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.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Weddings And Parties And Packing, Oh My!
So I have over a week to catch everyone up on... This is nuts. The fact is that I'm lazyyyyyyyyy and now that it's getting to be the end, the motivation to spend my precious time in Belgium on my blog is fading... And fast. Instead of going day by day, let me just let you all know how it's been going.
Last week was the week of parties. I had barbecues, surprise parties, and nights out every day. It's because people are planning things to celebrate the end of the year. The eventful parts? Well, Thursday was a party that I left early because I had to go to Liège to pick up my friend Jeff that was coming from the States to go to a wedding in Switzerland and asked me to go with him. He was coming in from Germany, and I was supposed to meet him at Guillemins around 8 30pm. First of all, his train wasn't scheduled to come in until 8 44pm, which I realized once I got there, and second, it was going to be a half hour late. So I waited and his train came and passed and he didn't get off of it. On top of it all, my host mom got mad at me cause we were going to be coming back later than expected since the train was late. So I had to call Ben who was out of town and gave me his friends' numbers to call to see if they could pick me up. And I'm super stressed out at this point because Jeff is nowhere to be found and doesn't have a cell phone number in Europe. So I ended up paying 10 euros to get the wifi in the train station to check Facebook and everything and found out that there were problems with the trains (of course) and he missed his connection. So he couldn't get to Liège before 11 30 at night. Well the problem there is that after that time there are no more trains that go back to Landen! He gave me his cell phone number from the States, which I called, draining my phone credit, and it ended up that he was going to stay in Germany that night and take the first train the next morning, which he did. I went back home with one of Ben's friends and woke up early the next morning and went with my host dad into Liège, since he works there. I finally found him and we went back to my house to settle in a little.
But not for long because I had my dance rehearsal and show that day. So we went back into Hannut for that, and I spent the entire day dancing while he amused himself on my computer. That night was the show, which went very well and Ben met up with us afterward (he couldn't get to the show to see it :() to drive us to the airport since we had to be there around 4am for our 6 30am flight to Switzerland. We got a drink and then he drove us to Brussels. We were the only ones there so we got through security and everything really quickly and then found a couch to try to sleep. That was unsuccessful and when we woke up, we found out they had changed our gate so we ran down the length of the terminal at 6am. But we got on our plane and successfully took off towards Geneva. We got to Geneva in about an hour, grabbed some very expensive breakfast, and then got on a train to get to Neuchâtel, which is where the wedding would be. I slept. We were met there by some of Jeff's family, his aunt Sharon and cousin Cerena, who was the one getting married. They were super nice and we walked around the city a little bit to run some errands before going back to their place.
Switzerland. Is. Gorgeous. Everything about it is beautiful. The mountains, the water, the nature, the scenery, it's all one giant postcard. The house that we stayed in had two balconies and overlooked the lake. It was incredible. We got there, took our showers, and then I napped for a while. But soon we were back up because we were going to go out on the boat with Yann-Amael, Cerena's fiancé, and we went tubing! It was a lot of fun and I didn't get sick and I was very happy I did it. Afterwards, I napped and then it was off to Yann-Amael's parents' house for a sort of rehearsal dinner with the whole family. It was beautiful out and we shared a wonderful meal together and spent the evening talking and getting to know one another. I met some awesome people including the man who would perform the ceremony, who is in fact, Belgian! After the dinner, we all went to the church to see the decorating that they had been spending endless hours on over the course of a few days. And it was beautiful! It was like they had completely reconstructed a forest in the church. Just amazing! But we quickly headed back to the apartment for a much needed sleep.
The next morning we got up fairly early to go with Jeff's Auntie Sharon and her husband to Neuchâtel and see the city a bit. We drove there, found parking, and spent the morning looking around and exploring. There was a market going on too, which was cool. We bought some fresh bread and some raspberries that were delicious, and Jeff bought some real Swiss dark chocolate with hazelnuts in it. I took plenty of pictures, no worries! We also stopped by a local grocery shop to pick up some cheese and meat and then headed back to the their place for lunch, which consisted simply of baguette, cheese, meats, and jams. But it was probably one of the best meals I've ever had. They're not kidding when they say that Swiss cheese is the best... And remember the cheese with ashes in it that I used to eat in my first family? Yah, I chowed down on that too :D
After dinner it was time to go get ready for the actual wedding. When we got back to the house, we found that there were two new people there, Kelsey and Miguel. Kelsey is one of Cerena's friends from college and Miguel is her Spanish boyfriend. Kelsey and I bonded as we did our hair together and we all managed to get ourselves ready in less than two hours. I wore my dress from senior year homecoming, and it was a pretty snug fit since I've gained weight here... But we all looked nice and classy and piled in the car to head to the church. We were some of the first people to get there and spent a little while just standing outside, chatting with people, and enjoying the sun. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Eventually, though, it was time to head inside for the ceremony. It was done in French, of course, so I played translator for Jeff, and I have to say, I did a pretty good job. This was, actually, their third wedding (the first was just with the papers, so it was fast and small, and the second was a religious ceremony, but in Virginia, where Cerena's family lives) so it wasn't exactly completely traditional. It started off with a woman playing a violin and singing and Cerena and Yann-Amael came down the aisle together. They wrote their own vows, and Yann-Amael's were actually not words, but a song that he played for her on the piano. There were also times when groups of people would come to the front of the church and do a sort of singing performance. The whole wedding was absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad I got to be there to see it.
Ok so this is Part I. I'll post part II after I get home cause I'M LEAVING TOMORROW
Last week was the week of parties. I had barbecues, surprise parties, and nights out every day. It's because people are planning things to celebrate the end of the year. The eventful parts? Well, Thursday was a party that I left early because I had to go to Liège to pick up my friend Jeff that was coming from the States to go to a wedding in Switzerland and asked me to go with him. He was coming in from Germany, and I was supposed to meet him at Guillemins around 8 30pm. First of all, his train wasn't scheduled to come in until 8 44pm, which I realized once I got there, and second, it was going to be a half hour late. So I waited and his train came and passed and he didn't get off of it. On top of it all, my host mom got mad at me cause we were going to be coming back later than expected since the train was late. So I had to call Ben who was out of town and gave me his friends' numbers to call to see if they could pick me up. And I'm super stressed out at this point because Jeff is nowhere to be found and doesn't have a cell phone number in Europe. So I ended up paying 10 euros to get the wifi in the train station to check Facebook and everything and found out that there were problems with the trains (of course) and he missed his connection. So he couldn't get to Liège before 11 30 at night. Well the problem there is that after that time there are no more trains that go back to Landen! He gave me his cell phone number from the States, which I called, draining my phone credit, and it ended up that he was going to stay in Germany that night and take the first train the next morning, which he did. I went back home with one of Ben's friends and woke up early the next morning and went with my host dad into Liège, since he works there. I finally found him and we went back to my house to settle in a little.
But not for long because I had my dance rehearsal and show that day. So we went back into Hannut for that, and I spent the entire day dancing while he amused himself on my computer. That night was the show, which went very well and Ben met up with us afterward (he couldn't get to the show to see it :() to drive us to the airport since we had to be there around 4am for our 6 30am flight to Switzerland. We got a drink and then he drove us to Brussels. We were the only ones there so we got through security and everything really quickly and then found a couch to try to sleep. That was unsuccessful and when we woke up, we found out they had changed our gate so we ran down the length of the terminal at 6am. But we got on our plane and successfully took off towards Geneva. We got to Geneva in about an hour, grabbed some very expensive breakfast, and then got on a train to get to Neuchâtel, which is where the wedding would be. I slept. We were met there by some of Jeff's family, his aunt Sharon and cousin Cerena, who was the one getting married. They were super nice and we walked around the city a little bit to run some errands before going back to their place.
Switzerland. Is. Gorgeous. Everything about it is beautiful. The mountains, the water, the nature, the scenery, it's all one giant postcard. The house that we stayed in had two balconies and overlooked the lake. It was incredible. We got there, took our showers, and then I napped for a while. But soon we were back up because we were going to go out on the boat with Yann-Amael, Cerena's fiancé, and we went tubing! It was a lot of fun and I didn't get sick and I was very happy I did it. Afterwards, I napped and then it was off to Yann-Amael's parents' house for a sort of rehearsal dinner with the whole family. It was beautiful out and we shared a wonderful meal together and spent the evening talking and getting to know one another. I met some awesome people including the man who would perform the ceremony, who is in fact, Belgian! After the dinner, we all went to the church to see the decorating that they had been spending endless hours on over the course of a few days. And it was beautiful! It was like they had completely reconstructed a forest in the church. Just amazing! But we quickly headed back to the apartment for a much needed sleep.
The next morning we got up fairly early to go with Jeff's Auntie Sharon and her husband to Neuchâtel and see the city a bit. We drove there, found parking, and spent the morning looking around and exploring. There was a market going on too, which was cool. We bought some fresh bread and some raspberries that were delicious, and Jeff bought some real Swiss dark chocolate with hazelnuts in it. I took plenty of pictures, no worries! We also stopped by a local grocery shop to pick up some cheese and meat and then headed back to the their place for lunch, which consisted simply of baguette, cheese, meats, and jams. But it was probably one of the best meals I've ever had. They're not kidding when they say that Swiss cheese is the best... And remember the cheese with ashes in it that I used to eat in my first family? Yah, I chowed down on that too :D
After dinner it was time to go get ready for the actual wedding. When we got back to the house, we found that there were two new people there, Kelsey and Miguel. Kelsey is one of Cerena's friends from college and Miguel is her Spanish boyfriend. Kelsey and I bonded as we did our hair together and we all managed to get ourselves ready in less than two hours. I wore my dress from senior year homecoming, and it was a pretty snug fit since I've gained weight here... But we all looked nice and classy and piled in the car to head to the church. We were some of the first people to get there and spent a little while just standing outside, chatting with people, and enjoying the sun. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Eventually, though, it was time to head inside for the ceremony. It was done in French, of course, so I played translator for Jeff, and I have to say, I did a pretty good job. This was, actually, their third wedding (the first was just with the papers, so it was fast and small, and the second was a religious ceremony, but in Virginia, where Cerena's family lives) so it wasn't exactly completely traditional. It started off with a woman playing a violin and singing and Cerena and Yann-Amael came down the aisle together. They wrote their own vows, and Yann-Amael's were actually not words, but a song that he played for her on the piano. There were also times when groups of people would come to the front of the church and do a sort of singing performance. The whole wedding was absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad I got to be there to see it.
Ok so this is Part I. I'll post part II after I get home cause I'M LEAVING TOMORROW
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
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!
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!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
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!
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!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Barcelona!!!
Here we go for Spain Part Three: Our Weekend In Barcelona. Here's how it went down: Saturday morning I got up and ate breakfast, quickly packed up all my last minute things, and Susan and her husband drove me to the airport in Madrid for 8am. It was a little early, but I was excited so it was all ok. Once I got there, I found my terminal and met up with Talia and Irene, who were with Irene's parents. They are so sweet! I only wish I understood the things that they were saying... But it was all in Spanish so I suppose it's understandable... Anyways, we got through security and everything with no problems and waited for our flight. This time, I was ready with motion sickness meds that I bought the day before in Madrid. Although most of you know me as the girl who never takes anything for anything EVER, motion sickness pills are something I swear by. So I took my pill and I have to say, it was the smoothest flight ever. Of course, it was only an hour long. But I don't care, I'm happy.
We arrived in Barcelona and had to figure out the way to get to the city center. Not the easiest thing to figure out. It involved a bus and a train (where there was a random guy playing an accordion. ON the train) and we did eventually get it and everything was fine. We did plenty of sight seeing during the day, including the buildings designed by the famous architect, Gaudi. The first thing we saw when we got to the center was a giant cathedral, very detailed and absolutely gorgeous, but unfinished, because he died before it was done. It had baskets of fruit on the points of the towers and huge carvings of Jesus on the cross and the saints on the walls. We considered going inside until we found out that it cost 12 euros a person and the line wrapped all the way around the building. We settled for a few pictures outside it and then set off to see his other buildings. Of course, none of us were familiar with the city, so we ended up lost more than once and walked around for a while, turned around a couple times before we found the correct street. On this street were a few more buildings designed by the same man, and they were also beautiful. I'm a big fan of Spanish architecture. By this time of day, I was feeling like my stomach was going to cave in on itself. But we couldn't seem to find a restaurant anywhere. Finally, we found a little Italian place, classy, but not too expensive and we ended up there. The first thing that they do is put bread and olives on the table. In the States, things like this are included in your meals and it's just something that you get when you go out to eat. But of course, not in Europe. And I knew this. So I asked Irene that if we didn't eat them, would we have to pay for them? She said we would have to pay regardless. So Talia and I each ate one by the end of the meal, thinking well if we're going to pay for them anyways... I got a cheese pizza and Talia got risotto and we split them. Once we got the check, we realized that we were in fact charged for the bread that we ate and not for the one roll that had been left. Fail. One euro for each one. Oh well.
That afternoon, we took the subway and went to the Park Guell. Basically, it is a huge park with a ton of really cool sculptures, buildings, and architectural beauties. The iconic thing there is this huge lizard that made out of different colors of glass pieces. I can't even explain the place because it was so different and unique. I've never seen anything quite like it. There were also street performers everywhere there. But these were very entertaining. One group in particular was a group of five guys, one reminding way too much of Steve Seritti (if you're from my neck of the woods, you know who that is) who played the trombone, and another with dreads that went almost to his knees. They played a sort of Spanish ska. They called themselves "Microguagua" and they were ridiculously entertaining. We stayed and watched them for at least 15 or 20 minutes before walking the rest of the park and watching some other guys blow huge giant bubbles. After we finished up in the park, we went back towards the city center to try to find our hostel. This was the fun part...
We spent the next three hours walking around the city, asking tons of different people, looking for this place. Finally, we called the hostel and they gave us directions. Turns out that their website didn't have the correct information on it so our Google maps weren't right. But in the end we did find the place and it was a very very nice hostel. Even bigger and nicer than many hotels that I've stayed in. We had our own shower, though we had to share a bathroom with a few other rooms. But it was clean and comfortable and we were all happy with it. We took a nice nap, only to wake up around 10pm to go grab dinner. Yes, people eat dinner that late in Spain. We decided for dinner that we would just go to a little grocery store a few numbers down the road and grab something to take back to the room. We got cream cheese and crackers, yogurt, I got a salad, and a couple of donuts plus drinks and headed back to the room to eat. We talked and ate and got ready to go out for the rest of the night.
We wanted mostly to go dancing. So we took a subway and a bus to where we knew there was a club to go to. However, once we got there we were told by the people around it not to bother and to try this chain of free ones first. We figured, why not, and spent the next hour or so in this sort of strip mall of bars that played music. The only problem was that we couldn't seem to get away from the creepy guys... But we did get pulled into one bar just to get free drinks! They all played music and had people dancing and many of them even had an... "exotic dancer" of sorts... After trying out each one, we decided that the first one was best, and went back there. This time around, we met a group of British guys that were there for a bachelor party and ended up hanging out and dancing with them for the rest of the night. We had a great time, and by the end of it, we had become pretty good friends with one of them who was named Max. I had a wonderful time! We didn't leave until about 6 30am and we didn't get back to the hostel until 7. We slept til about 10 45 because we had to be out by 11 and then we went to the beach for the day.
Sunday was calm and we didn't do anything except veg out on the beach all day and tan. The water was freezing, but absolutely beautiful. It was wonderful to be on the beach! One thing about the beaches in Spain... There are many women who walk around without tops on. Not all of them, but many. I'm not gonna lie, it did shock me a little. There were also people walking around trying to sell drinks, food, henna tattoos and massages. We fell asleep in intervals, and at the end of it all, each of us was somewhat burned, even me. Talia was the worst, and it turns out that she found herself with a bit of sun poisoning :( Around 4 30pm, we left, grabbed some food from another little grocery store, and headed to the airport to catch our plane home. P.S. They have Oreos AND Chips Ahoy in Spain. I'm so jealous.
We got to the airport with plenty of time and I took my motion sickness pill and everyone was good to go. I fell asleep before we even took off and stayed sleeping for the whole flight, only waking up slightly when we left the ground. We ended up being late landing and Irene's parents were there to get us. They very kindly drove Talia and I back to Susan's, where I took a quick shower and we crashed for the night, both exhausted and looking forward to a good night's sleep.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Barcelona. I think it is a beautiful city and I'm very glad that we decided to go, even if it did turn out to be a little pricey. But I would definitely go back in a heartbeat!
Tomorrow I am headed off to the sea (here in Belgium, no worries), but I will try to post Spain Part 4 before I leave! For now, I want to get some sleep. Bonne nuit !
We arrived in Barcelona and had to figure out the way to get to the city center. Not the easiest thing to figure out. It involved a bus and a train (where there was a random guy playing an accordion. ON the train) and we did eventually get it and everything was fine. We did plenty of sight seeing during the day, including the buildings designed by the famous architect, Gaudi. The first thing we saw when we got to the center was a giant cathedral, very detailed and absolutely gorgeous, but unfinished, because he died before it was done. It had baskets of fruit on the points of the towers and huge carvings of Jesus on the cross and the saints on the walls. We considered going inside until we found out that it cost 12 euros a person and the line wrapped all the way around the building. We settled for a few pictures outside it and then set off to see his other buildings. Of course, none of us were familiar with the city, so we ended up lost more than once and walked around for a while, turned around a couple times before we found the correct street. On this street were a few more buildings designed by the same man, and they were also beautiful. I'm a big fan of Spanish architecture. By this time of day, I was feeling like my stomach was going to cave in on itself. But we couldn't seem to find a restaurant anywhere. Finally, we found a little Italian place, classy, but not too expensive and we ended up there. The first thing that they do is put bread and olives on the table. In the States, things like this are included in your meals and it's just something that you get when you go out to eat. But of course, not in Europe. And I knew this. So I asked Irene that if we didn't eat them, would we have to pay for them? She said we would have to pay regardless. So Talia and I each ate one by the end of the meal, thinking well if we're going to pay for them anyways... I got a cheese pizza and Talia got risotto and we split them. Once we got the check, we realized that we were in fact charged for the bread that we ate and not for the one roll that had been left. Fail. One euro for each one. Oh well.
That afternoon, we took the subway and went to the Park Guell. Basically, it is a huge park with a ton of really cool sculptures, buildings, and architectural beauties. The iconic thing there is this huge lizard that made out of different colors of glass pieces. I can't even explain the place because it was so different and unique. I've never seen anything quite like it. There were also street performers everywhere there. But these were very entertaining. One group in particular was a group of five guys, one reminding way too much of Steve Seritti (if you're from my neck of the woods, you know who that is) who played the trombone, and another with dreads that went almost to his knees. They played a sort of Spanish ska. They called themselves "Microguagua" and they were ridiculously entertaining. We stayed and watched them for at least 15 or 20 minutes before walking the rest of the park and watching some other guys blow huge giant bubbles. After we finished up in the park, we went back towards the city center to try to find our hostel. This was the fun part...
We spent the next three hours walking around the city, asking tons of different people, looking for this place. Finally, we called the hostel and they gave us directions. Turns out that their website didn't have the correct information on it so our Google maps weren't right. But in the end we did find the place and it was a very very nice hostel. Even bigger and nicer than many hotels that I've stayed in. We had our own shower, though we had to share a bathroom with a few other rooms. But it was clean and comfortable and we were all happy with it. We took a nice nap, only to wake up around 10pm to go grab dinner. Yes, people eat dinner that late in Spain. We decided for dinner that we would just go to a little grocery store a few numbers down the road and grab something to take back to the room. We got cream cheese and crackers, yogurt, I got a salad, and a couple of donuts plus drinks and headed back to the room to eat. We talked and ate and got ready to go out for the rest of the night.
We wanted mostly to go dancing. So we took a subway and a bus to where we knew there was a club to go to. However, once we got there we were told by the people around it not to bother and to try this chain of free ones first. We figured, why not, and spent the next hour or so in this sort of strip mall of bars that played music. The only problem was that we couldn't seem to get away from the creepy guys... But we did get pulled into one bar just to get free drinks! They all played music and had people dancing and many of them even had an... "exotic dancer" of sorts... After trying out each one, we decided that the first one was best, and went back there. This time around, we met a group of British guys that were there for a bachelor party and ended up hanging out and dancing with them for the rest of the night. We had a great time, and by the end of it, we had become pretty good friends with one of them who was named Max. I had a wonderful time! We didn't leave until about 6 30am and we didn't get back to the hostel until 7. We slept til about 10 45 because we had to be out by 11 and then we went to the beach for the day.
Sunday was calm and we didn't do anything except veg out on the beach all day and tan. The water was freezing, but absolutely beautiful. It was wonderful to be on the beach! One thing about the beaches in Spain... There are many women who walk around without tops on. Not all of them, but many. I'm not gonna lie, it did shock me a little. There were also people walking around trying to sell drinks, food, henna tattoos and massages. We fell asleep in intervals, and at the end of it all, each of us was somewhat burned, even me. Talia was the worst, and it turns out that she found herself with a bit of sun poisoning :( Around 4 30pm, we left, grabbed some food from another little grocery store, and headed to the airport to catch our plane home. P.S. They have Oreos AND Chips Ahoy in Spain. I'm so jealous.
We got to the airport with plenty of time and I took my motion sickness pill and everyone was good to go. I fell asleep before we even took off and stayed sleeping for the whole flight, only waking up slightly when we left the ground. We ended up being late landing and Irene's parents were there to get us. They very kindly drove Talia and I back to Susan's, where I took a quick shower and we crashed for the night, both exhausted and looking forward to a good night's sleep.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Barcelona. I think it is a beautiful city and I'm very glad that we decided to go, even if it did turn out to be a little pricey. But I would definitely go back in a heartbeat!
Tomorrow I am headed off to the sea (here in Belgium, no worries), but I will try to post Spain Part 4 before I leave! For now, I want to get some sleep. Bonne nuit !
Thursday, June 16, 2011
España Dos
So this is technically the second part of my Spain blog since I did already post about the first day. We will try to keep it a little less extensive than the Italy blog since that got a little ridiculous...
Day Two of our adventure in Spain consisted of some sight-seeing in Madrid. Friday morning, Irene came by and picked up me and Talia and we went into the city to drop off the car. We then took the metro into the center of the city. The metro system in Madrid isn't too complicated and by the end of the trip, we were pros at it. Well Talia and I at least, Irene was already a pro. Anyway, the first thing we saw when we got into the center square were a bunch of tents set up because the people of Spain are in the middle of protests and such against the government. I don't really know the details, but it was calm when we were there. The first thing we did was walk to see a couple of the important buildings in Madrid which all have long complicated Spanish names that I don't know. However, in the ten minutes that it took to walk to said buildings, we passed more street performers than I think I've ever seen in my entire life combined. People were doing all sorts of things, from playing water glasses to being dressed up as an invisible man. Some of them were cool while others were just annoying, such as the guys who walked around with weird things in their mouths that made squeaky noises when they spoke. Some were even creepy, like a man who crouched behind a stroller with his head poked through and his face painted up like a baby's and a baby doll body attached to his neck... Regardless, it was interesting to see.
After being touristy, we walked the streets of Madrid and did some shopping. And you know what they have in Madrid? DUNKIN DONUTS. This was a big deal, though we didn't actually visit it until the last day. But we did shop and eventually stopped for lunch. We went to a really cool little restaurant that has this huge menu of 100 different kinds of sandwiches that you can get. But all in mini, so you pick out three or four, each for under two euros. We each got three different ones. I had a smoked salmon with cream cheese, tuna, and hamburger. And I paid less than five euros. AND we got free water, which definitely a plus. AND the bathrooms were FREE. AND it is illegal to smoke in public places. I love Spain. Anyways, lunch was super yummy and then we were back off to shopping. One of the main streets is... Well... The hooker street. I don't really have a lighter way to put it. Basically, you walk down the street and there is prostitute after prostitute leaning against a tree, wearing a ridiculously short skirt and ridiculously high heels and a ridiculous amount of makeup, waiting for a ridiculously desperate man to, well, give them some business. I will never understand those women... Once again, anyways... My goal for the trip was to find my dress for the Bal Rhéto here in Belgium (basically, Prom) and I totally succeeded that afternoon. It's very pretty and very me and I'm very happy with it. I even got 10% off because I was foreign! I'm not going to describe it, you all will just have to wait for the pictures!
After we were all shopped out and tired, we took refuge in a park across town. On the way there we passed a TGIFridays. Not a joke. I was amazed. Once we got to the park, we just crashed in the grass and chilled out for a couple hours, exchanging stories and eventually falling asleep. I'm pretty sure my camera almost got stolen too, but Irene saved it, thank goodness! After we woke up, we decided that it was ice cream time and went to find a good ice cream place. I got cookies and cream, which is not easy to find in Belgium, and we just relaxed again for a while.
Eventually it was time for me to get back to Alcala. Talia stayed with Irene that night. But we took the metro back to the bus station and I caught a bus back to the house, though I was a little lost and had to call Susan who had to send her daughter to the bus stop to get me. That night, she made a special kind of fish for dinner that I had never had before. Susan said that she had never eaten it either before being in Spain. Therefore, we don't know the name in English... But regardless, it was very good. We ate it with those shrimps that you have to dismember yourself and salad, along with the same cheeses. A nice variety of food that I wish I got to eat more often in Belgium...
That night I went to bed semi-early because the next day, Talia and Irene and I were off to Barcelona for the weekend! But that, my faithful followers, is for another post. Goodnight all!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
In SPAIN
Yes, the title lies not. I am in SPAIN dudes!!! This morning, Talia and Mikayla and I had to take our Social Sciences oral exam, which we studied for at Point Chaud this morning for like 3 hours. We did really well on it, with a whopping 46/60 score! After our exam, Talia and I got a sammich and then Karine picked us up in Hannut to take us to the airport to catch a cheapo RyanAir flight to Madrid, SPAIN. We got there with plenty of time to spare, checked in, got all our bags together and life was good. Because we did not pay for any extra baggage, we each could only have one small bag, so we had a backpack and a tiny suitcase that we both shared. We had to move things around and rearrange a couple times, but in the end we succeeded in making each bag the right size and weight so that we could get on the plane. We had no problems going through security, and we even made a new friend! We met a girl who lives in Oregon who was also doing an exchange, but in college and with a different program. Her exchange was spent mostly in Spain, but she had been doing some traveling, so she spent a night in Belgium. We talked throughout all the time we had to wait for our flight and even sat together on our flight.
The flight went well. I had completely forgotten about a motion sickness pill until it was too late. And you all know me, I'm a complete worry wart and nervous Nelly. The flight only lasted about two and half hours, but I still managed to get nervous and everything. And of course, we were on a tiny little low cost plane, so that didn't help. In the end, I was fine. I didn't get sick and I didn't freak out too bad. We watched a few snippets of both "The Proposal" and "Julie and Julia" on my computer as well, and I did sleep a little tiny bit. After the flight was over, I really didn't feel good, but that went away after a few hours. Once we got off the plane and said goodbye to our new friend, we met up with one of Talia's friends who lives in Spain. Her name is Irene. She was an exchange student with Talia for two summers and they are really close. She is super nice and she was there with her family who very kindly offered to drive us to the house we are staying at. We're staying with some friends of my family who live here near Madrid. We got to the house around 8 30pm and settled in. The woman, Susan, is American and the sister of my dad's best friend. She married a Spanish man and now they live here with two kids at 10 and 12 who are adorable. We ate a traditional Spanish dinner with them, which was a sort of omelette with potatoes and onions, and bread drizzled in olive oil with a slice of tomato and a sort of ham meat on top of it. There were also a couple kinds of cheeses out that were very good. It was a delicious light meal that I really enjoyed, especially since I still wasn't feeling great from the plane.
After dinner, my mom called me and I talked to her for a little bit, and then I went out with Susan and Talia and we took a walk around the town of Alcala de Henares. Susan showed us the different points of interest. It's a really pretty city with plenty of sculptures and piazzas. It's very clean and we were walking around at night and it was safe and everything. I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and took a few pictures, even if I was exhausted. We got back after 11 30pm and now it's bed time because tomorrow we are actually going into Madrid and it's going to be a long day! Bonne nuit tout le monde !!
The flight went well. I had completely forgotten about a motion sickness pill until it was too late. And you all know me, I'm a complete worry wart and nervous Nelly. The flight only lasted about two and half hours, but I still managed to get nervous and everything. And of course, we were on a tiny little low cost plane, so that didn't help. In the end, I was fine. I didn't get sick and I didn't freak out too bad. We watched a few snippets of both "The Proposal" and "Julie and Julia" on my computer as well, and I did sleep a little tiny bit. After the flight was over, I really didn't feel good, but that went away after a few hours. Once we got off the plane and said goodbye to our new friend, we met up with one of Talia's friends who lives in Spain. Her name is Irene. She was an exchange student with Talia for two summers and they are really close. She is super nice and she was there with her family who very kindly offered to drive us to the house we are staying at. We're staying with some friends of my family who live here near Madrid. We got to the house around 8 30pm and settled in. The woman, Susan, is American and the sister of my dad's best friend. She married a Spanish man and now they live here with two kids at 10 and 12 who are adorable. We ate a traditional Spanish dinner with them, which was a sort of omelette with potatoes and onions, and bread drizzled in olive oil with a slice of tomato and a sort of ham meat on top of it. There were also a couple kinds of cheeses out that were very good. It was a delicious light meal that I really enjoyed, especially since I still wasn't feeling great from the plane.
After dinner, my mom called me and I talked to her for a little bit, and then I went out with Susan and Talia and we took a walk around the town of Alcala de Henares. Susan showed us the different points of interest. It's a really pretty city with plenty of sculptures and piazzas. It's very clean and we were walking around at night and it was safe and everything. I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and took a few pictures, even if I was exhausted. We got back after 11 30pm and now it's bed time because tomorrow we are actually going into Madrid and it's going to be a long day! Bonne nuit tout le monde !!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Promised Post
Ok I have a lot to catch you all up on, so let's get started!
I spent my Wednesday afternoon in Namur and then Thursday I had to get up nice and early to catch a train to meet up with Talia and some other exchange students in Liège to catch a train to Verviers. Why did I need to go there? Because I participated in the Rotary Talent Show this weekend, and since pretty much everyone in Belgium had Thursday off, we started the preparation on that day. We got to Verviers and saw some Rotary guys that we didn't know who then drove us into the little village of Pépinster where we were holding the show. The first day, we got situated, picked out what we were going to do for the show, and got groups together. The whole thing was very confusing and not very well organized, since nobody knew what they were supposed to be doing when we got there. We had gotten a bunch of contrasting emails and things that didn't make sense. In the end, Talia and I got a group of girls together and we made a mix of Lady Gaga songs. We took a lot of her actual choreography and made up an awesome dance! The first day was literally just everyone figuring out what they were doing and getting themselves together. We showed the woman in charge a little bit of what we had and then we met our temporary 2-night host families. Talia and I managed to get ourselves in the same house to work on the dance. We were with a single mom who was extremely sweet and made us very healthy food for dinner. She lives by herself right now in a gorgeous house. Her son is studying abroad for the moment. We ate dinner together, with plenty of vegetables and fish. Of course, even though we've been dying to eat like that since we got to Belgium, once our host mom left the house for drinks, we were rummaging through cupboards searching for chocolate, which we did not find. In the end we toasted some bread and melted a few chocolate chips over it and called it good. We spent the rest of the night pouring over YouTube and figuring out all the choreography for our Lady Gaga dance. Even though we had our own rooms, we ended up crashing in the same bed.
The next day went almost the same as the first one. We continued to teach the dance and move ahead with that and go through the show a couple of times. In the end, I ended up being in the Gaga mix, a solo dance, a group song (Beatles!) and an accompanying dancer to Liz, who played the violin beautifully! There were some other really good acts, like the Mexicans who did a typical dance and an Indian girl who also did a traditional dance, which was absolutely gorgeous. Some people sang and played instruments also. At the end of the day, we went back with our host families, ate dinner and then Talia and I crashed right away. Saturday was the day of the show. We packed up our stuff and left our temporary host houses and spent the day getting ready for the Talent Show. We finished the dance and put it up on the stage and it looked great! I'm so proud of the girls :) Then it came time to put on the show. All the other exchange students from our district who didn't participate in the show had to participate in the district conference and part of that was to come see the Talent Show. So all the exchange students were there, along with the Rotary guys and a few host families. The show went pretty well, except that when I went to do my solo, my music didn't work. And then once it did work, it cut out about halfway through my dance. So I didn't get to show the whole thing and I was really upset. But the rest of it went smoothly and there were no other technical difficulties. The Gaga mix was the finale and it was awesome! After the show, I went home with Talia's host family and Benjamin picked me up from their house. I then spent a quiet evening with the Letawes and spent the night there. Sunday was just like I remember Sundays at that house. There were plenty of people at the house, including someone I didn't know, and we had a great big meal together, which I do have to say I missed. I then spent the afternoon chilling with Ben and his friends before going home that night and getting ready for my last few days of school.
Monday was an average day; Nothing really exciting happened. Talia came over that night and spent the night and we had fun with Manon taking pictures and being ridiculous. AND getting ready for Tuesday, which was the "last day" of school and we had turned it into a sort of spirit day. The theme was "old school". So all the girls were wearing collared shirts with skirts and kneehigh socks and plenty of us were wearing ties with pigtails in our hair. The guys were sporting plaid and suspenders, some with hats. It was all very Newsies. Of course, everybody pulled out the nerd glasses and the ties for the occasion. We were quite stylish. We went to class that way and took plenty of pictures. A few teachers talked about how much they were going to miss us and Madame Noel even sang to us and said something about each person in the class. It was so sweet and by the end we were all in tears. The day still went semi-normally. But that night, I had to get myself ready because I would be going to my last Rotary meeting to present to them my year in Belgium. This presentation was a big deal. My first host parents were there, along with Jacques and Ben, then my current host parents. Christian also presented. We were all dressed up and clad in our Rotary blazers and everything. Everything was going well, I had un-geekified myself, had dinner with the club, and was all ready to give my presentation after Christian when we found out that the computer that we were using didn't want to accept my USB with all my stuff on it. Thankfully I had my computer with me. We couldn't hook it up, but I was able to put my first presentation about Ohio on Christian's USB and then since there wasn't space for my Belgium video, I showed that on my computer screen. I feel really good about my presentation and everyone told me I did very well so I'm happy and I will call it a success. The club even gave us each a gift at the the end: a DVD and a few books of Belgian comics. Which was very nice of them indeed!
Today was our actual last day of school, but since it was a Wednesday, it was a half day, which means that it apparently doesn't count as our last day. (I wore my Rotary blazer to school today) Of course, this means I had all four hours with Madame Gallo, who succeeded in making me cry like a little baby. I'm not sure why, but today it really hit me that I only have a month left here. It has gone by so fast, I can't believe it. School is over! Tomorrow I take my last exam and I will actually, FINALLY, be done with high school forever. But in any case, it was a very sad day. We spent our class time just talking and exchanging words of love and wisdom. I'm so grateful to have fallen into such an awesome year at the Collège St. Croix. I was very lucky. And especially lucky to be in class with Madame Gallo. That woman is remarkable and inspiring and I am so grateful to have had her influence this year. But I will not get all sappy yet! I'm saving it all for the big post in a month where I pour my heart out. Anyways, after school I ate lunch with Talia and Eduardo at Mister Patate and then spent my afternoon with Ben. I went out to Namur with him so that he could straighten out some things with school and then for the rest of the afternoon we just chilled. The people I will have to leave at the end of the year... It's going to be the hardest thing I ever have to do...
Oh and this evening I did a test run on Manon's hair to see what we'll do for the Bal de Rhéto! It turned out great. She's going to be gorgeous :)
Alright I need to stop this post now. My fingers hurt, I'm tired, and tomorrow I'm going to SPAIN!!!!!! The faster I get to sleep, the faster I wake and the faster I get to leave. Bonne nuit !
I spent my Wednesday afternoon in Namur and then Thursday I had to get up nice and early to catch a train to meet up with Talia and some other exchange students in Liège to catch a train to Verviers. Why did I need to go there? Because I participated in the Rotary Talent Show this weekend, and since pretty much everyone in Belgium had Thursday off, we started the preparation on that day. We got to Verviers and saw some Rotary guys that we didn't know who then drove us into the little village of Pépinster where we were holding the show. The first day, we got situated, picked out what we were going to do for the show, and got groups together. The whole thing was very confusing and not very well organized, since nobody knew what they were supposed to be doing when we got there. We had gotten a bunch of contrasting emails and things that didn't make sense. In the end, Talia and I got a group of girls together and we made a mix of Lady Gaga songs. We took a lot of her actual choreography and made up an awesome dance! The first day was literally just everyone figuring out what they were doing and getting themselves together. We showed the woman in charge a little bit of what we had and then we met our temporary 2-night host families. Talia and I managed to get ourselves in the same house to work on the dance. We were with a single mom who was extremely sweet and made us very healthy food for dinner. She lives by herself right now in a gorgeous house. Her son is studying abroad for the moment. We ate dinner together, with plenty of vegetables and fish. Of course, even though we've been dying to eat like that since we got to Belgium, once our host mom left the house for drinks, we were rummaging through cupboards searching for chocolate, which we did not find. In the end we toasted some bread and melted a few chocolate chips over it and called it good. We spent the rest of the night pouring over YouTube and figuring out all the choreography for our Lady Gaga dance. Even though we had our own rooms, we ended up crashing in the same bed.
The next day went almost the same as the first one. We continued to teach the dance and move ahead with that and go through the show a couple of times. In the end, I ended up being in the Gaga mix, a solo dance, a group song (Beatles!) and an accompanying dancer to Liz, who played the violin beautifully! There were some other really good acts, like the Mexicans who did a typical dance and an Indian girl who also did a traditional dance, which was absolutely gorgeous. Some people sang and played instruments also. At the end of the day, we went back with our host families, ate dinner and then Talia and I crashed right away. Saturday was the day of the show. We packed up our stuff and left our temporary host houses and spent the day getting ready for the Talent Show. We finished the dance and put it up on the stage and it looked great! I'm so proud of the girls :) Then it came time to put on the show. All the other exchange students from our district who didn't participate in the show had to participate in the district conference and part of that was to come see the Talent Show. So all the exchange students were there, along with the Rotary guys and a few host families. The show went pretty well, except that when I went to do my solo, my music didn't work. And then once it did work, it cut out about halfway through my dance. So I didn't get to show the whole thing and I was really upset. But the rest of it went smoothly and there were no other technical difficulties. The Gaga mix was the finale and it was awesome! After the show, I went home with Talia's host family and Benjamin picked me up from their house. I then spent a quiet evening with the Letawes and spent the night there. Sunday was just like I remember Sundays at that house. There were plenty of people at the house, including someone I didn't know, and we had a great big meal together, which I do have to say I missed. I then spent the afternoon chilling with Ben and his friends before going home that night and getting ready for my last few days of school.
Monday was an average day; Nothing really exciting happened. Talia came over that night and spent the night and we had fun with Manon taking pictures and being ridiculous. AND getting ready for Tuesday, which was the "last day" of school and we had turned it into a sort of spirit day. The theme was "old school". So all the girls were wearing collared shirts with skirts and kneehigh socks and plenty of us were wearing ties with pigtails in our hair. The guys were sporting plaid and suspenders, some with hats. It was all very Newsies. Of course, everybody pulled out the nerd glasses and the ties for the occasion. We were quite stylish. We went to class that way and took plenty of pictures. A few teachers talked about how much they were going to miss us and Madame Noel even sang to us and said something about each person in the class. It was so sweet and by the end we were all in tears. The day still went semi-normally. But that night, I had to get myself ready because I would be going to my last Rotary meeting to present to them my year in Belgium. This presentation was a big deal. My first host parents were there, along with Jacques and Ben, then my current host parents. Christian also presented. We were all dressed up and clad in our Rotary blazers and everything. Everything was going well, I had un-geekified myself, had dinner with the club, and was all ready to give my presentation after Christian when we found out that the computer that we were using didn't want to accept my USB with all my stuff on it. Thankfully I had my computer with me. We couldn't hook it up, but I was able to put my first presentation about Ohio on Christian's USB and then since there wasn't space for my Belgium video, I showed that on my computer screen. I feel really good about my presentation and everyone told me I did very well so I'm happy and I will call it a success. The club even gave us each a gift at the the end: a DVD and a few books of Belgian comics. Which was very nice of them indeed!
Today was our actual last day of school, but since it was a Wednesday, it was a half day, which means that it apparently doesn't count as our last day. (I wore my Rotary blazer to school today) Of course, this means I had all four hours with Madame Gallo, who succeeded in making me cry like a little baby. I'm not sure why, but today it really hit me that I only have a month left here. It has gone by so fast, I can't believe it. School is over! Tomorrow I take my last exam and I will actually, FINALLY, be done with high school forever. But in any case, it was a very sad day. We spent our class time just talking and exchanging words of love and wisdom. I'm so grateful to have fallen into such an awesome year at the Collège St. Croix. I was very lucky. And especially lucky to be in class with Madame Gallo. That woman is remarkable and inspiring and I am so grateful to have had her influence this year. But I will not get all sappy yet! I'm saving it all for the big post in a month where I pour my heart out. Anyways, after school I ate lunch with Talia and Eduardo at Mister Patate and then spent my afternoon with Ben. I went out to Namur with him so that he could straighten out some things with school and then for the rest of the afternoon we just chilled. The people I will have to leave at the end of the year... It's going to be the hardest thing I ever have to do...
Oh and this evening I did a test run on Manon's hair to see what we'll do for the Bal de Rhéto! It turned out great. She's going to be gorgeous :)
Alright I need to stop this post now. My fingers hurt, I'm tired, and tomorrow I'm going to SPAIN!!!!!! The faster I get to sleep, the faster I wake and the faster I get to leave. Bonne nuit !
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I HEART ANTWERPEN!!
Today, I went to Antwerp (Anvers in French) with Talia, Mikayla, Christian, and Mikayla's friend Rachel from the States who has come to Belgium to visit. Antwerp is one of the biggest cities in Belgium and is located in the Flemish part of the country. Luckily for us, just about everyone there speaks English. I speak zero Flemish. Last night I slept over Talia's house, so this morning we got up nice and early and got ready to go. By the time we left the house, I was wearing Talia's shirt, necklace and earrings. Just throwing that out there. We left to catch the train around 8 30am, where we met up with Mikayla and Rachel. Christian met up with us in Brussels and finally we were all together to go to Antwerp. Of course, us being us, we got on the slowest train that stops at every station in between Brussels and Antwerp. But in the end, we still got there by 10 40am and had plenty of time. By the way, the Antwerp train station is rated as the third most beautiful train station in the world. And it's true, it's beautiful.
We spent the day walking around Antwerp, visiting the grande place, shopping and finding food, which was a fiasco. Christian wanted to go to a noodle bar, Talia wanted pizza, and the rest of us were just following around with rumbling tummies, wondering what the heck was going on. Well we walked all the way to the noodle bar, which was a good fifteen minutes, before realizing that they didn't open til noon and it was only 11 15. Well we were hungry. So we walked around some more, went into a few shops an eventually went back to the noodle bar. In the end, only Christian and I got noodles (I got mine with teriyaki sauce and shrimp). The other girls found a fries place and got those crazy sandwiches that have hamburger and fries on them. We rocked out to Lady Gaga (as usual) while we ate and then we were back off again to do some hard core shopping.
Antwerp is probably the most fashion forward city I've seen in Belgium. All the stores are big and bright and way more colorful then anything I've seen in the French part of the country. And it was so relieving to know that the rainbow has not disappeared into the pot of gold at the end of it. There is even an Urban Outfitters there! The other big point of interest? The Disney store!!!! Anyone who knows me knows that I am completely obsessed with anything and everything Disney. So this Disney store was a BIG deal. I walked in and I felt like I had shrunk back to being a four year old. I love that store! And I did buy a t-shirt that says I <3 Antwerpen with a Mickey head in the heart. It was my only purchase of the day (besides some hippie bands at H&M but those don't really count) and I'm very happy with it.
The only downside to the day was that it rained. All day. Which is really just my luck. Anytime I stay in Hannut, it's beautiful out and the sun is shining and you don't even need a coat. Then I travel and it rains and is cold and gross. Thank you, Belgium.
We ended up leaving an hour earlier than we had originally planned because let's face it, it's hard to motivate yourself when it's so yucky out. So we opted to grab a 3 45 train instead of a 4 45. But of course, we had to go back to the station a little bit early because, drum roll please, are you ready? THERE'S A STARBUCKS IN THE ANTWERP TRAIN STATION!!!!!!! This was a big deal. I haven't had a Starbucks caramel frappuccino since I left the States! Other than in the Brussels airport, it is the only Starbucks in the country. I walked in and I could just smell the Starbucks-ness of it. It was incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed my five euro coffee with an ungodly amount of calories in all that whipped cream. Mmmmmmm...
Well we caught our train back and I was back in Waremme with Talia around 5 45. I went back to her house with her to grab my stuff and my host mom picked me up there. I then proceeded to go back home and do nothing until we ate dinner and then I went to dance in my new Antwerpen shirt. And now I'm here, writing this post!
P.S. I have been told by a certain someone, ahem, *cough*Ben*cough* that I don't post enough pictures. So I hope you all enjoyed the pictures that I posted this time!
Until tomorrow? Bonne nuit tout le monde !
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Yet Another Blog Post
I'm so bad at blogging lately. But even though nobody let me know they were out there, I will continue writing for my faithful readers because I know you are there, you're just shy. Let's catch up on the last few days, shall we?
Monday was just like any other Monday. I went to school and came home. But then I decided that I'm spending too much time staring at a computer screen and I'm getting fat. So I took one of the family bikes and took a ride into Hannut. Once I was there, I decided it would be a good idea to go visit Marie. Remember? Léo's mom! So a hop, skip and a jump and I was at her store and we chatted it up while she closed. It was so nice catching up with her. We talked til about 30 and then I realized that I had to get home to eat dinner. So I took my bike back and felt accomplished and happy once I got back. I had dinner with the family as usual and then went up to bed, as usual.
Tuesday was not very out of the ordinary either. Because I've had teachers absent lately, I had the afternoon off. So Talia and I went back to her house after deciding that we didn't have the time really to leave Hannut. And I ate something very unusual. Can you guess what it is? I bet you never will. We made sandwiches that she used to make in the States. Basically what they are is two pieces of bread with a sunny side up egg and cheese. Normal, right? But there is one more ingredient. PEANUT BUTTER!!! Not a joke, people. And it was so good! I was surprised at how delicious it was, but really, I thoroughly enjoyed it. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching Mamma Mia! I love Meryl Streep. So very very much. She rocks every role she plays. Anyways, I went back into Hannut around 6pm and my host mom picked me up and we went back home to eat dinner with the family. We had breaded fish stuffed with spinach. It was so nice to have some light, vegetable-y food. Of course, this was paired with cheesy potatoes. Not so light. I then went to dance that night. Apparently we are going to take my Lady Gaga choreography from the theater at school and put it to Aretha Franklin music for the recital... It'll be interesting...
Today was, well, Wednesday. And pretty much all Wednesdays go the same at school, since it's only a half day. Went to school, went home from school, ate lunch, did some computer shtuff, and then went out for the afternoon with a friend. We went and got ice cream from that same little place from before. I got the Kriek flavor, which was really good! And this evening, I went back to Bertrée for a barbecue with Ben, Olivier, Marie, and two other people who I didn't know, but met. We had a really great time! And I got to see Léo again too. He is so freaking adorable, I can't stand it. We ate, talked, cut Marie's hair, ya know, normal stuff. I had a nice night.
And now here I am, back home, trying to de-stress from everything that is going on for the moment. Basically, I don't know exactly what I'm doing next year, but I don't think that I am going to go to Point Park, in the end. And I was planning an Amsterdam trip this weekend, but I don't think that is happening either. Hopefully Spain is still a-go. We will find out. But I just need to sleep now. So goodnight everyone.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Theater, Family, And A Communion
Yesterday was Saturday, and not a very exciting one. That is, during the day. I got up around 11am to go to dance, which I went to. We kept working on the show. Which I can't say I'm the biggest fan of, but hey. At least I'm dancing... Right? Right?! Right. *sigh*
The rest of the afternoon I spent vegging out in front of the computer, which I'm falling into a terrible habit of doing. I really need to get outside and do things instead. I'll make a mental note, promise. Anyways, I later got a phone call from Ben inviting me to go with him and his parents to see Amandine's latest show. Of course, I took the opportunity to see the family and accepted the invitation. He came and picked me up around 5 and we met back up with his parents at the house where we set off with the AB to go to the theater. We got there just in time for the first part of the show. Part One was with all younger kids, up until age 14. The started it off with a sort of "contemporary" dance number, but to be honest, I'm not even sure what it was. I will say no more, because if I continue it's only going to get mean. After two dance numbers, there was a sort of series of short theater scenes. Again, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what was going on. There was a lot of miming and people pretending to be objects. And a boy who played the clarinet in between the scenes. That I liked. He played well. Anyways, after the theater there was another sort of dance number with chairs. That was, again, kind of a fail. But I digress...
There was then a nice long break for everyone to go eat dinner. You had the option to buy a ticket to eat there or go out to find a restaurant. We went out into the town and found a cute little Italian place where we ate outside. I got a pizza that had shrimp and mushrooms on it. You know, I never liked mushrooms in the States. Actually, I very much hated them. I eat them all the time now. Mushrooms and tomatoes... Strange. Anyways, it was delicious, and yes, I ate the whole thing. I remember when I first got here and I saw a girl eat a whole pizza and I was amazed and disgusted at the same time... I may have written about that actually (it was in Bruges). Regardless, I am now one of those girls and it's taking a toll on my waistline, that's for sure. Anyway, after a very nice dinner of good food and great conversation with my amazing host family, we got back in the car and went back to the theater for the second part of the show.
The second part was adults. This time it started off with one lone man on the stage and a woman playing the piano. A very simple song, but I liked it. I thought it held a lot of emotion. And the man danced. A sort of contemporary interpretive dance. It was interesting. I can't say I loved it, but I didn't hate it. It was interesting. And I wonder if it was choreographed or he improved it. I have no idea. Anyways, afterwards, there was a little theater scene with a whole bunch of ladies and one male bartender. The premise was basically that it was a bar that was having a special soirée, "Groovy Sexy Flashy Lady". And all the different types of women that came. It was long. And odd. And I did zone out a couple times. But it was obviously a good group and there was a nice energy about them. And you could tell that they were proud of what they did, so I say good for them.
We had drink tickets for after the show and we went to get an orange juice, but after one sip we realized that it was not regular orange juice (amaretto apparently?) and I opted out. We left soon after to go back to the house. When it was all said and done I ended up staying the night at my second house, which involved the newest episode of "The Big Bang Theory" which was actually the season finale which left SO much hanging! I can't wait for the next season. Yes, I'm a geek, and yes, I'm proud of it. It also involved me wanting to reach into my own ears and rip out all the innards because my allergies are driving me NUTS.
Anyways, I had to get up nice and early this morning to get back to my regular house to go to the communion mass for Philippine. Remember, we had her party last weekend? We all got ready and I put a bow in Philippine's hair and she put on her white robe and we were off. Communions here are different from in the States. Here, you don't have a beautiful white mini-bridal gown for your communion. All the girls wear the same type of robe over their clothing tied with a white cord and a sort of scarf draped around their neck. It almost resembles what the priest wears. The boys had something very similar, but without pleats and with a hood. They all processed in carrying candles and sat in the middle of the church. The mass lasted about two hours and involved every kid going up to the alter and giving a profession of faith which they wrote themselves. Some of them were truly beautiful, and Philippine's made her mommy cry! It really did me a lot of good to go to another mass. Eventually I will write a nice long description witness blog about my spirituality. For now, all you guys need to know is that I love God and Jesus and I truly believe that He is getting me through this exchange, through the good and bad.
Right after the communion, I got to play photographer and take pictures of Philippine with all the different family members that were there, including Karine. I caught up a little with her and then we went home. And then it was lunch time. Which I normally look forward to. But this was something else...
Remember raquelettes (sp?)? Ok well it was kind of like that. Except instead of a plate of cheese and lunch meat type meat being passed around, it was a platter of raw meat. Literally, completely raw disgusting meat. Ok, not disgusting. The meat was perfectly fine. But raw! Like, entirely 100% just butchered the animal raw! And we didn't put it right on the hot plates on the table. Oh no, we piled that raw meat right onto our dishes, up next to our salad and fries. And some of that raw meat, yes, was chicken. Which means there was a nice pool of salmonella just hanging around on my plate. Of course, me being me, I paid A LOT of attention to this and put my meat on the edge of my plate and kept my other food nice and far from it and was very careful not to let my cooked from touch any of the juices from the raw. Nobody else took these precautions. They just let their fries get covered in raw chicken juice. Blech. And then you know, you use the same fork that you eat with to stab your raw chicken and put it on the hot plate. And then you use that fork to turn your raw chicken and then finally you eat your cooked chicken with the fork that has the raw chicken juices on it. Again, I was overly cautious and wiped the fork off with my napkin before using it. Call me what you will, but I do not suffer from salmonella. I was also paranoid about knowing whether or not my meat was actually cooked or not, and I tended to let it overcook a lot. But again, I would rather eat overcooked than undercooked and have salmonella. For dessert we had ice cream with chocolate sauce. i.e. The reason I'm getting fat.
I spent the afternoon, again, vegging out. And sleeping a little since I didn't sleep enough last night. We didn't eat dinner today, but I went downstairs and made a PB&J. I do love PB&J. But it's shower time and then bed time for me. À demain !
After
Monday, May 16, 2011
Spider In The Shower
Welcome back to another day in the life of Emma Clark. In Belgium, the country where Wind and Rain and Cold are the residents and Sun seems to have decided it has overstayed its welcome... Basically what I'm trying to say is that it's cold and gross again here, and I, once again, find myself not feeling very well.
It is now story time with Emma. Today's feature, "The Two Intelligent Girls". Ahem.
Once upon a time, there were two very intelligent American exchange students. Their names were Emma and Talia and they were going to school in Hannut, Belgium. One day, they went to school and were supposed to take their exam for gym: 3 kilometers running and about 8 kilometers bike riding in one hour and a half. Emma and Talia were very ready to take this exam and felt good about their chances of passing. They went through their first two hours of school as usual and after the pause, went to the gym to meet the others and take their exam. However, once they got there, they realized that they were supposed to go at the beginning of the pause instead of the end. By this time, it was too late! The teachers had already left with the class and there was nobody there. The door was locked. So Emma and Talia missed their gym exam and spent the two hours in the office of the nice priest, Père Boly, feeling exceptionally smart about the mistake that they had made. The end.
Ok if you didn't pick up on that, that was sarcasm. We felt exceptionally DUMB. Other than that, the day went as usual. School, went home, ate with the fam, which tonight's meal was leftovers from the communion yesterday.
OK here's a weird Belgium thing. They think leftovers are like, the spawn of Satan. Ok that's a little overdramatic, but seriously. There is nothing wrong with leftovers! And if you don't eat it right away, they throw it out! Which I don't like. I'm all for cold leftovers the day after. But as I'm not feeling well, I couldn't finish the rice that they got rid of. Even though it was only opened yesterday. Oh Belgium...
Otherwise nothing happened. Oh yes, the title of my blog. I'm pretty sure there was a spider in the shower when I took mine just now... The reason I say pretty sure is because I had already taken out my contacts, so I just saw a black blob that resembled something with legs... On my leg. Ew.
This post is spiratic and weird... Oh well it happens. I'm going to bed early; I really am not feeling hot... Bonne nuit tout le monde.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Communion
Today was the party for the Communion of my little host sister, Philippine. I want to say it's the First Communion, but apparently in Belgium, people do two communion ceremonies like that, a little and a big. The little one is when you're about 7, like in the States, and the big is when you're around 12, like Philippine. Anyways, the mass in next Sunday, but we had the party at the house today. Which meant the whole family was coming, a mass of people I didn't know.
So I got up this morning with the sun, nice and early, to hear screaming downstairs and outside. Of course, I was only half awake so I don't know what the screaming was about. But anyways, I started to get ready and then Philippine came into my room and asked if I would do her hair. It was such a cute moment, us both sitting on my bed, me putting pretty curls into her hair. There were people in and out of my room all morning, but eventually I managed to get myself ready and join everyone downstairs as people started arriving. We all looked smashingly beautiful (like my little British addition there?) and took pictures as we waited for everyone to arrive.
That is when the flood of bisous and new people started. Family member after family member, friend after friend, all introducing themselves and me saying over and over that I was the American living in the house. Of course, I ended up spending my time with Manon and Aymeric and Talia once they came. We started off the afternoon with, of course, the appetizers, just chips and such accompanied, like always, by champagne. And this lasted for a while... Then it was food time. The family had decided to cater the party, and apparently there had been a portion problem that morning and originally there wasn't enough food. But in the end everything worked out and there was plenty of food. It was a buffet of different salads and rices and smoked salmon. All the food was very good and I ate plenty of it. For dessert, we had an ice cream cake that we covered in either chocolate or fruit sauce. Of course, me being me, I took both. I think I was the only person out of the 35 that were there that did that... But it was delicious. Géraldine joined us after the meal and we spent the rest of the afternoon just talking and taking pictures, eventually eating more when we brought out the pies and the cookies that I made last night. Of course. Always food in this house.
Eventually, the crowd died away and we started cleaning up from the party, stacking chairs and clearing tables. Once that was all finished I headed up to my room to recover and I'm sorry to say, I've been on the computer since... Not even hungry enough to go back downstairs to eat dinner. But nobody did, so that's no big deal. We all ate so much at lunch. I couldn't imagine eating another full meal tonight. Anyways, I should be getting to bed. I, lucky me, have school tomorrow. Bonne nuit !
Sunday, May 8, 2011
ITALY!!! Part IV
Alright here we go. The last in the series of posts about my magnificent ten days that I spent in the beautiful country of Italia.
Day 9: We woke up nice and ridiculously early on the morning of Day 9, had our breakfasts, and packed up the bus once again for a morning of driving. Once again, we took packed lunches from the hotel and got ready for a fairly long drive. We spent the majority of the morning sleeping, watching movies, and just basically recuperating from the last several days. Most of us were already getting sick, and by the end of the trip, it would spread through just about all of the exchange students. But that's besides the point. We stopped around noon to eat, but this time we stopped at a random little gas station on the side of the road next to a Holiday Inn. And we just chilled in the parking lot, half in the middle of the road also, and ate the really gross lunches that we were packed. I admit, I picked the meat off of my sandwich and just ate the bread. It seemed like a very American moment, just vegging in the middle of the pavement...
The afternoon, we found ourselves on the shore once again, goofing around in souvenir shops, ready to take another boat over to the island of Murano. We would spend the rest of the day visiting that island, and another called Burano. They are both parts of Venice. But this time the sun was shining, the water was incredibly calm, we did not have far to go, and luckily it was a lagoon rather than the open waters of the sea, so this boat trip went actually very well. I was calm, there was no freak out, and I enjoyed myself. We took pictures, took advantage of the sun, and goofed around a bit. Finally, we made it to the Murano, where we were given some free time to explore. Murano is known and famous for it's glass (Venetian glass) so that was the big item that we were searching for in this part of our journey. The island is very cute. There are colors all over the place and we stayed mostly on the pier, so there is water everywhere. And it's not weird green murky water. It's clear, bright, turquoise water. The kind that you just want to gulp down. Anyways, we were going into all the shops, admiring all the glass work, and looking for the perfect thing to buy to remember our time there. I finally decided on a really pretty gold necklace, all in glass beads. I decided that it would be something that I would wear even as I got older and it's just gorgeous. The beads are actually pieces of gold that are surrounded in crystal that are surrounded in glass. All hand made. A lot of people bought watches where the face is surrounded in colorful Venetian glass patterns and colored bands. We didn't have a whole lot of time before we had to get back to the boat, so we hurried back to meet Rotary and then we were off to see the second island, Burano.
Burano was bigger than Murano and there was much more to actually see, rather than just shopping. We went farther into the island and we were given more time. Burano is famous for their lace. So this time, the goal was to find something lace to take back home with me. Burano is beautiful also because there are, again, the canals that run through it and the houses are all different colors. It's all very much the way you picture a Venetian landscape. Of course, these islands are touristy, but it's pretty to see. We spent the next couple hours of free time going from shop to shop, looking at different things, trying to pick the right souvenir. I had been debating over a salmon colored lace scarf, which I did eventually end up buying. But the big purchase of the day had been completely unexpected...
You see, the big purchase that I wanted to make in Venice was a Venetian mask. I have wanted a Mardi Gras mask forever and since they are a specialty in Venice, I knew that this would be the place to get one. But I was planning on waiting until the day that we went to the actual island of Venice to look for one. I had looked at some of them on the other islands but I hadn't quite found exactly what I was looking for. I knew I wanted something elaborate, unique, with bright colors and music on the face. Then Jordann told me to go look in one of the stores. By this point, I was overwhelmed by masks because they were literally everywhere. But the minute I walked into this store, my eyes were glued to one that was on the wall. It was gold with a big fan surrounding the face. The fan was actually sheet music. There were rhinestones lining the eyes and gold fringe hanging off a few different parts of the mask. There was a gorgeous design painted on the face and the whole thing was lined in lace. I knew that that was my mask and I had to get it. I ended up paying about 50 euros for it too, which in the end, I found was actually a terribly wonderful price. And I never saw another one like it on either of the islands.
By this point we were running late, so we hurried to take a couple pictures, I went quickly to buy the scarf I had been debating over, and we went to meet Rotary. We all got back on the boat and headed back to the mainland, where we got back on the bus to head to our last hotel of the trip. We got to our hotel on the beach and were told that we had a nice long couple of hours before we had to be down at dinner. So we took advantage of this and went to the beach! And what did we do? Well we took pictures of course! I have a beautiful series of dance pictures from that evening. And we also goofed around and had a great time. But eventually, the time came for us to go back to the hotel. So the last couple of us started walking back, but about halfway there we realized that the key had fallen out of Savannah's pocket. So we went back to look for it but couldn't find it anywhere and assumed it had been taken by the sea and was out in the water somewhere. So we had no choice but to go back to the receptionist and tell her what the problem was. They told us that we would have to pay three euros to replace the key, which we expected and was no big deal. We went up to the room with our new key to get our money, but found when we got up there that the door was open and our missing key was sitting on the bed. Some kind soul had found and returned our key! So we were able to return the new one and didn't have to pay a cent.
We went down for dinner that night and discussed what we were going to do for the evening. Again, since it was our last night we really wanted to go out. Some exchange students started parties in their rooms, but Savannah and I decided that was lame so we went out to go try to find something to do. But of course, Rotary knows what they're doing and had booked a hotel in a city with zero nightlife. So we went back to the hotel and met up with some of the exchange students and the Rotary adults in the hotel bar. We had a drink together and then a song that Savannah knew a dance to came on over the speakers. And she got up and started doing the dance. And I decided that I wanted to learn said dance so I got up too. Before we knew it, we were all dancing, they had turned out the lights, turned up the music, and we were having a dance party! One of the Rotary ladies even joined us while the Rotary men looked at us all like we were completely mental. But they thought it was funny and they knew it was good wholesome fun so there were no problems. So we did get our dance party after all. Then it was bed time and sleep time.
Day 10: Day 10 was another early morning. We packed up the bus for the last time and had our breakfast. I took a bunch of packets of those wonderful biscotti cookies that tasted like the GirlScout shortbread cookies for the road. We piled on the bus and were off to take that boat once more to the island of Venice. Again, there were no problems on the boat. We were each given a map with the different meeting points on it and once we got to the island, we split back up into our four language groups. Mr. Lemoine was, as always, in charge of my group and we spent the morning touring the important buildings of Venice. We saw the beautiful canals, the churches, the buildings, etc. Venice is gorgeous. Truly a beautiful, beautiful place. But also a confusing place where it is ridiculously easy to get lost... And of course, a few of us found ourselves split off from the group and completely lost. We ran around through the little alleys and back streets of Venice to find the Rotary guys to give us our money for lunch. Well, we were late to get to them, but we did manage to find them in time and we each received ten euros. We then spent a good while looking around for a place to actually spend the ten euros since everything was looking expensive. Finally we found a nice looking place that had a lot of seafood on their menu. I didn't get any of the seafood, but one of the girls got a pasta dish where the sauce was made out of cuttlefish ink. It came to the table black. Literally, black noodles. We all tasted it and it was surprisingly good. It just tasted seafoody and salty. I got gnocchi and a salad and Savannah got a pizza and a salad and we split as usual. I love gnocchi. And real Italian gnocchi is incredible. I'm so glad I had the chance to try it. Along with the black pasta :)
The afternoon was given to us as free time, and we had lots of it. Savannah and I spent the first part of it with our group of friends, looking around and shopping, but we eventually got separated from them because we went looking for prices for a gondola ride and couldn't find them again. P.S. we never got to actually do the gondola ride :( But it's on my bucket list. Anyways, we got some gelato (mint chocolate chip, yah baby) and walked around some more, made our final gift purchases and realized that we had so much time left. So, knowing us, what do we do? We start our final dance photo shoot. We found a nice bridge over one of the canals and a little pathway that went ride along side the river and started there. I put on my pointe shoes and the fun began. We did plenty of different kinds of things and immediately people started staring at us. But not in a weird way. More of in a very impressed, "oh look at that!" kind of way. I'm not gonna lie, it was really cool. And it was an amazing way to discover the island because we just walked around looking for places to take the pictures. And we got some incredible shots. This series was not only beautiful dance wise, but artistically too, the pictures are fabulous. Plus, something really cool happened. Of course, there were a lot of people taking pictures of us taking pictures, but one of them was in the middle of the road. And he had a huge camera with an amazing objective lens. And he starts taking shots while Savannah is taking them too. After we were finished and started walking away, he ran after us asking if we wanted to see the picture. Well of course I did! So he showed it to us and it was gorgeous! Then he asked me if I wanted it. I said definitely and he gave me his card and told me to email him. Turns out he was an amateur photographer in France! How cool is that! Other highlight of this adventure: There was a little girl and her mom who were walking through one of the alleys that we were in and the little girl stopped as soon as she saw me and just stared at me. Her mom was speaking to her in Italian, obviously, but since I had been there for ten days, and thanks to my knowledge of French, I could kind of pick up what she was saying. Along the lines of, "Yes look, a real ballerina!" The little girl was so adorable. She just stared at me in awe. So I asked if she wanted to take a picture with me and her mom was saying "yes yes!" but she was too shy. We all giggled about it and I ended up just showing her how I went up on my shoes and such. We talked a little with the mom, who spoke very good English and she told us that her daughter wants to be a dancer. I just thought that was one of the cutest things... There were one or two other little girls like that too. It was too adorable :)
Well Savannah and I got a little wrapped up in our project and eventually we realized that we had to meet Rotary to go to dinner. Well again, Venice is big and confusing. And we were in some little random alleyway. So we ran around Venice for the next hour or so, asking around, completely lost. Eventually, though, we managed to figure out where we were going after getting the help of some very nice and fluent English speaking Italians. We were late for the meal, but it was no big deal. One cool thing about the restaurant: The door to the bathroom was activated by a little square on the wall that detects your hand. But you don't even have to touch it. So it's like Star Trek. You just hold your hand up in front of the sensor and the door opens. It was awesome. Anyways. We met up with them, ate our final meal in Italy (pasta, followed by a meat and potatoes dish that was disappointingly nothing special) and then we were headed off to go back to the boat to go back to the bus to go back to Belgium. We took our final pictures and then we were on the boat going back to the mainland as the sun set. A beautiful end to a beautiful trip. I couldn't have asked for more.
We drove the entire night and the entire morning of the next day and got back to Liège, where I saw some of the kids coming back from Greece and my host dad picked me up. From there, I've missed a few days up until now, which we will catch up on tomorrow. As of now, this is the end of my Italy blog. It's been a long and detailed one, I know. But it was such a wonderful ten days, I couldn't help but tell you all every last detail. I love that country and I definitely want to go back. Thank you, to Rotary for organizing such an incredible experience for us. It's something that I will never forget, and it will always be a highlight when I look back at this exchange year. Viva Italia!! :)
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