The Best Weekend Of My Life

Well, one of the best weekends of my life. Let's start with Thursday.

Thursday, during the day, was pretty average. I went to school as usual and afterwards, Talia and Eduardo and I all went back to my house on the bus for the couple hours that we had in between school and our call for the theatre, as Thursday was opening night. We spent the time making and eating french toast and watching Lady Gaga videos. Then we packed up all our costumes and everything and were headed off to the bus to go back to school. We got there around 6pm to see almost the entire cast already made up for the show and everyone super pumped to show the audience what we've been working for! And I have to say, once again the Belgians have impressed and surprised me. All the makeup was awesome and intense and the costumes were great. A lot of people were sporting colored hair, white faces, bloody noses, and all kinds of other really cool hair and makeup. Talia and I got ourselves ready, avoiding having our makeup and hair done by the people that were there doing everyone else's. We succeeded. I then got to do what I've been waiting to do since the beginning of the year. I got to put mascara on Eduardo. You see, Eduardo has these RIDICULOUS long eyelashes. Like, twice the length of mine. And as I did his makeup, I got to put mascara on him. WIN. By this point, we still had a good 45 minutes before the show started and I spent it going around and taking pictures with everyone and just being silly and energetic. Here are a few examples:

The curtain went up at 7 30 and it was on. I had a good amount of time before my first dance, a mix of "Money Money Money" by ABBA and "Money" by Pink Floyd. So I spent it, again, being silly and dancing in random classrooms with my friends. After that first dance, things started to get a little more pressing. I had the entire half hour intermission to be ready for the next dance, "Ça M'enerve", and actually, for intermission here, we were allowed to go downstairs and socialize with the audience. Which at home, we considered "breaking curtain" and wasn't allowed. Almost directly after intermission I had my dance, and then I had to run to get ready for my next one, "Libertine". That is the one that I danced a ballet number with another girl, Julie, and we started the dance behind white panels that were lit from behind so the audience saw silhouettes for the first part of the dance. It was very unique and a lot of fun to do, but it was a bit stressful as we didn't have much time to change and get our "Chinese" faces on. We needed all white faces with red lips and black eyes. But we didn't miss a beat and had plenty of time to warm up. And the dance went splendidly! After that one, I had to run again because I had to dance my next one very soon after, "La Luxure". In that, it is just me dancing with a bunch of girls (and one male teacher) singing. The main girl, Sarah, was singing about a night of temptation and I danced the role of "the spirit of love". We play it as though she doesn't see me until the end but I'm affecting her and eventually she follows me off stage. The thing about this dance was that I didn't have any choreography. We added it in very last minute and I did the whole thing improv all three nights. But each time it went very well. After that, it's time for me to get ready for the big finale, "Bad Romance". Picture time!!

You all know, that was my pride and joy of this show. It's all my choreography and the whole cast joins in at the end. For this dance, all the dancers teased all their hair up crazy and had super heavy makeup in red and black. It was really awesome. We got out there and danced our hearts out. And then for the last refrain, everyone came out into the aisles and in front of the stage and the lights flashed on to show the entire cast dancing MY choreography, exactly how I had it in my head. It was incredible, and potentially one of the most fulfilling moments of my life. It is amazing to experience that. It's unreal. I was so happy. After the show was over, the teachers all went up on stage and gave us a little surprise! They had also choreographed a little diddy to "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas and it was so cool! We all screamed and shouted for them and it was great. Then afterwards we all ran back up the aisles and out the door to line the stairway as the teachers and audience came out. That was very interesting. We clapped and yelled and chanted until the auditorium was empty and then went to go talk to everyone who had come to see us. Finally, we didn't get out of there til about 12:30am. And Thursday night, as my host mom had come to see the show, I went home with her. Talia came with me that night and stayed the night at my house.

We got home and had a little snack and then went upstairs to tackle the task of combing out our hair and getting all that makeup off. Finally we succeeded and went to bed. Thankfully, we didn't have to go in Friday until later, so we caught the bus the next morning and went to school as usual. Everyone was all hyped up on the energy of the night before, though we were tired. One really cool thing happened at school. Talia and Mikayla and I witnessed a spider killing. On the other side of the window, a huge spider had captured some sort of poor little creature and we watched it spin it's web around the victim. I thought it was really awesome. After school, Talia went back home with me and we lathered, rinsed, and repeated almost exactly how we had done the night before. Again, the show went great and we went home late. Friday, I didn't get to sleep until about 2am. And the next morning I had my dance class. There were three of us there that are also doing the theatre and we were so dead. But we went through the class, and difficult as it was. I then walked home since it was absolutely gorgeous out, and napped. I then got up and did it all over again. Except Saturday night had a little bit of a different atmosphere since it was the last show. Everyone was a little sad, even though we were all still super psyched at the same time. The show went wonderfully as usual, and afterwards we gave our thank yous to the teachers and Madame Vanesse made a little speech as well. I couldn't believe how fast it went and afterwards everyone was a little down that it was over. But that didn't last long because after the audience had emptied out, we all headed over to a bar in Hannut to have the Belgian version of a cast party! And that, my friends, was a blast.

Here's the thing. The teachers smoke with the students here. Which I found super bizarre, because obviously in the States, 1, it's illegal before you're 18, and 2, you never want your teachers to see you doing "bad" things. But that wasn't even half as weird as it was when the teachers showed up to the bar to drink and party with us. Obviously, I'm in Belgium, so all the exchange students drink at least a little bit. So there I am, with a beer in my hand, and the director of the school passes by me, smiles and winks and me, and I just felt like I needed to turn around and hide from her because I didn't want her to see me drinking. But it's accepted here. So much that the teachers do it too! So there we all are, dancing and having a grand old time. With our teachers. I can't even describe how odd it was. But it was awesome too. I was dancing and socializing, and being that girl that everyone is friends with. I was having so much fun. And it was only getting better and better. It was a wonderful night. And then Madame Gallo, oh how I love her, pulled me aside and said to me, in English,

"I just want to tell you how great you are. It is great to have exchange students like you."

And that just made my life. It was incredible to hear that, especially from her. This weekend was so magnificent. I love Hannut and I love my friends and I love theatre and I love BELGIUM!!

I didn't leave the bar til about 5 15am. My friend dropped me off at home and I still had to comb out my hair and take off my makeup. So it was almost six before I got to bed. But I was asleep before I hit the pillow. And didn't wake up Sunday until about 2 30pm. Sunday was great. It was my host brother, Olivier's, birthday. So we had two awesome cakes. One that had layers of yellow cake and chocolate mousse covered in a chocolate gnash with dried fruit on top. Ohhhhhh amazing. And the other was a cream pie with strawberries and whipped cream on top. I love Belgian bakery. I spent the day with the host fam, including little Léo who now knows exactly who I am and said my name over and over again yesterday. He is so cute. As tired as I was last night, I still didn't get to bed very early...

This morning I got up late and went to school as usual. And everyone was DEAD. We were all so tired. And we had gym. And we rode bikes. And it was cold and there was wind. And I have realized how out of shape I am. We rode 12 kilometers. Which is about 7 miles. Ok, yes it's kind of a lot. But I was in PAIN afterwards. I felt like I couldn't really fill my lungs all the way. But in about a half hour I was back to normal and I just realized that I really need to start running again or something because that should not have been that hard. And granted, I'm exhausted. But still... Also, we have started our classes with Père Boly again. One hour a week. *sigh*

So that was my AMAZING weekend. Thank you, Belgium, for this wonderful experience. I hope you enjoyed reading about it because I LOVED living it!!

School, Friends, and Boobs

Today was a pretty average day at school. But you know, it's the little things that make every day extra special. Today was great because I understood just about everything that was going on! I made plans for the weekend, had a good workout in gym, ate lunch with my friends, took notes in class, sent a package home, ate some traditional Belgian food and had a fantastic dance class. All very seemingly mundane, every-day activities. But just everything made today pretty great.

I had two hours of gym class today. You know, in the States, gym was right up there with math for classes that I detest. Actually, it was higher than math. It was ultimately the worst class in the world for me. I always hated gym because I was just bad at everything. Basketball, baseball, running, volleyball especially. Which is why, my senior year, I avoided the required class at school by taking Pilates and Water Aerobics at the local college instead :P But here, I really enjoy gym class. Because it's not a bs class where your success relies fully on your ability to smack a ball over a net. Here, physical education really is just that. The focus lies on the concept of being healthy and in good shape. They are not afraid, here, to tell us that we cannot sit on our bums all day. That it is necessary to exercise and be fit. They are not afraid to tell us that it is unhealthy to be fat.

Isn't that ironic? In the States, we put the most stress on having "the perfect shape" and "the perfect body", but yet we have the highest obesity rate in the world, and on top of that, nobody is allowed to tell students that for fear of being sued out of their minds. And then here, in Belgium, people care about health and the majority of people are in shape. What a concept!

So anyways, I haven't worked out in about a week and a half because of the rain. There has been quite a bit of it lately and every time I want to go out and run, it's raining. So it's been a while. And for those two hours of gym, we were running and doing some abdominal work and such, and I hate to admit it, but I was feeling pretty weak. But I just kept remembering something that one of my best friends told me: You have to work past your mental boundaries, and once you break that boundary, you'll be amazed at what you can do. I have been keeping that quote tucked away in the back of my mind every since I heard it, and it's wonderful. It kept me going all through the class, and at the end, I felt great because I knew that I had worked hard and gotten some good work in. And not even for the physical hardships. But for the mental too. It's a great thing to think about when I feel overwhelmed and upset. Because sometimes when I take a step back and look at what I'm doing, I am amazed. But we won't get into that right now!

Another little thing that made today great: My good friend, Mathieu, was talking to Talia and I today at break. And we were talking about stores in Hannut, and the lack of them. And he was saying how his aunt owns a store there and it's one of the only good ones and we should go check it out. And he likes to speak in English to us, so a lot of times when he doesn't know the words, he describes things in roundabout ways for us to understand. And he couldn't figure out how to tell us what kind of store it is, so he says, "With those things that you put your boobs in!" Meaning bras. It was the most hysterical thing that I have heard a Belgian person say yet. Talia and I laughed our butts off as soon as those words spilled out of his mouth. See, it's the little things that make me happy :)

Food for today: It's been a while since I have described my meals in depth... But I guess that is because I haven't eaten anything extremely interesting lately and there has been no theme, such as zucchini to laugh about. But today, I had a traditional Belgian dish that apparently comes from Liège. I'm not sure if it has a name but here's what it is: Green beans with potatoes and a sort of bacon, topped with a creamy sauce. Now that may not seem like anything out of the ordinary, but the sauce has a very distinct flavor... It is more like a gravy, made from the leftovers after the bacon-type meat is cooked. It's very good, but I did not care for the bacon. There was just so much fat on it and I despise chewing on fatty meat. But I sucked it up and ate it, and tried to get past the texture and enjoy the flavors because it was actually very tasty. But when my host family asked if I liked it, I did tell them that I didn't like the meat very much. They were not at all offended, yay! :)

Other little things that made me happy: Sending a package home with all different things for my family. Buying new face wash and body wash and mascara. (I swear, shopping for nice things to pamper myself with has become one of my new favorite past times) Going to my dance class. Talking with my friends. Eating lunch with the Belgians. Making plans for the weekend. Just having fun!

However, right now, I'm feeling a bit sick in the tummy region, but I think it is because I am dehydrated. So I am going to go seek out some water and hit the sack! Bonne nuit!