Sick And Tired

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Liège And Bruges

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

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

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

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

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

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 !!

RE: The Most Fun Weekend Yet

So it seems to be becoming a pattern for me to not blog on the weekends for the simple fact that I just don't have the time because I don't spend much of them at home... Which I have to say is a good thing because it means I'm being social and spending time with Belgians! Yay!

This weekend was honestly the best weekend I've had in Belgium. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? (This is going to be a very long blog)

FRIDAY:

Friday, I spent the day at the preschool again, for the last day of the retreat. Friday was less fun than the other days, for the pure fact that there was nothing for us to do. The other days we had gotten to play games with the kids, do crafts, and help with the little chores around the classroom. But we were in a different class on Friday and there just weren't things for us to do. So we spent the day observing and watching the kids play. Of course, if it weren't for the language barrier, I would've gotten down on all fours and played with the kids. But they don't understand a word I say and I barely understand them, even though my French is improving immensely (I'll talk more about that later). However, they played outside a lot and there were many accidents involving little kids falling down, kids bullying other kids, and lots of tears. And I felt awful because I couldn't really help since I didn't know how to say what I would've said in English.

After school was over, my host mom picked me up and I went home for a couple hours to run, shower, and pack up my stuff to spend the night at Talia's. However, before I left, I made... Ready for this?? GRILLED CHEESE. I was so excited! We had found a Laughing Cow cheese that came just like Kraft singles and the package said "with cheddar". However, that was not cheddar cheese. That was good old fattening American cheese. And I made my wonderful grilled cheese sandwich on delicious Belgian bread. If only I had had applesauce...

So anyways, Karine then drove me over to Talia's, where I got ready for the giant techno party called KickAss. Talia and I got all dolled up, ate dinner (spaghetti), and around 9:30pm, Talia's host mom drove us into Hannut for the party. When we got there, there weren't a whole lot of people there, so we hung around outside for a bit and then went in where the DJ was set up on the stage and strobe lights were going. Nobody was dancing yet and it was kind of that socially awkward stage when everyone is just standing around. But our friends trickled in and before we knew it, the whole sixième class was there and we were dancing and having a great time. Every hour, they switched DJs, so the style was changed up a bit. Talia and I spent the time going between the dance floor and outside, talking to friends, meeting new people and taking TONS of pictures. The Belgians dance very differently than Americans and they aren't very wild about it. So Talia and I had to contain ourselves a little, but it was still so much fun. I absolutely love dancing! Of course, we're in Belgium, so just about everyone was drinking, but it was nowhere near the type of intense drinking like people were doing at the Fête de Wallonie. But because it was a dance party, beer was sloshed out of cups left and right and it basically covered the floor. Not to mention I ended up getting splashed more than once with beer and stepped on multiple times, so by the end of the night, my feet were gross and beer had dried on my legs. Which is, yes, disgusting. But I didn't let that stop me from having a fantastic time! Most of our friends left around 1:30am, but Talia and I stayed until 3am with some others that we knew, and some we had just met. At 3am we met up with our friend Gregoire, who's mother graciously gave us a ride home. We creeped into the house around 3:30 and headed up to Talia's room where we immediately crashed (after washing off my legs, of course).

SATURDAY:

Saturday morning, Talia and I had to wake up around 7am for a Rotary outing in Namur. Which means that we got about 3 hours of sleep. We very quickly got dressed, grabbed our lovely Rotary blazers, ate some breakfast, made our lunches and then we were out the door, in the car, headed to meet up with Gaby to go to Namur. I didn't even have enough time to throw makeup on my face or do something to make my hair presentable, so I did my makeup in the car and just left my curls from the night before. And I have to say, I'm pretty skilled at car makeup and I found that I can do my mascara blind and not get it all over my face. I was impressed with myself.

After driving about twenty minutes, we met up with Gaby and her host dad on the side of the road, as is the Belgian way. We then got into Gaby's car and we all went the rest of the way to Namur. We met the other exchange students at the train station, and then all walked about fifteen minutes through the streets of Namur, which I know very well by now, to the city commune. We checked in there and then all went inside and waited for things to start.

During this time, I met a couple new exchange students, one who was from Argentina, and another from Finland. I can't get over the fact that all the exchange students that aren't from the States or Canada speak English so well. It makes me feel like us Americans aren't ambitious enough to learn more languages than just English... Once everyone was finally settled in, Rotarians talked to us about a number of different things, including rules and the trips that are happening throughout the year (again).

After that was all finished, we headed outside where they gave us something to drink and we just chilled for a while. I went outside to meet up with Rèmi and Talia, and proceeded to get yelled at for something. I have no idea what I did wrong, but all of the sudden one of the men there was yelling at me to get out. I was dumbstruck and just kind of said uh uh huh? And he yelled again, saying, "I asked for one thing, you go out now!" And I just said "Uh, uh, ok ça va," and went back inside. I was very upset about that for about five minutes, and then we all left that building and went to take a group picture. Group pictures always take longer than necessary.

Finally, it was lunch time. They gave us a little over an hour to either eat what we brought, or go buy food. Of course, we decided to do both. So I went with Rèmi, Talia, and another boy from Ohio named Matheus, and we all walked into town. All of us except Matheus had brought sandwiches, so we ate those on the way, and since I'm a nice person, I shared with him. We then searched for a place for other food. We came by a bakery where Rèmi got a really delicious pastry that came with a cool little wooden spoon that we were all amazed at, cause, ya know, we're all just 4 years old inside. We then went to seek out some substantial food for Matheus. We scanned just about the entire city when we finally walked back the way we came and saw that there was a sandwich shop that was right next to the bakery that we had stopped at earlier. It was definitely a "here's your sign" moment. So we stopped in there and Talia and I decided that we were still hungry so I got a sandwich too for us to split. She asked me to choose so I went with brie cheese, sirop de Liège, and pearl onions. If you don't remember, the sirop de Liège is the molasses type syrup made from apples and pears. It's very tasty, but very strong and it's best when it's with other things. It's a bit sweet also, so with the brie, it hit the spot. Of course, we're in Europe and it is typical for there to be music when you are just wandering the streets. There was a man playing the accordion outside the shop, and it was like a movie moment. The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, we were standing in a little cobblestone square of town outside a cute bistro with accordion music. It was wonderful. We even danced a bit. After the accordion player finished, we went to check out the inside of an old church, and then proceeded to make our way back to meet with the rest of the exchange students.

We all met by the river and boarded a ferry for a ride along the river. It was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was perfect, the river was calm, and the scenery was to die for. We spent the time talking and taking pictures and just really having a wonderful afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. After maybe an hour or two on the ferry, our time with Rotary was over, and I went to go search for something to occupy myself with. I met up with Brittany, Hadley, and Oakley, and ended up making plans with to join them for bowling with Brittany and Hadley's Rotary club, and then stay the night with Hadley.

We had some time before we had to catch the train, so we did a little shopping in Namur. As I promised last time, I didn't spend a single penny. But it was fun to go with them. Actually, that is a bit of a lie... I did buy makeup remover wipes, but that is only because I was out of them and that is really beside the point and you didn't need to know that... But that was the first time that I was given attitude for not speaking fluent French. The man at the register was not nice to me.

Anyway, we then made our way to the station, but stopped for a few minutes to watch some streets performers dance, which was really cool. Upon arrival at the station, the drama of the evening commenced. I had no cash on me, and there wasn't at ATM in sight. We had to get the train right then because otherwise we would miss it, so I was forced to buy a ticket on the train. Somehow, the ticket from Namur to Liège is around 8 euros, and it is another 3 added on because I am buying the ticket on the train. Normally, they don't actually charge you that extra 3, especially once they find out you don't speak French. However, this controller was in an awful mood and made me pay 11 euros for the ticket. Which is outrageous and something must've been wrong there, but I couldn't figure it out and besides, I don't speak French. Also, this was 11 euros that I didn't have. Now Brittany had lovingly given me a ten to pay with until I could find an ATM. I had thought it would for sure cover it, and there was no way that this short ride could cost more. But there I was, with 10 euros, having to pay for an 11 euro ticket. Luckily, there were a bunch of other exchange students standing right there with us and Jonathan, from Texas, was able to lend me the other euro. Crisis averted. We then found out that Oakley had been charged extra also because she had forgotten to fill out her GoPass before we got on the train. The fine is normally 60 euros, but he only made her pay about 8. So I suppose that was lucky for her too. Finally, we made it to Liège and I went to find an ATM. This is where I found out that Rotary had not given me my allowance for the month yet, and I couldn't withdraw anything from my account. So I was forced to use my Visa, and I am anxiously awaiting to find out what kind of ridiculous fees I will be charged. By this point, I am super frustrated with life. Then we find out that our host parents had talked to one another and changed our plans around, so I was staying with Brittany. This wasn't really a big deal at all, but we were extremely confused on how this had happened. We then went to catch our second train to Vervier. I decided that I didn't want what happened on the Liège train to happen again, so I quickly ran downstairs to buy a ticket. As Oakley and I were heading back up to the platform, the others were running down, saying they had changed our train. So we hurried to another platform, where we waited, and I found out that I had bought the wrong ticket, and the stop we were getting off at was actually Welkinrodt (spelling is wrong, I know). So I hadn't paid for enough zones and the controller could fine me. So we decided that when the controller came around, I was going to pretend to be sleeping, since they hardly ever wake people up. However, we lucked out and nobody ever came to check the tickets.

Brittany's host dad was there to pick us up at the station, and we headed over the bowling alley. It was the nicest bowling alleys that I have ever been to! There was the part for bowling, of course, but then there was also a nice bar, a place to sit down and eat, a part with some games and pool table, and then a glass wall which separated all that from another part of the building with a giant structure of tubes and slides for children to play on. Plus, there was no smoking allowed in the building, so it was really nice. We didn't even have to pay for our game because Rotary was hosting the event. When we got there, we met up with one of Brittany and Hadley's friends, Antoine, and then another girl, Laurie, met us later as well. Thais, an exchange student from Brazil, was also with us. (Poor Oakley was with all of us French speakers, and she is in the German part of the country, learning German, so she was lost all night) We donned our lovely bowling shoes and headed over to our lane to play. We didn't have much time, and we only got to frame 6, but I won with 59 points. I know, impressive. But we had a great time! After our hour of bowling, Rotary treated us to dinner. So we went over to the restaurant part of the building and sat down to a pizza dinner. I got Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapple. I have recently discovered how brilliant it is to put pineapple on a pizza. After we finished eating, we spent a couple hours just telling stories, speaking French and laughing a lot! Oakley and Hadley left early, and then Brittany and I and the others left around 11pm. We swung by Hadley's quickly to pick up some of Brittany's things, and then headed to Brittany's house. Everyone had fallen asleep in the car, and Brittany and I were exhausted when we got up to her room, seeing as how we had each gotten about three hours of sleep the night before. So after quickly setting up a place for me to sleep and getting some pjs of Brittany's to wear, we crashed for the night.

SUNDAY:

Sunday morning was much more reasonable. Brittany and I awoke around 9:30am and went down to breakfast. It was the first time since I've been here that I lounged around in my pajamas. Breakfast at her house is wonderful. There was melted chocolate for baguettes (which beats Nutella), pain au chocolat, breakfast rolls, sirop de Liège, more chocolate, and the cheese de Herve (which is the city where she lives). I was a total piggy and had some baguette with chocolate, a roll with the sirop and cheese, and a pain au chocolat. With coffee and orange juice. Oh and when her host mom offered me a piece of chocolate with hazelnuts, I had that too. I mean, it would be rude to say no, right?

After breakfast, Brittany showed me around the house and then we went outside and picked up walnuts that had fallen off the tree in their front yard while telling stories and just having some girl chat. In our pajamas, by the way. Who knew picking up walnuts could be so much fun? We then went back inside, ate some of the walnuts, and watched a ton of YouTube videos. She introduced me to a new comedian, Eddie Izzard. If you don't know his work, you need to go look him up. He's a British man who dresses in drag for his act, and he's absolutely hysterical. We also took a look at the bus and train schedules and decided that I would catch a 3:08 bus to Liège and a 4:20 train to Huy. So that was all taken care of. Her host mom then called us for a light lunch outside. I met Brittany's host grandmother at this point, and sat outside and ate together. It wasn't really a meal. There were bowls of cashews, chips, cheese, mussels, mini sausages, carrots, and cauliflower, and we drank champagne. They do this every Sunday because of eating such a big, late breakfast. Brittany's host family is very very nice and they were pretty impressed with my level of speaking. So I felt pretty accomplished. After lunch, Brittany and I went back inside and continued watching videos until about 2:50 when I decided it was time for me to finally change and get to the bus stop. I went outside to say goodbye and thank you to her host parents, but they wouldn't let me leave without giving me some cake, so I sat down for a couple minutes and had a small piece of cake, which was delicious. Brittany and I left the house a couple minutes after 3, and had plenty of time to get me to the bus stop.

More drama commences. I got to the stop around 3:04 and waited. And waited. 3:15 rolls around and still no bus. So Brittany and I head back to the house to figure out what the problem was. Turns out we had been looking at the wrong schedule and the bus had come at 3:01. So her host mom helps us and we find the right schedule. Now I have to catch the 3:58 bus. Ok no worries, but I can't take the same train. So we look at that schedule and there is a 4:50 train to Huy, and then next one after that isn't until 5:50. Now it's a 45 ride on the bus, so I will have to book it to make the train. But we figure that's the only option, so I'll go with that. So Brittany and I chill for about another half hour and then go back to the bus stop. The bus shows up at 4:02, and I get a little worried that I'm not going to make it in time to catch the train. But I trust that God will get me there, so I just put in my earbuds and try to relax.

The bus gets to the train station at 4:52. I was super angry. I ran up to the platform to see if maybe the train was late, but alas, it had come and gone. And now I was stuck. So I look at the schedule and find that there is a train leaving in a few minutes for Waremme, which is also close to my house. So I call my host mom, run down to buy a ticket, then run to the platform. But I find that platform 5 is not running a train to Waremme like the schedule says. So I run back down the stairs and find that they had changed the train at the last minute, and my train is now on platform 2. Thankfully, I made it in time, though I didn't completely trust myself and was afraid that I was on the wrong train. But I did make it to Waremme in one piece, completely shaken, but alive and well.

My host mom picked me up from there, we stopped at Talia's to pick up my things from the night before, and then went home where I ate some apple pie, worked out, had dinner, and now am waiting for the shower.

So, to wrap up a ridiculously long, dramatic blog post, this was a fantastic weekend, despite the mishaps. I had a great time, I spoke a lot of French, and realized that my French is rapidly improving. Everyone I talk to says that I speak very well, my accent is good, and I can obviously get myself through tough situations. I met some great people, and I had A LOT of fun! Tomorrow, I have school, of course, and things will go back to boring. I hope you all made it through the post, and enjoyed my antics. Until tomorrow! Bonne nuit!