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!

ITALY!!! Part III

Ok here we go again. Picking up at Day 6.

Day 6: This was the day that we went to the island of Capri! This was probably the low point of the trip, which doesn't say much, cause it was still incredible. But I did have some issues... So to get to Capri you have to take a boat across part of the Mediterranean Sea. I mean, you don't really have a choice. Well, I have a fear of puking. It's my phobia. I'm scared to death of it. So anything could potentially cause me to throw up causes me great panic. So I was all prepared that day with my Dramamine that I took at breakfast and my instant relief pills also. Of course, I was still a little bit shaken up for it. And of course, the only day we have to take a boat, it's gross outside. It was cold and the sky was threatening to empty itself onto us. So needless to say, I was kinda freaking out. But I had no choice but to get on the boat with everyone else.

I tried very hard to keep calm. I had given my camera to Jordann to take pictures since my memory card was freaking out and we put hers in my nice Canon. I was sitting on the top of the boat talking to people and trying so very hard to stay calm. And to be honest, everything was fine for the first half hour. I was talking to people, laughing, having good conversation, and not feeling anything from the boat. Then all of the sudden, it started to move. All over the place. Ok it wasn't THAT bad, but still, it was rocking. So I, being the crazy that I am, jumped out of my seat and started jumping and running around the boat, thinking that the more I moved, the less I would feel the boat moving. But that only lasted so long before I started to REALLY freak out. So I went downstairs and ended up with the Rotary people who were trying to calm me down. And I was doing ok, but I could feel a nice anxiety attack coming on. It got worse with each rock of the boat, even though my stomach really was fine and it was all mental. Before I knew it, I was in the heat of a terrible anxiety attack and I was crying and hyperventilating a bit... One of the nice Rotary ladies gave me some anti-stress drops and we soon arrived on the shore of Capri.

The next thing on the schedule was for everyone to get on yet another boat, a smaller one, and do a tour around the island. But I knew I couldn't do it. You see, my parents had been there before and they had done that tour. And when they did it, there was a little Japanese woman on the boat who was oh so very ill, getting sick over the side of the boat the whole time. Well I had this story in my head, the anxiety attack going on in my body, and knowing the fact that I would be stuck on that boat for an hour and a half with no way of getting off, I could not do it. There was another girl, Justine, who was also sick, so one of the other Rotary ladies stayed with us on shore while the others went on the tour. We found a cafe, drank tea, and just tried to calm down. Once everyone else got back, I was sure I had made the right decision, even though I was so upset to let something like my own thoughts stop me from doing that. But apparently it was ridiculously rough and it was a very good thing that I didn't go.

We then got into more little buses and were driven up to the village of Anacapri on the island to visit. We were given free time to walk around, eat, shop, etc. We started off in a nice shop full of clothing where I bought a silk dress and a wrap gypsy skirt, despite my turning tummy. We ate at a lovely little place, even though I could not even imagine eating, even hours after I had gotten off the boat. I ate just some bread and a little bit of a salad, even though my tummy was growling. I couldn't bring myself to stomach anything else. We spent some more time just walking around and taking pictures and enjoying the beauty of the island, even though the weather wasn't very nice. We also had an encounter in a café where Oakley was charged 7 euros (or some outrageous price like that) for a Coke because we had sat down and they charge you for that. Well she didn't drink it, didn't pay for it, and we saved another woman from making the same mistake. Regardless, Savannah ended up drinking and paying for a hot chocolate.

Eventually, we met back up with the rest of the Rotary to get back in the buses and go down to another village on the island. We had more time to walk around and explore. This time, we couldn't even go into the stores, they were all so expensive. We're talking Gucci and Dolce & Gabana. But we did come across some Italians with "Free Hugs" signs, and of course we stopped to hug them all. Which was wonderful! The guys weren't too bad looking either ;)

By this point, it was time to get back on the boat to go back to the hotel... And of course, I had plenty of time to psych myself out. I made myself eat some more bread, take two "knock out" pills (to attempt to sleep through the ride) and tried very hard to stay calm, even though the weather was starting to kick up again and it was beginning to get windy. But we got on the boat, this one bigger and more stable, and I stood right in the back by the motor. It wasn't so bad. Obviously, I wasn't feeling so well and I was not tired enough to sleep, but I somehow made it through. And went back to the hotel and everything was ok.

We had dinner at the hotel, though I didn't eat much, and some of the other girls and I were so tired, we just decided to have movie night in my room. We pushed all the beds together and put on "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and crashed for a couple hours. We then went right to bed to be ready for the next day.

Day 7: Day 7 started out with us packing everything up and getting ready to go towards our next destination. We had our breakfast, took packed lunches from the hotel, packed up the bus and were off. Today, we started off with a visit to Pompeii. We all fell asleep on the way, but we went through the guided tour as energetically as we could. Though this guide was even harder to understand than the last one... The accent was impossible. But of course, Savannah and I and Jordann ended up kinda getting split off from the group so we amused ourselves. After Pompeii, we did a little shopping, I bought a ring for 30 euros (originally 45, I bargained it down) that he told me was all real and I have since found otherwise, and we got back on the bus for an afternoon of driving. This time, we all really fell asleep on the bus, only to stop at a rest stop on the highway for a break and to eat our packed lunches. Not gonna lie, they weren't very good... But I don't like fatty lunch meat. Anyways, we then got back on the bus to go to towards Tuscany and settle down at our next hotel.

We got there fairly early, at dinner, this time with four courses. We started off with little finger food appetizers, followed by pasta, of course, and then a meat and vegetables course. I wasn't very hungry and I could barely finish the pasta. And it wasn't at the same level as the other hotels. Dessert was an ice cream cake type slice of something... But I won't go into detail because it wasn't amazing like the rest. But that night, since we had time, we all decided that we wanted to go out. We had to be back by 11 30 and Rotary told us that if we were all back on time, we would get a surprise the next day. Well this was a Saturday night. So we figured there would be a club or something that we could go to. So we all got dolled up, I wore my new Capri dress and heels, and went out on the town in search of something fun to do. Well news flash, there was NOTHING. We found one bar, but way high class, too expensive, and no dancing. So we basically ended up walking around all night, looking for something to do. We did come across a discotech, but by that time it was too late to pay the 10 euro entry fee since we had to be back at 11 30. Then we found an outdoor concert type thing with a bar, but nobody wanted to stay there because the Rotary guys were there. So finally, Savannah, Minna, Maddie, a few other people and I decided to just go back to that first bar. We had a drink, had some fun, and were back in the hotel on time, ready to go to bed. We got ready for bed, disappointed, but knowing we at least had fun ourselves.

Day 8: As usual, we started off with breakfast at the hotel, and then we got on the bus and were off to Florence (Firenze), in the region of Tuscany for the morning! We got there, and wow is it beautiful. We spent the morning with Rotary, doing a tour with Andre in our four groups. We saw a lot of beautiful buildings, including one gorgeous church where various saints are buried. Of course, this started some very philosophical conversation between exchange students, which was a very good thing to have. Bonding time :)

We saw a lot of statues, including a replica of the David statue, people pretending to be statues and then making you pay them if you interact with them, government buildings, fountains, and these really cool chain barriers that were COVERED in locks that people had put, like in Rome in the first day, with the name of them and their boyfriend/girlfriend. I just love the whole concept of that... Next, we were each given 10 euros by Rotary to go find lunch and have free time. I went with Savannah and Maddie and we walked around the whole city looking for something cheap but authentic to eat. But a word to the wise, Florence is not cheap. We finally found ourselves at a nice little place, our bellies rumbling. We started off with, of course, bruschetta. This one was just tomatoes and basil and olive oil. But still, I don't understand how they make tomatoes taste SO incredible. I don't even like tomatoes... We also got a salad and a pizza to share. The pizza had ham on it too, which I typically don't like if there is not pineapple involved, but this was really delicious. Overall, we had a fantastic meal, even though it took forever to get the check... But regardless, it was wonderful.

We spent the afternoon walking around, looking around at the street vendors and making some more gift purchases. We also got gelato, of course. But I couldn't finish mine in the end, and gave it to someone else to finish. I also found a pin for my blazer that day. However, as beautiful as it was, we did have to leave eventually to meet back up with Rotary and go to our next stop: Pisa.

We drove for a while, but finally got there. They warned us that the moment we got off the bus, we would be attacked by street vendors trying to sell us jewelry, sunglasses, and who knows what else. Well they weren't kidding. That was the worst it was. But we got through the crowd to the shuttle bus to get us to Pisa. We got safely there, only to quickly realize that there really is only one thing in Pisa: the leaning tower. And the whole road that leads up to it was lined with more vendors and people calling out to us, calling us to come buy things. They called us Lady Gaga too, which I thought was especially odd as we look nothing like her... Well we did get to the tower and we definitely took our share of touristy pictures, holding up the tower, hugging it, I even did one where I have my leg around it... Classy, I know. And really, it's leaning. Like, crazy leaning. But it was cool to see, especially since it was such a nice day and it was up against a blue sky. We did not have much time there though, so we had to book it back to the shuttles to catch one back down the bus.

We then drove back to our hotel for dinner. And Rotary told us what our surprise was. Or what it was supposed to be, rather. They had planned on taking us all out to a discotech together. But the problem is that it was Sunday night and the law in Italy states that minors cannot go out on Sunday nights. And at least half of the exchange students are minors. Plus we didn't have much time. They told us that if we were majors, we could go out if we wanted to, but had to be back semi early and had to wake up at 5 30am the next morning. So in the end, the majority of us decided it was not worth it and we had a second movie night. This time, the feature film was "John Tucker Must Die". However, we had to stop it for the last ten minutes because we were so exhausted.

Part IV, the final chapter, coming soon to Emma's blog.

ITALY!!! Part I

Ok here we go. The epic post of the best ten days EVER: Italia 2011.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? After all, it's a very good place to start.

Day 1: This was Wednesday, April 10, 2011. I was all packed up, ready to go. I had to be at the train station d'Angleur in Liège around 12 00pm, so we put all my stuff in the car (one suitcase, one bag for the bus, and my laptop bag) and my host dad drove me to the station. I was actually the first one there, and we waited around for a little bit, though it wasn't long until people started arriving in a steady stream. I said goodbye to my host dad and hello to the exchange students who I hadn't seen in a long time. Oakley was there and we stuck together for most of the trip.

When the bus arrived, there were already some people on it, as the first stop had been in Brussels. We loaded up our stuff and hopped on the big two-story bus. Jordann was already there and she had saved us seats. We were on the top floor with a bunch of other exchange students that I had never met before, but we quickly got acquainted and everything was great. we started off on our journey, and I wasn't feeling to good, but it was on and off stomachy stuff, which I'm sure was just stress, and I did not get sick, so it was all good. After just a couple hours, we stopped again to pick up the last of the kids in Luxembourg. We had a bit of time to chill and I talked with some of the people that I didn't know. Once we got back on the bus, everyone knew each other and we were blasting music and having a great time. We spent the rest of the trip making hippie daisy crowns, listening to music, playing guitar, singing, and watching movies. We spent the night on the bus too, with a couple more stops, one being Switzerland where I found the biggest Toblerone ever. And let me tell you, sleeping on that bus sucked. I've slept on other buses for big trips like that before, but this was awful.

Day 2: The next morning we had to wake up really early, on top of everything. But it was ok because we were in Italy!! We stopped and everyone changed and made themselves presentable. Next stop, Roma!!!

We stopped in a parking garage in Rome and everyone got off the bus and split into four groups: two English speaking groups and two French speaking groups. I was in the higher of the two French groups (it was the Rotary that chose the groups and it was marked on our nametag/lanyards). From there, we made our way into the city towards the Vatican. On the road that we took, there was a sort of exhibition of the Stations of the Cross in giant wooden sculptures. They were beautiful and for me, very moving since they were incredibly emotional and realistic. And they were just chillin' in a line on the side of the road on podiums. Normal. From there, we continued until we saw the castle of Saint Angelo and the Angel Bridge that is right in front of it. We took our pictures and the Rotary guys in charge of our groups told us a little bit of history that had to do with the monuments. On the bridge, there are statues of angels lining it. Fun fact #1: Each angel is holding something that had to do with the crucifixion of Jesus. Also on the bridge, people put locks around the wrought-iron bars with their name and the name of their significant other written on them. I love that :)

We then made our way to the Piazzo San Pietro (Saint Peter's Square) to meet up with everyone else, take a few pictures, and then follow the leader to the restaurant where we would eat lunch.

Ok here we go, food time. Jordann and I walked into the restaurant and realized that there really weren't any places left, so we ended up sitting at the table with the Rotary adults. Which wasn't a big deal since we had the opportunity to talk to them and, yes, suck up a little bit. And then they ordered a bottle of wine. Italian wine. And Jordann and I got to have a glass too. So let's just say, sitting at the adults' table = major win. For lunch, we had a wonderful full Italian meal, starting off with the first course of pasta. Little penne pastas in a delicious cream sauce with peas. The only problem was that I was still kind of not feeling 100%. I ate anyway and really enjoyed it, but it would have been even better if my tummy had been agreeing with me. Anyways, for the main course (no, the pasta was not the main course), we had a breaded chicken with salad and potatoes. Yum. And for dessert, a sort of puff pastry cake filled with a vanilla cream and then a lighter cream on top with a little chocolate drizzled over it. Seriously, awesome first meal in Italy.

After our lunch, we made our way back into Rome and towards the Vatican. We spent the rest of the afternoon in a guided tour of the Vatican, including the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Our guide was an Italian who spoke French, and though he spoke really well, his accent was thick and sometimes it was a little difficult to understand him. The way it worked was each of us had a little radio type device with headphones and the guide had the microphone. So we could hear everything he said, though we didn't have to be right next to him. It was a good system. But it was starting to get really hot and even though the Vatican is gorgeous, it gets to be a lot after a while. We went through different rooms that were covered in murals and paintings and they were just beautiful. But of course, I was looking forward to the Sistine Chapel. Towards the end of the visit, I found myself standing inside a giant room with ridiculously high ceilings and paintings covering the ceiling and the walls. It wasn't until I saw the famous painting of God reaching out to Adam that I realized where I was. We spent a good twenty minutes in the Sistine Chapel, trying to take it all in. But it was difficult, considering it was packed with wall-to-wall people and there is just so much to see. It really is incredible, although it was much different than I expected it to be. I expected it to be smaller, and the paintings to be less separated and more of a giant mural. But it was beautiful nonetheless and I was by no means disappointed.

After the Sistine Chapel, we continued our tour, passing through the maze of tombs of the past popes (I stopped to give a little prayer at the grave of Pope John Paul II), seeing more of the outside grounds, and finally ending up in the big Basilica. Again, it's just so much at once to take in, it's difficult to truly experience it all. But it really was gorgeous and my breath was taken away by everything that was going on around me. We also saw the Swiss guards who are dressed in loud orange and blue costumes. They were cool. We ended our tour just in front of it all and Rotary set us free for a couple hours of free time to explore Rome a bit and do a little shopping. I bought myself a pair of earrings and a few gifts for my family back home and Jordann, Savannah, Oakley, Oliver and I walked around back by the river. We met up with everyone again by the Vatican museum and all went back together to the bus to go to our first hotel, which was a really nice 4-star hotel tucked away outside of Rome, really close to the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. We didn't have time that night to go out onto it, since you're not allowed on the beaches in Italy after the sun goes down, but we were way too tired anyways.

We ate dinner at the hotel, starting again with pasta. This time it was in a red sauce with zucchini in it and the second course was fish with green beans. For dessert they put a big bowl of fruit on the table and we could have our choice (apple for me!) Afterwards, we all went up to our rooms to catch some z's. I was rooming with Jordann and Oakley and another Australian newie named Alex. She's super nice and we all got along really well. I went to bed nice and early that night, knowing that the next day was going to be just as tiring as this one had been.

Day 3: Can you believe we're only on day 3?? Well we are. Day 3 was spent, again, in Rome. We started off with a nice bus ride to the Colosseum, and we all slept. But once we got there and we saw that the sun was out, everyone had a decent amount of energy and we walked from the parking lot to the Colosseum, taking pictures like mad people and being ridiculously touristy. We spent the whole morning in our four groups with the same guide that we had had at the Vatican, though this time, no walkie-talkie devices. We went into the Colosseum and were guided around the whole thing, hearing the history of it all and imagining real gladiators fighting inside of it thousands of years ago. We also saw some graffiti carved into the walls and wondered how old that was... In the process, I also met some new people and talked to people I new but never really talked to before.

After the Colosseum, we moved on to the ruins of Ancient Rome. Here, we walked around and saw the remains of all kinds of different buildings. It's crazy to think that even after the wear and tear of thousands of years, these things still exist... And people actually lived there! It's so interesting to see. Fun fact #2: At the beginning, all of that was white. So when you came into Rome, you were walked into a white city. Nuts!

The next thing after Ancient Rome was free time. Which meant food time. Savannah and I went off after receiving our ten euros from the Rotary to try to find an authentic Italian restaurant with cheap-ish food. We found ourselves at a little restaurant with good deals and quickly realized that it was becoming an exchange student hub, which happened continuously throughout the trip. We ordered bruschetta to start off with, which is basically toasted bread covered in a tomato and basil mixture with salt and olive oil. It became my new favorite food very quickly. Then we ordered a margherita pizza and a salad to split. The best thing about Italian food is that it isn't heavy, even though you would think it is. For our salad, our dressing was just balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The pizza had a super thin and crunchy crust and you could tell that it was home-made. Just overall, it was a delicious meal and I was falling deeper and deeper in love with Italian food.

After we ate, we realized that we were going to be late to meet back up with everyone else, so we ran back to the square where we had to meet, but it turns out that we were not nearly the last ones to get there. So we snuck off for a bit to check out a really cool looking store with different shapes and colors of pasta, biscotti, and fancy spices. Who remembers the explicit chocolate from Brugge? You know, the ones that were in the shapes of a certain male appendage... Yah, well it turns out it's not just for chocolate. We found pasta in the same shape. And we laughed. Anyways, we sampled the different biscotti and finally decided on a couple to buy, along with really cool bow-tie pastas that were colored to look like the Italian flag as gifts for our host families. By this time, we had missed the group, which was no big deal because we knew exactly where they were going and we quickly caught up with them at the Pantheon.

The Pantheon is really cool because in the dome ceiling, there is a giant hole. Just in the center, just like that. And it doesn't matter what gets in. Again, there was marble and statues everywhere and that was really awesome to look at too. We took our pictures and went outside. By this time, Savannah and I had met back up with Jordann and we were about to break away from our group. You see, Jordann has a friend in Rome who was an exchange student in her town. Her name is Sabina. And as we were in Rome, she contacted her friend to see if she wanted to get together. So Jordann took Savannah and me with her and we went to meet Sabina. She is really nice and we had a great afternoon together! We started off by going to a gelato place with so many flavors, it's impossible to pick which ones you want. I finally ended up choosing one scoop chocolate and strawberry combo, one scoop wild berry. It was my first gelato ever and boy was it delicious.

Our next stop was the famous Trevi Fountain. It was really cool being shown around the city and going to the big monuments with someone who actually lives there. And of course, we followed tradition and flung coins over our shoulders into the fountain. I have the best series of photos of that :) And it means we're coming back to Rome! After the fountain, we went to the Spanish steps. We asked Sabina why they are called that, but she didn't even know. They're just in a Spanish style I guess. But it is a really beautiful view from the top. And there are painters and vendors all over selling pretty pictures and paintings of Italy. We went down the steps, took pictures and continued being the tourists that we were. But it was soon coming upon the time that we had to meet back up with Rotary, so what do we do? We make like the Italians and use the subway! Sabina showed us how it works and for one euro we were able to take the two different trains to bring us back to the Colosseum. Of course, once we were at the Colosseum, finding our group was a little difficult. We walked almost all the way around it and it turned out that we needed to be pretty much where we started... But it was no big deal because we got to meet an awesome Italian girl and see an incredible Italian city in the process. We said goodbye to her, met up with Rotary, and then the whole group walked back to the buses where we started the journey back to our hotel.

We got back and we had about 15 minutes so I ran to the beach with my friend Mallory who is also a dancer and we took a few fun dancing shots in the black sand with the dark ocean behind us. It is incredible, the Mediterranean Sea. Because the sand really is black. And it's just sand that happens to be black. It's not rocks or shells or dirt. It's sand. And it's AWESOME. So we had fun taking our pictures quickly and then we ran back to the hotel to catch dinner. That night, we started off with pasta, of course, and had a sort of pork and potatoes for the meal and finished off with more gelato. So I had two gelatos in one day... But no biggie :) After dinner, all the exchange students gathered in the courtyard of the hotel because it was the birthday of one of the guys, Jackson (who has insane orange hair, just throwing it out there). We sang Happy Birthday, the Rotary guys gave him a gift, and we shared cake and champagne in the courtyard. Afterwards, I think some people went to the pool, but my room went upstairs to shower and sleep since we had to get up early the next morning.

Day 4: We started off our next morning getting up wayy too early and packing up all our luggage. It wasn't very nice out in the morning; it was cold and windy and dreary. But we packed up the bus and drove for a while until we got to our first stop for the day: Ostia Antica, the door of Ancient Rome. It started to rain when we first got there, but it quickly cleared up and after just a half hour, the sun was shining and life was good. We started off in our four groups and we were given the option to stay with our Rotary person who would give the explanations or go off on our own. Savannah and I started off in the group but eventually broke off by ourselves to explore a little bit. Then we came upon the ancient theater. Right behind it were some steps with old broken down columns. Next thing I knew, we were ready to take dance pictures. I had been carrying around my pointe shoes like a dork for the whole trip, so I pulled them out and we took some really lovely dance photos among the ruins. It was fun, except for one instance where my skirt was literally blown all the way up... Classy. Pretty soon it was time to go meet back up with the group and we started to head back towards the entrance. But after we were about halfway there I realized that I had left my badge on a rock all the way back where we had taken pictures. So we ran back to grab it. Needless to say, we were late meeting the group, but we were not the last ones, so it was ok. We all got back in the bus for more driving towards our next stop, the Monastery of Monte Cassino.

On the way there, we stopped along the highway to grab lunch. And you know what's sad? Even in a quick roadside place on the highway, the food is better than quite a few of the sit-down restaurants that you can find in the States. Savannah and I split a three course meal, which was a delicious salad with mozzarella, risotto, and a vegetable dish in a red sauce that was as hearty as a beef stew. On the side of the road!! It was delicious, not gonna lie.

The afternoon was spent in the monastery, and I have to say, I've never been in such a beautiful, calm, peaceful place in my life. The minute you walked in you just felt... Light. And full of happiness. The monastery is situated in the mountains, above a village and from the balconies of the estate, you can see out over the most stunning landscape... It was the first time in a long time that I can truly say I felt God's presence, especially since I've been in Belgium and not going to church regularly. We did not have a guide, we just walked around quietly, taking it all in. The whole place is white, and with the sun it was just shining with beauty. Eventually we ended up in the actual church of the monastery and that was just beautiful. We ended up staying there through a prayer service that was given by the monks and that was very interesting because it was basically just them chanting prayers in Italian, which was so lovely to hear. It was really exactly what I needed. And then something wonderful happened. I found myself praying. In French. For 40 minutes. The words just coming and spilling out of me. I felt like I couldn't even pray in English because the words just weren't there. It was one of the best experiences I've had here in Europe, and probably the best spiritual experience I've had in my life. I felt so at peace.

Afterwards, we found our bus and winded our way down the mountain to the road towards Naples, where we would spend the next three nights. But that, my dears, is for another blog :)

Pictures coming later!

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!!

Excuses... Again...

So this weekend was the theatre. Which is why I haven't posted. And I really need to sleep tonight so I'm not going to post yet. All you need to know right now is that I had one of the best, most memorable weekends of my life.

That is all.

For now.

:)

Updates!!

Ok I'm back!!! Hopefully I will be able to use my host brother's wifi semi-regularly now to keep this blog updated! Afterall, it will end up being a really nice souvenir at the end of my trip. A sort of journal if you will. Here are all the exciting things that have happened since I last posted:

I went to the Transardentes festival in Liège! This was last Saturday, January 29th. Basically, it was a big techno rave, similar to I Love Techno, but smaller. Saturday morning, I went to dance as usual, and I walked there actually, because there is no convenient bus to get me to the Academy on a Saturday mid-morning. So I walked. It was a nice brisk walk. I went through my two hours of dance, but then realized that I left my wallet and bus pass at home so I couldn't take the bus back... So I asked one of my fellow dancers if she could give me a ride home. She was so kind, she did even more than that! Alice brought me back to her house and I ate lunch with her and her family before she drove me back to Bertrée. Now, Benjamin's girlfriend had been at the house all weekend last weekend and my host parents went away to France for Jacques's birthday. So I didn't spend much time at the house. Instead, once I got home from dance, I quickly got myself ready and then headed over to my friend Romane's house. We hung out for a bit before her parents drove us to Liège and we got some dinner at McDonald's (très classe) and then met up with a couple of Romane's friends at their house. Then we all went together to the Transardentes. We had lucked out finding me a ticket earlier in the evening, so getting there was no problem. Eventually we met up with some other kids from Hannut and had a great time dancing! I was involved in my first ever mosh pit :) But then something put a damper on the evening. Romane was shaken by a guy in a mask, of which she has a serious phobia, and ended up pretty sick. So we called her dad and we went home around 2 30am. She felt much better once we got home, where the air wasn't smoky and there wasn't constant booming in her ears. Once we got back to her house, I found that my glasses had gotten broken while they were in my bag (I had put in my contacts for the night). So that was a bit of a bummer and kind of a "well what do I do now?" moment. We went to sleep, and the next morning I went back to my house. Later that night, my host parents came home and we all spent the evening together.

The week at school was pretty normal. Nothing much happened. I went to a store to get my glasses fixed, but all the woman could do was glue them and I'm not so sure how long they'll last, but we'll see. We also spoke with the director at school and together decided that this week is going to be our last week with our normal first hour with the Père Boly. We're going to start going to our normal classes next week.

Friday was the Cent Jours. This means that it's been 100 days since we've been at school! (I think) So the rhéto had the option to skip classes on Friday and go to a party in a village close to school. We had to pay five euros to go, and each class had a theme for the students to dress up. For our class, it was space. Nobody told me when I was packing to come to Belgium that I would have to bring a costume like this. So my options were pretty limited. Finally, I decided to just dress all in black and put a design on my face and do my hair to be kind of alien-ish. It worked out I suppose. The Belgians really went all out and everyone looked great! We all met up around 8 30 in the morning and got a bus that took us to the hall. First off, we got to eat chocolate croissants and orange juice. Then for the morning, we took lots of pictures and played games that were organized by a different group of students. Then we ate lunch and had a dance party in the afternoon. That was the real highlight of the day! Talia and I did the Soulja Boy dance right as soon as the song came on, and it was one of the first ones. All the Belgians formed a circle around us as we danced and they thought it was the coolest thing ever!! From that moment on, I was a dancing machine! I went nuts all afternoon, dancing with everyone and had a really fabulous time with all the Belgians.

After the party was over, we all went back to Hannut and hung out for a while at the café. Yes, all dressed up. It was interesting. Then I grabbed the bus home, trying not to be self conscious of the fact that I looked like a total idiot. I then managed to make myself look normal for another party that was going to be that evening in Hannut, but this one was more along the lines of KickAss. I also received a package from my family which contained two cans of Spaghettios and four packets of Ramen noodles. So happy!! Then, Romane and my other friend Lorraine came over and we all left for the party together, and it was actually kind of lame at the beginning. There were way too many people there and we were always getting shoved. We were also stuck in front of one of the doors, so it was freezing. But eventually, around midnight, we managed to make our way up to the front of the room and dance. I ended up staying til about 3am, and that's when my host brother came to pick me up. But he was not alone. He came with one of his friends, and on the way home, we ended up picking up another! We went back to the house and they invited me to chill with them for a while. Though I was skeptical and didn't want to be a tagalong, I figured why not and stayed downstairs with them until about 5 30am. We spent the night playing cards and joking around and talking and listening to music. We quoted "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Big Bang Theory" and had a great time! But it really screwed me over for the next morning when I had to go to dance on 4 hours of sleep... But I slept the rest of the day away so it was no big deal. Sunday, I spent with the host family and some other people that came over for Jacques's birthday. We had a sort of lamb stew with fries and it was absolutely delicious! Of course, I've also been going to the gym regularly and going to dance and eating delicious food and all that.

But I think this is the most important thing that happened since I last blogged: I came to many realizations.

I realized that I really need to be myself here and throw away any crutches or security blankets.

I realized that I have a lot of Belgian friends and the connections will only get stronger if I want them to, and if I make them happen.

I realized that I need to spend more time building my relationships here.

I realized that I am no longer homesick.

I realized that I am completely adjusted.

I realized that my home with always be in Parma, Ohio, and my parents and family will always be just that, and they can never be replaced.

BUT

I also realized that my life does not rest with my home and my family. My life rests with me and travels with me wherever I go. I do not have control over every aspect of it, but I do have control over myself.

Because of all of these realizations, I have made a few changes to turn my exchange in a bit of a different direction. I am putting more effort into my relationships here. I spend more time with my Belgian friends, treating them not as replacements for my friends at home, but instead creating new friendships and truly bonding with them. My host parents and I have a mutual trust that is only growing because I am really letting them see the real me. I am myself again, not just another shy exchange student. I am so happy. I really am finally to the point of feeling like me and like I belong here. I'm outgoing and bubbly and in a good mood and I'm getting to the point where I want to be. All in all, things are wonderful. I am not on vacation anymore, and this is just my life here. I'm bored sometimes, I'm sad sometimes, and I'm stressed sometimes. No, Belgium is not always keeping me occupied and no I don't always have something exciting going on. But here is what matters: I be me. And I am back to that. And I'm happy. La vie est BELLE.

Oh and I got accepted to Point Park University :P

Anyways, I'm happy. Things are looking up and going great. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this blog more updated!!!

Remember That Day That I Called Exercise Day?

So if you've been reading the blog since the beginning, you probably remember that during the first week that I was here, I named one of the days "exercise day". I think I had biked and gone for a run that day or something... I'm not sure. Anyways, I was seriously wrong.

Today, December 14, 2010, and every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday that is going to follow this Tuesday is going to be name "exercise day". Why? Because Talia and I went to the gym for the first time today to actually work out. And it was AWESOME. We got there and nice lady behind the counter showed us first where the locker room was, we changed, and then she took us through the whole circuit. First, we did 10 minutes of cardio on the stationary bikes. Which was sadly difficult and my thighs were on fire afterwards. I was so depressed at my lack of in-shape ness. After that, we went through the weight training. For each machine we each did 4 set of 15 reps. The first was a leg press, just simple feet-on-panel-push-back-and-forth type thing. That was followed by two different machines, one that worked your inner thigh and the other worked the outer hip area. Then we went on to arms. Two different machines. Those weren't too bad. The next ones made me want to die. The sort of replicated push ups, which I'm terrible at, and I felt so weak. Especially the one that you push over your head. I can't believe how weak I am sometimes... But give me a couple weeks! After that we did crunches, but with this really cool thing. I don't even know what to call it. You laid on a mat and put your head and shoulders under this light-weight thing. It had a little something for your head to rest on and then there is a bar above your face that you put your hands on, but you don't push with it. You use your abs to do the crunches, but it supports your head so your neck doesn't hurt afterwards. SO COOL! I want one. After the crunches, we went back to weight training and did more arm work. After that, those machines where you push the bar down with your calves to work your thighs, and then another where you push it up to work the backs of your legs. I felt the burn. After we finished that, it was time for more cardio, and this time we did 20 minutes on the bikes. But for some reason it was much easier that time.

By the time our workout was finished, it had taken us almost 2 hours, which we were very satisfied with. We plan on going almost every day after school and most Saturdays. So why are Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays exercise days and not Mondays or Wednesdays or Fridays? Because I have dance. And today went ok, but I'm tired and I'm sure I'm going to die from soreness during my next class.

By the way, the fact that I can't wear contacts anymore is killing me in dance.

As far as school today, I had my French exam, which went rather well if I do say so myself. The first part, I did the same as the rest of the class, though my teacher gave me the option. She said I could try or just work on something else. I decided to try, why not? So she just told me to do my best. She's awesome. Out of the four questions, I was able to finish three of them. Two of them were analyzing texts, excerpts from books, one was a poem analyzation, and one had two paintings to explain. I was able to do the paintings with no problem, and the poem was actually the one that I had come across last night while I was studying and absolutely fell in love with. So I read it over and over and was an expert on it. WIN! I was actually able to understand the texts without translating in my head, which made me very very proud, but I had to read very slowly, so the text itself took me a good half hour to read. But I was able to write a great analysis about it and I'm so very proud of my work. The second part, the rest of the class had to write about the books they had read. As far as me, she gave me two questions to answer. The first asked what the most important book in my life is and why, and the second asked if culture is important to the young people of today and why. I think I answered those fairly well also. Overall, I'm very proud of my French exam, regardless of the grade I receive. After that, Talia and I got food and then went to the gym.

Tomorrow is English. And then food. And then gym. Yay! Right now, sleepytime. Bonne nuit!

Quick Post

You know what I've realized? I go through my whole day thinking about what I'm going to write about in my blog that night, and then by the time I get to my computer and lay down for the night, I have forgotten everything that I was going to say. So let's just recap my day.

I actually had a freaking fantastic day in Belgium today :) It started out with me waking up pretty late, because I didn't have school today, and going down to the breakfast table. And what is awaiting me there but a package. Now I love getting mail, especially when I'm not expecting it. And the last thing I expected to see in my place this morning was a package. I thought it would be from family or maybe Kaitlyn, but I looked at the label and it was from Ryan's family back home! Which I just thought was the sweetest thing ever. So I frantically ripped it open and a bunch of little individually wrapped Christmas presents fall out, along with a card. First Christmas presents in Belgium! I received a shirt that says Hope on it, a few pairs of socks and a pair of gloves. Which I'm grateful for because all the socks I have here are ankle socks and they just don't cut it with the boots. So that was basically the best surprise ever.

After breakfast, I went back upstairs and went hard to work on crossing the 50 000 word finish line of my novel. AND I DID IT!!!! I wrote 50 000 words in 30 days and I am so proud of myself! The book is nowhere near done, but I set a goal, and I achieved it. Now, I'm going to get to work on finishing the actual first draft of the book and then revising it. Because honestly, with some serious polishing, I really do think it could be publish worthy. Which excites me :)

I spent the afternoon with my host mom and Talia. We went to a MALL. This is a big deal. There are like three malls in all of Belgium. Ok more than that, but you get the picture. They're hard to come by. It was so American I couldn't take it. I bought a pair of ear muffs, some pretty earrings, a winter hat and some ridiculously soft, lined leggings that will be super warm. I was on the look out for Christmas presents, since I have begun my search, but no luck today. I also found an absolutely adorable pair of suede gloves that were lined and warm and wonderful, but they were 25 euros, and I just could not justify that. Although they looked lovely.

I came home and Talia stayed for dinner and then I had three hours of dance, the first of which was a mini rehearsal for the show that I have on Saturday. You know, the one with the blue fabric tubey-thingys. And then jazz. But I really started to feel sick during my jazz class. Sort of heartburn ish. Not fun at all. Now I'm at home, ready to make it an early night. Sorta. It's already almost eleven. But I took a shower, so that ate some time. Ok well I'm rambling now. I need to sleep. À demain!

A Day With Rain, But A Day Without Tears.

Today was much much much better than the past few days. It was day without tears. I was actually quite chipper today! And for good reason. I got a lot of things taken care of today that needed to be taken care of. We went to the city hall type building and confirmed my new temporary Belgian ID so I will be officially Belgian for the year! Then we stopped by the school and dropped off the paperwork that they needed and proceeded to the Academy of Dance and Music where I signed up for my dance classes that I will take while I'm here! From what I could understand (hehe) I will dance three days a week, taking both "danse classique" (ballet) and "danse jazz" (jazz). I am so excited to start dancing again! It is definitely something I miss.

On the note of dance, I started the process of applying to colleges for when I get back next year. The four schools that I have decided to apply to (so far) are New York University, MercyHurst College, Point Park University, and Baldwin-Wallace College. My major, though, is different depending on the college... For example, for NYU I am applying to the Gallatin School of Individualized Study so I can study theater and dance AND photography! That is really my dream school. It is ideal and I can study everything and get a degree in a major that I control. For MercyHurst, I am applying for their dance program. At Point Park, I will either audition for their dance or musical theatre programs, and at BW, I will audition for musical theater. It's really great because these are schools are extremely cooperative and working with me to do DVD auditions because of my situation. The MercyHurst people are especially cool :)

So today was Attack-Of-The-Crazy-Bugs Day. This morning I went for a run (2.5 kilometers in 11 minutes!! That's over a mile and a half! I was proud of myself) and on the way back I started to feel kind of sick so I stopped and sat down on a bench for a few minutes and all of the sudden I felt a pinch on the back of my ankle. I thought it was a prickly plant that hit me but then it really started to hurt so I looked down and it was just a tiny little red dot but it killed! Then all of the sudden everything started to go to a blur and I passed out the sidewalk, hitting my head on the cold, black pavement.

Just kidding. It was a fire ant. But it really did hurt. Then I was walking back and a freaking huge fly just rammed itself into my forehead. Lovely. And then later I went with my host mom to visit another family and there were tons of flies all over the place! They have horses and I felt so bad because the horses were just covered in flies, and they lined their eyes. It was really gross actually... But basically, the flies were crazy and everywhere. So it was Attack-Of-The-Crazy-Bugs Day.

I met another girl my age today, Manon. She will be at my school. She was very nice and I was so proud of myself because I was able to understand almost everything she said to me in French! My comprehension has improved so much. I still don't speak very well, but I think it's mostly a level of confidence because in my head I know what the sentence would be, but I can't spit it out because I'm afraid of being wrong. But it will all get better once school starts and I'm forced to speak it.

Food of the day: French fries. Which aren't actually French. They are totally Belgian and they are fantastic. "Frites" en français. I don't have much to say food-wise today because that is all that was really interesting... Dinner consisted of pork and salad with "les frites" which, like everything else here was delicious :) Oh I did have an eclair after lunch which was absolutely fantastic :) Anything with Belgian chocolate in/on it is wonderful.

Tomorrow I go with the other exchange students to Brussels to visit the Royal Palace and Parliament so that should be very interesting! Hopefully I'll have some great pictures to post! Bedtime!