11 Days...

And the Countdown begins... I have 11 days left until the Big Day when I leave this country and go back to the one that I call "home". Before I get all sentimental, let's recap the last few days.

Friday was the day after the ball. Which meant that everyone was EXHAUSTED. But what does this mean? The perfect day to throw a surprise birthday party for Manon! I had to go into Hannut for a dance rehearsal (that didn't seem to exist. I waited around an hour for people that didn't show up) but once I came back, it was a mad house. We were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get things ready and organizing and reorganizing around Manon who was wanting to come home early because she was tired, like the rest of us. But we got it all worked out with another one of our friends, Vanille, who made up a story about fighting with her boyfriend to get Manon to stay the whole afternoon with her. Around 7pm, people started arriving at the house and by 7 30, Manon was walking through the door and being greeted by a huge SURPRISE from all of us. I have lovely pictures. The best part about it? Because of the course of events and circumstances, she came home with her hair still pinned up from the ball, her pearls still around her neck, and her pajamas on. Nicely done Manon :) She went upstairs to shower and change and then we all spent the evening together, eating barbecue (again) and chit chatting. Eventually, we got back into Belgian customs and the alcohol came out. The big news of the night? There was a party (techno, of course) just a few feet away from our house and a couple of the kids went over there around midnight. Well, they came back early, around 1am, because there was a huge fight involving a cult-ish group of people, knives, the police, and an ambulance. Serious stuff, man. I went up to bed around 1 30am because I needed to get up in the morning to dance.

Which I did. Saturday was just that. I went to dance in the morning and then went to see Ben in the afternoon. We had to go our separate ways in the evening because I had yet another surprise party, this time for Romane before she leaves. She is going to Australia for a couple of months and her friends organized a little get-together for her. We all walked in a group (about 25 of us) to her house, her sister blindfolded her and then brought her outside and we surprised her. She was very happy and we all spent the evening with her. I didn't know many people there, so Perrine and I passed the night peeling the foil off of bottle caps and then stacking them. It's more entertaining than you think. We had a whole group of people doing it by the end of the night.

Sunday I slept in. Til almost 2pm. It was lovely. That afternoon, I had yet another little party to go to, this time with the students of Madame Noel. We all got together around 4pm, ate ice cream, sat around and chilled. My camera wasn't working, oddly. But it works again now, so I'm not asking questions, I'm just going with it. Eventually we ate dinner also, and then I left around 10 30pm because I was just so exhausted. I went home and I slept.

Yesterday was Monday, a pretty average day, but also topped off by a surprise birthday party. This time for our friend Lucie who's birthday was actually in January. It was cute though because when she came in, they put on "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds". We, like all the other parties, spent the night eating and socializing, even dancing like crazy people at one point. Manon and Talia and I left around 11 30pm, again, to sleep. Though I stayed up til about 2am Skyping with my Daddy :)

Yesterday, also, I started to pack. I went through all my clothes and made a nice big pile of stuff that I don't really want anymore. I'm starting to get nervous about getting everything home, even with my nice pile. The fact is that I just have a lot of stuff. I have to continue going through it all and getting rid of things. I'm sure I'll be going home wearing about ten layers of clothing, all heavy and hot and I may die of heat stroke. Hopefully not, but we'll see. I also have to decide where I want to eat the night that I get home, which is proving to be one of the most difficult decisions of my life. What from the States have I missed the most?! It's really hard to choose. But i already told my family that I want a giant American breakfast the next morning. Hopefully the time difference won't mess too much with my head.

I'm not ready to get emotional on this blog yet. I'm already a little ball of emotional wreckage. Can't we wait to publicize it? Sorry, it'll come after I get back from Switzerland. Bye!

A Week's Worth Of Blogging...

I'm a bad blogger...
Alrighty, so. In my crazy attempt to update everyone on Spain, I have fallen about a week behind on my blog, and that week includes my birthday celebrations in Belgium. So here we go. You have a week's worth of blog to read about, so get ready!

Wednesday, after I got home from Spain, I rested for a bit, but I went back out that night after showering and eating with my host family. Also, Manon gave me what is possibly the most awesome gift ever! A full-size Belgian flag with the signatures of all the rhéto on it! I couldn't be happier with it, really. Ben picked me up and we went and got a bottle of champagne and then headed over to Olivier and Marie's house. We spent a few hours together, talking and catching up and having a good time. And then it was time for surprise number one. Marie came out of the kitchen with a raspberry tart with nineteen candles on the platter and sang Happy Birthday to me (in French of course)! I hadn't been sung to yet for my birthday or had cake, so that was a very nice surprise! And it was delicious. But I love raspberries, so I'm biased. We ate together and then Ben's phone alarm went off around 9 30 or 10 (I don't remember exactly) and informed me that it was time for us to get moving. But get moving to where? I had no idea. He told me to go pick out some music so with the help of Marie, i rummaged through their CD collection and picked out a few tunes (including Norah Jones). We said our goodbyes and Ben and I got in the car and that was the start of surprise number two. We ended up in a little clearing just outside the villages as it started to get dark out. He parked the car and we put in the Norah Jones CD and then he told me we had to go find the moon. But it was still too early, as the sun was just barely setting, so the moon was nowhere to be seen. In the meantime, he pulled out a big blanket, the champagne, two glasses and a telescope and asked me if I had ever seen a lunar eclipse before. Well, I have never seen a lunar eclipse. But there was going to be one that night, so he had it all planned out that we were going to watch it to celebrate a little bit my birthday! We got all situated, toasted with champagne, and watched the sky as it got darker. Disappointing part: We never did see the eclipse. It happened while the moon was too low in the sky and by the time we could see the moon at all, it was already coming out of the eclipse. But we watched as it grew back to full size and flooded the countryside with light. Honestly, it was the most beautiful moon I've ever seen. Why it didn't even matter that we didn't get to see the eclipse: The sky was still gorgeous and full of stars and, even without the moon, we were together and had a great night. Probably the best post-birthday celebration I've ever had.

Thursday was Manon's birthday. All the Belgians were still in exams, so they had to be at school all morning. I, however, along with the other Americans in Hannut, had already finished my exams so I could sleep! But I did go into Hannut after the exams were over to say hi to everyone and catch up. Yes, everyone was jealous of my Spain adventure. Around noon, Manon and I went back home and ate lunch with the family and then Manon went to study. That night, we all ate dinner together and then Manon and I both shared in a little birthday celebration with my host family, again involving cake, candles, and singing. I received two pairs of beautiful silver earrings from my host family as well. That night, I went to dance, as usual for Thursdays. We are getting ready for our show that we are putting on in a week and a half. When I got home from dance, I was surprised by the presence of Talia and Alex in the house, who stopped by for Manon's birthday. They hung out for a while, eating cake and talking. After they left, it was back to studying for Manon and sleep time for me.

Friday was yet another exam day for the Belgians. Again, I didn't have any exams to take, but I did ride my bike up to Hannut afterwards to meet up with everyone and have a drink. We all hung out for a while, but eventually the crowd dwindled out and I left as well on my bike. I passed by Ben's to say hi. We watched "The Matrix", which believe it or not, I had never seen before. I ate dinner there and then went home to get to bed early because I had an exciting weekend ahead of me!

Saturday, I left in the afternoon to catch a train to go the North Sea that borders Belgium. It's one of those things that you have to see, and I hadn't been there yet. But by 5pm, I was there, the wind whipping at my hair and sand flying up into my face! We found a little hotel in the city of Blankenberge (Flemish), dropped off our things, and then headed back to the shore to look for a place to get dinner. But we were looking for something specific. You see, there are a few things that are very stereotypical Belgian. You all know about the beer, the waffles, and the chocolate. But the thing that I still hadn't tried yet was the mussels. And this was the day. We found a little place that looked really nice (all old people. You know it's good when it's all old people) and I sat down to my first ever dinner of Belgian mussels and fries. The mussels were cooked in white wine with plenty of vegetables, all hot and simmering in my own little personal pot, overflowing with the big shells. Eating mussels is not the easiest thing in the world... For one, sometimes your fork just pulls right through it and you don't actually end up with anything in your mouth. Instead, you have a strand of dismembered crustacean hanging out of the shell... Second, when you get to the bottom of the pot. they are extra hot and swimming in the broth, so you may burn yourself and/or have the mussel slip right out of your hand. Third, you find yourself chewing on the shell sometimes, when they are more brittle than you thought. And fourth, even though you may want to inspect each and every one, it's a bad idea to look at the mussels you are eating or even to think about it too much. Because eventually you realize that you are eating it all. Whole. The brains, the organs, everything. But once you get past these minor details, it's really an enjoyable meal. And of course, we had them with your typical fries. One word to wrap it all up? YUM.

After eating, we headed down towards the actual sea, slipped off our shoes and walked along the beach. One thing about the sea in Belgium... The wind!! It is STRONG. But I liked it a lot because you could see the sand floating over the shore and the waves crashing and even though it was cloudy, the sun was shining through the clouds and I just found the whole thing beautiful. But, eventually, the wind gets to you and you have to go back up by civilization. We went to get a drink afterwards and just sat and talked for a while before heading back to the room for the night (typical European, there was a communal bathroom and shower, just saying).

Sunday, we got up and checked out by 10am and headed out into the town in a failed attempt to find some breakfast. Again, Europe. Bob Evans breakfast all day doesn't exist here, sadly. But we got a tea and chilled out for the morning. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city, exploring all the different paths and even checking out a couple churches. We went to the boat docks, where people have their "yachts" (they weren't really yachts, more like sailboats), and walked out onto a giant pier that had a restaurant at the end of it. Again, the wind was strong and there were a few guys deep sea fishing off the end of the pier. The waves were beautiful and they came up and crashed against the supports of the pier, spraying us every so often with their mist. We walked and talked, got lunch, looked in shops, got a waffle, just chilled out all day. Around 5pm, we went back to the train station to catch a train home, and I was home by 8pm, in my bed not much later.

Monday was the last day of exams for my classmates. They had their math exam. Afterwards, everyone went to the bar to hang out and I was going to go join them, but in the end, getting there was way too complicated and I ended up just staying home and working on my Spain pictures. But that evening, my whole class came over to the house for the class barbecue (since my house is actually Manon's house). This includes Madame Gallo. I still find it odd to party with the teachers... Regardless, everyone was here by 7 30pm and the guys went at it to attempt to start the barbecue. I'm not gonna lie, Americans do it way better. But they did eventually get it and we did eventually eat our sausage sandwiches! We spent the evening talking, goofing around, taking pictures, talking, and sometimes just being plain ridiculous. It was a lot of fun and I had a great time hanging out with the people that have made this year absolutely amazing! I love my class, I really do, and I really do think that I was incredibly lucky to fall into such an awesome group of Belgians, along with an awesome teacher! As is typical for a Belgian party, a few people got sick as the night wore on. Evening quickly turned into night, but by 2am, mostly everyone who wasn't sleeping at the house had gone home and the rest of us were setting ourselves up in the living room to sleep.

Note to self: When you have a bed to sleep in, don't think it's a better idea to sleep on the ground with everyone else just because you don't want to be alone.

We woke up the next morning, yesterday morning in fact, tired and some of us cranky. We didn't move for a couple hours, but instead just stayed on the ground and on the couches, talking and retelling stories from the night before. Eventually, it was down to me and Manon and Talia and Maxime and we cleaned up the mess and got the house back into semi-order. Talia and Maxime left and then Manon and I took to cleaning up ourselves and recovering from the party. This meant sleeping all afternoon. That night, I had jazz, earlier than usual, and it made me feel pretty lousy. Dancing is getting harder and harder for me the longer I stay in this country and yesterday it seemed to really take a toll on me. Hopefully once I get back into my habits next year, it'll all go back to normal... After dance, I met up with Manon and a bunch of people from school in Hannut to celebrate Manon and Iris's birthdays together. Ben stopped by too and I eventually ended up going back with him and his friends and we hung out for a while in that same clearing with a bonfire and a guitar, just chillin.

This morning, I went to go back to my house early, but sadly, nobody was home and the house was locked. Needless to say, I was stranded outside for about two and a half hours before I managed to get a hold of my host sister who had been sleeping after working a night shift. I finally got into the house, ate lunch, and am now blogging before sleeping away the rest of the day. This blog also took longer than I thought it would... But like I said, a whole week's worth, involving some exciting stuff! But there you go, world. All the updates! It's naptime now. Goodnight!

Father's Day And A Birthday

This weekend was full of celebrations that I was not home for... For instance, Saturday was my sister, Olivia's, birthday. And today is Father's Day. Things like this are always the hardest parts of exchange, I'm finding... Because as much as you love that person and as much as you want to be with them to celebrate with them, you can't always be there because there are 4000 miles of ocean between you.

To my sister:

Olivia, you drive me insane. You make me want to bash my head against a wall. Consistently. But if there is one thing I've learned this year, it's an appreciation for my family. And I love you, sister. And I'm positive that I love you the way I do because you are the way you are. And yes, I would like very much for us to get along. And I hope that we can find a way to make our relationship better once I get back to the States and we have to live together once again. I guess what I'm trying to say is simply that I love you and I hope you had a wonderful birthday. Judging from Facebook, you did!

To my dad:

Faja, I love you more than I can express. I miss you so much. I miss your daddy hugs, our lunch dates, and the egg sandwiches that you made me in the morning. I miss watching stupid movies with you and laughing at screwed up Burger King signs. I miss going to Home Depot with you and running out through our swamp of a backyard to the shed to tell you that you have a phone call. I miss a lot of things, dad, and I can't wait to see you again. I know that you love me a lot and that you have been missing me this year. And on this Father's Day, I hope that you know that I'm thinking about you and sending all my love home. Here's to my amazing father, and the hope that we will soon be eating Mickey Mouse pancakes together again. I have realized more than ever, this year, that you mean so much to me, both as my dad and as my friend. You have done so much for me over the course of my life, caring for me and raising me to be an independent, strong girl. I wouldn't be here, in Belgium, doing what I'm doing without your love and support. So thank you, Dad. Thank you for everything. I LOVE YOU.

España Cuatro

Alright so... Onto the fourth part of our adventures in Spain. Monday was almost completely uneventful, as Talia and I were both tired and she wasn't feeling great. We slept til almost 1 in the afternoon and stayed at the house to eat lunch with Susan and her kids, who got back from school around 1 30. We had salmon and vegetables for lunch, but the salmon was almost like a slab of steak, which I've never had before... I guess it never occurred to me that fish do have fat... Anyway, for the afternoon, Talia and I set off into the town of Alcala to have a look around and just explore. We took the map and went to a park first to just chill out a little bit. Then we made our way to the city center in hot pursuit of ice cream, which we found and ate successfully. I had mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream. Yum! Although the mint chocolate chip was so minty that at a certain point I started to feel like I was eating toothpaste... Regardless, we sat down for a white to eat our ice creams and came across two kids that were doing flips and jumps off of ramps and walls and videotaping them, probably to put on YouTube. I'll give them credit though, they were cool jumps. We walked a little more, went into a few shops, and I bought a pair of sandals. Then we sat down outside at a little cafe to get a drink. And I had non-carbonated iced tea for the first time since I came to Europe. Lovely :) In Spain, they do this thing called "tapas". Basically, when you get a drink, you get a little sort of food thing with it. They used to be free everywhere, all the time, but now most places charge you for them, and they're expensive. BUT! Not in Alcala!! They are still free there, so Talia and I took advantage of it and got a sort of chicken sandwich and a hamburger. (We don't speak Spanish so we just pointed at pictures that looked tasty) After enjoying that, we went into a few more shops, including a market, and then headed back to Susan's to eat dinner with the family. We didn't have anything really special that night. Some salad, cheese, vegetables, and what are basically croquettes, that once again, I don't know how to spell in Spanish...

That night, Susan and her daughter came into our room and told me that they knew that the next day was birthday and nobody should go without a gift on their birthday. And they gave me this beautiful Spanish shawl. It is black with embroidered flowers on it in all kinds of colors. I absolutely love it!

Tuesday was, yes, my birthday! Talia and I left the house around 11 30 with all of our things because we were going to stay our last night at Irene's. Susan walked us down to the bus stop so that we could meet up with Irene in Madrid and we said our thank yous and goodbyes. But of course, Talia and I had just missed the 11 30 bus so we had to wait for the noon one. We got to Madrid by 12 30 and met up with Irene. We took the metro back to her house and dropped off our things and then we were out once again for the day. Irene took us to this huge mall in Madrid with tons of stores. It was bigger than any of the malls I've seen so far in Europe. We did a little shopping and eventually ended up eating lunch at the same restaurant that we had that first day with the little sandwiches. Then for the afternoon, we looked around some more in the shops, but didn't buy anything this time. Around 5, Irene had to go to her university to find out her test scores, so Talia and I headed back to the Madrid city center to do some souvenir shopping. We also made a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts and I got half a dozen donuts for Ben, since I remembered that he loved them so much when he was in Chile and there are no Dunkin Donuts in Belgium. We did a little more shopping and then took the subway back to Irene's, getting a little lost once we got out of the underground. But we found it alright and waited at her door until she got home, since we did not have a key.

That evening, I met Pablo, Irene's very cool boyfriend. We got ready to go out for the evening and took the subway back into the city. Pablo left us, but Irene guided Talia and I to a nice little restaurant where we would have my birthday dinner. The menus were, of course, in Spanish, so Irene just ordered a bunch of stuff and they brought them out, one plate after another. We had croquettes, calamari, and then a dish that was potatoes with three sunnyside-up eggs over them and pieces of bacon-type meat sprinkled over it. Man was that good stuff. After we had finished eating, we got back on the metro and headed over to Irene's university to meet up with a couple of her friends. We hung out there, just talking and having a good time, and around 1am made our way to a nearby club called "Nuit". The girls got in free (ha!) and we spent a few hours there, dancing and having a good time. We left around 3 30am and started making our way home. But the subways in Madrid don't run at that time, so we walked. And eventually got too tired and decided to take a taxi the rest of the way. It was my first time ever in a taxi. We got back to Irene's and crashed for the night.

We woke up around 9 30 the next morning and Talia and I packed up all of our things to go to the airport. We were each also wearing about 6 layers of clothing, since we had to compensate for the things we had bought in Spain. Irene went with us to the subway and we met up with Pablo there, and then we all went to the airport together. There we said our thank yous and goodbyes once again and Talia and I were off through security. We got through it all no problems and then we went to find some breakfast and hung out until it was time for our flight. Once again, I slept through most of the flight until we were landing. And we had a rough landing... We were 20 minutes early, so Talia and I ended up waiting a while at Charleroi for our ride home. But around 4pm, Ben showed up to take us home. I gave him the Dunkin Donuts, which he was thrilled about, and we shared a couple before the leaving the airport.

And then it was home sweet home. There ya go, folks. Our Spanish Adventure in four parts. Hope you enjoyed it and tune in next time for more stories from The Belgium Blogger.

Drunk Belgians And Cigarette Smoke

I had three tests today. The first one was in Science and I don't think I failed. The second was in Social Sciences and I think I did well. The third one was supposed to be in Math, but Talia and I left today at lunch because we were really not doing well at all. We went back to her house, made Mac & Cheese for lunch and napped til about 4 30 when her host family got home. There are two little girls in her family, and I met them both. I woke up in Talia's room to find that there was nobody there so I went downstairs and there they were, sitting at the table eating ice cream. I joined them with a small bowl of vanilla and we just chilled for a while. The kids are so cute! We then went back upstairs, the girls keeping close behind, to make a card for our friend, Kathleen, who's birthday we would celebrate later that night. Eventually, we went down to dinner and ate with the whole family. This time there were the two little girls, the host parents, and another fourteen year old girl. Plus Talia and I. Needless to say there were plenty of us at the table. After dinner, Talia and I went back upstairs to get ready to go into Hannut for the night with all our friends for the birthday (and ate way too many Hershey's kisses in the process). Eventually we were ready to go and her host dad drove us into Hannut, where we met up with the others.

For Kathleen's birthday, Manon had the wonderful idea of putting together a sort of care package for her for when she goes away to Spain next year (yes everyone is leaving next year). Part of it was a shirt on which we were going to write "Don't forget you're Belgian". Well of course I get roped into being the one to do it, so to make sure that Kathleen didn't see, we retreated to the parking lot outside the big church in Hannut and I wrote on the pretty in pretty lettering, almost forgetting the g in Belgian. I also managed to get a little tiny black mark on Manon's shirt with the fabric marker. Sometimes I'm just way too smart. Anyways, we finished up the box, including the shirt, some Easy Mac, Cracker Jack, a little pocket French/Spanish dictionary, an American flag keychain, a letter, a card, some earrings, and a pen. Plus the underside of the lid was covered in pictures of her with all her friends. It was really cute.

We ran back to the café with the box and met up with everyone. We then sang to Kathleen and watched her open the box. I really think that she loved it and it put a smile on my face to see her so happy. We stayed for a drink, but around 10 15 everyone decided that they were hungry so we ran over to Mister Patate (which is now actually Chez Patate, lame) to grab food. Of course we went back to the café after. It was freezing outside, of course, and I was wearing a dress that I borrowed from Talia, so I was really cold. Manon and I stayed until about 1am. Here comes the story that gave me the title of this post. Géraldine was with us and eventually her brother showed up to pick her up. But he didn't come alone. He came with a whole gang of guys, all already on their way to plastered. Well we were all tired and wanted to go home, so we worked out a system so that everyone could get home with a sober driver, safely. This meant that three of the crazy drunk guys came in our car with us until we were close to the house where they were all staying. So there we are, blasting music at 1am as we drive down the road with three hammered Belgians in the back seat chanting and shout singing while drinking caramel vodka. I'm not gonna lie, it was hysterical. And super classy.

I have a complaint to announce here. I HATE CIGARETTES. I hate everything about them. But what I hate most is the smoke that I have to breathe because someone around me decided to light up and fill their own lungs with toxins that may eventually kill them. But almost every single Belgian smokes. Which sucks. Because it means that wherever you go, there is someone nearby smoking. Which means that I am constantly in a cloud of second hand smoke, which is terrible for you. And I really have no choice! Smoking happens everywhere. And it gets blown in your face. And it's gross. And I seriously do think it's taking a toll on MY health even though I've never touched the stupid things. And of course it would be one thing if it didn't smell terrible. But it's disgusting. I hate cigarettes and smoking and just the whole concept of putting SMOKE in your body. Your precious body that is supposed to be clean. You only get one, why would you soil it with SMOKE?! And plus, the choice that THEY make to smoke is taking an effect on ME even though I choose not to. Alright there is my rant and my anti-cigarette campaign. I hope you enjoyed it.

I need to sleep now. À demain.

Birthday And Theatre

Yesterday, we had yet another birthday in our little family of exchange students. It was the birthday of our best Mexican friend, Eduardo! He turned 19. He's old. So even though we already had his surprise party, we decided to celebrate a bit yesterday as well :) Since the exchange students have two hours of study hall after lunch on Tuesdays, and our teachers were absent yesterday, we were able to leave at noon and went to get some food for our friend's birthday. We went to the bar and got a free drink for him, followed by more free ness at a different bar. Also, Mikayla and I went to get a piece of bakery for him. We chose a nice yellow cake with chocolate cream inside and covered in more chocolate. I have to admit, it was difficult to hand it over. But we sang to him and everything and it was a good time.

Also, last night I had my second dance exam. This time, it was for jazz. It was really just like a normal class, except that the director was there and like at the ballet one, another woman who was "grading" us. Except that this time, the woman grading us was a woman who is normally in the class. So she knows us all and she knows all the combinations and such by heart. Overall, I did very well, although I'm consistently discouraged when I realize how much I'm losing this year in my dancing skills...

Today, however, was excellent. Today, everyone who is involved in the school theater was excused from classes for a full day of rehearsal. That means that when we got there, at 8 30am, we were right away getting ready to run our show. I got there with my huge bag full of costumes and make up, ready to work. The first thing we did was have me teach the finale to the whole cast. The finale is to "Bad Romance", as you know if you keep up with the blog. And I did the choreography for it, with the intentions of having the entire cast join us 13 dancers at the end to do the last chorus together to end the show. So this morning I taught the choreography and despite all the doubt that I was getting from the teachers, everyone learned it in less than twenty minutes!! We went over it a few times, and it. Looks. FANTASTIC. I couldn't be happier!

After that, we went through the show once really quickly for technical reasons, so they could figure out the sound and lights and such. Then we had our lunch break, and afterwards went through a real run of the show. It was rocky, it's true, but I had a lot of fun. I had almost forgotten how much I missed doing shows and theater and spending hours upon hours in a theater with a cast, bonding over the common goal of putting on a wonderful show. And I have to say, after today, I do feel like I really did a lot more bonding with the cast. Remember after the Cent Jours party when I felt like I really opened up and was better recognized by everyone? I had another one of those days. Every time something like this happens, I feel so much more energized to be here and to be at school and make friends. I get closer to people all the time, and you have no idea how fulfilling it is to see people practicing MY choreography in the halls with each other and be so excited about it, sometimes even stopping me to say "Look! I know what I'm doing!" or "Can you help me? I forgot what comes next." It just makes me feel so good about everything. I find it really difficult to put what I want to say into words, but I think you all understand what I'm getting at.

Anyways, we finished up the run through around 5 30pm, and the finale was INCREDIBLE. Dear Belgians, if you're reading this, I'm so proud of you. Thank you so much for everything. You made the image in my head become a reality.

Afterwards, I went home on the bus, got some weird looks from people, because of the fact that I was all made up with red lips outlined in black and my hair teased up to the heavens (the Belgians thought that was AWESOME). I ate dinner with my host family, and I have every intention of making it a pretty early night, considering tomorrow is opening night!!!!! I'm so excited.

So, goodnight everyone!!

Birthday Party!!

Today was the surprise birthday party for Eduardo that his host parents put together. A few weeks ago, before the week of Carnaval, I had received a message on Facebook from his host family telling me that they were going to throw him a surprise party. They invited all the people he hangs out with from AFS and then us three Americans that he goes to school with. And we kept it secret until today!!

I got up this morning (late, since we did the daylight savings switch last night) and had breakfast and got myself ready, and around 2pm Talia came over to get me and her host mom drove us to the train station in Huy, where we met up with Eduardo's host parents and the other guests. Mikayla wasn't able to come, but she was there in spirit. Anyways, we all piled into the host parents' cars and they took us to the room that they had rented out for the party. There were probably 15 of us total, and we were there a half hour before Eduardo arrived. Which gave Talia and me a chance to meet everyone, since we didn't know them. When Eduardo was scheduled to get there, we all stood in the doorway holding masks over our face to give a little bit more to the surprise and when Eduardo came through the door, we all started singing to him in French, then English, then Spanish. He was pretty surprised, even though he kind of had an idea of what was happening. He was really happy to see us all though! Once he got there, we played some games, listened to some music, and of course, ate food. There were a bunch of different kinds of cakes, the biggest one being his birthday cake. It was a really delicious layer cake with layers of cream, pineapple, and a sort of pound cake. Lady fingers went all around the edge and there was whipped cream, more pineapple, and cherries on top. It was heavenly, and I'm sure extremely fattening. There were also different waffles, a sugar tart, an apricot pie, a chocolate cake, and a couple other goodies to much on. We passed the whole afternoon there having fun and joking around with our favorite Mexican!

Happy Birthday Eduardo!! Even though it's not yet actually your birthday... I'll write your big post on Tuesday, when it is.

On another note, I would like to update all of you on where I am emotionally. The exchange students have gone through a lot of roller coaster emotions and ups and downs since we've been here. We had the It's-All-New high, the homesick/culture shock low, the rise again, the holidays hardships, and the slow mount back up to being accustomed and adjusted. Now we're going through the We're Bored stage. This is the part where we aren't sad and we aren't homesick, but we miss our lives back home. We want to be able to get in our cars and go. We miss our friends and our family, but not in a sad way. We just want to see them again. We're unmotivated to go school because, let's face it, we're done with high school. We want to hang out with Belgians, but find it hard because everyone's so focused on studying. The exchange is ending, but at the same time, it's just firing up because the big stuff is going to happen soon. But the weird part about it is that even though there is SO much to look forward to right now, the theater, Easter break, trips, the end of the year dance, none of it seems exciting. To be clear, once again, it's not that we want to go home. We're just tired. We're mentally exhausted. We speak the language, yes, but the barrier is even more frustrating now because we know we are more fluent than we think, and to not understand, as rare as it is now, is incredibly annoying. But at the same time, the thought of going home is depressing. We are finding ourselves wanting both at the same time. We have less than four months left here. It's scary to think how fast this is going, and how little time we have left. And though, yes, I do find myself nostalgic and missing home, and yes, I am a little bored of my life here, it will be over before we know it. Which is freaky.

I don't really know how to wrap that up... I'm just very alfkjdglkahksl;dfjsd right now. Which isn't totally bad, so nobody should worry. This is not a depressing post. Not in the slightest. I'm happy and things are going well. We're just bored and tired. But it will pass. Like I said, we have a lot coming up!!

For now, I'm going to sleep. I lost a whole hour of it last night. Bonne nuit tout le monde !

Fire Drill! And A Birthday :)

For the first time since I've been here, we had a fire drill at school. I was starting to worry that the Belgians were unaware of the very important practice of fire awareness and safety. But alas, they did not. So at some point this morning I found myself outside on a fire escape, you know the grid kind, wearing high heels and fearing for my life, but not for the reason of the possibility of fire.

ALSO much more importantly, today is the birthday of the one and only Talia Saville!!! I made her a cake and posted a video on YouTube with a nice little note about how much I love the girl! Talia, you rock, you're awesome, and you know how much I love you. I truly hope that this day was wonderful for you and that you enjoy the first part of your nineteenth year on Earth with me in Belgium :)

On another note, we had a nice four hour rehearsal after school today for the dance part of theater, as I have been talking about. We finally finished Bad Romance. Hopefully, it will turn out to be as good as I see it in my head!

If any members of NDW are reading this, I just want to take a moment to let you guys know how much I appreciate you and your hard work on the senior show last year.

Also, with dinner tonight we had mushrooms. I am surprised to say that I find that I actually like mushrooms now. If you know me, you know that I detested them before. Oh Belgium, how you change me (ha).

Bonne nuit tout le monde !

Daddy's Birthday :)

TODAY IS MY DADDY'S BIRTHDAY!!!

Kinda.

You see, my father was born on February 29th, which only comes around once every four years. So this year he doesn't get a real birthday, but I sent him 15 or so ecards anyways because I love him so much! Let me list the reasons why:

*My dad is awesome.

*He is so incredibly loving and has been there for me all my life.

*He cares so much about his children and really does everything he can for us.

*We are the center of his life.

*He is super talented and so good at what he does. He never fails to impress me.

*He is a guy who is so full of love.

*He is really good at letting the little things go instead of getting stressed out.

*He's really understanding.

*He's a great listener.

*I know that I can trust my father.

*He slips me twenties ;)

*I can tell him about all of my weird antics and he appreciates them.

*He has a great sense of humor and is always making us laugh.

*He gives AWESOME hugs.

*We can laugh together over stupid stuff like a Burger King sign that was supposed to say "angus" but was missing the g.

There are so many reasons that I love my dad, I can't even list them all. This blog would never end. Daddy, I love you with all my heart. You have been there since Day 1 and you never let me down. You always make time for your girl and there has never been a doubt in my mind about how much you love me. And I know I say it all the time, but I'll say it again. I love you. You are awesome, and I can't wait to get home and get a great big Daddy hug. I really miss those. And I miss you. You're the best dad I could ever ask for. Thank you for everything you have done for me over the years, especially just for loving me as much as you have. If it wasn't for you in my life, I wouldn't have the bravery and confidence that has brought me to do all the things that I have done in my life, including this exchange. We are all affected by the people in our lives, but I do believe that our parents are the ones who truly mold us. I am so grateful to have you for a dad, who molded me and shaped me into the person that I am. I love you so so so much, and I hope you have an incredible day!!!!

St. Nicholas Day And Mommy's Birthday!

Today is December 6th. In any Catholic culture, this is the day dedicated to St. Nicholas, the man that eventually became known as Santa Claus. And the tradition is, you put your shoes outside your door and St. Nicholas comes and fills them.

We celebrate this tradition at my house in the States. And most Belgians do too. However, I sadly woke up this morning with nothing in my shoes. Which, I have to say, I didn't really expect anything. Benoit is the only other one in the house right now and he wasn't there, plus he's 23 years old. So whatever, that's ok. I ate my 36 euro chocolate and was happy!

Today was also the first day of exams at school. I had history and geography. I opted to not take the geo one, but I did my best on history. Except I was totally like twenty minutes late to school today because the Belgians are freaking out about the roads. I'm not joking when I say there's less then two inches of snow on the ground. Now granted, it was icy today because everything that melted yesterday has frozen over, but it is not necessary to crawl down the streets people! I drive faster in the States when I'm going under the speed limit! But regardless, the point is that I was late to school. Nobody stopped me or anything. I just walked into the classroom late and sat down to take my test. The teacher told me that he didn't have time to make a special test for me, so I just had to do my best. Which I was totally fine with. And I did try my best. There are some things that I definitely think I failed miserably on, but some that I think I actually did quite well on too! The test was one part multiple choice, one part describing documents, a timeline and a synthesis of different charts and graphs. It lasted two hours. I used all my time and I can't believe I finished.

After that, Mikayla and I went into Hannut to the beauty store where we spend all of our time, and I bought myself a whole hair care system because I have determined that I really have to take better care of my hair. I'm going to get it cut soon. Even though I've spent the last three years growing it out. Sorry Ryan :/ On the way back to the center of town, I slipped on the ice and sorta fell. But no worries and no pain! It was actually really funny. Then Mikayla and I took advantage of the fact that we were out of school on a Monday and went to the marché in Hannut which is there every Monday. Basically it's just where street vendors come and set up their stuff, mostly clothes. We looked through everything, but didn't buy. Then Mikayla got some fries and we shared those. We went back to school and spent the lunch hour in Père Boly's office with Talia, just chatting. Then we went through the second half of our day. Some of teachers handed out little candies and such for St. Nicholas day :) That was really cute.

Talia and I have decided to join a gym. We're going to go tomorrow to check it out. Neither of us are happy with the lack of exercise going on and the toll it's taking on our bodies. So tomorrow, we hit the gym by storm! It'll be great :)

Just so everyone knows, I had curry chicken and rice with broccoli for dinner. It smells so good. I love when my host mom makes that. Then I had one of my fancy chocolates and a couple speculoos cookies since my host mom has made them from scratch. Ugh I really need to get back on my diet.

I have deactivated my Facebook. *GASP* Just until after the holidays. I find that I just speak too much English and I spend too much time on Facebook. But the thing about deactivating is that I can go back whenever I want and reactivate it. So I'll be able to be back on Facebook in a few weeks. But for now, I just need to be disconnected from ALL the people back home. I will continue to talk to them people really close to me, and I'm still going to have email and Skype, but no Facebook for a while.

TODAY IS MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY!!!! And I am not there to celebrate it with her. But I did send her about 10 ecards over email, all hysterical. Basically I couldn't pick just one. So I sent a bunch. I love my mother so very very much and I want her to know this:

Mom, you really are the best mother I could ask for. I wouldn't be here, doing this without your constant support. Not only that, but if weren't for the way that you raised me, I wouldn't have even had the motivation or the courage to even think about doing something like this. You are responsible for everything that I am, Mother of mine. A hard worker, a loyal friend, a dreamer. And I love you so much, you could never even know. The support and the love that I get from you, I know it's there. You are the best, Mom. I thank God for you every day, and I am so grateful that I was blessed with such a wonderful, giving, caring mother. I love you Mommy. I can't wait to come home and hug you.

:)

Birthdays In Belgium

Ok so everybody better really appreciate this blog post because I am writing it on an AZERTY keyboard and it's incredibly difficult for me and it's going to take waaaay longer than usual. But I can't help it. I can't connect on my laptop right now.

Anyways...

Yesterday was Wednesday. And like every Wednesday, we all got out at noon. Yesterday was also the birthday of one of our friends here, Aymeric. He goes to a different school along with about half the people that were coming to celebrate with us, so after school, Talia and I headed over the famous "Mister Patate" to wait for everyone. Of course, we expected everyone to meet us there. When we got there, we did meet up with a couple of the guys from school, but they had to eat and jet because the one guy had to be back at school for detention. So Talia and I waited, and after a while of nobody coming, we decided to do what we do best: eat. Talia ordered us a "pain Mister Patate". Which is probably the biggest, most fattening sandwich I've ever seen in my life. And that includes the BigMac. It's a huge baguette that is filled with two hamburgers that have been cut in half so they fit, lettuce, and special sauce. It is massive. Thank goodness we were splitting it. All the Belgians say that the best food is at Mister Patate. And don't get me wrong, it was very good, but wow I could feel my arteries clogging just looking at it.

I'm getting used to this AZERTY thing...

After finishing up at Mister Patate, we decided to spend some time chilling with our other group of friends while waiting to figure out what was going on with Aymeric. So we headed over to the usual hangout café, Copain. On the way over, we came across a couple of our friends and we all waited and had a drink until everyone else got there. Eventually, we were all there and Aymeric arrived, and after the usual rounds of bisous, we began the festivities.

In the States, it's normal for a friend's birthday to treat them to lunch and maybe a movie, eat cake and maybe do something a little out of the ordinary. But what does one do for a birthday in Belgium? Well, first you find the center of town. If you're lucky, there will be a random concrete pad next to a a parking lot with a gazebo and some steps. You proceed to sit on the steps and pull out the basket of goodies that the birthday person brought. In this basket, you will find a bottle of champagne, a half empty bottle of Christmas beer, some crackers, chips, and plastic champagne "glasses" that snap apart for easy and convenient storage. Then the party begins, and you spend a good 45 minutes in the middle of town, at 1 in the afternoon, sitting in a random spot out in the open, sipping champagne out of plastic cups without a care in the world. And when the Belgians want to smoke and nobody has a lighter that works, what do you do? You find a random boy on the street and he gives you his.

I'm not joking.

We then proceeded to go BACK to Mister Patate so that the people that weren't there before could eat. Talia and I just sat there and watched because there was no way we could've eaten more of that. But of course, eating is just a formality. After this, you recommence with the typical Belgian birthday celebrations, which include bar hopping to get your free drinks. But because we live in Hannut, our "bar hopping" consisted of two bars, one being the Copain. At the first one, we went in, got our drinks, and retreated to the far room where we all squeezed around a table and showered Aymeric in gifts that included a poster covered in pictures of him and his friends, brownies from Talia, and chocolate chip cookies from me. So needless to say, we stuffed ourselves with sweets. Then Talia pulled out the candy corn, which the majority of the Belgians thought was gross. The bar tender then brought us another bottle of champagne with cups that were not clean. So what do we do? We pull out the plastic cups from before, resnap them together and save some natural resources. We spent some time there, eating, talking, laughing, and playing with Silly Putty. Then we all packed everything up and migrated over to the Copain, where the atmosphere was much better and familiar and Aymeric got his drink there. Which was huge and orange and apparently was mostly vodka... We spent a ridiculous amount of time there eating more cookies and brownie, talking, laughing, and signing Aymeric's poster. I wrote every other word in French and the others in English. But he speaks English very well and he understood it all :D Oh and I bonded with Gregoire over "How I Met Your Mother". It was a beautiful moment.

Around 5, Talia and I caught a bus to Geer where my host mom met me to pick me up and I went home. I ate dinner which was, guess what, hamburger. But without a bun or anything. Just the meat. And broccoli that had been mixed with potato, which was delicious, and a veggie salad. And then, I had a chocolate eclair. I thought I was going to burst. But since there was no internet connection in my room, I did my homework right away and was sleeping by 9pm. Which was beautiful.

Today was average, but I have one comment. We had some speakers come in today and talk to the sixième class about university. Which was completely irrelevant to me, but I did catch one part of it... There is someone that helps them all out with the process and they are called the P.M.S. And because I am immature, I found this incredibly hysterical and laughed through the last 15 minutes of the presentation. Just thought I'd share...

I am never blogging on an AZERTY keyboard again.

Dinner time and then dance tonight. A demain!