice cream for dessert. It was the first time of my life that I ate rabbit, and I have to say it wasn't bad. The man from the university spoke for probably two hours, and I'm going to admit, it was very hard to sit through. Not to mention that...

I was kind of aggravated also because I had been told that night that someone told Rotary that I spend too much time with other exchange students, I don't have any Belgian friends, I'm not integrated at school, and I don't speak French well at all. And apparently, someone was thinking about emailing one of the head honchos of Rotary and scheduling a test for me to see if it was true or not. But it's a load of crap because everyone I talk to says that I speak well. I know that I'm improving and I know that my French is better than decent. I would never say that it's perfect, and I still have a lot of learning to do, but I try so hard to speak correctly and my accent is not bad and I know that I do well most of the time. And yes, I do spend time with other exchange students, but we are all kind of in the same group of friends. Of course it's convenient to go to a soirée with another exchange student or carpool or whatever. God forbid... Point being, JE PARLE FRANÇAIS.

Today, I had to do an oral presentation with two other girls in my French class. We had to read a book and then watch the movie that was made from it and do an analysis. We did "The Road", which in French is "La Route". It was really convenient for me because I read the book last year in my English class. So last Wednesday we watched the movie together (at a BELGIAN'S house) and did the work for the analysis. And today we presented it. And although I made a few pronunciation mistakes and Madame Gallo had to stop me a couple time because she didn't quite understand what I said, she was very impressed with me and said that I did well. Not to mention that we had the best analysis of the groups that went today and she said that all three of us were brilliant girls and she was happy with our presentation. And she was impressed because she asked a question about the movie and I was able to answer it completely correctly in French. So, HA. I win.

After school today I went to Liège with Talia and Mikayla and Eduardo and Aymeric. Talia and Eduardo and I took the bus to Huy, where we literally walked up to the train and pulled the handle as the train was pulling away. So we missed it and had to wait another forty five minutes. Once we got to Liège, we met up with the others, but it was too late to get the sushi that we were planning on getting. So in the end we had Pizza Hut. We just a couple pizzas and split them between us. Then we did some shopping. I walked away with another pair of shoes, but hey, it was the deal of the day. They were only six euros!! So I win. Again. HA. Then Mikayla and I got a waffle and went home after the others had left. We spent some quality talking time and her host mom kindly dropped me off at home. I then ate dinner with my host mom and now I'm contemplating a quick shower and bed... Yes that sounds like a plan. Goodnight. Bonne nuit tout le monde !

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Nothing

There really is a lot I want to say... I just don't have the energy or motivation to say it...

Monday, January 24, 2011

Hmm...

Sorry I'm not posting... I just don't have the energy since Thursday...

Here's the thing...

I just can't get it through my head...

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Changed My Mind...

So actually, I was all ready to post about my day... I went to Brussels. I even had the first paragraph written but I decided I'll do it tomorrow. I'm tired and sad and I just want to snuggle up with Frasier and forget about things...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Breakups... Happen...

I really can't post much tonight. It's been a rough night. All you need to know is that whatever was going on between me and Ryan is now over. It's nobody's fault, and I am not angry. Distance happens, and I understand why it ended. For anyone who is wondering, we will stay friends, but I do need a couple days. Things are going to be rough over here in Belgium for a while, so I might not post again until next week.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. When big things happen, it kind of puts everything else in perspective, and all of the sudden the little things seem trivial and unimportant. Like they don't deserve my effort or time or space in a Blogger box.

I also want to make it very clear that I blame nobody and I'm really truly not bitter or angry in the least. I'm upset, of course, but I understand. I will make it through this, and nobody should worry about me. I'm a tough cookie!!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Oh Say Can You See?

Nothing of particular interest happened today, as seems to be the norm lately. I got up this morning, ON TIME! I went to school, sat through my classes, wrote a letter, and then at lunch, Talia and I went to the gym. Eduardo walked with us too because he had nothing else to do. We decided to do it this way today because she has three hours of étude after lunch and I have two. So we went up there, eating our lunch on the way, and did a little abbreviated version of our workout. I did forty minutes on the elliptical and twenty minutes of abs when it was all said and done. We then made our way back to school, stopping briefly at the pharmacy so Eduardo could pick up some Vitamin C pills, since he seems to be getting sick more often than back in Mexico.

We then went back to school and I went to my science class, and that was about the most interesting part of my day. We were there, and we somehow got on the subject of patriotism. And for some reason, we got into the differences between patriotism in America and in Belgium. My science teacher spent some time in Texas, I don't know if it was an exchange or what, but he was saying how just about everyone in the States knows the Star Spangled Banner, and then he asked how many people in the room knew all of the Belgian national anthem by heart, and only two people raised their hands. Then he asked me if I knew the whole Star Spangled Banner, and of course I said yes, because I do. But of course, that brought on every single person in the room asking me to sing. I said no repeatedly, but eventually I just said fine and I sang about half of it. And I sounded awful and my voice was way out of commission, but then everyone told me I sounded great and I have a beautiful voice... Which I don't understand but whatever. They should hear me on a good day, then they'd be impressed! Then we talked about school and university and driving and all the typical stuff that Belgians ask about the States.

I then finished my day and went home on the bus, where I met someone new who goes to the other school in Hannut. He was sad that Mikayla and I didn't go to that school. Anyway, I went home and ate way too much food and watched some Frasier before my host dad got home. Then I ate again with him, spaghetti, though I didn't eat much, and then I went to dance, where we are doing a dance to the opening number of one of my favorite musicals, "A Chorus Line". Of course, it's the movie version, which is lame, but hey I'll take it.

Now I'm exhausted and I have to shower... But then I shall be in bed and sleeping, hopefully by eleven. I better get on it! Goodnight all.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Back At School Again...

I want to be in bed in ten minutes, so here we go with the super fast blogging sensation, EMMA!!! Rahhhh rahhhh.

Ok that's enough silliness, let's get down to business. (to defeat... the HUNS)

Ok really I'm ready to begin now.

Obviously, today turned out to be a pretty good day, though it was average. In the States, it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, and the majority of my family and friends did not have school today. However, this holiday is not recognized in Belgium, so I had to go to school like any other Monday.

I went through my day as usual, until I found out that I have a legit chance to go to Paris!!! It would be a few days, organized by the wonderful Madame Gallo and the school in April. I'm still not sure if I'm going, but I would really like to, considering I've never been.

And then my math teacher wasn't there so I got out two hours early today and went to the gym. But on the way there, I spotted my host dad, and he was able to drive me so I didn't have to walk the half hour. Of course, this meant I couldn't stop at the store for the essential things that I needed, but that wasn't a big deal.

Today at the gym, I did forty minutes of elliptical, twenty minutes of abs, a good twenty-five minutes of weights, some stair climber, twenty minutes on the bike, and then Talia joined me. Then I did arms and some more abs and then I left to go to the Champion to do the shopping that I didn't get to do before and catch my bus.

I then returned to an empty dark house, which was eerie because I could not find a light switch. But within the hour, my host dad came home and I was down in the kitchen talking with him and having a good conversation all about America and food and how not all Americans are fat, but explaining the fast food system and all that. I think I did us justice and showed how there are a lot of Americans who do care about health and eat well, like me, who enjoys veggies.

For dinner, we had a sort of stir fry with chicken and beans and vegetables and a bit of sausage. We also had chicon, which really is growing on me, and rice. For dessert, I had a caramel crème thing. Which was basically pudding. Yummy. But I'm still having a serious weakness for chocolate and I need to kick that in the butt cause it's taking a toll on my what-should-be-toned abs.

ONE MINUTE LEFT.

Then I just Facebooked and made plans to go to Brussels this Saturday, which I'm psyched about. Now I shall sleep.

I successfully did this blog post in under 10 minutes. Goooooooooo ME!

Ok I'm obviously hyper today. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep. À demain !

Sunday, January 16, 2011

A Sunday Afternoon Stroll In The Park

It's Sunday. Which means that I normally have nothing to do, since it's practically impossible to go to church here when I don't drive. So I woke up around noon after a pretty restless night with weird dreams that weren't exactly calming. I went downstairs and talked with my host parents before we all ate lunch together. We had soup, like the usual Sunday, and a quiche. I couldn't tell you all that was in the quiche, because there was so much in it, but there were lots and lots of vegetables, some goat cheese, and cottage cheese. And I think a little bit of chicken. But it was still a very good quiche.

I then went with my host mom to a park to take a nice walk this Sunday afternoon since the weather was nice and it wasn't too cold. We took Léo with us, and he was very well behaved. He seemed to really like it too, though by the end I think he was kind of chilly. We walked around, pushing him in the stroller and pointing out all the different animals. With the blue sky and the sun, it was really a beautiful walk. And for all you Clevelanders, the park that we were at was very much like the Metroparks back home. I got a little nostalgic. There were a couple ponds and a stream that ran through it. And with the sun shining down between the trees, it was just really nice. There was a playground there too, and of course, since it's Europe, you normally have to pay to use it. But because it was Sunday, it was free. We took Léo and he had fun, especially once he discovered sand. He spent a good half hour just picking it handfuls of it and moving it to a different location inside this tiny playhouse. It was too cute because it sent him into giggles every time. That is, until another little boy threw sand in Léo's face, in which case he cried a little. But he is just the cutest little thing I've ever seen.

We finished up our stroll and packed everything back up in the car and went back home. I spent some time by myself after that until dinner, which I ate with my host parents and Benjamin, who is home from school. We just had sandwiches for dinner, which like I said, before, I do not mind at all. Then me and Benjamin talked a bit about a bunch of different things and I showered and now here I am, blogging about my not very exciting day. Tomorrow, I go to school and start another week. Woo! For now, bonne nuit tout le monde !

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Quelle Journée !!

Well today was... interesting, to say the least. Actually, it turned out to be quite a good day. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? After all, it's a very good place to start.

I woke up this morning around 10am, because I could. See, I have this really cool shade in my room over my window that blocks out all light. Every single smidgin of light is gone. So I wake up at 10 and it feels like 6am. Which I don't mind because I could never seem to sleep late at the other house because of the light that came in the window, whether it was sunny or rainy. Anyways, I woke up and went downstairs and ate the remainder of the Special K in the box, which ended up being about half a bowl, so I also had a half of a sandwich with cheese and jelly. That is really insignificant, but in case you wanted to know my breakfast this morning, that was it. I then left for my first ballet class in three weeks, since I obviously didn't go Thursday. Dance went very very well today actually. I think I did particularly well today, and I felt much stronger. I'm sure that has a lot to do with the working out. Of course, the tights and leotard aren't exactly the best morale booster, but hey, I look at it as more motivation to keep going to the gym!

After dance, I waited about a half hour and caught a bus to the train station at Landen where I met up with Talia to go to Liège. We bought our tickets and checked the train times and were on a train ready to go by 2 35pm. The thing about Landen, though, is that it is just over the border in the Flemish part. So everything there is in Dutch. I had heard the conductor say over the loud speaker something about Aachen, which concerned me, but then looked out the window and realized she had said Alken, so I didn't worry. However, it didn't even cross my mind the fact that I had never seen this train station before in my life. But, after about 20 minutes, I looked out the window and realized that I didn't recognize a thing. Now I've been to Liège and back so many times, I could list off the stops in the correct order if I really wanted to. And I had never seen these stops before in my life. Plus, everything was in Dutch. So it was around this point that Talia and I realized that we were on the wrong train headed in the wrong direction. We even texted Aymeric, who so lovingly confirmed that. So we decided to get off the train.

But knowing us, we got off the train at this little dinky ghetto stop. With no station, no building, nobody to ask what we should do next. There were only two tracks, one for each direction. So we made our way over to the other side and looked at the schedule. Thank goodness that some words are the same in Flemish and English. We found that the next train taking us back to where we came from didn't come for another forty-five minutes. So the next thought was to try to walk back to the last station, since it was a pretty big one and was in the same city. So we started walking, and came across a bus stop, thinking maybe we could catch a bus there. But we were out of luck with that, though there was a map. But that wasn't very helpful either. So in the end, we walked back to the little ghetto stop and waited for the train. It wasn't super cold out, but the wind bit a little. Eventually, though, a train came by. We got on that one and made our way back to Landen, though we had to pay for another ticket.

At Landen, we managed to get a different train to Liège, even though by now we had discussed whether or not it was worth it, now that it was two and half hours later than the first time around. But we did manage to get on the correct train the second time, and we finally got to Liège. We half walked/half sprinted to the Mediacité, because by this time we were starving and all we wanted to do was find the sushi place. Talia had been craving sushi for a while, and I had never had it before, so I was excited to try it. Around 5 45 we got there, and we saw that the restaurant that I knew about for sushi was closed between 3 and 6pm. So for those extra 15 minutes we walked around and took a look in a few stores. We were a little disappointed because we had originally wanted to do some shopping today too, but it wasn't a big deal.

By 6pm, we were back at the restaurant, and we sat down to eat. The concept of the place is really cool. I was impressed. What happens is, you sit down at a sort of bar, and then a conveyer belt that loops around the whole restaurant passes in front of you, carrying all kids of different little plates with food on them. There are pot-stickers and wantons and fried things and little mini eggrolls and sushi and all kinds of different things. And you pay one price and you take as much as you want as it passes by you. We started off our meals with a sort of soup, which had tofu in it. I had never had tofu before, but I have to say it was pretty good. Other things of note that I tried this evening: Seaweed salad. A little spicy, but I liked it. A variety of fried and stuffed crunchy wanton type things. Very good. Typical Chinese. Orange chicken. FINALLY. Sushi. First time of my life trying it, and I have to say I'm a fan. I really do enjoy the textures and flavors and I really like the rice! :) They also had fruits and desserts going around, and Talia and I ate until we were completely stuffed. Of course, this was sometimes difficult as we would see something coming down the conveyer from the other end, anxiously awaiting the point where we could snatch it up. Unless of course, someone else had the same ideas and got it before you did, which happened often. But we still managed to taste everything we wanted to and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And I tried new foods!

After we finished our dinner, we ran back to the train station to catch our train home. Due to some technical difficulties, we ended up on the wrong platform at first, and when we got to the right platform, the train was just barely beginning to pull away. So, we missed our train home. Which totally went with the theme of the day. But again, it was no big deal. We considered going back to Huy instead of Landen, but after talking with Talia's host mom, we ended up just waiting at Guillemans for another hour until the next train to Landen came through. We sat around just talking and such. We met someone who was very eager to speak English with us, which seems to be typical of Belgians. And eventually, we did make it on a train home. We got back to Landen around 9 20pm. Then Talia's host mom came to get us and she dropped me off at my house, which was only maybe ten minutes away, if that. Then I ate lots of chocolate...

Also, tonight is the Winter Formal dance back at my high school in the States, and my sister is going. So I was lucky enough to be able to Skype a little bit with her before she left and I even got to talk to her date, who is one of my friends too. She looks amazing and she's going to have a great time! And my Christmas package made it home today too. So I got to see Olivia open her gift, which was a turquoise Ice Watch. She loves it! Then she left for her dance and I watched as my parents opened their gifts too. My mom's birthday, as you know if you read regularly, was the 6th of December, so I had a birthday and Christmas gift in there for her. For her birthday, I got her a German scarf with all kinds of browns and maroons and burgundy colors in it, which she loved. And for Christmas, I gave her a bag of little Galler chocolates with all the different flavors. For my dad, I got him a hand made Belgian ceramic house for his Christmas village. I also got them a gold ornament with a little jingle bell inside of it that says Noël on it. I also got gifts for the rest of the family and they should be getting those things tonight as well. After talking to my family, I Skyped with one of my friends for about an hour and now I'm going to get some sleep.

Overall, the day was hectic, but it was an adventure, and it surprisingly did not stress me out at all. I actually had a lot of fun! I like crazy adventures that keep me on my toes here in Belgium. It's stuff like this that makes it fun. Now I just need to find a way to do my shopping... But for now I will focus on sleeping. Bonne nuit!

Friday, January 14, 2011

The Week Is Over

I stayed home from school today because of my pains. I'm doing alright now and I really have nothing to blog about, considering I really didn't do anything all day except watch "How I Met Your Mother". A whole season, in fact. And I looked up event halls for my coming home party in six months hehe. Tuesday actually marks my 5 month anniversary. I also hung up all my pictures, finally. I had pizza for dinner and watched the news with my host parents. There is a party tonight, but I am obviously not there. And tomorrow I may go to Liège, but I'm not sure yet. We will see. But I do have dance in the morning. Right now I'm tired. And I really have nothing of anymore interest to say. I'm really frustrated with life and people and friends and all that. Blech. Thank God this week is over. Of course, nobody cares about that so I'll just shut up. Goodnight world.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Sick And Tired

Quite literally. Oh the joys of being female... But we won't get into that, because as I've said before, this is a family friendly blog, and the guys don't wanna hear about it.

But I will tell you how the last couple days have gone down. Yesterday, I actually had a fairly decently good day! It was Wednesday, which meant half day at school. First hour with the Père Boly, second hour in Social Sciences, and the last two in French. Right after school, Talia and I went to the gym, but since it was rainy and cold and gross outside, like Belgium has been lately, we decided to grab the bus, thinking it would be faster. Well, it wasn't. We stopped at one of the bus stops, and these guys in uniforms got on. Turns out they were the "conductors" for the buses. They go around the bus and make sure that everyone on it either has a bus pass that is valid or they paid for the ride. That is the first time it's ever happened to me. They do it sporadically and nobody ever knows when they'll be coming on the bus. I think somebody got fined because they had the wrong kind of bus pass, but I'm not sure.

Anyways, we got to the gym and Talia and I worked out for about an hour. I ran on the treadmill for the first time in a long time, and it was sadly tiring. I only did about ten minutes. But I also think I might be developing shin splints, which would be terrible, so I also have to take that easy. But all in all, it was fine, as usual. After we finished at the gym, we went back into Hannut and met up with Aymeric. Well, Talia met up with him. I tagged along for food (yes I know) at Point Chaud, where I had a mozzarella and tomato panini, and then I was outta there. I had texted a couple people to figure out when my bus passed through and they told me every hour at 5 after. So I planned on that and walked to the stop. But then it got to be 20 after and there was no bus. And it was rainy and the wind was blowing. So I was frustrated. And I walked back to the Grand Place and down one of the main roads, looking for a bus schedule, but of course every schedule is posted except for the 127. So eventually I just stopped at one of them and waited, figuring that a bus would have to come by eventually. About an hour after the original time I planned on, the bus pulled up. So it did come ever hour at 5 after, just not to the stop that I had thought. So really, I ended up standing in the rain for over an hour, waiting for a bus, because I didn't know that they don't always stop at all the stops. So Which is confusing. What is also confusing is that when I take that bus after school, it goes through a few villages before mine, but yesterday it went straight to Bertrée. Weird. But my conclusion is that the Belgian bus system has conspired with the Belgian weather to make me miserable. They both suck.

Once I got home, I didn't really do anything... It was already like 5 30pm, and I watched a whole bunch of "How I Met Your Mother" and finished season 2 while eating chocolate and peanut butter because I was craving it. Don't judge me. Then my host mom called me, asking where I was, and when I told her I was in the house, she laughed and said she didn't hear me upstairs so she wasn't sure if I was there. I laughed too and went down to dinner and ate with her. We had pork that had ham and cheese inside it and was breaded. And along side that was a carrot and potato mixture that was very good. It was already late and we had missed the news, so I went up to bed after that.

This morning I woke up and went to school as usual, but in a really bad mood. Lately, I've been feeling like a Coke bottle that a little kid has been shaking to see how long it will take before the lid just bursts off. I've just been feeling all kinds of stress and anxiety and everything building up inside of me. I want to go somewhere and scream, but I can't because I really think that it would freak out my host parents... Anyways, I have been predicting for a while when the big meltdown was going to happen, because I knew it was coming. Originally I had predicted it for today, but then I had such a good day yesterday (aside from the whole bus situation) that I thought I would make it til the weekend. But then during my Science class today, my little friend decided to pay me a visit. And tear my body apart in the process. Long story short, I ate my lunch but was in so much pain that I ended up alone in Père Boly's office for the rest of the lunch hour and the next hour (I had study hall). Talia had a few Advil that I was able to take, but they didn't seem to do much. The last time I had pain that bad was in the States and I had almost gone to the hospital because of it. One of my biggest fears lately has been that it was going to happen again while I was here and the fact that it happened in school made it so much worse. So needless to say, that did a great deal in bringing on the predicted anxiety attack.

When the pain gets that bad, I get to a point where I can neither sit nor stand nor walk nor lay down. Nothing feels comfortable. I'm just in pain. So there I was, laying on the bed in his office, alone, crying and twitching, trying to make it go away. Eventually I ended up kneeling on the floor with my torso laying across the bed and I fell asleep. That is how it happened last time too, except I fell asleep with my head in my mother's lap. I woke up when Talia and Mikayla and Eduardo came back from their adventures in Hannut. And I woke up with lines on my face from the blanket. The pain was way less, but it was still kind of there and I was worried so I called Colette and caught a bus home. This time, I waited at the right stop, and caught a decently timed bus.

I got home and ate a sandwich and then went upstairs where I ate more peanut butter and chocolate and watched "Frasier". I wasn't feeling too bad, and I ended up falling into a really restless sleep. The nap lasted a few hours, but I woke up quite a few times because the pain and cramps started to come back in waves. The thing about my cramps is that they radiate to my back and all the way down my tailbone instead of normal people who just get them in the lower stomach region, so there is no such thing as a comfortable position when they get that bad. Eventually I could not sleep anymore. This is when the big part of the meltdown happened and I sat in my bed and cried for a good hour. Just cried and cried. It was quite sad. Eventually, my host dad came up and asked me if I wanted to eat something. So I dried my eyes and tried to pull myself together because I knew that I should eat something good. By this time it was 8 30pm. I clearly wasn't going to my dance class tonight.

I get downstairs and both my host parents are smiling at me and trying to make me feel better. My host mom gave me a hug! A legitimate hug! I cried again, but I wasn't embarrassed, and they didn't laugh at me or make me feel uncomfortable. She just hugged me again and I dried my eyes and everything was ok. And I don't know what it was about it, but everything was just so warm and comforting and even though I was in a lot of pain, I felt better because they were just so sweet. Not even in an outwardly obvious sort of way. I don't know what it was. But I just feel so much more at home here. It's like they have really taken me in as their daughter. They gave me some meds, which I normally would refuse, but the pain was getting to be unbearable again. Colette had already made me a plate of food, so they just threw it in the microwave for me and both of my host parents sat down with me while I ate. It was a vegetable medley with some spices and a couple of meatballs. Which were really delicious. And then I had a sort of yogurt thing for dessert, but it didn't have much of a flavor so I added some jelly to some of it and honey to another part. I really love it here.

After I finished eating, I went back up to my room and talked with people, including my mom. And now I'm going to try to sleep again. I'm not sure that I will go to school tomorrow. We will see how I feel when I wake up. Right now, I'm ok. But as far as how it goes in the morning, we'll find out. But for now, sleepy time. Bonne nuit tout le monde.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

As Promised...


Ok so here's my blog with pictures for the last couple days. Where did we leave off? Oh yes, Sunday. It seems that this house can get a little crazy. I tried not to get up too late on Sunday. I think I woke up around 10 00 or 10 30, and was down at the table at 11am. Sundays here mean pastry. So I had a really delicious pain au chocolat, which is really a fancy chocolate filled croissant. Which was a wonderful leap of faith that someone took somewhere long long ago. After breakfast, I donned my coat and gloves, and my host mom and I went on a walk through my new village, Bertrée. She showed me all the houses of the people she knows, the church, the roads, and a little monument that is on a corner that marks the borders. It was cold, but it was nice because there was some sun and the village looked kind of happy, which I haven't seen in a while.

Once we got back to the house, I finished up arranging my room, though I still need to hang my pictures and such. And my jewelry is still in a bag. So it's almost done. I then went down to eat lunch with my host parents, Amandine and AB. We had soup to start off with. Colette explained that she always makes soup on Sundays, because she has the time, and then we have soup for the week. Cool system. This week, it was a broth made from all kinds of different vegetables, and it was wonderful and kinda cleansing in a way. We started off with that. Next, we had a sort of salmon torte thing... I don't really know how to describe it. There was a crust, but it wasn't like a pie crust. Thinner and crunchier. And it was filled with salmon and a sort of cheese filling. But not very thick. And each slice had a nice big hunk of broccoli on it. I know I didn't do a very good job of describing it, but it was very good. I just really like salmon. The actual meal was chicken in a mustard sauce, rice pilaf, and the rest of the broccoli that didn't go on the torte. The mustard sauce was a little spicy, but had great flavors in it and everything was just really good. I didn't think it was possible to beat the cooking at the Crismer house, but Colette is really giving them a run for their money! As we finished up eating, we had visitors at the house. I'm not really sure how they are related to the family, but they were there and Colette heated up some food for them and we had a conversation. It was a young couple and the man had been to the States for a few months. He actually lived in Ohio. And liked it. No, loved it. Weird... But he was in Columbus so I guess that's legit... Then Olivier and Marie and Léo popped in for a visit. Amandine and AB had left already, because Amandine had to get things ready for a show she was stage managing. And we were going to go see it. So Olivier left little Léo with us to see the show, and Colette and Léo and I got in the car and drove not too far to get there.

The show was held in a barn behind a house. That sounds way worse than it actually was. It was a very nice room where they had it, though it was small. The show was for children, and was all about dreaming and imagination. There were a lot of cool lights and effects used and overall, it was very very well done. And Léo stayed nice and quiet through it all :) After the show, we went out and my Colette got herself a coffee, a piece of chocolate cake for Léo, and a piece of apple crumble and orange juice for me, even though I didn't really ask for anything. But it was very nice of her and the crumble was excellent. And Léo ate almost all of the cake! It was too cute. He is just a little bundle of cuteness! I love him, I do. We met back up with Amandine and then we all went back to the house, where we sat down with the couple who was there earlier, Amandine, Marie, Olivier, and my host parents, and we ate... More cake. Another king's cake. This time, Jacques was the king. The cake was very good, but it gave me a stomach ache cause I hadn't eaten any real food since lunch. I watched the news with my host parents, and then we ate dinner late around 9pm and I did not feel well. But I managed to have some soup and half a sandwich after calming myself down and convincing myself I was not going to be sick. After dinner, I went upstairs and finished my English presentation. Which kept me up til 3am.

I woke up the next morning at 7am. And I went to school for the first time in three weeks. And remembered that I don't have English on Mondays because of the session with Père Boly. So I had stayed up for nothing. But at least it was done. I also got my report card. I did alright. Not fabulously. I failed three classes: religion, math and science. I was really close in religion... One point. The other two, I knew I wouldn't do well, because in math I miss quite a bit because of the class with Père Boly, and in science, I only failed the exam, not the class, because I wasn't able to finish in time. So I'm not stressed about it.

After school, Talia and I went to the gym and there were a million people there. We figured it's cause of New Year's resolutions. Which they do here as well. My host dad picked me up around 6 30 and I went home and ate dinner with my host parents. We had soup and then this turkey that was breaded and stuffed with boursin cheese, which is a garlic cheese. We also had potatoes and cooked lettuce, which is actually really good because the sauce she made was creamy, but it was from the vegetables. Again, win. I did not have any dessert though, because I need to stop eating bad things. Though there is a ton of chocolate in my room from Christmas, and I can't stop eating that... After dinner I watched the news with my host mom, but was dozing off during it and went upstairs and fell asleep by 10 00 after tweaking my presentation a bit.

Today was nothing special. I got up and went to school. I did my presentation today and Talia got through most of hers. I had a mistake in mine and felt like an American idiot (ha...) but whatevs. The teacher thought it was great. I went through the school day without many problems, although I snagged two holes in my new tights and I'm pretty upset... After school, I took the bus home. I wasn't sure when to push the button to get off, but luckily somebody else took care of it and everything was good and I got off at the right stop. Nobody was home, but I just went upstairs and though I was going to take a nap, I watched about 4 episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" before my dance class. Then I ate dinner. My host dad made me some pasta and some pork, though I didn't finish it all. We talked about the marching band, which I enjoy talking about because they don't have that here and people are interested in it. I then went to my jazz class.

I'm getting really bored of the dance classes here. It's the same thing all the time, and we never learn anything new. All the choreography is the same stuff just put into different orders. I know that I'm used to a higher level, but it's really starting to have an effect on my own personal level of dancing... Which is difficult to handle. But it was funny today because one of my friends said something about a "foque". In French, the word "foque" means "seal". But if you say it out loud, it sounds like a certain word in English that I will not spell out because this is a family-friendly blog, and I would hate for my PG rating to jump to R with one post. So use your brains, people, and catch onto my subtle innuendoes. In other news, we started a new dance to the opening song from "A Chorus Line", which is up there on my list of favorite musicals. Although we're using the movie version, which is not half as good as the stage version, but hey I'll take what I can get.

Now I'm here writing this post and getting ready to add pictures and then hit the sack. SO TIRED ALL THE TIME. Good things tomorrow's a half day... And all with Madame Gallo!! Win!!! Bonne nuit :)

The kitchen woo!
The cat that woke me up at 6 30am, is a ninja, is loud, and I want to throw out a window.

The foyer when you first walk in.

The dining room.
Yes, that table for the television is an old Singer sewing machine. Cool, right??
The living room, still decorated for Christmas.
My bed!
My room. It looks a little messy like that, but I was just trying to add some color...
My suitcase/cardboard box rig in the armoire.

My own little hallway.
MY bathroom!!
MY sitting area!
MY balcony!!


Monday, January 10, 2011

Falling Asleep...

I know I haven't been the best about blogging and I've been doing quite a few short posts like this lately but the fact is that I'm just EXHAUSTED. I was falling asleep watching the news with my host mom tonight. So I'm going to bed. I WILL post tomorrow. With picture updates. As we all know, I'm good at keeping these promises! Bonne nuit !

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Detailed Post That I Promised

See? I'm good at keeping promises. So here we go. Two days ago, Thursday, I woke up (around 1pm) knowing that it would be my last day in my normal host house. I had already done the majority of my packing and it didn't seem like there was much left to take care of.

Boy was I wrong. There was much more than I thought. And that is because things were hiding out in places that I forgotten about. Like my stack of envelopes, or my two teddy bears, or my food, or my clock. All these were things that I had to take with me, but didn't take into account when I started my packing. So, at the end of it all, I ended up with three big suitcases, another big carry-on type bag that I bought here (with a really cute vintage floral print, I might add), three shoeboxes, an H&M bag, my computer bag, and my purse. I'm definitely going to have to do some trimming down at the end of the year... Or my parents are just going to have to bring me empty suitcases :) Nah I think I'll donate some of the clothes and such and everything will be fine. After I finished packing, I spent some time on my computer since I literally had nothing else to do. Around 7 30pm, my second host parents came over for dinner. The original plan was for me to go back home with them afterwards.

They came, and we began things the way Belgians do with the "imperatif" (sp?), which is like the little chips or munchies before the meal. We sat down in the living room with those and a small glass of a sort of wine that was fruitier than the others that I have tried and I actually found that I kinda sorta liked it. Then we went to the table for the soup, which was made from peppers and had cheese in it. I really do love homemade soups. How will I ever go to back to Campbell's condensed soups?? Actually I don't think I'll have a problem, but anyways... That was followed by a salmon and vegetable quiche, which was also quite delicious. Salmon is so wonderfully flavorful. The main course came next, and it was the curry chicken over rice with cooked mangos on the side. The curry chicken has definitely become one of my favorite dishes here, though I'm not sure that everyone in Belgium makes it. But at the Crismer house, it's delicious. I need to get the recipe for that... Throughout dinner we talked and my host dad made annoying jokes about me and my faults and Ryan and all that. But you know, I find it humorous and I laugh and to be honest, that joking around is what made the first four and a half months of my exchange what it was. And I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Since it was the epiphany, we did the normal European tradition of the King's cake. What it is, is there is a round cake that is made from fragipane and filo dough. Somewhere inside the cake is a little tiny figurine. Whoever gets the piece with the figurine in it is King or Queen for the day and wears a crown. Well, our little figurine seemed to be everywhere. After the ten minutes it took to cut the cake, nobody had the little figurine. So we didn't have royalty. By my host mom did pull the guy out of another slice. It was in the form of a baker.

Turns out that I didn't get to go with them that night, because the next day (yesterday), they would be out of the house all day and I would have been left alone. So they took my suitcases, and I stayed at the Crismer's for one last night. The next day, I woke up and made sure I had EVERYTHING. I ate breakfast and lunch with my host mom and my host brother, but it turns out that Philippe had come down with the flu, so I didn't see him again before I left. Around 3pm, I we packed up the car with the remainder of my boxes and bags and I went to the gym to workout for two hours. The gym was very calm yesterday. I don't like the being the only one in there, but for a while, I was. I was also pretty tired, and today my back really hurts. But the good thing is that I can tell that I'm gaining muscle, especially in my arms. However, I'm in pain. But it's not too bad and I'll make it!

After the gym, Karine picked me up and we went to my second host family's house. We brought in all my stuff, I said my thank yous and goodbyes to Karine, and my hellos to the new fam. I took all of my things upstairs, and on the way, my host dad and brother showed me everything. I have pretty much my own floor! The whole third floor is mine. There's my room, a toilet room, a bathroom, and a sitting area. And outside the sitting area is a little balcony! Then there's also another couple bedrooms, but they are empty. And my bed is a double! I have never had anything bigger than a twin bed, so this is a nice treat! I then began unpacking my stuff, until I realized how unfunctional the armoire is. It's like one of the do-it-yourself deals from the Home Depot where you pick out your different elements and it's all made from particle board. Then you put it all together yourself? You know? Well it's like that. Except it doesn't make any sense! The little spot for hanging clothing is not long enough for even a short dress, so all my dresses are bunched up underneath themselves. Even my Rotary blazer was too long. And then underneath that there is no shelving, so there's a good three feet of open space. Talk about wasted space. Then the center section is a bunch of really shallow shelves, but they're glass and it's all open so that's more for displaying things. But then then the last section has the same shallow shelving! Maybe six inches deep. And even that's stretching it. So after a long time of trying to figure out how to make use of all this empty space (which is really the voice of my father, plus the influence of wayyyy too much HGTV), I finally got creative and rigged up some stuff with all my cardboard boxes and created a sort of shelving system. I also made use of one of my suitcases. I stood it up in that big empty section and left it open. I put my boots inside, a couple of pairs of shoes on top, and shoved my flats in the mess inside pocket, like shoe storage. Then I found there was no place for my bras, underwear, or socks, so I put all of that in two more cardboard boxes and make sort of drawers in the little cabinet underneath that television that is in my room. I doubt I will ever use that television. The walls are completely bare, and everything is either white, or a weird rustic theme (the whole house is kind of like that... Think Grandma's basement in the 60s), so I decorated with my scarves and ribbons, even my robe, and eventually I will find a way to make use of my colorful jewelry. But I have this really cool shade over my window which blocks out ALL light. Nothing gets through that thing. The ceiling of the room is kinda slanted too, like the roof, cause it's the top floor. So even though no light can get through, the rain is loud on the window.

A little while later, I went down and got acquainted with the whole family before dinner. My new host dad's name is Jacques, host mom's in Colette, and then there are 4 children: Benjamin, Amandine, Olivier, and Marie. However, they told me that Marie is hardly ever around. They are all older. The youngest is Benjamin, and he is 23. Olivier is married to another woman named Marie, and they have a little 18 month old son named Léo. I met them all yesterday, except for the sister Marie. Amandine also has a boyfriend, but his name is something I've never heard of before and I can't pronounce it, let alone spell it. So we will refer to him as AB - Amandine's boyfriend. The verdict: I LOVE THEM! My host parents are so nice and sweet and welcoming. Olivier and Marie are so wonderful and their child is beautiful and adorable and the family cannot get enough of him. Marie is really cool and a little wild and she does theater. Amandine and her boyfriend are also very very nice and Amandine actually works with Madame Gallo for her shows. Benjamin is sweet and he did an exchange a couple of years ago in Chile. So we were able to talk about our different experiences. The best part? The conversation was all real. The questions they asked, they asked because they were truly interested. I was able to talk and have a conversation because it wasn't forced. At one point, they asked me if I knew how to make pancakes. I said yes, and immediately they all yelled and told me I HAD to make them. It made me jump and I was a little scared but then I realized that it was happy yelling and I laughed with them.

For dinner, we had raquelettes, which I believe I talked about once before, because I ate that once at the de Wulf house... Before that, though we had foie gras with different jellies and some yummy spiced bread. Foie gras is starting to grow on me. But then we had the raquelettes. What it is, is there is a grill type device on the table. There is a space between the top platform, and the bottom, and in between there are these little square pans. Each person gets one or two square pans, and in that you put your cheese. We had three different kinds. One of them had herbs and spices. On the top platform, you put your meats. We had a couple different kinds. One which resembled ham, bacon and a smoked meat. I really don't like fatty meats like that, but I ate them anyways, and they weren't too bad when smothered in hot gooey cheese. We also had pickles and little pearl onions to eat with it all. When it was all said and done, we had eaten so much cheese, you could smell it all through the house. It was glorious.

And then we had dessert. We also did a King's cake, and Olivier got the little figurine. This one was an angel. I thought the cake was better than the first one. So Olivier wore the crown for the rest of the night as we talked and such. My host mom even pulled out a magazine and read horoscopes for the new year, just for kicks and giggles. We then drank some coffee and talked until about 11 30pm. Then Olivier and Marie got Léo and went back to their house, which is only a couple of houses down, and I stayed up a bit longer and talked with my host parents. Eventually, I went up to my room and continued to try to unpack and get things organized. I took a shower in my bathroom with the nozzle that doesn't make much sense, and then watched a couple episodes of Frasier before falling asleep.

This morning, I woke up around ten thirty and was eating my Frosted Flakes around 11am. I then went back upstairs, tried to finish unpacking and organizing, but came to a point where I just don't know where to put some things, like my jewelry. In my other house, I hung my necklaces off the knob on my window. But there is no knob like that in this room. Or anything for that matter to hang them off of, so I'll have to get creative again and think of something. Then I worked on a project I have to do for my English class, and then I went down for dinner. I ate with just my host parents. We talked and had some really delicious cheese to start off with, and I had a glass of red wine. Which wasn't bad, although it's still a little strong for me. Which is weird... Anyway, we had a white fish, stuffed baked potato, chicon, and a salad for dinner. It was delicious! I don't know what spices she put on that fish but it was really good. The chicon is growing on me, though I still find it bitter. For dessert, I had a sort of vanilla pudding and a little piece of chocolate. After dinner, I watched the news with my host parents for about a half hour. There is a lot of flooding here... Since all the snow melted and with all the rain, the river in Namur is getting higher and people have feet of water in their houses. It's so sad... The streets are completely under water. I can't imagine... Luckily, that never really happens where I'm living...

Now I'm up in my room, doing this blog and getting ready to go to sleep. I reactivated my Facebook today too, and I'm worried that I will become readdicted. So I must keep an eye on myself. I'll try my best! Tomorrow, I will try to post some pictures. Goodnight world! Bonne nuit tout le monde !

Friday, January 7, 2011

Quick Note

I switched host families today. I would love to give everyone the run-down of last night and today, but it's almost 2am, I had a long day, and I'm exhausted. Therefore, this is my form of a legal document, solemnly promising that I will hereby post a detailed and emotional (in a good way) response to the last couple of days.

***Spoiler alert***: I love my new family :)

Bonne nuit !!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Liège And Bruges

First of all, turns out I've been spelling "Bruges" the Flemish way all this time (Brugge). "Bruges" is the French way, so I should switch over to that, though I will continue to tag it as "Brugge".

Yesterday, I started my day by going to the TEC office, which is the bus company. My host mom went with me to get my first bus pass for this month since I'll need the bus more often in my next host family. That went pretty easily and I walked out of there with it in my hand. I then went, as usual, to the gym. There are some very interesting people there. Like the guy who comes in and works out in his jeans. Or the woman who wears her scarf and nice shoes. Of course, you have your typical beef monster who's ALWAYS there and looks like he could crush your head like a walnut if you told him something he didn't want to hear. Regardless, Talia hasn't been going with my lately because her family was here, so I've been hanging out and doing my stuff by myself for the past few times. It's weirdly relaxing... Shouldn't it be the opposite?

Then, I decided last minute to meet up with Hadley and Oakley in Liège and stay over at Hadley's house last night. We did some shopping in the Médiacité, but I didn't buy anything except a scoop of lemon sorbet from the Haagen Daas. Yum. Then we walked back to the station and caught a train to Welkenraedt and a bus to Hadley's house where I was able to use my brand new shiny bus pass! We went to her house and helped her host family make dinner. I made the fries! I learned all about how to use a deep fryer and make real Belgian frites. Did you know they fry them twice? That's apparently what makes them Belgian... We had those with these really delicious meatballs and a sauce. And salad. It was a really good dinner. Then we went up to Hadley's room and just talked and such, ate way too much chocolate and homemade biscotti. I was sleeping by midnight, but apparently Hadley and Oakley stayed up a while longer. But I was glad I went to sleep because we had to get up bright and early at 6am the following day to catch a 6:40 bus to catch a 7:20 train to Guillemans because there was a Rotary trip to Bruges today.

We didn't have to meet at the station until 8:45am. We got there at 7:55am. So we took that time to get some real breakfast. I had a latte and a croissant. Slowly, the exchange students trickled into the station and we eventually took over, like we always do and it was the invasion of the exchange students. We caught a 9am train to Bruges. It took two hours to get there. So we just spent it talking and exchanging stories. We met up with Brittany and Alexanne also. Once we got there, we lost Rotary because we had decided to follow other exchange students, expecting they knew where they were going. Well, they didn't. So we went back into the station, but couldn't find anyone, so we ended up just going into Bruges just us five. I was the only one in the group who had been there before, and thankfully I kind of knew my around, ish. We got Chinese food, did some touristy things, some shopping, got a waffle, and eventually met back up with everyone at the station around 5:30pm after an unfortunate encounter with a crabby waiter.

We road the two hour train back to Liège, talking, taking pictures,and me falling asleep because I was dead tired. I also wasn't feeling so hot, though I'm ok now, and I'm still dealing with quite a bit of stress and homesickness. I still am. I caught another train to Waremme and talked with Gaby on the way. I'm tired now, I haven't eaten much, and I'm waiting to Skype with my family. Tomorrow, I switch families. Woot! Goodnight all.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Hello Homesickness

Today was the roughest day I've had in a long time. I really am not entirely sure why, but the interesting part is that my mother was feeling pretty blue today as well. We seem to be connected over time and space in a weird way... Not to mention I really miss my (not) boyfriend. I woke up this morning with a rumbling stomach, but couldn't eat because I just did not feel good and my body didn't want food. It took quite a bit of effort to make myself eat at lunchtime. I've just been really distracted the last couple days. And I've been a day off. It really feels like Tuesday and it's felt like the day after for a good week now. I can't understand why. Probably because there is no school and no dance to keep my internal calendar up to date...

This morning I went to the gym for two hours, but before that, my host mom dropped me off at the post office to send off my Christmas packages. By the way, the United States gets one point for the USPS. I officially love the United States Postal Service, and will forever be gracious towards everyone who does/ever has worked there. Belgium, you're awesome, but your postal system sucks. I'll get back to that in a minute. I also have a bone to pick with Rotary. I depend on my monthly stipend to go into the bank of the 1st of every month, because that was what they told me was going to happen back in November. But of course, it wasn't there today and the post office doesn't take Visa, so I had to leave my ID card at the post office and run, literally, to the town square because the ATM by the post office was out of order (OF COURSE), and in Belgium, you're lucky if there's more than one ATM in every city. So I ran there and ran back, paid to send the packages, and then went to work out for two hours. But I hadn't eaten yet and I was exhausted and distracted and just not at the top of my game. The stair climber kicked my butt.

Around 1pm, Karine came to get me and we went to another post office to pick up a package that my parents had sent from the States, because you know, the mail man can't drop it off at the house. Again, USPS guys, you rock. What happens here is when you get a package, sometimes they leave you a slip in the mailbox that says it's here and you have to come pick it up from whichever post office. I got the slip last week. But because it's Belgium, the post office is always closed. Finally, we got to go today. Oh and I had to pay the taxes. Because it's Belgium. But of course, the post office was CLOSED. It wouldn't open for another fifteen or twenty minutes, so we went home and ate lunch, which was a pasta thing that my host dad had made. Then me and my host mom went to go get my package, which was surprisingly small and I don't understand why they couldn't drop it off at the house. OH and another about the Belgian post, if the weather isn't good, they just don't bring the mail. Once again, USPS, rain or shine, blazing hot or freezing cold, tornado or tsunami, they bring you your mail. Plus one, United States.

Obviously I'm a little down on Belgium today. I didn't do much with the rest of my day. I edited some more pictures, listened to music, talked to my mother, watched some Frasier. Then I went out to that Chinese restaurant with my host parents and Benoit. It was pretty delicious. I really like their wonton soup. And I didn't have a cup with an obscene picture in the bottom this time. The dinner conversation got me a little worked up too.

Here's something the Belgians can't get through their heads: The United States is BIG. Yes, there are problems, and yes there are corrupt people. But HELLO!! That happens everywhere! But there are a gagillion people in the States, so obviously the numbers are going to be higher and the problems magnified. And things are done differently in different regions. For example, all the Rotary clubs in Belgium are run pretty much the same way. But you can fit three Belgiums inside one Ohio. So obviously, my Rotary club is going to be different from Talia's, and both of ours are going to be different from Mikayla's too, because it's too big to keep everything consistent when different ways each work fine. That's just an example. But anyway, I wish the Belgians could understand that. But of course, I still don't know enough words in French to accurately convey that, though I tried. And I did not lose my temper, though I was so exhausted that I thought my head would explode.

Then I got home, edited pictures, and now I'm contemplating sleep. I switch families in three days. It's pretty nuts. Tomorrow, I don't have any plans, but I''m sure I'll go work out and maybe get my bus pass... Finally. Anyways, goodnight world.

Red pants today.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

How I Decided I Want To Be 18th Century Royalty

Today, I'm going to be doing a quick post because I've been up on Photoshop and I have to get up decently early in the morning because I need to go work out...

Today, after a lunch of duck, two different vegetable mixtures, a tater-tot-type potato thing, and little mirabelle halves (YUM), my host parents took me to see a big "château" with beautiful gardens and a huge palace type building. We went through a nice tour and they made us put these weird things on our shoes so that we didn't hurt the floors walking on it. Some people opted to just take their shoes off... It was bizarre seeing people walking through a sort of museum in stocking feet... I went pretty nuts with the camera too and got some beautiful shots. I think I may actually do a post on photo blog, which I haven't done since August... Check it out!!

After we finished the tour, my host mom and I went upstairs where they were doing a special exhibit of the dresses of an eighteenth century Austrian queen. They were amazing, gorgeous dresses and that is when I decided I need to be eighteenth century royalty. But then I just took pictures of all of them and will use them for inspiration next time I need a gown for a black tie event :)

Europeans really do museum exhibitions much better than Americans. At least Clevelanders. I'm sure we all agree that museum exhibits can be a bore and it's hard to drag your kids to the museum to see the latest. But the ones I've been to here have been ridiculously well done and interesting. I actually ENJOY going to exhibitions here. I look forward to it! It helps that I can take pictures... But even in each room of the palace, they had perfumed so the kitchen smelled like cinnamon and the salon smelled like lavender. It was really very well done. Not to mention breathtakingly gorgeous. They're just so creative. In one room, there was a film, but it wasn't just projected on a screen. There was a huge table that spanned the length of the room, very low to the ground, and there were countless candelabras and candlesticks scattered along the edges, and then the video was projected into the center so the candles made a sort of frame. But then it wasn't just that. There was a mirror hanging from the ceiling at an angle and you watched the video on that. So cool.

After we saw the exhibits, we went up to the tea room (oh la la!) and had our afternoon tea. Literally. I had an Earl Grey, and we ordered a little plate of cakes and chocolates. Which were, of course, delicious. The waitress was in an eighteenth century dress and the tables were all old fashioned and decorated. It was so cute. I love tea time!

Afterwards, we went out onto the grounds, and although we didn't go through them all, what we saw was still grand. The sky was gray and the snow was half melted, so it wasn't particularly gorgeous, but it was still worth seeing and I walked through, imagining myself in one of those glorious gowns and was struck with inspiration for an eighteenth century photo shoot when I get home. Chelsea and I are going to do it.

Then I went home, we had cheese and breads and salad for dinner with a layered chocolate mousse cake for dessert, I took a shower, and now it's midnight and I need to get to sleep! Bonne nuit !

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

It is New Year's Day. Actually, in about 18 minutes, it will no longer be New Year's Day here in Belgium, but that is besides the point.

Yesterday, I slept in for a while, then went downstairs to make cookies for the party I was going to. After I made my famous chocolate chip cookies, I ate lunch with my host family, which was bread and cheese with a carrot and red pepper salad. I'm not gonna lie, I think that is one of my favorite meals that we eat here. The cheese is just so good...

I then went up to my room and watched the old classic "Sabrina" with Audrey Hepburn, but fell asleep during it and took a nice little nap until about 4pm. I then woke up and got ready for the party. I actually wore my contacts too and I was ok! I have found that I can wear them every so often for one night and usually get away with it. I then went over to Manon's house around 5pm. When I got there, Géraldine and Talia were already there along with some other people that I knew. We spent the next few hours getting ready and waiting for everyone else to show up. By 8pm, everyone was there and Manon and Géraldine were serving appetizers and we were drinking champagne. We all sat around and talked until it was time to eat dinner. We went into the dining room, where a table was set, and they brought out the first "course", which was a plate with a little round of bread with another little round of goat cheese on top of it with some sort of ground meat on top of that with a sauce and some lettuce underneath. It was surprisingly delicious. That was followed by the main course, which was a cheese fondu. We had bowls of pieces of bread and we all had our skewers and we just dipped the bread in the cheese until we couldn't eat anymore! And they have a rule: If you let your bread fall into the cheese, you have to do a dare. However, nobody let their bread fall into the cheese, so there were no crazy dares done last night. We then went back into the other room, put on the music, and some people did some dancing before dessert. It was a buffet of different things, like my cookies, which were a big hit as usual, a sugar tart, some chocolate marshmallow thing, some little mini muffins, and something else that I can't remember... But the dessert was good.

Then it was dancing time. And I finally learned the rock! Aymeric taught me, and I caught on pretty quickly. It's just a really cool swing dance, and as long as the girl follows the guy, it's not too difficult. I had a lot of fun doing it! But then the Belgians decided it was time to smoke, so the majority of them went outside. The rest of night was pretty much me hanging out with these two Spanish girls that had come with Aymeric, dancing and talking and having a good time while everyone else was off doing who knows what. We rang in the New Year with bisous, and I was up until about 6 30am. A few people got sick, and things got a little nutty towards the end of the night, and I only got about three and a half hours of sleep.

I woke up at about 10am and Karine came to get me and Talia at 11 30am. We took Talia home, we went home and I took a shower, and then I ate lunch with my host parents. We started off with these little plates that had two scallops, a little piece of salmon and a little piece of a white fish in a creamy cheese sauce. That was just the "first course". Afterwards, we had little tiny stuffed quails with a cranberry sauce, baked apples, and these little potato thingies... For dessert, we finished off a half of a cake that was two layers of pastry with a cream in the middle. That was delicious. But I was so exhausted that right afterwards I went up to my room for a nap. I slept for about four hours. When I got up, I went back downstairs to eat dinner. We had bread and cheese and salad. Yum! Then I packed. All my clothes, except for five outfits for the next five days, are in my suitcase, along with the majority of my other junk. I move to my next family on Thursday. It's nuts to think about. But I'm proud for getting a head start on the packing. Although I didn't have the will power to take down my pictures yet. And now it's late and I should be getting to sleep. I'm going to sleep in nice and late tomorrow I think. Goodnight!