España Dos

So this is technically the second part of my Spain blog since I did already post about the first day. We will try to keep it a little less extensive than the Italy blog since that got a little ridiculous...

Day Two of our adventure in Spain consisted of some sight-seeing in Madrid. Friday morning, Irene came by and picked up me and Talia and we went into the city to drop off the car. We then took the metro into the center of the city. The metro system in Madrid isn't too complicated and by the end of the trip, we were pros at it. Well Talia and I at least, Irene was already a pro. Anyway, the first thing we saw when we got into the center square were a bunch of tents set up because the people of Spain are in the middle of protests and such against the government. I don't really know the details, but it was calm when we were there. The first thing we did was walk to see a couple of the important buildings in Madrid which all have long complicated Spanish names that I don't know. However, in the ten minutes that it took to walk to said buildings, we passed more street performers than I think I've ever seen in my entire life combined. People were doing all sorts of things, from playing water glasses to being dressed up as an invisible man. Some of them were cool while others were just annoying, such as the guys who walked around with weird things in their mouths that made squeaky noises when they spoke. Some were even creepy, like a man who crouched behind a stroller with his head poked through and his face painted up like a baby's and a baby doll body attached to his neck... Regardless, it was interesting to see.

After being touristy, we walked the streets of Madrid and did some shopping. And you know what they have in Madrid? DUNKIN DONUTS. This was a big deal, though we didn't actually visit it until the last day. But we did shop and eventually stopped for lunch. We went to a really cool little restaurant that has this huge menu of 100 different kinds of sandwiches that you can get. But all in mini, so you pick out three or four, each for under two euros. We each got three different ones. I had a smoked salmon with cream cheese, tuna, and hamburger. And I paid less than five euros. AND we got free water, which definitely a plus. AND the bathrooms were FREE. AND it is illegal to smoke in public places. I love Spain. Anyways, lunch was super yummy and then we were back off to shopping. One of the main streets is... Well... The hooker street. I don't really have a lighter way to put it. Basically, you walk down the street and there is prostitute after prostitute leaning against a tree, wearing a ridiculously short skirt and ridiculously high heels and a ridiculous amount of makeup, waiting for a ridiculously desperate man to, well, give them some business. I will never understand those women... Once again, anyways... My goal for the trip was to find my dress for the Bal Rhéto here in Belgium (basically, Prom) and I totally succeeded that afternoon. It's very pretty and very me and I'm very happy with it. I even got 10% off because I was foreign! I'm not going to describe it, you all will just have to wait for the pictures!

After we were all shopped out and tired, we took refuge in a park across town. On the way there we passed a TGIFridays. Not a joke. I was amazed. Once we got to the park, we just crashed in the grass and chilled out for a couple hours, exchanging stories and eventually falling asleep. I'm pretty sure my camera almost got stolen too, but Irene saved it, thank goodness! After we woke up, we decided that it was ice cream time and went to find a good ice cream place. I got cookies and cream, which is not easy to find in Belgium, and we just relaxed again for a while.

Eventually it was time for me to get back to Alcala. Talia stayed with Irene that night. But we took the metro back to the bus station and I caught a bus back to the house, though I was a little lost and had to call Susan who had to send her daughter to the bus stop to get me. That night, she made a special kind of fish for dinner that I had never had before. Susan said that she had never eaten it either before being in Spain. Therefore, we don't know the name in English... But regardless, it was very good. We ate it with those shrimps that you have to dismember yourself and salad, along with the same cheeses. A nice variety of food that I wish I got to eat more often in Belgium...

That night I went to bed semi-early because the next day, Talia and Irene and I were off to Barcelona for the weekend! But that, my faithful followers, is for another post. Goodnight all!

I HEART ANTWERPEN!!

Today, I went to Antwerp (Anvers in French) with Talia, Mikayla, Christian, and Mikayla's friend Rachel from the States who has come to Belgium to visit. Antwerp is one of the biggest cities in Belgium and is located in the Flemish part of the country. Luckily for us, just about everyone there speaks English. I speak zero Flemish. Last night I slept over Talia's house, so this morning we got up nice and early and got ready to go. By the time we left the house, I was wearing Talia's shirt, necklace and earrings. Just throwing that out there. We left to catch the train around 8 30am, where we met up with Mikayla and Rachel. Christian met up with us in Brussels and finally we were all together to go to Antwerp. Of course, us being us, we got on the slowest train that stops at every station in between Brussels and Antwerp. But in the end, we still got there by 10 40am and had plenty of time. By the way, the Antwerp train station is rated as the third most beautiful train station in the world. And it's true, it's beautiful.

We spent the day walking around Antwerp, visiting the grande place, shopping and finding food, which was a fiasco. Christian wanted to go to a noodle bar, Talia wanted pizza, and the rest of us were just following around with rumbling tummies, wondering what the heck was going on. Well we walked all the way to the noodle bar, which was a good fifteen minutes, before realizing that they didn't open til noon and it was only 11 15. Well we were hungry. So we walked around some more, went into a few shops an eventually went back to the noodle bar. In the end, only Christian and I got noodles (I got mine with teriyaki sauce and shrimp). The other girls found a fries place and got those crazy sandwiches that have hamburger and fries on them. We rocked out to Lady Gaga (as usual) while we ate and then we were back off again to do some hard core shopping.

Antwerp is probably the most fashion forward city I've seen in Belgium. All the stores are big and bright and way more colorful then anything I've seen in the French part of the country. And it was so relieving to know that the rainbow has not disappeared into the pot of gold at the end of it. There is even an Urban Outfitters there! The other big point of interest? The Disney store!!!! Anyone who knows me knows that I am completely obsessed with anything and everything Disney. So this Disney store was a BIG deal. I walked in and I felt like I had shrunk back to being a four year old. I love that store! And I did buy a t-shirt that says I <3 Antwerpen with a Mickey head in the heart. It was my only purchase of the day (besides some hippie bands at H&M but those don't really count) and I'm very happy with it.

The only downside to the day was that it rained. All day. Which is really just my luck. Anytime I stay in Hannut, it's beautiful out and the sun is shining and you don't even need a coat. Then I travel and it rains and is cold and gross. Thank you, Belgium.

We ended up leaving an hour earlier than we had originally planned because let's face it, it's hard to motivate yourself when it's so yucky out. So we opted to grab a 3 45 train instead of a 4 45. But of course, we had to go back to the station a little bit early because, drum roll please, are you ready? THERE'S A STARBUCKS IN THE ANTWERP TRAIN STATION!!!!!!! This was a big deal. I haven't had a Starbucks caramel frappuccino since I left the States! Other than in the Brussels airport, it is the only Starbucks in the country. I walked in and I could just smell the Starbucks-ness of it. It was incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed my five euro coffee with an ungodly amount of calories in all that whipped cream. Mmmmmmm...

Well we caught our train back and I was back in Waremme with Talia around 5 45. I went back to her house with her to grab my stuff and my host mom picked me up there. I then proceeded to go back home and do nothing until we ate dinner and then I went to dance in my new Antwerpen shirt. And now I'm here, writing this post!

P.S. I have been told by a certain someone, ahem, *cough*Ben*cough* that I don't post enough pictures. So I hope you all enjoyed the pictures that I posted this time!

Until tomorrow? Bonne nuit tout le monde !

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!

I'm A Little Behind...

So obviously my blog has been a bit vacant for a while... I suppose I shall catch you up with the important stuff.

Saturday, I spent the day in Brussels with my friend, Liza, who is another exchange student. We met at the exotic dinner (remember that?) and we hit it off right away because let's face it, theater kids just get along. So we met up in Brussels at the station Centrale, which is gorgeous by the way, and then spent a good amount of time wandering around, seeing the Mannekin Pis, which is a statue of a little boy peeing, getting lost, making note of where we wanted to eat Chinese food, and eventually finding the road with all the stores. I did some hard core shopping and by the end of the day, I had two new scarves (the true Belgian ones with all the different colors that I've been looking for forever!), a dress, a pair of shoes, a tube of face mask stuff, another scarf, a sweater, and a lint roller. We did eat our Chinese food too, and way too much of it, and had no room for waffles... But it was ok because when I got home, I found out that my host mom had made homemade ones! There were the two little cousins over too. So I sat down to dinner with my host parents, Benjamin, and the two little ones. We had a typical German dish of sauerkraut with different kinds of meat and mashed potatoes, and then the waffles for dessert. I have to say, I didn't care for dinner much. I'm not a sausage/meat/sauerkraut person. I spent the evening hanging out with my host brother after playing a game with the little ones.

Sunday, I felt sick, so I pretty much stayed calm all day. Though I took a couple hours to watch some Big Bang Theory with Benjamin. We bond over television.

Monday was a normal day at school, followed by some normal time at the gym, followed by a normal dinner and a normal evening. There is a lot of crap going on in Belgium right now. We watched the news and it talked all about how there were 35,000 people in Brussels on Sunday for a big rally because there hasn't been a government in Belgium for over seven months now. I can't really explain further than that, because I don't really understand, but from what I get, Wallonie and Flandre don't like each other and there is talk about them breaking apart... Which is quite terrifying actually...

Yesterday was a normal school day, followed by a Rotary meeting that I had to go to. In fact, Karine came to get me to take me there, which was nice because we got to catch up and everything. I got in the car and it was just like the past four months. The meeting was held at a reception center because there were going to be four different mayors from different villages that were going to be there. There was also another guest who was kind of like the dean from the university in Liège. Once everyone was there, including Christian (the Canadian exchange student, you know him), we sat down to dinner. It started off with a salad, then the main course was rabbit with potatoes, and cinnamon pineapple and ice cream for dessert. It was the first time of my life that I ate rabbit, and I have to say it wasn't bad. The man from the university spoke for probably two hours, and I'm going to admit, it was very hard to sit through. Not to mention that...

I was kind of aggravated also because I had been told that night that someone told Rotary that I spend too much time with other exchange students, I don't have any Belgian friends, I'm not integrated at school, and I don't speak French well at all. And apparently, someone was thinking about emailing one of the head honchos of Rotary and scheduling a test for me to see if it was true or not. But it's a load of crap because everyone I talk to says that I speak well. I know that I'm improving and I know that my French is better than decent. I would never say that it's perfect, and I still have a lot of learning to do, but I try so hard to speak correctly and my accent is not bad and I know that I do well most of the time. And yes, I do spend time with other exchange students, but we are all kind of in the same group of friends. Of course it's convenient to go to a soirée with another exchange student or carpool or whatever. God forbid... Point being, JE PARLE FRANÇAIS.

Today, I had to do an oral presentation with two other girls in my French class. We had to read a book and then watch the movie that was made from it and do an analysis. We did "The Road", which in French is "La Route". It was really convenient for me because I read the book last year in my English class. So last Wednesday we watched the movie together (at a BELGIAN'S house) and did the work for the analysis. And today we presented it. And although I made a few pronunciation mistakes and Madame Gallo had to stop me a couple time because she didn't quite understand what I said, she was very impressed with me and said that I did well. Not to mention that we had the best analysis of the groups that went today and she said that all three of us were brilliant girls and she was happy with our presentation. And she was impressed because she asked a question about the movie and I was able to answer it completely correctly in French. So, HA. I win.

After school today I went to Liège with Talia and Mikayla and Eduardo and Aymeric. Talia and Eduardo and I took the bus to Huy, where we literally walked up to the train and pulled the handle as the train was pulling away. So we missed it and had to wait another forty five minutes. Once we got to Liège, we met up with the others, but it was too late to get the sushi that we were planning on getting. So in the end we had Pizza Hut. We just a couple pizzas and split them between us. Then we did some shopping. I walked away with another pair of shoes, but hey, it was the deal of the day. They were only six euros!! So I win. Again. HA. Then Mikayla and I got a waffle and went home after the others had left. We spent some quality talking time and her host mom kindly dropped me off at home. I then ate dinner with my host mom and now I'm contemplating a quick shower and bed... Yes that sounds like a plan. Goodnight. Bonne nuit tout le monde !

The Year Is Almost Over

I'm not sure when the last time I blogged was... I'm pretty sure the day that I went to Talia's for dinner. Yes that's right. Ok so I should pick up with yesterday.

So yesterday, Mikayla and I woke up at my house, under the impression that we would have to leave the house around 9 30am because we had heard my host mom say something about that the night before. So we got up, even though we had stayed up talking and watching How I Met Your Mother for hours and didn't get to sleep til 3am. Great quotes from last night: "It's not even a one word do!" "It's like a log of duck with a layer of fat on it. Well maybe ducks are just made that way". Anyways. We woke up, ate breakfast, and got ready for the day. But it turned out that we didn't have to leave until the afternoon. So instead of going back to sleep, we wasted time on the computer and talking. Eventually, right before lunch, we went, both of us, over to Mikayla's house. I was going to spend the night there because there was a little get together in Hannut that night at the café to introduce Talia's sister to all the Belgians. But more about that later.

We got to Mikayla's and threw all our stuff in her room, and then almost immediately went downstairs to eat. Of course. We had some couscous and found that the FAHB had taken the Jello that Mikayla had gotten him, and put it in the fridge. Not the made Jello, just the powder in the box. In the fridge. And when he came walking through the kitchen, we asked him why he had put the Jello in the fridge and he thought it was supposed to go there. We laughed at him, telling him that it's just the powder and it doesn't need to be refrigerated until you make the actual Jello. The FAHB cracks me up. We then talked about how the Belgians are not very creative with their food and just stick within the realm of meat and potatoes and blandness. I have to say, being here really makes me appreciate the food I eat in America. You know, all the Belgians make fun of Americans and say that we don't know how to cook and we make terrible food and all we eat is McDonald's. I detest that stereotype. Because I can 100% testify to the fact that the food that I eat in my house is better and more interesting than the food I eat here. I miss beef stroganoff and chicken paprikash and cottage cheese and noodles and macaroni and cheese and tacos and chicken salad and all the wonderful food that was made in my house daily. Don't get me wrong, I lucked out with families and I eat well here. But the food I ate in the States was much more interesting. I didn't just eat omelets. I ate omelets with tomatoes and zucchini and cheese and onion and all kinds of good stuff. And when I didn't know what to eat, I made something up. Belgians don't make things up. They don't experiment with their food and it's boring. They don't even have banana bread! And I really do think sometimes that when Europe came together to decide what European culture was going to be, Belgium was just kinda like no thanks we're good over here. I mean, you think of gourmet food, you think of Italian meats and pastas and French sauces and breads. In Belgium, we have waffles, fries, chocolate and beer. Oh yes. Very high class. I'm just frustrated with the lack of creativity in certain areas of my life. And it's not like I can just be creative on my own. The fact of the matter is that food isn't just sitting around the kitchen. They buy food for what they will make that night and there are never leftovers. Things like sour cream are hard to come by and food is limited. There is cream cheese, but there is only regular. No strawberry, no herb, no cinnamon. And I suppose that could just force me to be even more creative, but when there are no vegetables in the house and I can't just jump in my car and run up to the Giant Eagle, it gets a little complicated. Ok there is my little rant about Belgian food. Let us continue with the events of the days.

Mikayla and I then took a leap of faith. We cut my hair. Not all of my hair, just my bangs. I decided I wanted my straight across bangs back. So that is what we did next. I watched a few tutorials and looked up instructions. We grabbed a pair of scissors and went at it. They turned out pretty darn good, too. They're a little shorter on the sides than I wanted, but they look good and they will grow out. And after they do, I'm going back to the style I had a couple years ago. Which means cutting off a good four or five inches... But we'll get to that in a month or so. We then watched a few more episode of How I Met Your Mother, ate dinner, which was pasta with ketchup, and we were on our way to Hannut. We had to drop of Mikayla's little host brother at the de Wulf house first, but then we met up with Talia and her family at Mister Patate in Hannut. You know, the place with the giant sandwich and all the fries? Mikayla and I split fries and talked with Talia and her family. Eventually, some kids from school met up with us. Mathieu and Maxime sat with us and they spoke English so that the family would understand. They speak very well. I was impressed. Lately, we've all been speaking French so I forget how well some of the Belgians speak English. After we were done eating, we said our goodbyes to the parents, and they went back to the house that they were staying at. The rest of us went over to the café down the road that we always hang out at. I swear, everyone and their mother was there. Ok not for real, no mothers were there, but you get what I mean. There was really nowhere to sit and it was a cloud of smoke. I think Abbey (Talia's sis) was a little overwhelmed at first. But we started talking with the Belgians and they all took a liking to her and she loosened up fairly quickly. We had a good time talking and standing around. But there weren't many places to sit, and the radiator was not comfortable. Towards the end of the night, things started to get a little weird and Mikayla and I were starting to get aggravated, so we left around 10 30pm. We went back to Mikayla's and made ice cream sundaes with peanut butter, Nutella, sprinkles, and speculoos paste. The speculoos paste wasn't our best idea ever. We stayed up til about 2am watching more How I Met Your Mother, and then crashed for the night.

We had to get up early again this morning because Mikayla was supposed to catch a 10 30 train to go to Maastricht with the other girls from her Rotary club. The plan was to drop me off and home and then go to the station. But things got a little complicated and Mikayla's host mom decided that she would drive, and it wasn't quite understood that I was supposed to get dropped off at home before picking everyone else up. So it worked out that I just went too. We picked up Bella, an "oldie" from Australia, at the train station in Waremme and then Gabby from Guillemans in Liège, and then we were off. Basically, Maastricht is just another town, but it's in the Netherlands. So I can now add one country to my list of European countries that I have visited during my stay here. Fortunately for us, everyone there speaks English. We got stuck in some traffic on the way, but it was fine because with us four girls in the car, there was plenty to talk about. We got there, spent a good chunk of time trying to find a parking space, and then we went off to explore the shops of Maastricht with the understanding that we would meet back up with Mikayla's host mom at 4pm. First off, we found food. I got a sandwich with ham and cheese and pineapple, which was yummy. The bread makes it. Bella had this giant hotdog on a baguette with cheese, and the other two had Nutella crèpes. Then we did some shopping. But I did not buy anything. Be proud world.

In Belgium, there is a yearly sale. Almost to the extent of our Black Friday. Except it last multiple days, and it is really the only sale of the year. It takes place normally a few days after the New Year, and the discounts grow progressively as the days wear on. Well the sale had already began in Maastricht, and the stores and streets were very crowded. The giant two story H&M was pretty nuts. Mikayla waited a good 20 minutes to try on a few pairs of jeans. But it was worth it cause she found a great pair!

Around 4, we met back up with Mikayla's host mom, though she had to move the car because she had been parked outside of a "Sex Shop". Not joking, it said that on the sign and there were pictures of women, topless, on the shop window. The parking was just for the... *ahem* customers... of the shop. So we had to walk another ten minutes to get to the car. Which, normally, wouldn't be an issue, but I was not prepared to go shopping, so I was wearing my heeled boots and a very thin sweater under my coat, and with the cobblestone sidewalks and roads, it was a little rough. Luckily, though, I had earmuffs in my purse. So I didn't freeze to death. Bella and Gabby had decided to stay longer in Maastricht and take a train home, so they grabbed their things, we said goodbyes and then me and Mikayla were headed home with her host mom.

On the way home, we stopped at a GB to grab a recharge for Mikayla's phone and some chocolate for her... needs. Then we went back to her house, and waited for my host mom. We didn't wait long, but I ate a good amount of peanut M&Ms in that time. I really need school to start again. I'm much better about my diet when I'm at school...

So I went home after that and ate dinner and searched frantically for a way to watch that good old "Pippi Longstocking" online. However, no dice. All I could find was the 60s version, and I want the 1997 cartoon. Poo. Oh well, at least I'll sleep tonight. Which is very necessary, considering tomorrow is the New Year. It's pretty nuts to think that the year is almost over and pretty soon we'll be in 2011.

2010 was a hard year. There were a lot of hardships, difficulties, and losses. It taught us all how to grieve, how to cry, and how to be angry. But out of it, also, came how to love and how to support the people around us in times of need. In reality, it was was a great year for me. It is filled with lots of memories. I did some amazing shows in 2010. I graduated from high school. I went to my senior Prom. I had a wonderful boyfriend. I grew closer to my parents. I went to Belgium. I began learning French. Here's to 2011 being even greater! I have a lot to top. We'll see how it goes, but let's make 2011 a year of opportunities received and risks taken. No regrets, and don't take anything for granted. Live in the moment, and cherish what you have right now. Because tomorrow, it could be gone. Appreciate everything, even the struggles. Because the truth is, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. We wouldn't be who were are right now without the things that tested us. We passed the tests of 2010. Now let's throw that in 2011's face. Bring it on. No matter how hard it may seem, we can handle whatever life throws at us this year. Happy New Year everyone. Remember not to party too hard, and let's go into 2011 with a smile, holding hands, ready for a year of challenges and rewards. The prizes get bigger and better every year.

Christmas Shopping

Today I went to Liège with Brittany and Hadley to do some mad Christmas shopping before the big day on Saturday. No, nobody's getting married. It's Christmas you silly gooses!!

I woke up this morning to find that the buses still are not running in my little village of Fumal. Convenient. Not. So my host mom drove me to the gym this morning around 10am. We got there just as they were opening and some other people were already waiting outside. These people are intense when they want to be. Anyway, Talia met me there and we worked out for about an hour and a half, just doing the regular circuit as is habitual. Then we took a quick run over to the grocery store so that Talia could pick up a few things, and then we caught a bus back over by the gym with only a minute to spare. Talia took it home, but I stayed on and rode all the way to the Waremme train station, where I caught a train to Liège. I met up with Hadley and Brittany around 1 15 and we caught a bus over the Médiacité, which is like a mall in the middle of Liège. I had no idea it existed! And I discovered Primark, a wonderful store with very well priced clothing and jewelry and shoes and stuff. I finally bought myself a pair of man shoes that I've been looking around forever for! And I got myself some slippers too, since I tend to be so freezing. Then I helped the other two find presents for their host families, which was successful. We all walked out of the store happy. We then did some other shopping and eventually decided to head over to where the Marché de Noël is, where I've been spending a lot of my time lately. But first we dropped Hadley back off at the train station, since she had to catch an earlier train. But then me and Brit headed over and we finished up our Christmas shopping and then caught a bus back to the station, where she got her bus and I, my train. The station was cool because all the lights were shining red for Christmas and there was a group in the middle of the station performing. Not Christmas carols, but they were singing. Songs like "What A Wonderful World" and "Oh Happy Day". Nice.

My host mom picked me up from Waremme and then I went straight to dance, which went very well today. Then I went home, ate the dinner I hadn't had before, and took my shower. Now I'm getting ready to go to sleep since there's a big party tomorrow in Hannut for the end of exams. Woo! As you can see, today wasn't too exciting. And I haven't eaten anything noteworthy the last couple days. I probably won't blog tomorrow since I have the party, but I'm sure I will have plenty to say the next day!

Bonne nuit :)

TGIF. Although Thursday Was Pretty Great

It's Friday. Which means I'm officially done with exams and I'm on vacation! Yay for no more school! Kinda... Call me crazy but I'm not too psyched for break. I guess it's cause Christmas is in a week and it doesn't feel like it at all. There are no Christmas songs on the radio, no lights on the houses, no TV specials, no movies, no Nutcracker, no Christmas cookies, no big crazy decorations... Not to mention it's hard to be away from home on the holidays. But I really do think it would be a lot worse if I was still on Facebook. So I'm actually really glad I deactivated. Today I had Social Sciences as far as exams. Mikayla and I were able to take it together, and I think we did a really good job on it.

But the really interesting part of this post is yesterday. I had my Science exam, and I just did not haven enough time to finish it. I really only got through about half. The genetics part, because that's what I knew well. But I'm not too concerned about it. But after that, me and Talia went to the gym, as usual, and we biked, worked out our legs, and then did some elliptical. But then for some reason, my arm is really killing me today... Anyways, we also did some ab stuff and took a nice long stretch at the end, which hurt really bad, but also did a lot of good. Then afterwards, we took the bus to Talia's, where we chowed down, talked to her host family, and just chilled for a couple hours. Then we got in the car and her host brother drove us back to the school to meet up with Madame Gallo.

She had decided that she wanted to sort of be in charge of us as exchange students, and kind of act as our counselor and mentor, since she had been an exchange student when she was in high school. She spent the year in Oregon. And she's awesome. So she asked us if we would like to organize some activities with her. And last night, she took us to she her show. She's a comedian. And she wrote a one woman show that she is performing in Brussels. So she took us with her! I was super excited. The entire ride there, we talked, in French of course and just had a really good conversation. And it was snowing. OH MY GOD. But Mme Gallo is so cool, she has snow tires so she doesn't drive like a 86 year old woman.

We got to the cultural center, and she showed us into the theater, and even showed us backstage and her dressing room. But then, obviously, she had to get ready for the show, so we went into the town to find some chow for Eduardo. After taking a few pictures on the stage, of course. We went out into the snow and found a fries and pita place, and Eduardo ordered a taco! He said it was kinda similar to what he had in Mexico. But it had fries on it. It was interesting. I didn't taste it though. After that, we took a few minutes and went into a café and sat down for a drink. Then we went back to the theater, got our free tickets, and waited for the doors to open. And then it was show time. It was a little studio theater so it was pretty intimate and we sat only three rows back. And it was a WONDERFUL show! I laughed so hard. And a big part of it too was the pure fact that she's my teacher doing ridiculous things on stage. The best part of it was that I understood almost every single word that she said. The show she wrote was about American cinema and she talked about classic films like Casablanca and Bridgette Jones. And showed a bunch of different props that were "from the movies". And it was really hysterical. She had this giant pillow beanbag thing that she would use for different things, and at one point she danced the tango with it to "Roxanne" from The Moulin Rouge.

After the show, she took us back to Mikayla's house, and on the way back she told us stories about her exchange and we just had a really great time talking and laughing and everything was splendid. Then we got to Mikayla's house, all of us, and crashed. After having a midnight snack. By the way, peanut butter and Nutella and jelly is a wonderful sandwich combination.

This morning, we woke up and went to school. I went to the gym by myself afterwards, since there were no buses running because of the snow, so Talia could not come up to meet me. But when my host mom picked me up, we went to pick up Damien from school and brought his friends home too. But before, we did a little shopping at the mall there (yes a MALL) and I bought some presents for my family.

When I got home, I went to work on Christmas cards. I got about halfway through. Now I'm getting ready for bed. So bonne nuit tout le monde !

It's Really Freaking Cold Here

It's Thursday. And it's like negative seven degrees Celsius. And granted, it gets much colder than that in Ohio, but I don't know what it is. It just feels so much colder here. Talia doesn't think she's going to make it through the winter. But she will. And so will I. If nobody else, Eduardo will. He's loving the snow. He was outside having snowball fights today :)

Yesterday, I went to school as usual, but I have the same teacher for all four hours on Wednesdays. And she wasn't there. So I had study hall all day yesterday. So I wrote out a Christmas shopping list and I also wrote out my bucket list. It's about two pages front and back and it's not done. Let's just say I want to do a lot with my life. Anyways, after school, my host mom picked up me and Talia and took us to the train station in Waremme where we caught a train to Liège, got sandwiches from Point Chaud, and met up with the majority of the rest of the exchange students to get a train to Welkenraedt, where ALL the exchange students from our district were getting together, along with the Rotary guys in charge. We all got on a bus from there and went to GERMANY for the Marché de Noël in Aachen. But like I said, it was really cold. I was wearing a pair of really thick lined leggings, my knit shorts under a skirt, socks, boots, a long sleeved shirt, a really heavy sweater, a scarf, three pairs of gloves, my new lumberjack hat, and my big coat and I was alright, but I was definitely shivering. Talia was wearing even more. Four sweaters, I think we finally counted. I lent my earmuffs to Hadley because she had no hat. But as we got on the bus, the Rotary people gave each of us Santa hats! Except they weren't the big fluffy ones that we are used to in the States. Regardless, they were pretty cool. The girls got ones with white braids coming out of them, and the boys got ones without those, but the puff balls on the end of the hats had jingle bells on them.

It took us about a half hour to get to Aachen from Welkenraedt. Once we got there, we all walked into the center of the town together. Germany is beautiful. There was all kinds of cool art on the streets, fountains and such. Plus everything was decorated for Christmas and it was just too cute! And, on my things I love about Europe, there was street music. So you walked through the streets and there was just music playing. It was wonderful. We all gathered and they told us we had about two hours and then we were meeting back up again. So we split off and I went with Hadley and Brittany and Oakley and Alexanne and we walked through the whole thing, and even found a Starbucks! I got a gingerbread latte, which I said in German, and it was great. I missed Starbucks! After that, we walked through it all again and this time actually looked to buy things. I found a few really nice gifts, and so did the others. We talked in English the whole time, though, because nobody spoke French, as we were in Germany. Duh!

After two hours, we met up with the other exchange students. This was around 5 30pm. And it was already dark. We each were given a ticket that we could redeem for either hot wine or hot chocolate. I got the hot wine because the last time I had tried it I really liked it. But I have to say, hot wine is definitely better in Belgium. But it was totally worth it because we got to keep the mugs and they were so cute! They were little boots with German writing on them. I like it :) After drinking our hot drinks and some people getting some food, we all piled back on the bus and drove the half hour back to Welkenraedt. There, the Rotary people gave us a each a bag full of marzipan candies from Saint Nicholas, since that is coming up. Everyone in Belgium is celebrating Saint Nicholas and after Monday, which is the official Saint Nicholas day, we start getting ready for Christmas.

So all the exchange students bombarded the train station and took over the next train to Liège. Which, unfortunately for the people already on it, was a small train. Once we got there, Talia and I were super lucky and our next train pulled up on the same tracks just two minutes later. Talia called her host mom, and since it was snowing, we worked it out so that I could just sleep at Talia's. That is one thing that is very interesting. The Belgians really freak out about driving in the snow. They find it incredibly dangerous and they won't go out if it's snowing. There was probably two inches of snow on the ground, if that, and to them, it was bad enough that I couldn't go back to my house. Which I didn't mind at all! We got back to Talia's, ate pasta, and talked with her host sister, Géraldine. Then we ate some chocolate, went up to her room, had a really deep conversation, and went to bed. We got up this morning, really hoping for a snow day, since her host brother had gotten off of university just a couple days before for the inch of snow that was on the ground, but alas, the buses were running and we had to go to school. It was very cold out though, and Talia's host mom said it was a record cold in Belgium since 1930 I believe. Wow.

So I went through a normal day of school, got a bunch of stuff done at home, like organization and post card writing, didn't go to dance because of the snow, and tomorrow I'm going back to the Village de Noël in Liège with Alexanne and Hadley :) More Christmas shopping! We're going to have a good time, I'm sure!

Yup, that's all for tonight. I'm very tired. It's bed time. 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!

The French Are Coming!

Well, more like Courtney is coming... And she's American. But she comes tomorrow and I am so excited! We are picking her up at the airport tomorrow around 3pm and we are going to spend the whole weekend together. It's going to be really nice to see someone that I know from the States I think. I have Talia and Mikayla, but it is going to be great to see someone that I have been friends with for years instead of months... No offense guys, it's just not the same.

Today I went to an outlet mall with my host mom, her goddaughter Philipine, and Talia. Karine wanted to take Philipine to pick something out for her birthday. The thing about outlet malls here is that the discount prices are not all that discounted... All the stores are pretty high end and not really my style. So needless to say, I didn't buy anything. Talia and I just went into each, looked through the very limited inventory, and left without even picking anything up. So yes, that was a bit disappointing, considering I really still need a coat. But the walking was nice because the weather was decent today and Talia and I had good conversation. Not to mention that we all got ice cream also. Well, gelato. I got tiramisu flavor. Yum! But it was shocking at the first bite how sweet it was. I'm going to get so fat here...

I also received a package from home today. It was fantastic! It included my Dazzler sweatpants, my sheet music, peanut butter, Halloween candy, and some other stuff. My daddy wrote me novel of a letter, and that was wonderful to read. I really miss my daddy...

Talia is spending the night tonight. We made dinner (mac n cheese and Hawaiian oven pizza). Right now, she is raiding my closet while I continue writing my novel. I'm progressing well I think. I have about eight pages and 4,250 words. 27 days, 45,750 words to go. But pretty soon, we'll be crashing for the night, as COURTNEY IS COMING TOMORROW!!!

Ok, excitement building. Must sleep. Goodnight!

I'm Running Out Of Creative Titles...

Last night, I did not post. And that is because I was absolutely exhausted and I had stayed up late the last couple nights on Skype and I definitely couldn't let myself get roped into the internet. So I made myself go to bed around 11pm. Still not early enough... Tonight, after my dance class I intend to get right into bed. That means sleeping by 10! Maybe...

Yesterday was a very very good day though :) Yesterday was shopping spree day! Yesterday was Wednesday. That means two real classes and out of school by noon. Talia and I caught the bus right after we got out and went back to her house where we ate lunch with her whole family. It's incredible how good oven pizza is here. After lunch and getting a lovely hand-drawn map from Talia's host sister, Madame De Wulf drove us to the train station in Huy to catch a train to Namur for some serious shopping. On the way to the station, we got a text from another exchange student from Mexico, Eduardo, and he ended up meeting us at the train station and coming with us! I'm glad he enjoys shopping, because I told him that if he slowed us down, I would kick him out. But he's good company!

We arrived in Namur around 2 40 and spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get out of the train station. It's huge! But the architecture is great. By 3pm we were in the city, deciding which shop to go to first. It ended up being Zara, which is like an H&M but a little more high class without being too expensive. Very popular in Belgium. Over the course of the next three hours, we went to quite a few stores and I spent-- well, it's kind of shocking... Are you sure you want to know? Ok fine I'll tell you. I ended up spending about 230 euros yesterday... But I got a lot for my money! Ready? I'm about to give you all the breakdown of where these 230 euros went:

Zara--

*3 cardigans, 12.95 each. One brown (I've been looking for that forever!), one gray, and one royal blue.

*1 skirt, 6.99. Adorable! Turquoise with little flowers on it.

Pimkie--

*2 scarves, one 8.95, one 7.95. The first is gray with silver running through it and the second is plain black, but super soft. Lovely.

*1 long silver pendant necklace, 5.95. It's the type with a bunch of pretty shiny dangly things all bunched together at the end of a chain. Very pretty.

*1 short silver pendant necklace, 5.95. This is the same type of bunchy necklace, but with less things and a little bow halfway down the chain.

*1 pair of earrings, 3.95. Silver dangle earrings with a silver bow and an embossed pearl at the end.

H&M--

*1 scarf, 9.95. Yes, I know I went a little accessory crazy... But this one I could not pass up. Cream colored with pink and red roses on it. It also has green in it because of the leaves of the flowers.

*1 pair of black thigh-high tights, 6.95. It's a basic essential!

*1 pair of black leggings, 7.95. I owed Talia money, so these were hers.

*1 sweater, 19.95. Cream with navy stripes. Very warm and comfy. Exactly what I need in the chilly Belgian weather.

*1 pair of capri yoga pants, 14.95. I didn't bring any sweatpants with me! And I can't keep wearing shorts in gym class; it's just too cold. They are basic black with a foldover waistband.

Camaieu--

*3 pairs of skinny jeans, 19.95 each. I know, three pairs seems like a lot. But I NEVER find skinny jeans, so I took advantage of the fact that these actually looked good on me. Besides, it's necessary for wearing boots. One pair of dark wash, medium wash, and black wash.

*1 pair of earrings, 5.95. Gold dangle earrings. Circle pendants with a wood finish back and a pretty gold overlay. They were necessary!

éram--

*1 purse, 19.90. Gray with fantastic pockets, cute lining and a really cute embellishment in the corner. I really did need another. I brought one bag with me!

There it is. The breakdown of everything from yesterday. And then today, I spent another 65 on a pair of black boots... I know I know I'm a shopaholic! But I promise, this is it for a very very long time! Cross my heart.

After shopping, getting Eduardo on a train home, and having a heart attack when I calculated how much I had spent, my host family met up with Talia and I and took us to dinner at this very classy Lebanese restaurant. I was so excited because I absolutely adore Lebanese food, since I am Lebanese. And I will be completely honest, it was, hands down, the best Lebanese food that I have ever had at a restaurant. I have never had spinach pies that tasted so much like the ones that my grandma used to make. Fantastic hummus and tabouleh, along with many other traditional Lebanese dishes. There was good company, good conversation and good food. Not to mention a great atmosphere! And this was all after a great day of shopping! What more could a girl ask for? So I'm sure you now understand why I basically passed out when I got home.

And then today happened. I don't know why, but I was just in a really pissy (for lack of a better word) mood all day. There was no reason for it though... I had my first test of my exchange today. In math. It wasn't a complete disaster, but I definitely had a hard time with it. And my brain ached after. But then I went and bought those boots and I was extremely happy because it takes me forever to find boots I like. I'm so picky. Then I hung out at the bar with my friends, went home, did some ab workouts, took some artistic pictures of my jewelry (cause I'm a dork) and I have dance in a couple hours and I'm happy.

This weekend is a giant party in Namur called the Fête Wallonie. I think that's how it's spelled... Anyway, it's a huge blowout and there will be food and music and crazy people and it's all in the streets of Namur. I'm going with some friends and we're leaving right after school tomorrow and spending the night there. I am so excited! But this also means that I probably won't be writing tomorrow. However! If this party is as epic as everyone is making it out to be, I will have an epic post up on Saturday or Sunday, so check back for sure!

And now this post is getting long and I still have to add pictures... Blogger won't let me right now... Although perhaps by now, you have already seen the pictures that are not yet added... But that is irrelevant. Until this weekend!

A Quick Post

Seriously, every day things get better! My emotions are starting to level out, I'm making friends, hanging out with people, improving French, taking dance classes, and today I FINALLY bought a straightener! Talia and I hung out in Hannut after our classes until we had dance (jazz) and walked around and did a little tiny bit of shopping. We found a store that had all kinds of beauty supplies and I bought some makeup remover, hair shine spray, combs, etc, and my straightener!! Yay! The bad part: I had to shell out 60 euros for it... But I decided it was worth it. Until my debit card didn't work.... The way the machines here work is that you have to put your card in this slot that is on the top of the machine. And it continually rejected my card. But then Talia, being the smart girl that she is, told the cashier that you need to actually swipe the card instead of just inserting it because American cards have magnetic strips, not chips. Huh. Who woulda thunk it?

I also had my very first "croque madame" today. It's a delicious grilled cheese sandwich, topped with an egg! Totally wonderful French classic. I thoroughly enjoyed it :) Eating was a great part of my afternoon because, as Talia and I realized, the majority of shops are closed on Tuesdays here. So there wasn't that much for us to do and we ended up sitting around and talking for a big portion of the time between school and dance. Which ended up being quite entertaining and we shared the deep stories of our lives... Not really it was mostly just girl talk.

School is going better every day. I understand nothing in my classes, and I'm always really confused, but the more people I meet the easier my days get and the more comfortable I am. I'm still not super talkative or anything, but I'm having a good time :) Except in my English class. You would think that would be the easiest class right? No. It's so difficult because I know the words in English, obviously, but I don't know the French translations. So we had a test today and I had such a hard with it. But it's ok. We have all the papers now to study from so that should get easier too. With time. Like everything else.

Dance today was excellent. The teacher was very happy with me and my dancing and even asked if I would be interested in learning a dance to do an extra performance with them in November!! I'm so excited about it! I have a lot of work to do to get ready for my college auditions, but dancing is so important to me and I enjoy it so much.

It was a long day and I am exhausted! Bed time for me!

Good Weekend, Good Day :)

I know, I know. It's completely uncharacteristic of me to refrain from posting two whole days in a row! But I'm still here, and alive, and all is well. Today especially was a very good day, along with a whole weekend of goodness, and I am about to share it all with you :)

As you all know, I spent Friday night at my good friend Talia's house. We had a good time Skyping with different people, taking funny pictures, eating wayy too much peanut butter for our own goods (by the way, I have a serious peanut butter obsession... It's really bad! I can't stop eating it!), and just being typical American girls. The next day, I had dance class in the morning. Remember how I had said it was disappointingly easy? Well it still wasn't super difficult, but I was a bit challenged, and it was so much fun for me! I really enjoyed the class and one of the other students told me that it would continue to get more difficult as the younger girls learned different things. I still have not had a pointe class, but I have my first jazz class tomorrow with Talia. I'm really looking forward to it!

Anyways, on Saturday, Talia and I had planned on going to Namur, which is the other big city that is relatively close to Hannut for some shopping since we both have enormous shopping lists... My host parents were going to a birthday party for one of their friends and they were going to go while Talia and I explored the city, and then we would all head back home at night. But that didn't end up working out since all the shops around here close at about 6pm and it wasn't a very practical plan. So I ended up going to the birthday party with my host parents. And I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't too thrilled about it, because I knew that when I got there, there wouldn't be anyone my age and I would end up answering all the typical questions to all the adults there. "How are you doing this?" "Where are you from?" "Do you speak French?" "Do you speak Enlish?" "Where are you living?" "Where do you go to school?" "Do you miss your family?" etc etc. And I was pretty much right. Although it was a really nice party and I had my first glass of champagne ever. Again, didn't like it that much. But the food was excellent! (Of course, I have to talk about the food!) It was sort of like the concert thing I went to a couple weeks ago, where someone circulated with trays of little finger foods that were absolutely gorgeous! There was not a formal dinner, just these little finger foods, but they were delicious. I had "foie gras" for the first time. Which, in case you didn't know, is goose liver. I was really skeptical about it, but I decided I might as well try it. And I did eat it all, and I didn't think it was bad, but I just had to distract myself from thinking about what I was eating!

It did end up being a lot of fun though, because there were a couple girls around my age: the daughter of the man who's birthday it was and her best friend. There were also a couple guys my age, but they were not very social... So I spent the evening with these two girls, Mathilde and Florence and we had a great time! They both spoke English, so we talked all night about different things, mostly about the States because they were completely amazed by everything that has to do with America! I thought it was so funny how interested they were in everything American. And they both kept saying how badly they want to go there. They loved everything I told them. So we had a good time. And I ended up spending the night there! We listened to lots of music, both American and Belgian, and watched Legally Blonde 2. Which, by the way, is a much worse movie than I remember... The first one is definitely better. After the movie, we were all exhausted and we had to get up sort of early in the morning to catch the train, so we went to sleep.

In the morning, we got up, ate breakfast and then I left my new friends in Namur to catch a 10:20 train to Huy, where my host mom picked me up and informed me that Talia had invited me over to her house since her whole host family was going to a family event and she would be in the house alone. And guess what? They invited me to spend the night! So I spent a few hours at home and at 3pm, I headed back over to Talia's for another sleepover :) This time, we spent our time doing our English homework, trying to figure out her Chemistry work, going for a run (more of a walk, I'm in so much pain!), and watching half of "Julie & Julia". We also took a big risk when Talia decided it was time to trim her bangs. So there we were, two teenage girls with no hair-cutting experience whatsoever, with a shiny brand new pair of hair scissors, trying to figure out how to give Talia lovely swoopy bangs. As she risked the life of her hair, I decided to straighten mine since I haven't had the chance since I've gotten here. And it was a success! Her hair looks great :) Then it was time for bed, since it was a school night.

In the morning, we got up and got ready, her with her brand-spankin-new bangs, and me with my straight hair, and headed off to the bus stop to go to school. It was interesting for me; I haven't taken a bus to school since 8th grade. Neither of us were really looking forward to dealing with school again, but I have to say, it ended up being a really good day! My classes weren't too terrible, I even took some notes! Even if I did copy the person's next to me... But hey, that's what the teachers told me to do. I just can't keep up yet! Everyone talks so fast. Today, I started the day off with our daily French lessons with Père Boly, followed by Social Sciences, then French and Math. That was my morning. And it went pretty well! I actually like Math the best. Which is weird, because I hate Math... But it's the only class I have that I really understand because Math is the same in all languages! Then it was lunch time. And that a lot of fun because I ate outside with Talia and a bunch of other kids! We all had a great time for that lunch hour as Talia and I shared our peanut butter and watched the faces as the guys tried it. After lunch, it was double English. I really don't like that class... I have a test tomorrow already and I have a lot of studying to do! For English class!!! It's because I don't know all of the French translations. After that, Talia and I were finished since we didn't have class for the last two hours. So we were able to leave and we went to the Grand Place in Hannut and hung out with some of the guys from school, having a drink and just chilling outside in the nice weather.

My host mom picked me up around 4:30 and we went home, where I was greeted by a package from home! My aunt and uncle and cousins had sent me the cutest stuffed animal: a dog with a red shirt that says "Bonjour"! It is absolutely fantastic and I was so happy to get that. Plus! When I got home I was told that the eggs that we have here from the chickens had hatched and we now have eight baby chicks! So basically, it was just all-around a good day.

Now it is about 6pm here, I have written a novel of a blog post, and I have a bunch of homework to do. So I end my crazy post here, with lots and lots of bisous for my friends and family back home! Love you all!