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 !

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.

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

Allez Standard!

Today I had the day off because Madame Gallo was not there, and as you all know by now, I only have class with Madame Gallo on Wednesdays. So I took the opportunity to go visit my host brother in Namur. We spent the day together and it was pretty rockin. We took a walk through a park there that reminds me kind of a really small scaled down version of Central Park, listened to music, watched a movie, etc. It was really nice out today, so that was a plus. The only downside is that getting to Namur sucks because whether I take two trains or a bus and a train, it still takes a good hour and a half to get there from Hannut. Blech. But, plus side, I did run into Karine and Damien on my way to catch my train home. We got all caught up. It was cool to Damien after so many months of living in different houses.

I was unable to post yesterday because I got home too late. I stayed home from school yesterday because I was just exhausted and woke up not feeling well at all. So I spent the entire morning sleeping and by the time everyone got home from school, I was doing much better and by dinner time, I was able to eat with the family. At dinner, we started talking about the recent soccer matches and our team in Liège, the Standard. Turned out that there was a match that night and even though there were no tickets left for the stadium, we could go to Liège at the Place St. Lambert (where I spend most of my Liège time anyways) and there would be a screen set up for people to watch the game. So in the spirit of spontaneity, my host dad and Manon and I decided to join my host uncle and cousin for the game. We headed out around 8 15pm and got to Liège by 8 45, all clad in red to support the Standard. It was really cool actually. There were TONS of people there (we heard later on the radio something about 45,000 whaaaaat) all dressed in red, screaming, yelling and drinking beer (of course, Belgium). It wasn't easy to see the screen because of the crowd, but we eventually managed to battle our way through it and find a spot to stand. Once we scored, it was absolutely nuts. There were firecrackers going off and red lights everywhere and people jumping all over the place. But, I'm sorry to say, by the end of the hour and a half match and the three-minute overtime, the other team from Genk had managed to score and beat the Standard. Everyone was pretty disappointed. But it was, nonetheless, cool to see and I'm so glad I got to go!

I must bid everyone good night now, as I actually have to go to school tomorrow. Bonne nuit !

Correction

Benjamin has so kindly pointed out that I put on my first blog post about the family that he is 23, when in fact, he is 22. So there, I fixed it. :)

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 !

Back To Blogging...

I've really sucked at blogging these last couple weeks... See I have this short attention span and the fact that I've kept it up this long surprises me. But the fact is that I must press on! I have to finish this year of blogging!

Ok to catch us up on the last couple weeks...

Things are going very well at my new host house! I love having sisters again. We spend time together eating (a lot), talking, laying out in the sun, etc. The weather in Belgium has been uncharacteristically lovely and warm with lots of sun lately. Which is beautiful and I am getting really dark with some of the most gorgeous tan lines you've ever seen. I've been to Namur and Liège a couple times since changing families, mostly on Wednesday afternoon. There has not been too many exciting things happening around here that I can post on my blog... Except...

Two weekends ago, Talia and I were invited by our Rotary district to be a part of the Outbound Weekend, which was basically the weekend orientation for the future Belgian exchange students who are going to leave next year on exchange. There were only about 23 inbounds there, so it was kind of a big deal that we were chosen to go. We had a nice bus adventure trying to get from Liège to a town called Wigemont. We got off too late and had to walk back, not exactly sure of where to go. And of course, we found the building but stood outside of it for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get in and where to go. We finally figured it out, (Rotary, you could put up some signs next time) and met up with the other exchange students where we just socialized until the Belgians got there. We met the 70 or so future exchange students, ate dinner with them, and then it was time to give our country presentations. There were quite a few Americans, so we did a quick PowerPoint and sang the 50 Nifty United States song, which if you don't know, is all the states in alphabetical order. And I got roped into singing the National Anthem. Right there, on the spot, without warming up. Singing what is potentially the most difficult song written in the history of American classics. Basically what happened was Mr. Biname had heard from De Boyer that I sing well and he told me that I was going to sing. I protested, but he just laughed and told me it was already in the program. And when we got up to do our presentation (almost last, as the USA is second to last alphabetically, followed only by Venezuela) he announced that I would sing. And then everyone started cheering for me. So basically I had no choice at that point. It didn't go terribly, but not well either. It's been way too long since I've sang... But my French was good for the actual presentation. All the kids found out then where they were going the next year, we then met our roommates (each inbound in a room with outbounds) and it was time to head to the rooms. I was rooming with three girls who were each going to the States. They didn't seem too excited to leave, but hey, it's scary at first.

The next day, the inbounds spent most of our time preparing the presentation for that night while the outbounds had their presentations of the rules and such. But in the afternoon, we all got a break to take a "hike" (walk) together through the country side and talk about the coming year. We were broken up into groups by countries, and I talked to a bunch of the different students. By the end of that walk, after talking to us about what it's like in the different countries, I think the majority of them were stoked for their exchanges if they weren't already.

That evening, we started off by doing a sort of skit about the process of the year of an exchange student. I played the exchange student, a Belgian going to the States, and we played the whole story, going to the airport and through customs, culture shock, being homesick, making friends, falling in love, and finally leaving our new second home. Afterwards, we each told our own personal stories about the hardships, the funny things, and just the problems that can show up. I talked about how I didn't get my visa until the day I left and my relationship story. And then the Rotex kids talked about going home. And Talia and I cried. That was when I really realized that I don't want to leave this country... But that is for a different blog!

That night, the exchange students got to stay up later and eat frites and just chill. I got a massage from my good friend Remi, who very well may have a future career in massage therapy. We all then snuck around to take our showers and get into bed without waking up our outbounds. Sunday was spent just hanging out. We could leave if we wanted to, but the night before, De Boyer had asked me to give a speech for the parents that afternoon about my exchange. I was one of two exchange students that were asked, so I couldn't exactly turn it down. So I had to stay, which turned out to be a good thing because I bonded with some of the outbounds. And I worked on my speech and by the time it was time to give it in front of everyone, I was fairly confident, even though I only had the first half written out. But once I got up there, Rotary struck again. I was once again, in the same fashion, roped into singing the Star Spangled Banner. This time with absolutely NO preparation. But it went MUCH better than the first time. Then I gave my speech, which just flowed nicely in French and at the end of it, I was proud of it all. I went home with Géraldine and her parents and spent the rest of the day just chilling and catching up on the sleep that I had missed over the weekend.

Last weekend I went to Brussels with Rotary on Saturday to see the Atomium and the Royal Greenhouses. They're only open a couple weeks in May. And I had never seen the Atomium. I took some nice pictures. What the Atomium is, is basically a giant silver sculpture of an atom. And you can go up into the different balls of the atom. At the very top, you can look out of the windows over Brussels. The other ones have exhibitions in them. We went up to the top and then did the lower ones afterwards. After our visit there and going up and down the fastest elevator in Europe, we had lunch (I had FALAFEL!! And a milkshake. Good day), and then headed over to the greenhouses, which were lovely. Again, took a million pictures. It took a while to walk through. We did have some chilling time afterwards where Mikayla and Christian and I did a nice photoshoot. Then Rotary gave us, of course, waffles and orange juice. However, we still had free time so we stopped by yet another European church. I'm not going to lie, I didn't really pay attention... Plus I was really tired and I had eaten too much waffle. But we went back to Liège and I took the train back to Landen and went home.

I'm pretty sure that is all that's been happening around here... Last Thursday we were off of school because the teachers went on strike. Good old Belgium. I'm attempting to diet again, though it doesn't work well in this house when there are cookies and chocolates EVERYWHERE. Yesterday marked two months left here. I'm freaking out a bit... Again, that's for another blog, later. Exams are coming up, but I'm not entirely sure how that is going to work out this time around... We'll find out! And I'm going to try very hard to get back to regular posting. Now, it's bed time. Bonne nuit !

Easter In Belgium

OK I PROMISE TOMORROW I'LL DO THE ITALY POST. We have off of school so I have no excuse. However, today is Easter. And I'm celebrating it in Belgium, obviously.

Let me just start off by saying that after being here, I so very much more appreciate holidays in the States. Today is one of the two major holidays that we base our year off of in the States and here is seems to be barely regarded as more than just another Sunday. Let me back up a little.

Yesterday, I switched host families. It was pretty emotional for me, actually, as I had become decently attached to the other one. I had packed up my entire life, again, and it came to be about three suitcases, two big duffel bags, five boxes, four other bags, my purse, and my laptop bag. Wow! My new host mom, Marie-Noelle, came to pick me up with two of my host sisters, Manon (you all know her) and Philippine, around 2pm, just after Colette had gotten back from her meetings and we were having champagne to celebrate the time that I was at their house. Then we packed up Marie-Noelle's car but it didn't fit so Ben ended up driving me over to the new house with the rest of my stuff. I said all my goodbyes, and yes I cried a little in the car. But I got to the new house and my goodness is it a castle. Obviously I've been there before and I knew my room would be giant, but I had forgotten just how giant. I spent the rest of the day unpacking, talking with my new host family, and decorating my room with all my pictures and such. I took my time and I was kind of sad but in the end, I could see how excited my new family is to have me and I quickly realized that I'm going to have a great last part of my exchange here.

My new host family consists of my host parents, Marie-Noelle and Pierre, three sister, Philippine (the youngest), Manon (my age), and Géraldine (university) and then there is also a brother, Antoine, but I apparently won't be seeing much of him as he apparently only comes home every so often... Anyways, I got all settled in, ate dinner with them last night and then went to a horse show with Manon and Philippine and my host dad. We have a friend, Kathleen, who rides but instead of just regular horseback riding, she does a sort of Spanish style riding and this was her show. So all the girls who rode had these huge beautiful dresses that pretty much covered the horses' backs entirely and the men were dressed in Spanish-type costumes also. The show was really interesting; I had never seen anything like that before. I enjoyed myself. And anyways, I've always though horseback riding was really cool, I just never got into it myself.

After talking seeing Kathleen afterwards, Manon and I went into town to get a drink at the bar with the kids from school that I hadn't seen since before I went to Paris. It was a great night! I got to see all my friends, heard stories, told stories, and just caught up with life. And then we went back to the house and I spent my first night in my new host house.

Then this morning was Easter. We got up semi-early and got ready to go to church for 10am. But we got there and it turned out that the mass wasn't until 10 30. Needless to say, we missed out on an extra half hour of sleep... But it's no big deal, because the mass was actually nice. It had been the first time since I had been to one since Christmas, and I'm sure you all remember... That one had been potentially the most depressing mass of my life. But this one was good. The choir was energetic, I understood what the priest said, and I was able to really follow along the way I did in the States. Plus, the church was full and bright and the whole feeling was just much happier.

Other than the mass, the day was really not much different than any other... There were chocolate eggs on our plates at breakfast, but the whole idea of Easter candy was not nearly as prominent as in the States. No baskets, no Easter bunny, just a few chocolate eggs. No family get togethers either. Obviously, we all ate lunch and dinner together, but nothing out of the ordinary. This afternoon I sat out in the sun with my host sisters and ended up falling asleep out there. I woke up with a nice shorts tan. There's a lovely line across both my thighs. I watched some tv, napped, Skyped with the fam... Nothing really out of the ordinary from any other day. Tomorrow is our last day of break. I'm going to sleep in. And write my Italy blog. Promise. Until then, bonne nuit !

Switching Host Families... Again

Ok so I fail. I said I would post about Italy last night and I didn't... But I have a good excuse and if you know me well, you know what it was. Regardless, I will post about that later. Because right now, there's something more important to talk about.

In about two hours, I will be all settled in to my new host house. The third and final one in my journey of exchange. And the truth is that it freaks me out. For many reasons. For one, it means that my exchange is coming quickly to a close. I have but two and half months left in this country before I go back home to the States, to my family and friends, to my old relationships and a new beginning at school. Two, I got pretty attached to this family. They were awesome. Honestly, I had fun every day that I was here. I saw new things, met new people, experienced things that I had never had the chance to experience before. I couldn't be happier with my stay here. The only thing that sucks is that I have to leave now. But you know, I'll always have these memories. They have taken a small piece of my heart. It's theirs and they will always be there. The came into my life and left footprints. And those footprints are permanent. I will never forget them. They have become a part of my family. À la famille Letawe, je veux juste que vous sachez que je vous aime. Franchement, je vous aime et vous êtes incroyables. Merci pour tout !!

And with that, I move on to the new and last chapter of my exchange. And I'm jumping in with both feet to make sure that this last leg is a wonderful, if not better, than the last. Tata for now !

CARNAVAL

Alrighty, I'm finally doing this post for the week!! It was such a crazy, jam packed week, and I do apologize for the lack of blogging during it. And fear not, it will be very detailed (since my wonderful host brother has so very kindly commented on the fact that I talk about everything in my blogs, I can't let him down!).

So, we shall start with Sunday. It was pretty average as far as Sundays go. The day consisted of eating, family coming over, celebrating a birthday with three different cakes, and good conversation and company. And one of those cakes was a yellow one. Like a legit American yellow cake out of a Betty Crocker box. And they were all drenched in melted chocolate. Let's just say I found myself in heaven for about ten minutes.

Monday, we started the insanity of the week. As planned, I went to Liège with Jordann. I caught my bus at the last second and then caught my train, and surprisingly made it there with no problems. BUT, we shall not doubt the Belgian train system. Without fail, there was a complication. Jordann's train came over an hour and a half late. Talk about a long wait... I spent the time watching Ocean's 11 on my iPod :) Once she got there, we walked over to the MédiaCité to that wonderful sushi place. Remember? The one that Talia and I went to with the magical conveyor belt of all-you-can-eat Chinese food and sushi? Yah. We probably spent two hours there stuffing ourselves full of the delicious food. Afterwards, we did some shopping there and around Liège, managing to avoid paying for a bus. I bought a nice new pair of boots for only 10 euros! I was excited. After our day, my host parents met up with us in Liège and we all drove over to a cinema not to far away to catch a movie. We saw "Le Discours D'un Roi", or "The King's Speech" as you probably know it, after grabbing some food. It was a very VERY good movie. We saw it in French, obviously, but I really do think it would be even better in English. Afterwards, Jordann came back home with us and slept over.

The next morning, we woke up and got ourselves ready for MARDI GRAS!!! We didn't have set costumes, so we improvised. I just threw on every piece of colorful clothing that I own, including multiple scarves and crazy tights and my new boots, along with some nice fake eyelashes. Originially, the idea was that I would be color and Jordann would be darkness. But once the makeup was on, she turned into more of a cat and I don't know what the heck I was hehe We left the house with my host dad, who drove us to the train station in Namur since he was working there that day, and we caught the train from there to go to Binche. We did our makeup on the train and ended up talking to some really nice people who were American. The trains were packed with people who were all going to same place as we were. Eventually, we got there and ended up finding another exchange student who I hadn't known before, Raquel. She was there with her host parents. We walked around, following the huge crowd of people that were all going into the center of town. There were a bunch of guys dressed up in costumes as "gilles". I don't know how to describe the costume, so just look at the pictures. But I can tell you that they wore wooden shoes and marched to the beat of drums behind them through the crowds. It was very interesting and really really awesome! We spent the morning walking around and taking pictures and trying to find an ATM. But almost everything was closed, except for a few places to get food. For lunch, we ended up meeting up with Raquel's host parents and going to a Rotary stand to get some sandwiches. We spent time talking with them and then ended up finding another few exchange students and a rogue Canadian who was there for work (modeling, ha). His name was Ian and he spent some time with us since he was alone and we spoke English. Finally, around 4 30, it was time for the big event: the parade. We met another Australian exchange student, Shaun, and met up with another American girl named Stephanie, and somehow lost Jordann. We planted ourselves in one spot to get ready for the parade. Here, all the gilles and some other groups of people who were dressed up walked down the street throwing oranges into the crowd. For this reason, all the windows and doors on the building were covered in wooden frames and fencing to protect them, because let me tell you, they whipped those things. The gilles wore giant hats piled with feathers as they walked to the beat of drums. Between us four exchange students, we caught 33 oranges. We would have caught more, but there was a guy in front of us who had crazy reflexes and caught almost every one that came our way. We took turns getting on each others shoulders and catching the oranges and at the end, we split them up and went back to the train station to go home, which was also packed tight full of people. But I successfully got home without train trouble!

The next day was Wednesday. It was Ash Wednesday, and I failed to go to church. Which I feel terrible about. But I did spend the day much more calmly than the rest, though I did have to go up to the school for about five hours for a big rehearsal for the dance for the theater. I continued to teach Bad Romance, and we still have yet to finish. I really hope that by the end of things it turns out well. I spent the rest of the day just resting up for the rest of my week.

Thursday was our day in Lille, France. Although there weren't really any problems with the trains or bus, I did realize a little too late that I had forgotten my wallet at home. Well, by this time I was already on the train and couldn't very well go back. Jordann did owe me some money though, so we were able to get our tickets taken care of and I just didn't buy anything all day ha. Monday and Tuesday had been lovely days and Wednesday wasn't bad either. But just our luck, Thursday was pretty ugly. It didn't rain, but it was cold and windy and gray. Still, we managed to enjoy ourselves walking around the city, led by a map, and taking plenty of pictures. We even did a little shopping in the cute shops that were tucked away in some of the back streets. We managed to find a couple second hand stores as well, one of which was called "The Hippie Market". It was awesome! We even splurged and split a speculoos macaroon from a ridiculously overpriced high class bakery. We were very tired though, and after seeing quite a few churches and monuments, we decided that we needed some relaxation and made our way to a cemetery that was on the edge of the city to calm down a little. Then we walked around the giant mall before making our way home. And I was exhausted.

Friday was our day in Maastricht, which is a city in Holland. I remembered my wallet, caught my train met up with Jordann on the train from Liège after being harassed by some creepy kids who sat next to me on the train. But Jordann saved me and we go to Maastricht without problem. That day was more chill. We had no map, but instead just walked around and explored, coming across some churches and big buildings, but mostly doing window shopping. We also indulged and got some fish fry from the market, which was nice for me since at home we go to a fish fry every Friday during Lent. We took some nice pictures there also and caught our train back home. Ben picked me up from the train station and asked me if I wanted to go out with them that night, but it was absolutely impossible because I was DEAD TIRED. So I went home and went to sleep!

Yesterday, I didn't do much of anything until the evening when I went to Brussels with Ben for the birthday of my host sister, Marie, who I had not met until last night. Ben pretty much begged me to go with him, so finally I caved and decided that I had nothing better to do. But then of course, both of us being brilliant people, we got lost for about 2 hours in Brussels and eventually were rescued by some family who led us back to where we were supposed to be. But it wasn't bad because we talked and laughed and joked for those 2 hours. I met a bunch of new people there who all wanted to speak English with me, including my host sister. We ate dinner with everyone and then left around 11 30, managing to find the highway this time easily. We got home and spent some time in front of the television until about 2am, which probably wasn't the smartest decision I ever made, as I was exhausted.

Today, I have literally done nothing but sleep, eat, and sit in front of my computer. But, I figure I'm allowed since I had such a busy week. And no school tomorrow!!

There you have it. My week of vacation for Carnaval.

6 Months... And They Flew By

Today is my six month anniversary in Belgium!!! Can you believe it? I've been here for six whole months... I've been blogging for six months. You've been reading and following my journey for six months!! It's crazy in my head. I can't believe I've actually kept up with this blog for this long... I have to say, that alone I am proud of!

So Wednesday we had that big dinner for my host mom for her birthday. The Lebanese food went over great! The spinach pies turned out perfectly, and were probably the best ones I've made in a long time. They were a huge hit and were gone by the next evening. For the main course, we had a sort of lamb stew with a medley of different vegetables and a rice pilaf. The food was excellent, and my host mom was blown away. She absolutely loved it! For dessert, we had a lemon and passionfruit sorbets.

Yesterday, however, I stayed home from school. If you read my blog Wednesday, you know how shaken I was and how stressful the day was for me. And it took it's toll and when I woke up Thursday morning, I couldn't really bring myself to move. After a half hour of attempting to pull myself out of bed, I realized it was a fruitless effort and resigned to the fact that my body needed sleep. So I was awake for a total of 10 hours yesterday, in which I spent time with the host family, ate, and watched movies (Fried Green Tomatoes and Mrs. Doubtfire).

Today, I went to school as usual, to discover that Madame Gallo was absent today. Which meant that I had two hours free before lunch. So what did I do with those two hours? In the spirit of spontaneity, and with the influence of Mikayla, I bit the bullet and got my hair cut. It's short... Like a good six or seven inches than it was before. The bangs are too short and I don't much care for them, but they will grow out quickly and I'm happy with the actual cut. Plus, it wasn't too expensive, so I'm satisfied with that. And the bangs will be fine by next weekend; they grow fast. After lunch, I had a huge math test that I'm not very confident that I did well on... You see, I missed one hour a week with the class with Père Boly, and that really took it's toll on my math. So try as I might, it was very hard to keep up, especially with it being in French and all. Then I went to the gym for the first time this week, ate dinner, and discussed my parents arrival and stay with my host dad, who is being so incredibly helpful with all the planning. It's great to have someone letting me know about all the options that are out there. It's gonna be hard to fit it all in, but I'm confident that we can do it!

I don't know how it's possible, but I'm exhausted. I blame the Belgian weather, i.e. Lack of sunshine.

Bonne nuit !

A New Day

I want to apologize for my post on Valentine's Day. Obviously I was having a bad day. But the truth is that none of us are pathetic. Some of us spend the day of love without a boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, life companion, etc. But that doesn't mean we're alone. We have our friends, our family, and the people we spend every day with. If nothing else, we should remember God's love on that day, as it really is St. Valentine's Day. So again, I'm sorry to bring everyone down with my three lines of sadness.

However, I have to say that today didn't go much better... I started off my day with Social Sciences, where we finished watching a truly beautiful Spanish film about a man who is paralyzed from the neck down and is fighting for his "right" to kill himself by means of euthanasia. This film left me with a few tears rolling down my face as I watched the Roman take his poison and die. Afterwards, we discussed the film and our own personal standings on the issue of euthanasia. And that is something that I am very passionate about. The life issues have always had a special place in my heart since I lost my aunt to suicide when I was a young girl. After her death, and then the death of Nick this year, I have been fragile to the issues. And when we talked about it today, for some reason I just could not contain myself. After I expressed my standing on the issue, in very broken French, since I found it difficult to find the words I wanted to use, I couldn't help but break down into silent tears. Talia was sitting next to me and she was the only one who noticed. I rushed the bathroom as soon as the bell rang and cleaned myself up, and I thought I was ok, but then as soon as I had to face people again, the waterworks began again. For some reason I just could not pull myself together for more than a few seconds. And to make matters worse, everyone was asking me if I was ok, but I couldn't even open my mouth to answer because I didn't want to make a scene. Then I had French class, where I had to take part in another oral presentation. I really didn't think it was going to happen, as my eyes were starting to well up again. At the beginning of my French class, Madame Gallo noticed that I was crying (again) and asked if I wanted to talk to her for a minute in the hall. I said yes and got up and followed her outside. I got out there and just let go and sobbed, thoughts of Nick and Aunt Sharon rushing through my head. You know sometimes things don't completely hit you all the way the first time. Or maybe they do, but you're so much more fragile than you think you are. Regardless, my entire composure was cracked, and Madame Gallo saw that. I asked her if I could speak English, and she yes and I poured the whole story out to her. And I have to say, I love Madame Véronique Gallo with all of my heart because she helped me so much. She comforted me and then told me that if I wanted to, I could go home early instead of staying for class. I decided that was best, since there was no way I would be able to get through the class, let alone the presentation, without making a total fool of myself. So I got my things together and went outside to the bus stop. The fresh air was cold today, but the sun was shining and it did me a load of good. I went home and very briefly explained to my host mom why I was home and hour early because I started crying again. She was with Léo and she understood entirely. So I went up to my room and calmed myself down once again.

I spent the rest of the morning finishing my book, "Memoirs of a Geisha". That is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it. I then went downstairs and spent some time with my host parents and Léo, ate a Belgian version of a Hot Pocket, and then went upstairs for a quick cat nap before joining my host dad and Olivier for the real event of the day: cooking a birthday dinner for my host mom! We had decided to make a Lebanese meal since she really likes Lebanese food and I was given the task of making spinach pies, which I gladly accepted. We did the grocery shopping and then I went right to it! It took me four hours to make a half batch, but I did it! And thoroughly enjoyed it too. We had no rolling pin, so I had to improvise and used the olive oil bottle, but it worked and I ended up making a decent amount. We also couldn't find allspice, but I improvised on that too... Hopefully, there will leftovers tomorrow! We haven't eaten the dinner yet, so I'll have to give details tomorrow on the rest of the food.

Usually I make cake. This time I made a real Lebanese dish from my heritage. And it made me very happy to do so.

Obviously I've had a rough couple of days. But I got through it with my family back home and my family here supporting me. Not to mention my amazing friends, both American and Belgian. Special thanks goes out to Miss Kaitlyn Dessoffy, Mademoiselle Romane Robert, Mademoiselle Lucie Gérard, Madame Gallo, my wonderful parents and sister, Miss Sandy Veres, and Miss Kaitlyn Conners, among many many others who have done great things for me over these past couple days. Also thank you to my readers. Just the very fact that you read my blog and support me means a lot to me. I love you all and you rock my world, no matter which part of it I'm in!

Until tomorrow, everyone. Love you!!!!

Dinner And A Movie

As you may recall, yesterday I went to go see a movie with my good friend Romane. She and her mom came to pick me up around 5pm yesterday and we went to the train station at Landen, only to find out that we had a good forty minutes to kill before our train. So we took that time to get Romane a sandwich in Landen. Thankfully, she knows Landen like the back of her hand since she used to go to school there. So we were able to get some food for her and catch the train in time to go to Liège. We spent the train ride listening to all kinds of different music and swapping songs. Once we got to Liège, I got myself a sandwich and we caught a bus to get to the theater. We got there during the previews, but it was no big deal. We went to see a French/Belgian film called "Rien à Déclarer". And I'm super proud of myself cause I understood just about everything! It was funny and I understood the jokes and I laughed. It was about the two customs officers at the border between France and Belgium and their antics, because the Belgian is totally against anything French. It was a really great movie and I'm glad I got to see it.

But after it was over, that's when the real adventure begins. We were looking frantically for ice cream because we had a crazy craving, but we live in Belgium, so everything closes early. But we did find some Hagen Daas, which was lovely :) We got on our train and found a really awesome leopard print umbrella that someone had left and took some fun pictures. And then we started going and I got the feeling we were going in the wrong direction... I said this to Romane who then asked the conductor and it turned out that the train did not in fact stop at Landen. So we ended up getting off the train at another stop and my host mom came to get us there... At 10 30 at night... Cause she's the most awesome host mom ever!!

And now my host brother is reading what I'm writing as he marvels (again) at my mad typing skills.

Anyways, we got back to the house and then spent the rest of the night watching another French movie called "LOL" and just talking. And eating our speculoos ice cream. Normal girls night. But I was falling asleep so we stopped the movie halfway through. This morning, we woke up and ate breakfast with my host family and got a nice surprise visit from Olivier and Léo :) We then finished watching the movie, which I also understood and really enjoyed, and then I walked Romane home. When I got back, there were a million people at the house because we were, again, celebrating birthdays. We ate together and then I played some soccer with Benjamin and two of the younger ones. We also played other games that really didn't have any rules, and at one point, one of the kids asked me if I was sure I was a girl because I was so madly skilled. Hahahahahahahahahaha I have to say I was pretty impressed with my kicking skills also. Then we went back inside and ate cake and sang and then watched "House" with the fam. Now I'm vegging out on the couch with my host brother, flipping through the channels. We're currently watching "Kendra" on MTV... Lame. But that's ok.

Until tomorrow! (or maybe later...) Bonne nuit.

Update: We Have Internet

So we have Internet back in the house where I'm staying right now. However, it doesn't seem to like to reach up to my room, so I have to use it downstairs. Which isn't a problem, it just happens to be slightly inconvenient.

This week has not been particularly interesting. The exchange students finished up our class with the Père Boly and next week we will begin going to our classes like all the rest of the students. Wednesday, I went to Liège on a mission with Mikayla. Our first mission was to eat the Spaghettios that my parents sent. We ate one can. Mission one accomplished. The second mission was for me. I had to find new pointe shoes. We found the store in Liège that my teacher had recommended and I successfully bought new pointe shoes and new tights. Mission two accomplished. The third was also for me; I had to exchange the Ice Watch that I bought my sister for Christmas. I was worried that they wouldn't exchange it because it had been two months since I bought it. But the woman was very understanding and realized that it took a while for me to send things home and back again and she let me exchange it. I couldn't get exactly the color I wanted, but I got her a really pretty purple one instead. So mission three was accomplished also. Mission four was to do cheap shopping for Mikayla at the MédiaCité. We made it there walking and did some nice shopping at the Primark and even got some Hagen Daas ice cream. We both got cones with one scoop of vanilla caramel brownie ice cream. I got whipped cream on mine too, which was a nice addition for me. And then we successfully caught a bus back to the train station and caught the first train. So misison four, also successful. All in all, it was a great day. Plus, her host mom was able to drive me home so I didn't have to worry about catching another bus.

Thursday, I went to dance as usual, where I tried out the new pointe shoes. And they're killer. I've never had such a problem breaking in pointe shoes. But it's not a big deal, it'll be fine in a while. Friday, yesterday, was an average day. I went to the gym after school, early, because our English teacher wasn't there. Also, we watched an incredible movie in Social Sciences. Seriously, it's a beautiful film. And it's in Spanish, with French subtitles and I did fine understanding it. I'm very proud of myself for that.

P.S. My host brother is currently watching me type in amazement. Because Americans all know how to type quickly and well and apparently it's incredible.

Back to my life. So today, I went to my dance class and it was a little better with my pointe shoes, but that's still gonna take some work. And in a about an hour, Romane is coming by and we're going to go to Liège to see a movie. We wanted to see The Black Swan, but it's not out in Belgium yet. So we're going to see something else, though I'm not sure what yet. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see how much of it I understand. And then she is going to spend the night here. Woo!

Here's to a great week. Bonne journée tout le monde !!

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!!!

A Sunday Afternoon Stroll In The Park

It's Sunday. Which means that I normally have nothing to do, since it's practically impossible to go to church here when I don't drive. So I woke up around noon after a pretty restless night with weird dreams that weren't exactly calming. I went downstairs and talked with my host parents before we all ate lunch together. We had soup, like the usual Sunday, and a quiche. I couldn't tell you all that was in the quiche, because there was so much in it, but there were lots and lots of vegetables, some goat cheese, and cottage cheese. And I think a little bit of chicken. But it was still a very good quiche.

I then went with my host mom to a park to take a nice walk this Sunday afternoon since the weather was nice and it wasn't too cold. We took Léo with us, and he was very well behaved. He seemed to really like it too, though by the end I think he was kind of chilly. We walked around, pushing him in the stroller and pointing out all the different animals. With the blue sky and the sun, it was really a beautiful walk. And for all you Clevelanders, the park that we were at was very much like the Metroparks back home. I got a little nostalgic. There were a couple ponds and a stream that ran through it. And with the sun shining down between the trees, it was just really nice. There was a playground there too, and of course, since it's Europe, you normally have to pay to use it. But because it was Sunday, it was free. We took Léo and he had fun, especially once he discovered sand. He spent a good half hour just picking it handfuls of it and moving it to a different location inside this tiny playhouse. It was too cute because it sent him into giggles every time. That is, until another little boy threw sand in Léo's face, in which case he cried a little. But he is just the cutest little thing I've ever seen.

We finished up our stroll and packed everything back up in the car and went back home. I spent some time by myself after that until dinner, which I ate with my host parents and Benjamin, who is home from school. We just had sandwiches for dinner, which like I said, before, I do not mind at all. Then me and Benjamin talked a bit about a bunch of different things and I showered and now here I am, blogging about my not very exciting day. Tomorrow, I go to school and start another week. Woo! For now, bonne nuit tout le monde !

As Promised...

Ok so here's my blog with pictures for the last couple days. Where did we leave off? Oh yes, Sunday. It seems that this house can get a little crazy. I tried not to get up too late on Sunday. I think I woke up around 10 00 or 10 30, and was down at the table at 11am. Sundays here mean pastry. So I had a really delicious pain au chocolat, which is really a fancy chocolate filled croissant. Which was a wonderful leap of faith that someone took somewhere long long ago. After breakfast, I donned my coat and gloves, and my host mom and I went on a walk through my new village, Bertrée. She showed me all the houses of the people she knows, the church, the roads, and a little monument that is on a corner that marks the borders. It was cold, but it was nice because there was some sun and the village looked kind of happy, which I haven't seen in a while.

Once we got back to the house, I finished up arranging my room, though I still need to hang my pictures and such. And my jewelry is still in a bag. So it's almost done. I then went down to eat lunch with my host parents, Amandine and AB. We had soup to start off with. Colette explained that she always makes soup on Sundays, because she has the time, and then we have soup for the week. Cool system. This week, it was a broth made from all kinds of different vegetables, and it was wonderful and kinda cleansing in a way. We started off with that. Next, we had a sort of salmon torte thing... I don't really know how to describe it. There was a crust, but it wasn't like a pie crust. Thinner and crunchier. And it was filled with salmon and a sort of cheese filling. But not very thick. And each slice had a nice big hunk of broccoli on it. I know I didn't do a very good job of describing it, but it was very good. I just really like salmon. The actual meal was chicken in a mustard sauce, rice pilaf, and the rest of the broccoli that didn't go on the torte. The mustard sauce was a little spicy, but had great flavors in it and everything was just really good. I didn't think it was possible to beat the cooking at the Crismer house, but Colette is really giving them a run for their money! As we finished up eating, we had visitors at the house. I'm not really sure how they are related to the family, but they were there and Colette heated up some food for them and we had a conversation. It was a young couple and the man had been to the States for a few months. He actually lived in Ohio. And liked it. No, loved it. Weird... But he was in Columbus so I guess that's legit... Then Olivier and Marie and Léo popped in for a visit. Amandine and AB had left already, because Amandine had to get things ready for a show she was stage managing. And we were going to go see it. So Olivier left little Léo with us to see the show, and Colette and Léo and I got in the car and drove not too far to get there.

The show was held in a barn behind a house. That sounds way worse than it actually was. It was a very nice room where they had it, though it was small. The show was for children, and was all about dreaming and imagination. There were a lot of cool lights and effects used and overall, it was very very well done. And Léo stayed nice and quiet through it all :) After the show, we went out and my Colette got herself a coffee, a piece of chocolate cake for Léo, and a piece of apple crumble and orange juice for me, even though I didn't really ask for anything. But it was very nice of her and the crumble was excellent. And Léo ate almost all of the cake! It was too cute. He is just a little bundle of cuteness! I love him, I do. We met back up with Amandine and then we all went back to the house, where we sat down with the couple who was there earlier, Amandine, Marie, Olivier, and my host parents, and we ate... More cake. Another king's cake. This time, Jacques was the king. The cake was very good, but it gave me a stomach ache cause I hadn't eaten any real food since lunch. I watched the news with my host parents, and then we ate dinner late around 9pm and I did not feel well. But I managed to have some soup and half a sandwich after calming myself down and convincing myself I was not going to be sick. After dinner, I went upstairs and finished my English presentation. Which kept me up til 3am.

I woke up the next morning at 7am. And I went to school for the first time in three weeks. And remembered that I don't have English on Mondays because of the session with Père Boly. So I had stayed up for nothing. But at least it was done. I also got my report card. I did alright. Not fabulously. I failed three classes: religion, math and science. I was really close in religion... One point. The other two, I knew I wouldn't do well, because in math I miss quite a bit because of the class with Père Boly, and in science, I only failed the exam, not the class, because I wasn't able to finish in time. So I'm not stressed about it.

After school, Talia and I went to the gym and there were a million people there. We figured it's cause of New Year's resolutions. Which they do here as well. My host dad picked me up around 6 30 and I went home and ate dinner with my host parents. We had soup and then this turkey that was breaded and stuffed with boursin cheese, which is a garlic cheese. We also had potatoes and cooked lettuce, which is actually really good because the sauce she made was creamy, but it was from the vegetables. Again, win. I did not have any dessert though, because I need to stop eating bad things. Though there is a ton of chocolate in my room from Christmas, and I can't stop eating that... After dinner I watched the news with my host mom, but was dozing off during it and went upstairs and fell asleep by 10 00 after tweaking my presentation a bit.

Today was nothing special. I got up and went to school. I did my presentation today and Talia got through most of hers. I had a mistake in mine and felt like an American idiot (ha...) but whatevs. The teacher thought it was great. I went through the school day without many problems, although I snagged two holes in my new tights and I'm pretty upset... After school, I took the bus home. I wasn't sure when to push the button to get off, but luckily somebody else took care of it and everything was good and I got off at the right stop. Nobody was home, but I just went upstairs and though I was going to take a nap, I watched about 4 episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" before my dance class. Then I ate dinner. My host dad made me some pasta and some pork, though I didn't finish it all. We talked about the marching band, which I enjoy talking about because they don't have that here and people are interested in it. I then went to my jazz class.

I'm getting really bored of the dance classes here. It's the same thing all the time, and we never learn anything new. All the choreography is the same stuff just put into different orders. I know that I'm used to a higher level, but it's really starting to have an effect on my own personal level of dancing... Which is difficult to handle. But it was funny today because one of my friends said something about a "foque". In French, the word "foque" means "seal". But if you say it out loud, it sounds like a certain word in English that I will not spell out because this is a family-friendly blog, and I would hate for my PG rating to jump to R with one post. So use your brains, people, and catch onto my subtle innuendoes. In other news, we started a new dance to the opening song from "A Chorus Line", which is up there on my list of favorite musicals. Although we're using the movie version, which is not half as good as the stage version, but hey I'll take what I can get.

Now I'm here writing this post and getting ready to add pictures and then hit the sack. SO TIRED ALL THE TIME. Good things tomorrow's a half day... And all with Madame Gallo!! Win!!! Bonne nuit :)

The kitchen woo!

The cat that woke me up at 6 30am, is a ninja, is loud, and I want to throw out a window.

The foyer when you first walk in.

The dining room.
Yes, that table for the television is an old Singer sewing machine. Cool, right??
The living room, still decorated for Christmas.
My bed!
My room. It looks a little messy like that, but I was just trying to add some color...
My suitcase/cardboard box rig in the armoire.

My own little hallway.
MY bathroom!!
MY sitting area!
MY balcony!!