The Loose Ends

I need to finish writing my post about the wedding and my last few days in Belgium... So let's see, I have already talked about the actual ceremony... Well after the wedding was over, the bride and groom hopped in an old '59 Chevy convertible and the rest of us got in our (not as cool) cars and started a parade driving through the town, all honking our horns. Little kids came out into the street and we threw candy out the windows to them. It's a Swiss tradition. Then we went to the place where we would have the first part of the reception, basically to talk, have a drink, and the appetizers. We socialized, ate food, and took pictures for a couple hours, then got back in our cars and made our way to the hall where we would have the dinner. The bride threw the bouquet and then we went inside and had our meal. The hall was beautifully decorated and the food was delicious. They did cake afterwards as well, which was also beautiful. Throughout the meal, there were little skits, songs, videos and games that were organized to keep everyone entertained. And it was so much fun! That night, Jeff and I stayed at Yann-Amael's parents' house. The next morning, we got up and had breakfast and then went to the train station to catch our train with Miguel and Kelsey to Geneva, where we caught our (late) plane home. We then took a train from Brussels to Landen where my host mom picked us up and we went home to sleep.

The next day was our day in Brussels. We went to the train station and caught our train there and spent the whole day walking around, taking pictures, and touring the city. I think it was the first time that I got to see it in the sun. We saw things I've seen multiple times, but also things that I've never seen before. We had mussels and fries for lunch and Jeff tried his first Belgian waffle with banana, nutella, and whipped cream on it. One of the coolest parts about the day was that it was the 4th of July and even though the Belgians do not celebrate it as an Independence Day, the Mannekin Pis was all decked out in America garb, complete with a hat that said "YES WE CAN". We also found out that Talia, Eduardo, and Gaby were all in Brussels as well so we met up with them and went to get a drink. We went to a bar called Delirium and each got a different beer and played a sort of "game" called "the Roto" where we passed the beers around the circle until they were gone. We got a two different kinds of normal beer (Delirium and Kwak), a banana beer, a passion fruit beer, and, ready for it? A Cookie Beer. It. Was. Disgusting. I don't think I've ever tasted anything so nasty. The passion fruit was bearable, and the banana smelled awful. But we passed them around until they were gone.

Eventually, Ben met up with us and we moved to another bar where Jeff tried a few different kinds of Belgian beer. The others left us and we just hung out for the night. But we eventually had to go home, so we took the metro to get back to the car. This is where things started to go wrong. We got to the street where the car was and these two guys came up to us and asked if we had a cigarette. Benjamin, being the ridiculously overly nice person that he is, stopped to give them one. Well, this meant that they would follow us. One of them disappeared but the other one was talking to us, especially to Jeff, talking about soccer since he was wearing a jersey. They had a sort of broken French/English conversation and he was putting his arm around him and just being strange. Eventually he left. We got in the car, but Ben noticed that the glove compartment was open and starting freaking out. Turns out that there had been a GPS there and somebody had broken into the car and stolen it. The next thing we know, Jeff is telling us that that guy had stolen the gold chain that he has been wearing around his neck since his aunt gave it to him when he was 13. So Ben jumped out of the car and ran up the street looking for the guy. Jeff ran after him and I ran after Jeff who told me to stay by the car. I, of course, protested, saying that I wasn't going to stay anywhere alone. Well, the guys were long gone by then and there was no trace of them. So we got in the car and started heading home. But of course, Brussels is potentially the most poorly marked city in the world, and we ended up lost, unable to find the highway. We didn't get home until very late, and when we did finally make it, we came home to two random donkeys in the middle of the road. Talk about an odd day... We went upstairs and went to bed that night, happy for the day to be over.

The next day we took a bus to take a train to head into Liège. I got us lost on the bus IN Liège, but we quickly fixed the mistake and got back on our way. We didn't have much time there, but we managed to get lunch, get a waffle, walk around a little, and get Jeff some Belgian chocolate before he caught his train back to Germany. I went back home to Hannut and realized that I didn't have much time left in Belgium...

Until I left, I just spent time with friends and family. I was packing frantically, trying to get everything together, and I eventually succeeded. On the evening before I left, Talia put together a little party for me and Mikayla as a sort of going away. All the most important people were there and we had a good time together. The next day, as you all know, was the big drama in the airport.

I did leave the 11th, even though they offered me the same deal once again. But I took those two flights home. They were extremely long and I had cried in both planes and I was ready to be with my family. My mom and dad and sister picked me up at the Cleveland airport, drove me quickly home to shower, and then we went out to meet up with my grandparents for a nice welcome home dinner at Red Lobster. I have never enjoyed crab legs and Cheddar Bay Biscuits more in my life. And my water was free. And I used the bathroom for free. It was amazing.

There you go. The end of the journey, the end of the chapter, the end of the year. I can't believe it's over. I can't believe I left. I can't believe that I did it. I succeeded. I went through a year of a foreign exchange, something that people only dream of. A year in Europe. A year in a world where I didn't speak the language, know the culture, or have any connections. I left that place bilingual, feeling like it was my home, with countless friends and a new family. Belgium will always hold a special place in my heart. Now that I am back at "home" in Parma, Ohio, I realize how much little Hannut was like a second home to me. I find that I had rooted myself there. And pulling up roots is not as easy as it looks. Although some of them come out clean, there are always some that have soil stuck to them, and then those few that break. But what is on the other end of those roots? A beautiful, full, open flower. Full of color, wisdom, and experience. I have never been prouder of myself. It was the most amazing experience of my life. I have no regrets, and I would not change the year for anything. It was not all sunshine and rainbows, but in the end, each hardship that I had to face made me stronger, and built my character. I am who I am now because of the effects of the year, both good and bad. And I do believe that I am more mature, well-rounded, rational, and overall a better person. I met people, and made connections and relationships that will last for a lifetime. I visited seven different countries, have friends from all over the world, and made one connection that will never break. This year, I learned to cry, laugh, love, feel, scream, whisper, smile, but most importantly, live. I learned about the world, but most importantly, me. I learned that not everything is easy, but most importantly, that everything happens for a reason. I learned so much that I cannot put into words. And I can't believe it has ended. It feels like I closed my eyes eleven months ago and dreamt it all and am just now waking up, back in Ohio, in my life. Part of me feels like I never left. But the other part knows that it only feels that way because it DID happen. I DID do it. And contrary to everyone who thought I'd never leave, or thought I never had the guts, I say HA. Because I succeeded. I made it, and yes, I can do it all. This may be the end of a year, of a blog. But for me, this, my friends, why this is only the beginning.

Allez Standard!

Today I had the day off because Madame Gallo was not there, and as you all know by now, I only have class with Madame Gallo on Wednesdays. So I took the opportunity to go visit my host brother in Namur. We spent the day together and it was pretty rockin. We took a walk through a park there that reminds me kind of a really small scaled down version of Central Park, listened to music, watched a movie, etc. It was really nice out today, so that was a plus. The only downside is that getting to Namur sucks because whether I take two trains or a bus and a train, it still takes a good hour and a half to get there from Hannut. Blech. But, plus side, I did run into Karine and Damien on my way to catch my train home. We got all caught up. It was cool to Damien after so many months of living in different houses.

I was unable to post yesterday because I got home too late. I stayed home from school yesterday because I was just exhausted and woke up not feeling well at all. So I spent the entire morning sleeping and by the time everyone got home from school, I was doing much better and by dinner time, I was able to eat with the family. At dinner, we started talking about the recent soccer matches and our team in Liège, the Standard. Turned out that there was a match that night and even though there were no tickets left for the stadium, we could go to Liège at the Place St. Lambert (where I spend most of my Liège time anyways) and there would be a screen set up for people to watch the game. So in the spirit of spontaneity, my host dad and Manon and I decided to join my host uncle and cousin for the game. We headed out around 8 15pm and got to Liège by 8 45, all clad in red to support the Standard. It was really cool actually. There were TONS of people there (we heard later on the radio something about 45,000 whaaaaat) all dressed in red, screaming, yelling and drinking beer (of course, Belgium). It wasn't easy to see the screen because of the crowd, but we eventually managed to battle our way through it and find a spot to stand. Once we scored, it was absolutely nuts. There were firecrackers going off and red lights everywhere and people jumping all over the place. But, I'm sorry to say, by the end of the hour and a half match and the three-minute overtime, the other team from Genk had managed to score and beat the Standard. Everyone was pretty disappointed. But it was, nonetheless, cool to see and I'm so glad I got to go!

I must bid everyone good night now, as I actually have to go to school tomorrow. Bonne nuit !

Update: We Have Internet

So we have Internet back in the house where I'm staying right now. However, it doesn't seem to like to reach up to my room, so I have to use it downstairs. Which isn't a problem, it just happens to be slightly inconvenient.

This week has not been particularly interesting. The exchange students finished up our class with the Père Boly and next week we will begin going to our classes like all the rest of the students. Wednesday, I went to Liège on a mission with Mikayla. Our first mission was to eat the Spaghettios that my parents sent. We ate one can. Mission one accomplished. The second mission was for me. I had to find new pointe shoes. We found the store in Liège that my teacher had recommended and I successfully bought new pointe shoes and new tights. Mission two accomplished. The third was also for me; I had to exchange the Ice Watch that I bought my sister for Christmas. I was worried that they wouldn't exchange it because it had been two months since I bought it. But the woman was very understanding and realized that it took a while for me to send things home and back again and she let me exchange it. I couldn't get exactly the color I wanted, but I got her a really pretty purple one instead. So mission three was accomplished also. Mission four was to do cheap shopping for Mikayla at the MédiaCité. We made it there walking and did some nice shopping at the Primark and even got some Hagen Daas ice cream. We both got cones with one scoop of vanilla caramel brownie ice cream. I got whipped cream on mine too, which was a nice addition for me. And then we successfully caught a bus back to the train station and caught the first train. So misison four, also successful. All in all, it was a great day. Plus, her host mom was able to drive me home so I didn't have to worry about catching another bus.

Thursday, I went to dance as usual, where I tried out the new pointe shoes. And they're killer. I've never had such a problem breaking in pointe shoes. But it's not a big deal, it'll be fine in a while. Friday, yesterday, was an average day. I went to the gym after school, early, because our English teacher wasn't there. Also, we watched an incredible movie in Social Sciences. Seriously, it's a beautiful film. And it's in Spanish, with French subtitles and I did fine understanding it. I'm very proud of myself for that.

P.S. My host brother is currently watching me type in amazement. Because Americans all know how to type quickly and well and apparently it's incredible.

Back to my life. So today, I went to my dance class and it was a little better with my pointe shoes, but that's still gonna take some work. And in a about an hour, Romane is coming by and we're going to go to Liège to see a movie. We wanted to see The Black Swan, but it's not out in Belgium yet. So we're going to see something else, though I'm not sure what yet. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see how much of it I understand. And then she is going to spend the night here. Woo!

Here's to a great week. Bonne journée tout le monde !!

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 !

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!

Christmas Shopping

Today I went to Liège with Brittany and Hadley to do some mad Christmas shopping before the big day on Saturday. No, nobody's getting married. It's Christmas you silly gooses!!

I woke up this morning to find that the buses still are not running in my little village of Fumal. Convenient. Not. So my host mom drove me to the gym this morning around 10am. We got there just as they were opening and some other people were already waiting outside. These people are intense when they want to be. Anyway, Talia met me there and we worked out for about an hour and a half, just doing the regular circuit as is habitual. Then we took a quick run over to the grocery store so that Talia could pick up a few things, and then we caught a bus back over by the gym with only a minute to spare. Talia took it home, but I stayed on and rode all the way to the Waremme train station, where I caught a train to Liège. I met up with Hadley and Brittany around 1 15 and we caught a bus over the Médiacité, which is like a mall in the middle of Liège. I had no idea it existed! And I discovered Primark, a wonderful store with very well priced clothing and jewelry and shoes and stuff. I finally bought myself a pair of man shoes that I've been looking around forever for! And I got myself some slippers too, since I tend to be so freezing. Then I helped the other two find presents for their host families, which was successful. We all walked out of the store happy. We then did some other shopping and eventually decided to head over to where the Marché de Noël is, where I've been spending a lot of my time lately. But first we dropped Hadley back off at the train station, since she had to catch an earlier train. But then me and Brit headed over and we finished up our Christmas shopping and then caught a bus back to the station, where she got her bus and I, my train. The station was cool because all the lights were shining red for Christmas and there was a group in the middle of the station performing. Not Christmas carols, but they were singing. Songs like "What A Wonderful World" and "Oh Happy Day". Nice.

My host mom picked me up from Waremme and then I went straight to dance, which went very well today. Then I went home, ate the dinner I hadn't had before, and took my shower. Now I'm getting ready to go to sleep since there's a big party tomorrow in Hannut for the end of exams. Woo! As you can see, today wasn't too exciting. And I haven't eaten anything noteworthy the last couple days. I probably won't blog tomorrow since I have the party, but I'm sure I will have plenty to say the next day!

Bonne nuit :)

Is It Christmas Yet?

Christmas is in less than a week. And it feels so very much like it's not. I don't think I've ever experienced a December that felt less Christmas-y. Here's why: There's no Christmas concerts. No carolers. No caroling. No Christmas cookies. No Christmas lights. No extravagant decorations. No Santa's ringing bells. No malls with lines of children waiting to take their pictures with Santa. No television specials. No Christmas songs on the radio. No Christmas movies. No Nutcracker performances. No "The Christmas Carol" to go see. No gingerbread houses. It feels like there's no Christmas. Not to mention on Christmas Eve, I have to go to the school to pick up my report card. On Christmas Eve!! Ugh. Anyways, this is what I did today.

I woke up kinda late, 10 30am, and didn't eat breakfast. I got myself ready and actually put in my contacts this morning. And they're fine! They haven't been bothering me all day and they're not red or anything! So I found that exciting. I then went down for lunch, which was duck and stuffing, green beans in cream sauce, these potato fried things, and some other sort of vegetable that I didn't recognize. After lunch, my host parents and I went out to Liège for another Rotary event. It took us a long time to get there because there is actually a decent amount of snow on the ground now and the roads are legitimately bad. The Belgians actually have reason to freak out now.

We went to a church in Liège, where we were the first ones to get there, other than the President of the club and the musicians. It was a sort of Christmas concert. So yes, finally something festive. There was a piano/harpsichord/organ player and flute player also. But the kind that looks more like a recorder. Wow, yes, I sound incredibly musically educated right now. Anyways, some of the concert was just them playing, but other parts, we sang. All 25 or 30 of us. Yah, there weren't that many people there. But it was funny because some of the songs were in English, so obviously I had no trouble, but it was funny to hear the Belgians trying to sing in English. Especially the more upbeat ones like Jingle Bells. So I enjoyed myself. And I don't think I failed too bad at the French singing either.

It then took us a good hour and a half to get home when it normally takes a half hour. Then I spoke with my mother, ate dinner (cheese, bread, pizza, typical Sunday dinner), and Skyped with my parents. Now I'm waiting to see if I'm going to talk to Ryan tonight. But it is kinda late so we'll see. Tomorrow, I finish my Christmas shopping. Yay shopping! By the way, red pants again today.

And for your own Christmas enjoyment, this is my gift to all my readers: http://theuglydance.com/?v=vjeqsomvwt

Bonne nuit!

I Ate Twice My Weight Today...

It's Saturday. I really feel like all I did today was eat. It's almost 1 30am too and I'm so freaking exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open as I write this blog. So it may be a little less detailed than normal.

I woke up at about 10 45 this morning, but that was after not getting to sleep until 3 30am. But I got up and got ready and went to dance for 11 20 as is customary on Saturday mornings. And it was a terrible class. I did not do well at all. I'm pretty sure it's cause my whole body is sore and tired from working out all week, not to mention that I have not been getting enough sleep (as I write on my blog at 1 30am). So things just did not go well at dance today. Afterwards, my host mom picked me up and we went back to the house quickly before going out to Liège to sell oysters with Rotary. On the way home, Karine was driving slow, as usual, but she somehow got off the road for a second and when she got back on, the car slid and did a nice 360 turn, landing in some branches, just missing a telephone pole. It was fine and we were fine and there might have been a few scratches on the car, but that was it. The Belgians really need to discover snow tires.

Anyway, we got back to the house and I ate lunch as my host mom and Benoit went out to get the other car's tires filled, since the one was almost completely flat. I had three little sandwiches on baguette: one with a soft cheese and apple jelly, one with the soft cheese and the sirop de Liège, and one with ham and American cheese and mustard. The baguette today was especially delicious. And I was pretty darn full after.

My host mom and I then went out to Liège to meet up with my Rotary club. My host dad was already there. We were supposed to be there at 3, but with the snow and the fact that there was nowhere to park, we ended up being about a half hour late. We got there and said hi to everyone and then the Rotary people tried to get me to eat an oyster, but I couldn't. I really do want to try new things here, but I couldn't bring myself to eat that uncooked, raw, slimy crustacean. Which, apparently is a shame because everyone was saying how delicious they are. But then there weren't that many people coming to the stand, so my host mom told me I could go for an hour and do my Christmas shopping. So I did, and I came across my host brother and his girlfriend in the process, but I was able to find some good gifts and I'm happy with them. But I'm not quite finished and I think I'm going again on Monday. Oye shopping.

I then returned to the stand and was able to stay in the shop that was behind it where they were preparing the food in the warmth. Which was a plus. There wasn't really anything for me to do though, and I just ended up talking with my counselor and such. Christian wasn't there. But eventually we got to talking, and I have been invited to go with him for 2 weeks on vacation in the south of France!!! We would leave the day after Christmas. Now this isn't positively for sure, but it's a good chance that I would get to go and I'm so excited!

Anyways, we stayed there til about 6 30 and I had been snacking on these little chip things the entire time. But we returned to the house again, just for a minute to pick up my host dad, and then we were off to Namur for dinner with some family friends. By this point, it was already 8pm ish. We got there and I met the couple and their daughter and her boyfriend. They were very very nice and really funny and the house was warm and cozy and a little eccentric, which I appreciated. And they had a dog. A huge one. Like a bear. Really furry too. But it stayed outside the whole time.

We first sat down in the living room where they brought out some appetizers like little bits of sausages and such. But then it started getting fancy and the wife brought out some more little pre dinner foods that had garnishes in little porcelain dishes with itty bitty spoons and other fancy stuff. There was pate with some caramelized onions, but a very tiny portion with the smallest spoon you've ever seen in your life. Then she brought out this other one which was a skewer of a special kind of Belgian meat and a piece of a warm apple. Delicious.

Then it was time for the oysters. My host parents had bought a box of them from the stand and brought them with us. So the man of the house sat with us and spent the next fifteen or twenty minutes opening the oysters. I didn't realize that that is all the preparation that goes into eating oysters. You just open them. Ew. But they were all on a plate and the shells are pretty. Once they were all opened, we moved into the dining room to eat this first course of the giant meal. I did take one oyster, but the minute I opened it and saw it, I just lost my appetite. I really do pride myself on always trying things, but the fact that it wasn't cooked... If you know me, you know I have a fear of puking, which leads to my other irrational fears, such as roller coasters. This also includes my fear of raw meat/seafood. So I just couldn't eat it. I wanted to try it, but I couldn't. My body was rejecting it before it was even in my mouth. But the family understood and we all just laughed about it.

The next course was the main one. We had some sort of meat, which I think was lamb, green beans, and cheesy potatoes. Although the meat was kinda fatty, and I had to trim it a lot, it was really good and had a wonderful flavor. The potatoes were amazing. The best cheesy potatoes I've ever had. Technically, they were potatoes au gratin, but I like saying cheesy potatoes because it's more fun. And they were cheesy, and they reminded me of home. And of course, I love green beans, so that was good too. But by this point, I had so much food in my stomach, I thought I was going to burst and I couldn't figure out how I was going to finish what was on my plate. And then everyone started taking seconds and I felt bad saying no thank you, but I was beginning to feel sick and I couldn't eat anymore. But I did manage to clean my plate, except for the meat trimmings. They cleared away those dishes and I really did begin to feel ill. Which was not good. But it passed very quickly. That's when my eyes began to droop. We must have already been there for two hours.

Then they brought out the next course. The cheese. I couldn't figure out how I was going to do this. But I took very small portions of just a few of them and the smallest piece of bread that was in the bowl and ate just enough to get the tastes of the cheese. One was a brie, the other was another similar soft white cheese, one was a gouda type with bits of violets in it, and the other was a goat cheese that was covered in different kinds of crushed flowers. We ate it with a pumpernickel type bread that had nuts and such in it. The cheeses were delicious. I wish I could have had more.

But the food didn't stop there. They cleared those plates and fifteen minutes later, it was time for the last course. The most deadly. Dessert. The daughter brought out a platter of cookies she had made, some chocolate macaroons, lemon macaroons, and other really thin crispy cookies. I took one of each, even though at this point my stomach really was full to bursting. I successfully finished my cookies without any major problems. You think that was it? Oh no. There were also two cakes. One chocolate one with raspberries on it that made me want to die and go to heaven so that I could eat that all day long. The other was a crumble with red berries inside. That one looked rich and decadent also. But I couldn't eat anymore. Ten minutes later I asked for the crumble. I took half of a piece that my host dad had taken the other half of. I was halfway through the crumble when I really started to feel like I couldn't take another bite. It was so delicious. It was a crust, then some sort of custard, then raspberries and strawberries and cherries, mixed with a red berry mousse and topped with the crumble. I let myself rest for a couple minutes and then somehow, with the help of the Lord, finished the cake. And then I stared at the half of a piece of the chocolate cake, but successfully stopped myself from taking it. By this point I couldn't believe how much food I had eaten, but it was all so good. SO GOOD.

Then we left and it was midnight and I fell asleep in the car. We got home, I took a shower, and now I'm blogging and I want to go to sleep. Goodnight all.

Host dad's pants for today: red.

Girls Night Out And A Dance Performance

So yesterday was Friday. A pretty average Friday. It was cold, as it has been here lately, and I went to school as usual. Except I ended up being late because I'm dumb and I didn't here my alarm go off. So I didn't get up until 8am when my host mom came to see why I hadn't come down to breakfast. I got myself ready super quickly, but still missed almost all of my first hour with Père Boly. Thankfully, my host mom didn't mind, and there were other people late too because of the snow. The rest of the day went pretty normally, except that Eduardo, Talia, and I all missed basically all of our two hour math courses because we went to Madame Vanesse's office to talk to her about exams, and ended up in there for the entire two hours just talking to her and letting her know how things were going. But it was good because we had good conversation, laughed a lot, and spoke a lot of French.

After school was over, my host mom picked me up and Benoit and his girlfriend were also in the car. The plan was to take me right to the train station in Huy, but because Benoit is male, he had not thought ahead and had to go back home to get some stuff for his weekend before my host mom could drop him off where he needed to be. Eventually, I got myself to the Huy station and was able to catch a train around 5pm. I actually ran into another Rotary girl and we took the train to Liège together. Once we got to the station, we came across Saint Nicholas, got some goodies and took some pictures with him.

I was going to meet up with Alexanne and Hadley for a girls night in Liège. I got a hold of them and met up with them at the station. Then we met up with Alexanne's host dad, and he led us back to the car, which was a good fifteen minute trek away, and we went back to her house. Which, by the way, is freaking awesome! We also met her host mom and sister. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda jealous.

After getting all settled in, we bundled up and took off into the city. It was already dark out, but that was ok. We caught a bus into the center of town and actually picked up another exchange girl once we got there and decided it was time to find food. Hadley and the other girl decided to go to Quick (the Belgian equivalent of Micky D's), but Alexanne and I wanted real food, so we went to a little corner café and got pasta, which was in a really cool dish. It was four cheese penne, and it was delicious. Although I think the waiter didn't really like us because the other two tried to come in with us with Quick bags, and he wasn't so friendly from then on... But it all worked out.

After our dinners, we headed over to the Village de Noël. However, to our disappointment, all the little huts that weren't selling drinks or food were closed up for the night. So what do we do? We decide to go on the big ferris wheel! It was awesome. It took us around four times and we were able to look out and see all of Liège. I was kinda freaked at first, because for some reason my paranoid brain thought that something would happen and it would end up dropping us and I would puke. Because that is always my fear. But it ended up being really great. After the ferris wheel, we walked around a little and then Alexanne decided to go to one of the Canadian stands and purchase an order of "putine". What it is, is fries, covered in gravy and a special cheddar cheese. And it is absolutely wonderful! We all shared it, since none of us were particularly hungry but wanted to try it. We ate it as we walked to our bus stop, and it was gone before we knew it. Despite our lack of hunger, it was hot and the air was cold and eating warmth was a good thing.

We caught a bus back to Alexanne's and conquered the two big hills that it took to get back to her house. We went in and basically just crashed. We were all so tired. We got our pajamas on, laid down and talked for a little, but were sleeping before midnight. We woke up the next morning and went down to breakfast to find that Alexanne's host mom had made us crèpes!! She is such a sweetheart. So we ate them with real Canadian maple syrup and brown sugar and had some excellent conversation with her host family. After that, we got ready for the day and headed back out into the city. We caught another bus and walked around the Village again, this time looking at the actual shops, since they were open. Alexanne found a Christmas gift! After finishing that, we went into an actual store, since we were freezing, to try to warm up a little. Then we caught a bus to the train station, Hadley and I bought our tickets home and we were ready to go. Then Hadley's train was cancelled. So they went and got some drinks and I caught my train home because I had to be in Hannut by 4 30. Once I got to Huy, I caught yet another bus that took me to Hannut. I walked to the Academy and was there ready to dance on time.

Today was the first of two special performances that I'm doing with the Academy. I talked about it before. It's the weird one with the fabric tubes. Well we had our practice, we got our hair done by the prof and then we did our thang. I think we did very well with it! Again, I just love performing. Afterwards, one of the girl's mother's was giving me a ride home, so I stayed for the second part where the profs all did a piece together. One man played piano, another played flute, another played cello, and then there was a woman who sang and another woman who played the clarinet. It was a very interesting piece, and I can't say that I particularly liked it, though they played it well.

I got home after a very slow, long drive. The thing is, it's snowing here. There's maybe two inches of snow on the ground, but all the Belgians are freaking out about it and saying it's too dangerous to drive. Which makes me laugh. But the drive that normally takes twenty minutes took forty. But regardless, I got home, stuffed myself full of Hawaiian pizza, took a nice hot shower, and now I'm ready for sleep. So with that, I say: Bonne nuit tout le monde !!

A Wonderful Weekend With Mlle Burnside!!!

Well it is Monday. Thursday, Courtney came, from France, to visit me!!! And let me tell you, we had an absolute blast!

The fun started Thursday afternoon, when I met Courtney at the airport around 3pm. As soon as we saw each other, we ran up to each other and, disregarding European tradition, gave each other a huge hug. But one wasn't enough. We had TWO giant hugs! Which, I have to say, I've been needing for a while now. It was just so wonderful to see someone that I've known for more than two and a half months. No offense, friends of Belgium, but I really needed someone from home. I think my host mom thought I was nuts. But I introduced them and everything and then we were off, back to my house.

On the hour long car ride back home, Courtney and I talked about school and life and just everything in general. We spoke some French and some English and discovered that we're at about the same level of French speaking, which we were both pretty relieved about. Once we got home, Courtney and I headed up to my room to drop off her bag, and my host mom left for a bit to go do... something which escapes my mind. Regardless, we made up her bed and I showed her around and then I realized that I never ate lunch. Of course, it's four o'clock already, but I really needed to eat. So we headed down to kitchen and I made myself eggs in a nest with cheese and Courtney and I sat the kitchen table and just talked each others' ears off for the next couple hours. We talked about our families, news from back home, deep stuff, the usual.

Eventually my host mom got back and drove Courtney and I into Hannut for dinner and some Belgian culture. We ate at the good old Mister Patate, and we ordered the giant, artery clogging "Baguette au Mister Patate". Which is that same sandwich from a couple posts earlier. I'm sure you all remember. The baguette with two hamburgers cut in half and stuffed in there with lettuce, french fried onions, and cocktail sauce. We also got two small fries and I had a water. Which was tiny and cost me an outrageous amount of money, but that's ok. We soon found that we really should have ordered one fry, because a small is not a small. But we split the sandwich and ate our fries and all was good. I felt bad throwing away so many fries, but it was really just too much fattening food. Again, I wouldn't say that sandwich is particularly amazing, but it was a fantastic way to show her real, true Belgian culture! :)

After our meal, we headed over to the Copain, as is normal, and sat ourselves down on the super comfy couches. It just so happened that a few of my friends from school happened to be there too. And of course, they were the crazy ones. So Courtney got to meet my truly insane friends, who kinda hit on her, but that's ok! It was a super fun time. I ordered her one of my favorites, and we just sat around and spoke French with our (new for her) friends. Eventually, Talia came to meet us, and then slowly but surely, the Belgians began trickling in. Around ten, they all left to go to a Discoteque, and Courtney and I took the opportunity to walk around the town a bit. I showed her my school, the places we hang out, and where we sat in the middle of the town, sipping champagne out of plastic cups for Aymeric's birthday. We got back to the Copain right on time for my host mom to pick us up, and headed back to my house for a good night's sleep to be ready for the rest of our wonderful weekend!

The next morning, we woke up decently early, got ready, ate breakfast, and caught a train out of Waremme to spend the day in Liège! We spent the 30 minutes train ride doing what we do best, talking. Upon arrival in Liège, we caught a bus to the center of town, and then began our crazy shopping adventures! Because we are both poor, we did not focus too much on shopping just to buy whatever we saw. We had a couple missions, a present for her boyfriend and a dress for her, but mostly, we just wanted to have fun. So we quickly came up with the brilliant idea to copy outfits on mannequins exactly and have our own little fashion show in the dressing rooms, complete with sneakily taking pictures of our insane outfits, and mocking European fashion a bit... And yes, I confess, this was all with the intention of creating a bomb scrapbook spread when we got back to the States... Crazy, aren't we?

Soon our plan to copy mannequins became just dressing weirdly and creating a montage of this furry vest trend that has hit Europe by storm. We ignored the weird looks we got from people as we took our crazy picks into the dressing rooms, complete with shoes and accessories. We stealthily took pictures of our outfits, sometimes waiting ten or fifteen minutes for people to leave. Yes, we are that committed to scrapbooking.

Eventually, we decided that food was a necessity, and paused our adventure for some serious refueling. Since I don't know the food of Liège very well, we just stopped at a corner bakery and got some pieces of chicken pizza with veggies. Cheap and delicious :) But we couldn't stop there, because regardless of whether or not I know the food, I do know the waffles, and it was imperative that Courtney tasted the best waffles in Liège. So we stopped at my favorite waffle place and each got that waffle that I talk about all the time. You know, the one stuffed with chocolate? And needless to say, she really did find it to be the best thing she had ever eaten. Mission accomplished! Well... one of them at least. We then continued on our shopping antics, and we did end up finding the perfect present for her boyfriend. Which I will not reveal, in case he for some reason stumbles upon my blog and reads this :P We even stopped in a SuperDry, which is probably the most American store I have seen in Europe so far. But it's ridiculously expensive. So what did we do? We put together the most American outfits that we could, and added up the prices.

My outfit added up to be 443 Euros. Not joking. Here's the breakdown: Tank top, 39. Jeans, 95. Sweater, 95. Sweater over, 99. Coat, 115. Ridiculous. But I'm not going to lie, I really liked that sweater...

After we were shopped out, we decided to check out the "Foire" that was taking place in the heart of Liège. Basically, it was a street fair. We walked through it once, surveying what we had. There were tons of stands selling food, fries, waffles, crepes, candy apples, chocolates, etc. Then there were some rides and some games and a fun house or two. We paid attention to what we saw, deciding what we wanted to do and spend our money on, because things were not cheap.

But before we did that, we headed over to the GB grocery store quickly to grab Courtney some chocolate covered waffles to take home with her, since that is the closest you can get to a true Belgian waffle without buying one from a street stand. We also bought some pears and a couple drinks since we were parched and it was cheaper than buying anything from a restaurant. Of course, we thought we were absolute geniuses for coming up with this plan. But, this is Europe. And you know what? Europeans like using glass bottles with lids that do not twist off. So we had a dilemma. There we are, sitting on a bus stop bench, eating our pears, unable to open our bottles. We tried everything! Keys, rings, everything. Eventually, we had to go back to the store and buy a bottle opener. But no, we couldn't buy just one, we ended up buying a pack of three, because it was cheaper. So now, we each have a bottle opener and we have an extra, if anyone is interested.

After that little adventure, we went back to Foire to commence our decisions on activities. We decided to ride the carousel with the young children. Yes, we are little kids and heart :) After that, we decided to leave the Foire for a little while and get some dinner. So, we headed over to one of my favorite pizza restaurants and got a Hawaiian pizza with pineapple and ham, which we split. We then went BACK to the Foire to get our desserts before heading to the train station. Courtney had tasted one, and couldn't resist. She got a waffle. But not just any waffle. She got the king of waffles. A huge Brussels-style waffle, covered in chocolate, and topped with three dollops of chocolate whipped cream, and three of vanilla. Then more chocolate. And then strawberries. And they wrapped it up in, get this, a little blue box. Direct quote from Courtney: "It's like the Tiffany's of waffles!!"

I searched all over that Foire for the Speculoos crepes that I had seen a sign for. But I didn't see them anywhere. So I ended up getting a candy apple since I've never had one, and they don't seem to know what caramel apples are here. Which is a shame. But they call them "pomme d'amour", which I think it lovely :) It means "apple of love".

So we headed back to the train station, and sat and ate our treats. I tried that waffle of Courtney's and oh baby. We'll never be able to eat Eggos again. Oh and my candy apple was pretty good too. We caught the train home, my host mom picked us up, and we went home and hit the sack to be ready, because the weekend was only halfway over.

Saturday was our Brugge day. We got up nice and early to catch and 8:30 train out of Waremme. We met up with Talia and got on the train, and at Landen, Aymeric joined us, and we all rode that train for about two and a half hours to get to Brugge. But it went fairly quickly as we were talking and joking and just enjoying each others' company. Once we got there, we relied on Aymeric to get us into the heart of the city, as he was the one who spoke French and Dutch. Turns out, he had only been there once before, like me, and didn't know where he was going. So he stopped a few people on the street, who were very nice and pointed us in the right direction. It took us about twenty minutes to get into town, and right away, what do we decide to do? Eat.

We stopped at a frites stand and got some fries with sauce and just sat on benches in the Grand Place and ate our food. Courtney loves Belgian frites. But then again, who doesn't?

We then started walking again, and since I was never able to get the Speculoos crepe, we stopped in at a little bakery and I made Courtney get a little gingerbread man, who was actually not gingerbread, but Speculoos. Belgium strikes again! She loved it! Plus one more point for Belgium.

We continued walking a bit and then Courtney and I decided that we should be touristy and do some sight-seeing. So we took the opportunity to take a boat tour. We paid about seven euros each, and climbed in a little boat with a bunch of other people and our guide took us along all the canals that run through Brugge. It was absolutely gorgeous.

The thing about Brugge is that it's a very touristy area. So everyone that works there speaks a million languages. Our boat driver said everything in English, then French, then Dutch, then German. So luckily for us, we were able to understand. But we spoke English the majority of the day, though I seemed to be unable to say "thank you" and always said "merci".

By this time, it was time to find a restroom. Which is practically impossible. We ended up wandering into a random building, and when we went in, a man handed us a couple of flyers about a food show and told us that if we paid for one, we got the second free and we could taste everything. We didn't really listen, but took the flyer anyway and found the bathroom for Courtney. But by the time she came out, we had decided to look into this thing. So we talked to the woman at the desk, and we found out that for five euros, we could go in and sample all the food. So we figured, why not? So we paid our five euros (2.50 each) and entered into the show. What it ended up being was a bunch of stands with people selling their food and offering free samples. So we went around and tried some different meats and cheeses. One woman was sampling soup broths, some were sampling chocolates, one had mustards, and one man had crepes. Everyone immediately spoke Dutch to us, but we always politely asked them to switch to English. Which they did seamlessly. I was jealous. We had some conversations with some of them, which was fun. We were slightly disappointed at the end, because there was not much, and it only took us maybe ten minutes to go around the whole thing.

But then on the way out, a woman stopped us and asked us if we had gone up to the second floor already. We both just stopped and said, second floor? Turns out there was a whole other room and whole other floor that we had missed! So we turned ourselves around and that's where the real fun started. We had conversations with the vendors, both in French and English, and sampled some really fantastic stuff, including champagne, crepes, full size waffles, more cheese and soup, breads, butters, candies, etc. One man who offered us soup right away asked us, "Are you here by accident?" And he said in that way and we knew that he knew that we were not there to buy things, just to get some (almost) free food. But he laughed and joked with us and told us that by the end of it, we wouldn't be hungry and we would be drunk. Which was hysterical. And when we went to another stand, the man was offering little samples of cocktails and when we came up to the stand, he just looked at us and said, "You're drinking soup?", with that kind of "really..." look on his face. And he shook his head, and then let us choose which cocktail we wanted to sample. At one stand, we tried Turkish delight also. Which was good, but I have to say, after watching Edmund betray his family for it in the Chronicles of Narnia, I expected it to be better. By the end of that, we were stuffed full of delicious food, and very satisfied with our 2.50 meal. All because Courtney had to pee...

After the food show, we walked around the town, going into souvenir shops, buying postcards, and meeting a bunch of Americans. It was like a radar. When I heard American English, everything had to stop and we had to go over and talk to them. And I bought Courtney some of my favorite Belgian chocolate. We walked through a pretty path by the water for a while, and eventually ended up back in the center of town where we went to work looking for a dress for Courtney. We did find a stunning pick for her, which again, I will not disclose in case Chris is reading this ;) And I found THE cutest pair of shoes ever. They were 85 euros. And I would have bought them too. Thank God they didn't have my size...

Around six, Courtney and I and Talia and Aymeric decided it was dinner time. So we went to a little Italian place and they split a pizza and Courtney and I split pasta. It was quite delicious. After dinner, we, of course, stopped at a waffle stand and the girls got Brugge style waffles. Because let's face it, they're different, and the ones at the food show were Liège style! I actually prefer Brugge waffles. And yes, they were totally delicious. So Courtney ate four waffles in two days. And she only had a few of the prepackaged ones to get her through the rest of her life... I don't know what she's going to do! We're addicted.

We caught an 8:30 train back home, and I ended up sleeping on the train. But from what I heard, some interesting stuff went down with some Scottish people...

Benoit picked up me and Courtney and Talia at Waremme. Aymeric had gotten off at Landen. We dropped Talia off and her house, and Courtney and I went back to mine. We headed right upstairs and stayed up until 2am talking, swapping pictures, and sharing YouTube videos, cause that's what we do. Then Sunday morning came around and we were absolutely exhausted. We got up around 7am, got ready quickly, ate breakfast and got out the door for the hour long car ride to the airport so Courtney could go back to France. We saw her off with huge hugs, and my host mom and I went back home. I proceeded to sleep for a few hours, trying to ignore the huge car race that was happening around our house, eat lunch, sleep some more, and then work on my novel. Then the internet went all funky and I spiratically (sp?) Skyped with my family.

This weekend was an amazing huge success! Courtney and I had the time of our lives, and it was absolutely wonderful to see someone from back home. It was a blast, and it took me a good hour to write about it! It's probably the longest blog post yet, but it was totally that awesome! Wonderful, wonderful weekend with Mlle Burnside!!

Novels And Films

I do not have school this week. This week, the entire country of Belgium is school free :) Honestly, I could not tell you why we don't have school this week, but if I could, well, I would.

Today, I went to see my first film in a movie theater in Belgium. I met up with Brittany around 2:30 in Liège and my host mom drove us into the center of town. We then went to go find the theater that Brittany had looked up online. It was called the Souvenière. I thought I had seen a sign with the name when we were driving, so we went that direction. We found the sign with the same name, but when we looked at the building, it was dingy and dirty, slightly rundown and not very promising. Not to mention there were papers all over the door saying something about a sports center. Realizing that I had been mistaken, we asked a Belgian for directions. She was very nice and showed us the way. It wasn't very far, and on the way there we noticed that the street that we were on was called Rue de Souvenière. So then it made sense why there were would be multiple things with that name.

Once we found the theater, we went in and attempted to purchase two tickets for "Despicable Me", which is a brand new release here in Belgium. And of course, it is in French here and is called "Moi, Moche et Mechant". Which translates literally to "Me, Ugly and Wicked". That made me laugh.

Anyways, we get up to the front of the line, and the woman at the register calls out that there are only five places left for "Moi, Moche et Mechant" (it just doesn't roll off the tongue the way "Despicable Me" does, does it?). So I figured we'd be fine and I bought my ticket. Little did we realize that at the same moment, a family of four was purchasing the rest at the next register over. So when Brittany went to buy hers, there were no more left. Sad and defeated, we weighed our options and finally decided to see "Social Network". It's a movie about the history of Facebook. And it was going to be in English. Plus the ticket for that one was cheaper, so once I exchanged my ticket, I got some money back so that was a definite bonus.

We now had an hour to kill, so we went to go find some food. We went into the café that was attached to the theater, but after realizing that we had no idea how that worked, since nobody was coming to our table to ask what we wanted, we decided to leave and walk around. We got a piece of pizza somewhere and then went over to my favorite waffle place where we split the pizza and a chocolate stuffed waffle. We then headed back to the theater and went in for our movie. It actually turned out to be quite good. It was in English, with French and Dutch subtitles. Ever so often, I would read the French ones, and understand them. But the thing was, they didn't match up very well to the words that were actually being spoken. Again, this goes back to the whole issue of there being much more expression in the English language. But I'm not going to get into that rant again. I think another big part of it was that the actors spoke very fast, and it would be almost impossible to keep up with the movie if they tried to put everything into written words. But the movie was very funny in English, and there were many times where Brittany and I would find something hilarious because we understood the American jokes and such and nobody else in the theater would laugh. But that is ok. We had fun!

After the movie, Brittany and I made our way back to the train station, she took her bus home and I caught my train. I came home, ate dinner, and then came up to my room where I continued working on my next big project:

My book.

Yes, I am writing a novel. Why, do you ask? Because it is National Novel Writing Month. And I have signed up on nanowrimo.org where they challenge you to write a novel in a month. Yes, 30 days, 50,000 words. That is the challenge. And I have become an official participant. So far I have about 1700 words. I'm not entirely sure what my plot line is yet, but when I read the guidelines, they said that the writer shouldn't worry too much about it. The plot line will come. It's about just writing. Cranking out a novel. It doesn't have to be perfect. They encourage you to muffle your inner perfectionist and editor and just write. This is about quantity, not quality. It's a first draft. And with the way it's going so far, I actually quite like my first 4 pages :) I think if it continues like this, I could have a decent novel by the time it's done! I'm quite excited!

But I must sleep soon. Bonne nuit.