So it's finally here. The final hours in Belgium have come. I wish I could say I was sad to leave, but truthfully I am excited. There are things I will miss about Belgium, but I will not miss working as a nanny. I will miss the girls, but I will not miss the constant never ending work and all the other drama that came with it.
However, I will miss Europe. I do love it here, in Benelux and everywhere else I have ever lived and travelled. I am truly fortunate to say that by the age of 23 I have lived in 3 countries, travelled on 3 continents, and visited 14 countries and countless cities. I have seen many people and places and have images and memories etched into my mind that I will never forget. The good, the bad, the beautiful, and the breathtaking; all of it has been worth every second of tired feet, delayed trains, missing luggage, sleepless nights and teary moments.
I have always been a firm believer that travel is truly the one thing you can invest in that makes a permanent and irreversible change in your life. My mindset is always changed, tweaked and re imagined with every new place I visit and every new person that I meet. Having a global perspective is invaluable in the world which we live in today. I would gladly continue to be poor and live from a backpack if it meant that I could be blessed with more opportunities like I have had.
Specifically in Belgium, I have learned a lot about myself, from the smallest introspective details to the more tangible things. Since moving here, I have learned to master driving a stick shift car and drive it amongst the insanity that is the European auto route; I have learned to improve my French language and cultural skills; I have learned to navigate the Benelux railway system flawlessly; and most importantly, I have learned about myself.
My limits have been pushed constantly while being here. I remember the first week and feeling so small and sad all the time because I was jet lagged and tired and hearing and speaking nothing but French was so overwhelming that I just wanted to give up and go home. But I have learned now that I am much stronger than that. I can survive the tough times because I know what is waiting on the other side if I continue to push through for just a little bit longer.
After the initial period of adjustment, I began to make friends. Michelle, my American friend, has been an amazing source of comfort and knowledge for me while I have been here. My BBF's, Best Belgian Friends (who aren't even Belgian), Simon and Lora have shown me fun, laughter, and joy. I willful greatly miss these three friends that I have made here. Because the quantity of friends doesn't matter, but the quality of the bond does.
It is always bittersweet to begin a new chapter in life. To look back and fondly remember the good times is good, but as Dumbledore told us "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live". So we must remember the past and learn from it (a lesson from Rafiki) but also remember that the past is just a stop along the journey of life, and another one is just around the corner to come.
When I think of the near future, I am excited and ready. I know that the things I have faced in the past three months have helped to shape who I am and who I will be in the years to come. I am excited to go home and see my family and friends and share a tiny slice of my story with them, hoping that they may enjoy the stories of what I have done.
But the best story of all is yet to be written; "The best is yet to be".
Monday, June 30, 2014
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Almost.
Hey there again,
It is truly almost the end. It's hard to fully comprehend and wrap my head around.
This final school week has gone by both extremely quickly and yet super slowly. I feel this is how time always passes when you are both equally wanting to leave and wanting to stay.
On Monday, the girls began their last week of school, but since exams are finished, they really don't have any real work to do, just games and crafts, which is fun for them. But it doesn't make much sense for me that they have to continue school right up until the last day of June...so after a long night in Luxembourg on Sunday, I slept in on Monday. After school, Emma went to a friends house and I went to English class at Michelle's house with Elise. We played baseball with her class in a field by Michelle's house. Many of the kids had never played baseball and therefore didn't know the rules. It was super fun to play with them and watch them struggle a bit to get it the first few innings, but they eventually caught on and they were all having fun, and so was I. After the game, we walked back to Michelle's house and she made hot dogs while I played go fish and uno with the kids. A few of them had also never had a hot dog, but they all loved them. It was truly an all American day! After dinner, I skyped with Brent and went to bed.
On Tuesday, I had a busy day. I finished reading The Fault In Our Stars in the morning, and after taking the girls back to school in the afternoon, I rode my bike into town to close my Belgian bank account and then I had lunch with Lora at her house and we talked in the sun out on her porch. After picking the girls up from school, we played the whole afternoon. We did arts and crafts, we played tag and hide and seek and jumped on the trampoline. We took off our shoes and pretended that we were rabbits and the shoes were the wolves, and if they touched is we had only three times before we were dead. Although I was exhausted by the end of the day, I am going to miss them when I leave. After putting them to bed, I skyped Molly and went to bed.
Wednesday, the girls had a half day of school like normal, and so after school two of their friends came over to stay the night. It was a good day, full of playing outside and swimming in the pool and jumping on the trampoline. I drew an oil portrait of Elise and she loved it. However, she then got a nose bleed from hell and I was scared she was going to bleed out through her nostrils. I have literally never seen a nose bleed so bad, and out of nowhere! We were sitting at the table drawing it started draining like a faucet! So of course it got all over her shirt and the table and I made her whip her shirt off so I could wash it immediately so it wouldn't stain. After the bleeding stopped, Elise made me a friendship bracelet and it was so cute I nearly cried. After dinner, I skyped Sara and then I went to bed.
Thursday morning, I met Michelle at our usual spot, Maison Knopes, for breakfast. It was our last Thursday morning tradition together. There have been a lot of last things happening this week. It's sad. After we had breakfast, Michelle left and I stayed in town for a little bit to buy some chocolates and flowers for the family for a thank you gift, and then I walked home and made chili for lunch. After taking the girls back to lunch, I showered and got ready for my reception at the academy of fine arts to receive my French class diploma, since I passed the exam. When the girls came home from school, we had about two hours together before I left and so we played on the trampoline and then made chocolate chip cookies. At 6, I left to go meet Lora and Tania and some of their friends for pizza and a drink before the reception. It was nice to sit outside with them and enjoy the lovely weather. Although at some points I was getting distracted and kept dashing into a nearby bar to check the score of the USA VS Germany soccer game. Although we lost the game, we thankfully moved on due to score differentials between Ghana and Portugal. After eating, we walked to the academy and mingled with some other people from our class and our professor gave us our certificates. It was just an open house for all the classes, nothing super fancy, but it was nice. After an hour there, a bunch of girls from the class went to have a drink together in town. Town was super busy because of the Belgium Vs South Korea soccer game. Afterwords, we walked to Lora's place and her and I had some tea together and talked for a bit before I headed home. I skyped with my family for a while, which was nice, and then I went to sleep.
Friday the girls had a barbecue at school for lunch, so Catherine and I went out to lunch together in town. It was nice to talk in English where I felt like we stood on common ground. It was an enjoyable afternoon. When we came home, I spent the afternoon prepping my suitcase and doing some organizing and packing. After school, I picked up the girls, and we came home and made cookies and put together two puzzles and did some arts and crafts. Then we all did our hair and makeup together for their end of the year party for school. It was very sweet, they asked to use my makeup and of course I let them. They were actually very civilized and respectful about it, and didn't overdo it. At 6, we all went to the schools soccer field together where the school party was being held. Each grade had prepared a dance that was the theme of the World Cup. The youngest kids were super simple but also super cute. The third and fourth graders, Elise and Emma's classes, combined into one dance because their classes are so small. All the girls were cheerleaders and all the boys were soccer players running drills while the girls cheered them on. I thought it was cute, but a little sexist that none of the girls were allowed to play soccer too, they just had to be cute cheerleaders. The sixth grade class made a very cool dance to stromae's hit single "ta fête" which was actually really well choreographed and you could tell they spent a lot of time on it. After the dances were over, everyone went inside to have a barbecue dinner which was really good. Many other school parents commented on how good my French was, and it felt good to be praised and included in the conversations. Catherine also told me she is sad that I am leaving and that she doesn't want me to go. It made me feel good to finally hear out loud that she appreciates me and what I have done for her and her family. After lots of red wine and laughter, we finally left the school around 11pm!
After my last full week here in Arlon, I feel everything. I feel sad, happy, nervous, excited, proud.... Just 4 days left here before I leave for good. It's bittersweet.
It is truly almost the end. It's hard to fully comprehend and wrap my head around.
This final school week has gone by both extremely quickly and yet super slowly. I feel this is how time always passes when you are both equally wanting to leave and wanting to stay.
On Monday, the girls began their last week of school, but since exams are finished, they really don't have any real work to do, just games and crafts, which is fun for them. But it doesn't make much sense for me that they have to continue school right up until the last day of June...so after a long night in Luxembourg on Sunday, I slept in on Monday. After school, Emma went to a friends house and I went to English class at Michelle's house with Elise. We played baseball with her class in a field by Michelle's house. Many of the kids had never played baseball and therefore didn't know the rules. It was super fun to play with them and watch them struggle a bit to get it the first few innings, but they eventually caught on and they were all having fun, and so was I. After the game, we walked back to Michelle's house and she made hot dogs while I played go fish and uno with the kids. A few of them had also never had a hot dog, but they all loved them. It was truly an all American day! After dinner, I skyped with Brent and went to bed.
On Tuesday, I had a busy day. I finished reading The Fault In Our Stars in the morning, and after taking the girls back to school in the afternoon, I rode my bike into town to close my Belgian bank account and then I had lunch with Lora at her house and we talked in the sun out on her porch. After picking the girls up from school, we played the whole afternoon. We did arts and crafts, we played tag and hide and seek and jumped on the trampoline. We took off our shoes and pretended that we were rabbits and the shoes were the wolves, and if they touched is we had only three times before we were dead. Although I was exhausted by the end of the day, I am going to miss them when I leave. After putting them to bed, I skyped Molly and went to bed.
Wednesday, the girls had a half day of school like normal, and so after school two of their friends came over to stay the night. It was a good day, full of playing outside and swimming in the pool and jumping on the trampoline. I drew an oil portrait of Elise and she loved it. However, she then got a nose bleed from hell and I was scared she was going to bleed out through her nostrils. I have literally never seen a nose bleed so bad, and out of nowhere! We were sitting at the table drawing it started draining like a faucet! So of course it got all over her shirt and the table and I made her whip her shirt off so I could wash it immediately so it wouldn't stain. After the bleeding stopped, Elise made me a friendship bracelet and it was so cute I nearly cried. After dinner, I skyped Sara and then I went to bed.
Thursday morning, I met Michelle at our usual spot, Maison Knopes, for breakfast. It was our last Thursday morning tradition together. There have been a lot of last things happening this week. It's sad. After we had breakfast, Michelle left and I stayed in town for a little bit to buy some chocolates and flowers for the family for a thank you gift, and then I walked home and made chili for lunch. After taking the girls back to lunch, I showered and got ready for my reception at the academy of fine arts to receive my French class diploma, since I passed the exam. When the girls came home from school, we had about two hours together before I left and so we played on the trampoline and then made chocolate chip cookies. At 6, I left to go meet Lora and Tania and some of their friends for pizza and a drink before the reception. It was nice to sit outside with them and enjoy the lovely weather. Although at some points I was getting distracted and kept dashing into a nearby bar to check the score of the USA VS Germany soccer game. Although we lost the game, we thankfully moved on due to score differentials between Ghana and Portugal. After eating, we walked to the academy and mingled with some other people from our class and our professor gave us our certificates. It was just an open house for all the classes, nothing super fancy, but it was nice. After an hour there, a bunch of girls from the class went to have a drink together in town. Town was super busy because of the Belgium Vs South Korea soccer game. Afterwords, we walked to Lora's place and her and I had some tea together and talked for a bit before I headed home. I skyped with my family for a while, which was nice, and then I went to sleep.
Friday the girls had a barbecue at school for lunch, so Catherine and I went out to lunch together in town. It was nice to talk in English where I felt like we stood on common ground. It was an enjoyable afternoon. When we came home, I spent the afternoon prepping my suitcase and doing some organizing and packing. After school, I picked up the girls, and we came home and made cookies and put together two puzzles and did some arts and crafts. Then we all did our hair and makeup together for their end of the year party for school. It was very sweet, they asked to use my makeup and of course I let them. They were actually very civilized and respectful about it, and didn't overdo it. At 6, we all went to the schools soccer field together where the school party was being held. Each grade had prepared a dance that was the theme of the World Cup. The youngest kids were super simple but also super cute. The third and fourth graders, Elise and Emma's classes, combined into one dance because their classes are so small. All the girls were cheerleaders and all the boys were soccer players running drills while the girls cheered them on. I thought it was cute, but a little sexist that none of the girls were allowed to play soccer too, they just had to be cute cheerleaders. The sixth grade class made a very cool dance to stromae's hit single "ta fête" which was actually really well choreographed and you could tell they spent a lot of time on it. After the dances were over, everyone went inside to have a barbecue dinner which was really good. Many other school parents commented on how good my French was, and it felt good to be praised and included in the conversations. Catherine also told me she is sad that I am leaving and that she doesn't want me to go. It made me feel good to finally hear out loud that she appreciates me and what I have done for her and her family. After lots of red wine and laughter, we finally left the school around 11pm!
After my last full week here in Arlon, I feel everything. I feel sad, happy, nervous, excited, proud.... Just 4 days left here before I leave for good. It's bittersweet.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Lux-urious
Hello there!
Well, already another week on the books. The past four days have been alright, but they've gone by ridiculously slowly because it is week 2/2 of the girls final exams at school. If you've read my last few posts, you know how stressful this has been for me. Studying with them has been a nonstop everyday task for the past few weeks, but now it's done, hooray! Now we just have to wait for the results and hope that they pass...
On Monday, I was dragging a little bit, like I normally am after a weekend of traveling. But I had to kick myself into gear right away to begin studying with the girls. After school, we were hitting the books right away. Like last week, they were not happy with this or with me. Math is definitely not their favorite subject, and I had to push them to study with me. Other than studying, Monday was mostly Uneventful.
On Tuesday, thankfully we didn't have too much to study because Wednesday is always a half day so they only had one subject each to study for. This didn't take too long, thank goodness, because I had the second part of my French exam, the oral exam, at 6. I had to pull a topic from a hat and then speak with the professor about what the topic well. I had to talk about my passions and what I would like to do in the future. Piece of cake. I also got to look at my written exam and I passed! Combined with the score from the oral and I did pretty well! I'm proud of myself and what I have been able to learn in such a short time.
After the exam, my friends Lora and Simon and I went to the plaza in town to watch the World Cup math of Belgium Versus Algeria. There was a huge projector screen set up and the whole plaza was covered in a sea of red and yellow and black. People were waving Belgian flags and screaming and cheering and yelling and of course, drinking beer and eating waffles, how else would the Belgians do a soccer match?
After the first half, we left the square to watch the rest of the game at a favorite bar of Simon and his wife. Thankfully, the game picked up from here with two incredible goals and Belgium won! The town was in hysteria. I've never seen that many people out and about in the town and wild and screaming with flags painted on their faces and colors in their hair, eyes wild and bright, cheering loud and whooping in delight.
I walked home and had dinner and then headed to bed shortly after. The weeks events were already wearing on me!
Wednesday, the girls had a half day of school, as always. So after we has lunch, we began studying right away. But Elise had gotten a 100% on her math exam that morning, so I was super proud of her and also happy that all the studying had paid off! It was a gratifying moment.
After studying, Elise had a friend over so Emma and I played princesses in the garden and I made flower crowns for us our of ivy branches and flowers. She loved it, and paraded around declaring she was the flower queen, and her cat, Romeo, was the flower prince. I have turned these children over to the hippie side. They don't seem to be complaining about it ;) After having a princess tea party and doing our princess makeup, we did what all princesses do on hot days and had ice cream sundaes. After dinner, and reading bedtime stories, Emma whispered "I really like you" in my ear as I was kissing her goodnight. I think I teared up. I'm leaving already so soon, and then we may never see each other again.
Thursday, I met Michelle for breakfast and a walk in town. We spent a few hours together, and then I came home to start making lunch. After taking the girls back to school, I spent the afternoon sunbathing by the pool in the sunshine. After I picked the girls up from school, we had our final day of studying, which went just as poorly as all the other days, and there were tears shed. Since the parents were gone, I made crepes for dinner and put the girls to bed.
Friday morning, I went for an hour walk around town with Michelle, and then came home and made chicken parmesan for lunch. After taking the girls back to school I did some reading before picking them up again in the afternoon. After school was go go go go, because we went straight from the school to the arts and crafts store in town to buy a birthday gift for Emma's friend who was having a birthday party on Saturday. After finding a gift, I dropped Elise off at her friends house so they could go to boxing together, and then Emma and I went straight to Michelle's house for English class. It was super fun, we made peanut butter cups, which don't really exist in Europe because Europeans don't love peanut butter like Americans do. And the kids also were introduced to "Flat Stanley" and they got to make one and pick someone to send it to. Emma is going to send hers to one of her former au pairs who lives in London. After coming home at about 7, I relaxed for a little bit and watched part of a World Cup game with Sebastien. Then we all went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in town to celebrate the end of the girls exams. I am so relieved that they are over! Two weeks of studying and tears and anxiety are finally finished! Dinner was delicious, and we were home in time to watch the second half of the French-Swiss game, and watched France dominate 2-6.
Saturday, I slept in which was amazing and much needed. I spent most of the morning lounging by the pool and we had a nice fresh salad for lunch. After lunch, the girls had their friends over the play, and having my fill of the sun, I sat under the large umbrella in the shade and watched them splash around in the pool, and at their request I made them more ivy/willow/flower crowns so they could play as mermaid princesses in the pool. They are so hippie and I so know it's my fault. In the late afternoon, I went over to my friend Lora's house and we took a walk through town and into the small park, and then we came back to her house and had ice cream and watched a movie with her daughter and just talked for hours. It was very nice to hang out with her. After I left her house, I stopped at the bank and then got some frites to eat on the walk home. It was a balmy evening, the first of summer, and light was still glowing on the horizon as I came home at 11pm. Happy solstice!
Sunday, I slept in again, and after breakfast, I played on the the trampoline with the girls and we also worked on some art projects. For lunch, we had a barbecue and ate outside, which was nice and the weather was great. At 4, Michelle and her husband Bert came over to pick me up and after a drink with Sebastien and Catherine, we headed to Luxembourg to celebrate their national holiday!
We drove into the city and parked at a garage and took the bus into the city center. We grabbed some sausages and set off walking around the city just so I could see the sites. Luxembourg is nestled into this valley amongst the hills and the old walls of the city fortress are still standing around most of it, giving it this secluded, fairy tale like feeling. The views standing on the bridges were beautiful; lush green hills and forests surrounded by ancient gray brown stone walls and aqueducts. It was a view to behold. After sight seeing a bit, we headed towards a parliament building where the duke and duchess of Luxembourg and the Royal family would assemble to sit on high and watch the parade. It is interesting to me how close we were to them, just across the street, yet there seemed to be such limited security for the heads of their country. It goes to show how in America the president would never be able to do this because of how powerful our president is to the entire world, not just our nation.
The parade was fun to see, with the military band and baton twirlers and people carrying torches and playing accordions. They each got the chance to stand in front of the royal family and perform their talents. It must have been nice but nerve wracking for them, I'm sure.
After the parade, we walked back towards one of the plazas and spent a while watching a good band play, with a very good female singer, and huge white balloons were being bounced around amongst the crowd. After they finished, we watched the fireworks from a park, and man were they good. Michelle and I agreed it was our Fourth of July celebration, since neither of us would be in the states at that time. I will be in Croatia on the Fourth of July, which is actually quite soon!
After the fireworks were finished, we headed back to the car and Bert and Michelle dropped me off at home after a jam session to Lana Del Ray in the car. They are so kind and I truly enjoy their company.
So tomorrow is my final full week here. I leave on July 1st, just one week from Tuesday. The end is near.
Goodnight, all
XOXO
Well, already another week on the books. The past four days have been alright, but they've gone by ridiculously slowly because it is week 2/2 of the girls final exams at school. If you've read my last few posts, you know how stressful this has been for me. Studying with them has been a nonstop everyday task for the past few weeks, but now it's done, hooray! Now we just have to wait for the results and hope that they pass...
On Monday, I was dragging a little bit, like I normally am after a weekend of traveling. But I had to kick myself into gear right away to begin studying with the girls. After school, we were hitting the books right away. Like last week, they were not happy with this or with me. Math is definitely not their favorite subject, and I had to push them to study with me. Other than studying, Monday was mostly Uneventful.
On Tuesday, thankfully we didn't have too much to study because Wednesday is always a half day so they only had one subject each to study for. This didn't take too long, thank goodness, because I had the second part of my French exam, the oral exam, at 6. I had to pull a topic from a hat and then speak with the professor about what the topic well. I had to talk about my passions and what I would like to do in the future. Piece of cake. I also got to look at my written exam and I passed! Combined with the score from the oral and I did pretty well! I'm proud of myself and what I have been able to learn in such a short time.
After the exam, my friends Lora and Simon and I went to the plaza in town to watch the World Cup math of Belgium Versus Algeria. There was a huge projector screen set up and the whole plaza was covered in a sea of red and yellow and black. People were waving Belgian flags and screaming and cheering and yelling and of course, drinking beer and eating waffles, how else would the Belgians do a soccer match?
After the first half, we left the square to watch the rest of the game at a favorite bar of Simon and his wife. Thankfully, the game picked up from here with two incredible goals and Belgium won! The town was in hysteria. I've never seen that many people out and about in the town and wild and screaming with flags painted on their faces and colors in their hair, eyes wild and bright, cheering loud and whooping in delight.
I walked home and had dinner and then headed to bed shortly after. The weeks events were already wearing on me!
Wednesday, the girls had a half day of school, as always. So after we has lunch, we began studying right away. But Elise had gotten a 100% on her math exam that morning, so I was super proud of her and also happy that all the studying had paid off! It was a gratifying moment.
After studying, Elise had a friend over so Emma and I played princesses in the garden and I made flower crowns for us our of ivy branches and flowers. She loved it, and paraded around declaring she was the flower queen, and her cat, Romeo, was the flower prince. I have turned these children over to the hippie side. They don't seem to be complaining about it ;) After having a princess tea party and doing our princess makeup, we did what all princesses do on hot days and had ice cream sundaes. After dinner, and reading bedtime stories, Emma whispered "I really like you" in my ear as I was kissing her goodnight. I think I teared up. I'm leaving already so soon, and then we may never see each other again.
Thursday, I met Michelle for breakfast and a walk in town. We spent a few hours together, and then I came home to start making lunch. After taking the girls back to school, I spent the afternoon sunbathing by the pool in the sunshine. After I picked the girls up from school, we had our final day of studying, which went just as poorly as all the other days, and there were tears shed. Since the parents were gone, I made crepes for dinner and put the girls to bed.
Friday morning, I went for an hour walk around town with Michelle, and then came home and made chicken parmesan for lunch. After taking the girls back to school I did some reading before picking them up again in the afternoon. After school was go go go go, because we went straight from the school to the arts and crafts store in town to buy a birthday gift for Emma's friend who was having a birthday party on Saturday. After finding a gift, I dropped Elise off at her friends house so they could go to boxing together, and then Emma and I went straight to Michelle's house for English class. It was super fun, we made peanut butter cups, which don't really exist in Europe because Europeans don't love peanut butter like Americans do. And the kids also were introduced to "Flat Stanley" and they got to make one and pick someone to send it to. Emma is going to send hers to one of her former au pairs who lives in London. After coming home at about 7, I relaxed for a little bit and watched part of a World Cup game with Sebastien. Then we all went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in town to celebrate the end of the girls exams. I am so relieved that they are over! Two weeks of studying and tears and anxiety are finally finished! Dinner was delicious, and we were home in time to watch the second half of the French-Swiss game, and watched France dominate 2-6.
Saturday, I slept in which was amazing and much needed. I spent most of the morning lounging by the pool and we had a nice fresh salad for lunch. After lunch, the girls had their friends over the play, and having my fill of the sun, I sat under the large umbrella in the shade and watched them splash around in the pool, and at their request I made them more ivy/willow/flower crowns so they could play as mermaid princesses in the pool. They are so hippie and I so know it's my fault. In the late afternoon, I went over to my friend Lora's house and we took a walk through town and into the small park, and then we came back to her house and had ice cream and watched a movie with her daughter and just talked for hours. It was very nice to hang out with her. After I left her house, I stopped at the bank and then got some frites to eat on the walk home. It was a balmy evening, the first of summer, and light was still glowing on the horizon as I came home at 11pm. Happy solstice!
Sunday, I slept in again, and after breakfast, I played on the the trampoline with the girls and we also worked on some art projects. For lunch, we had a barbecue and ate outside, which was nice and the weather was great. At 4, Michelle and her husband Bert came over to pick me up and after a drink with Sebastien and Catherine, we headed to Luxembourg to celebrate their national holiday!
We drove into the city and parked at a garage and took the bus into the city center. We grabbed some sausages and set off walking around the city just so I could see the sites. Luxembourg is nestled into this valley amongst the hills and the old walls of the city fortress are still standing around most of it, giving it this secluded, fairy tale like feeling. The views standing on the bridges were beautiful; lush green hills and forests surrounded by ancient gray brown stone walls and aqueducts. It was a view to behold. After sight seeing a bit, we headed towards a parliament building where the duke and duchess of Luxembourg and the Royal family would assemble to sit on high and watch the parade. It is interesting to me how close we were to them, just across the street, yet there seemed to be such limited security for the heads of their country. It goes to show how in America the president would never be able to do this because of how powerful our president is to the entire world, not just our nation.
The parade was fun to see, with the military band and baton twirlers and people carrying torches and playing accordions. They each got the chance to stand in front of the royal family and perform their talents. It must have been nice but nerve wracking for them, I'm sure.
After the parade, we walked back towards one of the plazas and spent a while watching a good band play, with a very good female singer, and huge white balloons were being bounced around amongst the crowd. After they finished, we watched the fireworks from a park, and man were they good. Michelle and I agreed it was our Fourth of July celebration, since neither of us would be in the states at that time. I will be in Croatia on the Fourth of July, which is actually quite soon!
After the fireworks were finished, we headed back to the car and Bert and Michelle dropped me off at home after a jam session to Lana Del Ray in the car. They are so kind and I truly enjoy their company.
So tomorrow is my final full week here. I leave on July 1st, just one week from Tuesday. The end is near.
Goodnight, all
XOXO
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Birthday.
Hello again, everyone!
I write to you now one whole year older than when we last spoke. What a year it has been. Thinking back on it, there have been so many radical changes in my life over the past year, most of them for the good, and I have a feeling that this year things will only continue to get better and better with more positive changes on the horizon. I genuinely can't wait to see what 23 has to offer me.
Getting another year older helps to take things into perspective and really see how you have changed and grown over the course of a year. A year ago turning 22, I had just graduated college and I wish feeling full of ambition and drive, but I was also nervous and lost and unsure of where to go with the next part of my life. I remember feeling so overwhelmed and pressured about where the next steps of my life would take me. Shortly thereafter, when I moved to Chicago, I noticed a gradual shift in my personality. Things I thought were once so important didn't seem to matter anymore to me. Although I would still struggle and battle with my anxiety, I began to tell myself that life would continue on no matter what turmoil I seemed to be facing. It's an amazing realization once you accept that simple fact: life just goes on. It simply continues to revolve around you, the minutes passing at the same velocity for you as they do for the stranger standing next to you at the train station.
In this past year, my relationship with Brent has also grown to a new place. We went the longest period yet without seeing each other, as he left in the winter to move to the Netherlands. As gut wrenching as it was at times to cry and cry until my throat was raw when I missed him so, it also helped me to grow independently as a person and learn to truly live for myself. When we were reunited in the spring, this made me appreciate him even more. By being two capable and independent people when we are apart, we are just that much stronger and I breakable when we are together. I find myself falling in love with him over and over again when he does the kindest things for me, and works to make our relationship strong even when we are apart. I am truly blessed to have had him by my side over the past year.
Moving abroad for the second time in my life has also changed me drastically as a person. The experience that I am currently having here is so much different than the first time that I lived in Europe. I think back to that time, so short and so long ago, and I marvel at how much in have changed since then. My current life in Belgium has taught me how strong my resolve is when the going gets tough. Anyone who is close to me has heard of the fears, doubts, and insecurities that I have had living here. Although I may talk of confidence and independence and bravery, I'm no impervious stone woman. I have been broken and down and small and unsure. But that's just a testament to how far I know I can go. I may get pushed down but there's never been a time that I have stayed down. I have continued on and I am proud of myself for that. Life will always have it's battles and hard moments, no matter where I am in the world. Because happiness is not a place, it is a state of being. If you can't find happiness within yourself on the darkest of nights to light the way, then you can search the world over and you will still eventually come home empty handed and frowning.
In these dark moments, I tend to take a lot of things for granted and talk about all of the things that I don't have and the things that I want to have. But honestly, it's time to take a step back and literally count my blessings for the things that I do have. I have an amazing family who is by no means perfect but they are mine and I am theirs and they have supported me in my crazy endeavors over the past year and continued to love me. My amazing group of girlfriends has done the same, being a never ending source of support and laughter and joy. I am by no means rich, but I have a home to live in, a car to drive, and education, food to eat, and most importantly good people to share these things with. I have love. Love from so many amazing, wonderful people. I give love. I will never stop giving love because life is too short not to.
I feel so old and wise and so young and foolish all at once. I go from planning my adult life one moment, making budgets and signing leases and paying bills, to relishing in my fleeting youth and channeling my mothers spirit, dancing to Bruce Springsteen to shake the stress away.
At 23, I have lived in 3 countries, traveled to three continents, ten countries, learned to speak three languages, and visited dozens of beautiful places and sites. I am beyond thankful for these things. I can't say I'm lucky though, because it was all through hard work as desire that I made these opportunities happen for myself. There was no divine luck that threw these things into my lap. This past year has firmed my resolved that I can truly do anything I put my mind to with some hard work and a positive state of mind. And when I forget that fact, I have the ones I love to remind me of it.
So, 23. How did I celebrate the passing of the year? Well, Friday I left Belgium around 5 and got on the lovely 7 hour train ride to Groningen to go see Brent. Although the ride was long, it is always more than worth it to see him. Sadly, while I was on the train I missed the Netherlands playing Spain in the World Cup. However, I was greeted at the train station by Brent showing his Dutch pride! The under dog team defeated the current world champions 5-1! Needless to say, as we rode through the city center on his bike together, the whole city was in a state of madness, orange flags covering every building and flags waving from all the building and draped around people's shoulders. I truly love the spirit that accompanies the World Cup, it brings out such emotion and pride in everyone, young and old. So even though it was one am, after dropping off my bag at Brent's place, we of course began drinking orange heinekens and celebrating with the rest of the country! With some of his friends, we went to a bar that was literally perfect for me, called The Warhol. Alternative music with barrels painted as Campbell's soup cans for tables dotted the electric walls with projections of Andy's paintings twisted and warped like kaleidoscopes on the walls. After a few hours, we bikes home at 4:30 with the dawn on the horizon and exhaustedly went to sleep.
Saturday, we woke up and ventured out in search of pastries for breakfast. We ate them in a park with a nice view of the city center, and then we went to indulge in some birthday shopping for me, and Brent graciously bought me some dresses as a birthday present. After shopping, we walked into the fish market, and strolled among all the fresh food vendors while snacking on some fish nuggets and enjoying the nice weather together. We walked around the city for a few hours with no particular agenda other than enjoying our time together.
Around dinner time, we biked home and bought groceries to make dinner. After making dinner, a bunch of Brent's friends from his floor and I started to play some drinking games getting ready to go out for the night. It was the 400 year anniversary of his university so there had been weeks of celebration in the city leading up to this final night of partying in the city center. After some intense rounds of slap cup, flip cup, and beer pong, which were funny to explain to so many foreign people from all over the world who don't know how to play them, we headed out in our bike brigade downtown.
Finding a place among the thousands of bikes, we chained them up and headed towards the fish market, one of the main plazas where there was a stage set up with dj music going on. Enjoying some beers, we danced for a while, and even played a public round of potatoes, a super silly and rather pointless polish game, which is none the less super fun.
After a little while of this, we left the square to head to a speciality shot bar called "chupitos" which means "shots" in Spanish. Aptly named, eh? After ordering a "Harry Potter shot" and an "American pie shot", both of which were lit on fire before we drank them, we headed to The Three Sisters to watch some of the England versus Italy match. Sadly, England lost, but they put up a good fight. We biked home and headed to bed.
This morning, I woke to to a nice little note and breakfast from Brent for my birthday. He also got me a new charm for my pandora bracelet, a windmill, to represent our time spent in Benelux together. It is absolutely perfect and I love it. It may be the favorite charm on my bracelet, so far.
We made our way into town for lunch together at a restaurant and then we stopped at the store to pick me up snacks for the train ride home. After that, it was already time for me to get on the train again to go back to Belgium. Every time I say goodbye to him part of me is so so sad. Even though I always know I will see him again soon. But the next time I see him in 16 days from now, it will be for the last time with this long distance relationship. Because in 16 days I will leave Belgium for the final time and I will meet Brent in Amsterdam and we will fly off to Croatia together to meet his sister for a great vacation! I am beyond excited. So close yet so far away.
After Croatia, I will be flying home to Chicago on July 11. Less than one month away! I am so excited to see everyone that I have missed so much and to begin the next chapter of my life with Brent in Florida.
As soon as I got off the train in Arlon, Sebastien picked me up and took me back home. The girls had made a banner as hung ribbons over my bedroom door that said "happy birday". It was so sweet I started crying.
Well friends, thank each and everyone of you for the birthday well wishes. It means a lot to me. Even being so far away from home you helped make this birthday a special one. Thank you <3
As always, thanks for reading.
XOXO
I write to you now one whole year older than when we last spoke. What a year it has been. Thinking back on it, there have been so many radical changes in my life over the past year, most of them for the good, and I have a feeling that this year things will only continue to get better and better with more positive changes on the horizon. I genuinely can't wait to see what 23 has to offer me.
Getting another year older helps to take things into perspective and really see how you have changed and grown over the course of a year. A year ago turning 22, I had just graduated college and I wish feeling full of ambition and drive, but I was also nervous and lost and unsure of where to go with the next part of my life. I remember feeling so overwhelmed and pressured about where the next steps of my life would take me. Shortly thereafter, when I moved to Chicago, I noticed a gradual shift in my personality. Things I thought were once so important didn't seem to matter anymore to me. Although I would still struggle and battle with my anxiety, I began to tell myself that life would continue on no matter what turmoil I seemed to be facing. It's an amazing realization once you accept that simple fact: life just goes on. It simply continues to revolve around you, the minutes passing at the same velocity for you as they do for the stranger standing next to you at the train station.
In this past year, my relationship with Brent has also grown to a new place. We went the longest period yet without seeing each other, as he left in the winter to move to the Netherlands. As gut wrenching as it was at times to cry and cry until my throat was raw when I missed him so, it also helped me to grow independently as a person and learn to truly live for myself. When we were reunited in the spring, this made me appreciate him even more. By being two capable and independent people when we are apart, we are just that much stronger and I breakable when we are together. I find myself falling in love with him over and over again when he does the kindest things for me, and works to make our relationship strong even when we are apart. I am truly blessed to have had him by my side over the past year.
Moving abroad for the second time in my life has also changed me drastically as a person. The experience that I am currently having here is so much different than the first time that I lived in Europe. I think back to that time, so short and so long ago, and I marvel at how much in have changed since then. My current life in Belgium has taught me how strong my resolve is when the going gets tough. Anyone who is close to me has heard of the fears, doubts, and insecurities that I have had living here. Although I may talk of confidence and independence and bravery, I'm no impervious stone woman. I have been broken and down and small and unsure. But that's just a testament to how far I know I can go. I may get pushed down but there's never been a time that I have stayed down. I have continued on and I am proud of myself for that. Life will always have it's battles and hard moments, no matter where I am in the world. Because happiness is not a place, it is a state of being. If you can't find happiness within yourself on the darkest of nights to light the way, then you can search the world over and you will still eventually come home empty handed and frowning.
In these dark moments, I tend to take a lot of things for granted and talk about all of the things that I don't have and the things that I want to have. But honestly, it's time to take a step back and literally count my blessings for the things that I do have. I have an amazing family who is by no means perfect but they are mine and I am theirs and they have supported me in my crazy endeavors over the past year and continued to love me. My amazing group of girlfriends has done the same, being a never ending source of support and laughter and joy. I am by no means rich, but I have a home to live in, a car to drive, and education, food to eat, and most importantly good people to share these things with. I have love. Love from so many amazing, wonderful people. I give love. I will never stop giving love because life is too short not to.
I feel so old and wise and so young and foolish all at once. I go from planning my adult life one moment, making budgets and signing leases and paying bills, to relishing in my fleeting youth and channeling my mothers spirit, dancing to Bruce Springsteen to shake the stress away.
At 23, I have lived in 3 countries, traveled to three continents, ten countries, learned to speak three languages, and visited dozens of beautiful places and sites. I am beyond thankful for these things. I can't say I'm lucky though, because it was all through hard work as desire that I made these opportunities happen for myself. There was no divine luck that threw these things into my lap. This past year has firmed my resolved that I can truly do anything I put my mind to with some hard work and a positive state of mind. And when I forget that fact, I have the ones I love to remind me of it.
So, 23. How did I celebrate the passing of the year? Well, Friday I left Belgium around 5 and got on the lovely 7 hour train ride to Groningen to go see Brent. Although the ride was long, it is always more than worth it to see him. Sadly, while I was on the train I missed the Netherlands playing Spain in the World Cup. However, I was greeted at the train station by Brent showing his Dutch pride! The under dog team defeated the current world champions 5-1! Needless to say, as we rode through the city center on his bike together, the whole city was in a state of madness, orange flags covering every building and flags waving from all the building and draped around people's shoulders. I truly love the spirit that accompanies the World Cup, it brings out such emotion and pride in everyone, young and old. So even though it was one am, after dropping off my bag at Brent's place, we of course began drinking orange heinekens and celebrating with the rest of the country! With some of his friends, we went to a bar that was literally perfect for me, called The Warhol. Alternative music with barrels painted as Campbell's soup cans for tables dotted the electric walls with projections of Andy's paintings twisted and warped like kaleidoscopes on the walls. After a few hours, we bikes home at 4:30 with the dawn on the horizon and exhaustedly went to sleep.
Saturday, we woke up and ventured out in search of pastries for breakfast. We ate them in a park with a nice view of the city center, and then we went to indulge in some birthday shopping for me, and Brent graciously bought me some dresses as a birthday present. After shopping, we walked into the fish market, and strolled among all the fresh food vendors while snacking on some fish nuggets and enjoying the nice weather together. We walked around the city for a few hours with no particular agenda other than enjoying our time together.
Around dinner time, we biked home and bought groceries to make dinner. After making dinner, a bunch of Brent's friends from his floor and I started to play some drinking games getting ready to go out for the night. It was the 400 year anniversary of his university so there had been weeks of celebration in the city leading up to this final night of partying in the city center. After some intense rounds of slap cup, flip cup, and beer pong, which were funny to explain to so many foreign people from all over the world who don't know how to play them, we headed out in our bike brigade downtown.
Finding a place among the thousands of bikes, we chained them up and headed towards the fish market, one of the main plazas where there was a stage set up with dj music going on. Enjoying some beers, we danced for a while, and even played a public round of potatoes, a super silly and rather pointless polish game, which is none the less super fun.
After a little while of this, we left the square to head to a speciality shot bar called "chupitos" which means "shots" in Spanish. Aptly named, eh? After ordering a "Harry Potter shot" and an "American pie shot", both of which were lit on fire before we drank them, we headed to The Three Sisters to watch some of the England versus Italy match. Sadly, England lost, but they put up a good fight. We biked home and headed to bed.
This morning, I woke to to a nice little note and breakfast from Brent for my birthday. He also got me a new charm for my pandora bracelet, a windmill, to represent our time spent in Benelux together. It is absolutely perfect and I love it. It may be the favorite charm on my bracelet, so far.
We made our way into town for lunch together at a restaurant and then we stopped at the store to pick me up snacks for the train ride home. After that, it was already time for me to get on the train again to go back to Belgium. Every time I say goodbye to him part of me is so so sad. Even though I always know I will see him again soon. But the next time I see him in 16 days from now, it will be for the last time with this long distance relationship. Because in 16 days I will leave Belgium for the final time and I will meet Brent in Amsterdam and we will fly off to Croatia together to meet his sister for a great vacation! I am beyond excited. So close yet so far away.
After Croatia, I will be flying home to Chicago on July 11. Less than one month away! I am so excited to see everyone that I have missed so much and to begin the next chapter of my life with Brent in Florida.
As soon as I got off the train in Arlon, Sebastien picked me up and took me back home. The girls had made a banner as hung ribbons over my bedroom door that said "happy birday". It was so sweet I started crying.
Well friends, thank each and everyone of you for the birthday well wishes. It means a lot to me. Even being so far away from home you helped make this birthday a special one. Thank you <3
As always, thanks for reading.
XOXO
Thursday, June 12, 2014
School Daze
Hello friends!
What a week it has shaped up to be so far, holy cow. It's only Thursday and I'm already tired out. This has been a short week, but for some reason I always think that short weeks feel longer...
So Monday, the girls didn't have school and the parents didn't go to work. It was a religious holiday. It was nice, because the weather was still super great. The girls cousin had spent the night on Sunday, so on Monday, the aunt and uncle came over again to pick her up, and we once again had a BBQ for lunch. It was nice to be outside and we went swimming and enjoyed the day. Once the family left, Seb and Cath studied with the girls some for their exams, which began on Tuesday, and continue for two weeks.
I had a super productive day personally, because I booked my flight back to the USA (July 11 at 1:50 in O Hare, if you're interested!) as well as my train ticket to Amsterdam to meet Brent for our flight to Croatia. I'm glad to have those big details taken care of so the weight is off my chest.
So after the nice long weekend, Tuesday began the first of two weeks of final exams for the girls. This has proven to be a very stressful week for everyone, because if they don't pass their exams they can't continue on to the next school year! But the kids can't study very much without getting tired or losing focus, and I also don think they grasp the gravity of the situation fully. So after hours of struggling through studying on Tuesday afternoon, I went off to study myself at my final French class before the final exam! It was a long class of review, but I still left feeling nervous for the exam. It's been over a year now since I've been in school and actually had to study and prepare for an exam, so that's also kind of odd to realize. I feel like I just finished school but it's been so long...
Wednesday was literally the worst day. The girls fought all day long no matter what I did to try and stop them. They were misbehaving, they wouldn't listen to me, and they wouldn't study well with me for their exams. Of course, this lead to their mom getting involved and yelling and the girls going into time out. It obvious that they are feeling the stress of these exams and so am I. Their parents are coming down on them hard to study, but yet all the studying falls on me, because the parents don't have time to study with them. I can't tell which of us is more stressed with this week.
Their moods slightly improved after we finally got through a sufficient amount of studying and went outside to play on the trampoline and swim in the pool. I thought things were looking up from here, but then after dinner they were back to their shenanigans of fighting and crying. Bedtime was not nice with the parents, since the girls were being so awful. I hope this passes, because if everyday for the rest of this week and next week is like this, I literally think I will come apart at the seems, and probably they will as well!
Today, Thursday, I met Michelle at our favorite café and we walked around the Thursday market in town for a while in the sun and just talked about life. She is such a good mentor to have in my life, and I'm going to miss her when I leave. I was asking her all about the education field and her job history and how she got to where she is now. I think she has helped me to see that maybe education is the field that I want I pursue, after all.
After coming home, I made lunch for the girls and I. Catherine was in Brussels for work so she didn't eat with us. After telling the girls they were only allowed ten minutes each on their iPads, we watched a little Disney channel together and I took them back to school.
When I dropped them off, I went to my friend Lora's house to have some lunch and to study with her for our French exam. Of course, we didn't study too much because there wasn't much we could do at that point. If we don't know it, we don't know it. So we just ended up eating and talking about life. She is such a great friend to talk to about everything.
I left her house at 3 to go and pick up the girls from school. We only had about two hours before I left to go to my French exam, so of course I had to make their studies a priority and not mine, and of course, even with their best interests at heart, they fought with me about it and didn't want to do it. Maybe it's because I'm not a parent yet, but I genuinely do not understand how studying is that much different from regular homework? I'm not dumping a ton on them at once, we do it in nice, manageable parts, like we always do with their other homework, and I give them breaks in between and tons of positive encouragement, yet still they fight me.
In any event, despite the struggles, I got them to study a sufficient amount before I had to go to my French exam at 6.
Surprisingly, I feel that my exam went well. I won't know the results just yet and honestly I am not sure when they will arrive. But I have my oral exam next Tuesday so probably at the earliest I would know next Friday. I tried my best and that's all that matters! I'm happy for myself that I did what I could. So now we wait for results!
After the exam some friends and I from class went out to get a pizza and a beer. I wish I could elaborate more but I'm literally falling asleep as I type this. But it was a good time and I am glad I met all of them, they made my time here so much better and enjoyable. I will be sad to leave them.
Now I'm back at home attempting to watch some of the first World Cup match. Go Croatia!
Tomorrow at 5 I head to the Netherlands for the weekend to see Brent for my birthday weekend! Who's excited? Me! Who's tired? Me!
Goodnight everyone
XOXO
What a week it has shaped up to be so far, holy cow. It's only Thursday and I'm already tired out. This has been a short week, but for some reason I always think that short weeks feel longer...
So Monday, the girls didn't have school and the parents didn't go to work. It was a religious holiday. It was nice, because the weather was still super great. The girls cousin had spent the night on Sunday, so on Monday, the aunt and uncle came over again to pick her up, and we once again had a BBQ for lunch. It was nice to be outside and we went swimming and enjoyed the day. Once the family left, Seb and Cath studied with the girls some for their exams, which began on Tuesday, and continue for two weeks.
I had a super productive day personally, because I booked my flight back to the USA (July 11 at 1:50 in O Hare, if you're interested!) as well as my train ticket to Amsterdam to meet Brent for our flight to Croatia. I'm glad to have those big details taken care of so the weight is off my chest.
So after the nice long weekend, Tuesday began the first of two weeks of final exams for the girls. This has proven to be a very stressful week for everyone, because if they don't pass their exams they can't continue on to the next school year! But the kids can't study very much without getting tired or losing focus, and I also don think they grasp the gravity of the situation fully. So after hours of struggling through studying on Tuesday afternoon, I went off to study myself at my final French class before the final exam! It was a long class of review, but I still left feeling nervous for the exam. It's been over a year now since I've been in school and actually had to study and prepare for an exam, so that's also kind of odd to realize. I feel like I just finished school but it's been so long...
Wednesday was literally the worst day. The girls fought all day long no matter what I did to try and stop them. They were misbehaving, they wouldn't listen to me, and they wouldn't study well with me for their exams. Of course, this lead to their mom getting involved and yelling and the girls going into time out. It obvious that they are feeling the stress of these exams and so am I. Their parents are coming down on them hard to study, but yet all the studying falls on me, because the parents don't have time to study with them. I can't tell which of us is more stressed with this week.
Their moods slightly improved after we finally got through a sufficient amount of studying and went outside to play on the trampoline and swim in the pool. I thought things were looking up from here, but then after dinner they were back to their shenanigans of fighting and crying. Bedtime was not nice with the parents, since the girls were being so awful. I hope this passes, because if everyday for the rest of this week and next week is like this, I literally think I will come apart at the seems, and probably they will as well!
Today, Thursday, I met Michelle at our favorite café and we walked around the Thursday market in town for a while in the sun and just talked about life. She is such a good mentor to have in my life, and I'm going to miss her when I leave. I was asking her all about the education field and her job history and how she got to where she is now. I think she has helped me to see that maybe education is the field that I want I pursue, after all.
After coming home, I made lunch for the girls and I. Catherine was in Brussels for work so she didn't eat with us. After telling the girls they were only allowed ten minutes each on their iPads, we watched a little Disney channel together and I took them back to school.
When I dropped them off, I went to my friend Lora's house to have some lunch and to study with her for our French exam. Of course, we didn't study too much because there wasn't much we could do at that point. If we don't know it, we don't know it. So we just ended up eating and talking about life. She is such a great friend to talk to about everything.
I left her house at 3 to go and pick up the girls from school. We only had about two hours before I left to go to my French exam, so of course I had to make their studies a priority and not mine, and of course, even with their best interests at heart, they fought with me about it and didn't want to do it. Maybe it's because I'm not a parent yet, but I genuinely do not understand how studying is that much different from regular homework? I'm not dumping a ton on them at once, we do it in nice, manageable parts, like we always do with their other homework, and I give them breaks in between and tons of positive encouragement, yet still they fight me.
In any event, despite the struggles, I got them to study a sufficient amount before I had to go to my French exam at 6.
Surprisingly, I feel that my exam went well. I won't know the results just yet and honestly I am not sure when they will arrive. But I have my oral exam next Tuesday so probably at the earliest I would know next Friday. I tried my best and that's all that matters! I'm happy for myself that I did what I could. So now we wait for results!
After the exam some friends and I from class went out to get a pizza and a beer. I wish I could elaborate more but I'm literally falling asleep as I type this. But it was a good time and I am glad I met all of them, they made my time here so much better and enjoyable. I will be sad to leave them.
Now I'm back at home attempting to watch some of the first World Cup match. Go Croatia!
Tomorrow at 5 I head to the Netherlands for the weekend to see Brent for my birthday weekend! Who's excited? Me! Who's tired? Me!
Goodnight everyone
XOXO
Sunday, June 8, 2014
The Beginning of the End
Hi there!
What a week it has been! I'm seriously tired out. I feel like I could fall asleep at any second. This week has gone by so slow and there has been so much going on. And there is so much more to happen in the remaining three weeks that I have here in Belgium.
It's amazing how time is such a fluid concept. We count things down by days and hours and minutes. And for each person the time seems to pass by at a different rate of speed, although in reality we all have the same 24 hours in each day on this earth. Curious.
So, after a last weekend of traveling with Brent, Monday was difficult as always, because I was tired. It didn't help that there were construction workers at our house for the first three days of the week repairing parts of our driveway. They came early every morning and all the noise right outside my window woke me up each day.
Monday passed without too much excitement, just English class as usual for Elise.
Tuesday evening, I had my French class and we took a walking tour through the village with our professor. It was really nice because although I know the city now, I didn't know the history behind everything there is here. It turns out that Arlon is the oldest city in Belgium! Who knew?! After we walked around the village, we all stopped and sat at an outdoor cafe in one of the small plazas and had a drink. It was nice to just chit chat in French with our class mates and get outside of the classroom for a change. After we were done for the evening, I walked back to the school with a Spanish girl from my class, and I encountered my first tri lingual problem. My brain is so used to defaulting to French these days that I found it difficult to speak to her in Spanish, which irritated me very much, since Spanish is my first language love and I have studied it much longer than French. But it is true that if you don't use it, you lose it, and I haven't had any practice with Spanish conversation in many months.
Wednesday, the girls had a half day of school, like normal, and much to their dismay we had to begin to study for their exams. Here in Belgium, there is a large exam at the end of every school year and if the kids don't pass it then they can't go on to the next year of school, and they have to re do the previous year. This exam is huge and covers all the material they did over the entire year. It's so big that they do it one subject/section at a time each day over the last two weeks of the school year. Holy crap! So it's overwhelming for the girls, but also for me, because it is my responsibility to make sure that they pass the exam and do well and can go on to the next year. As you can imagine, this is a lot of pressure for me, because I want them to do well!
On Thursday morning, I met my friend Michelle for breakfast and coffee at Maison Knopes, my favorite cafe here in the village. After we ate quickly, we walked around the market that comes to town every Thursday. It's like a farmers market with all sorts of fresh grown foods but it also has local artisan goods and clothes and such. It was nice to get out in the sun for the morning with her and enjoy the marketand her company. After this, I came home and made lunch for the girls and studied with them more after school.
On Thursday evening, I had my French class again and we began to seriously study and review for the final exam, which is this Thursday! So not only am I trying to study for my own exam, but I am trying to help the girls with theirs! Obviously theirs are more important, because it doesn't really matter much if I pass or fail my exam, however, I would like to pass it just to say I did well and accomplished something while I was here.
Friday was a whirlwind. Sebastien had been in Paris all week for work, and on Friday Catherine left to meet him for the night in Brussels. So the girls and I were alone. After school, I took Elise to her art class and then Emma to her English class at Michelle's house. When I can, I like to stay with the class on Fridays because I enjoy working with them and I also enjoy watching Michelle's teaching methods. Truly observing her classes of different age levels has made me consider becoming an ESL teacher of some sort. I enjoy working with education and forging language and the kids. I admire how hard she works.
After the class, Emma and I came home and it was just the two of us for the night, since the parents were in Brussels and Elise was staying at a friends house for the night. We went to the store together to buy sleepover goodies. In American stores, there is an international section which has a small section of products from select countries. Friday for the first time, I noticed that there is an American section in the international aisle, here! How bizarre this was for me! So we bought American microwave popcorn, which Emma had never had before, and some Belgian chocolates and headed home.
We had lasagna for dinner, and afterwords, we made a giant pillow and blanket fort in the living room and enjoyed our salty American popcorn (in Europe they eat it with sugar!) while watching "The Parent Trap" in French. Finally around midnight, we went to sleep.
Saturday afternoon, the parents returned home with Elise in tow and we had a quick lunch together before the girls went to tennis in the afternoon. I skyped with my friend Brittany, and as always, it was good to see her face and catch up with her.
Then, around five pm, I walked into town to my friend Lora's apartment to meet her and her daughter, Lea. We went for a walk around town together to enjoy the beautiful weather we have had this weekend, and then we had dinner at a pizzeria and sat outside. At least three people passed who she knew. She is so kind and she is friends with everyone she meets. What a good soul.
After eating dinner, we went to the movie theater in Arlon, my first time going. We went to see Maleficent, since her daughter was with us, and it was more kid friendly. It was her first time in a movie theater! (She is 2). And she did so well! Although the movie was all in French with no subtitles, I was happy to say that I understood most of it. Also, there are some things you don't need language to understand, like hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially if that woman is Angelina Jolie.
After the movie, we walked around town a little bit in the fading light and then back to Lora's apartment to have a quick drink before I headed home for the evening.
I had such a great time with her and she is truly a good friend that I have met here. I will be sad to leave her!
Today, Sunday, we all had breakfast together at home, and I helped Catherine prepare some dishes for the big family barbecue we had today. Today in Belgium it is Father's Day. It isn't until next Sunday, my birthday also, in the United States. But it was truly the perfect day for a barbecue, hot and sunny. The girls and their cousins used the pool. But all the drinking wine in the sun has made me oh so tired today.
However, I am happy to say that the whole family noted how much my French has improved since the last time I saw them on Easter. This made me feel good about myself, because I still think my French is fairly weak. But it was a true compliment to hear.
Tonight, the girls cousins are sleeping over since there's no school tomorrow for some sort of religious holiday. But tomorrow we also need to crack down on studying because exams begin on Tuesday! I'm sure they will not be happy about this. I will be just as relieved when these exam are done as they will be!
But it won't be long until I am done with my brief time here. I say brief, although at time it has not felt this way. There have truly been ups and downs and highs and lows, but in the end, I suppose that's how life goes anywhere. The one consistency around the world is that no matter what happens, life goes on.
The rest of my time here looks like this: this coming Friday, I will head to Groningen for one last time for my birthday weekend to visit Brent. When I return next Sunday, I will have just two weeks left in Belgium before I depart on the 1st of July to meet Brent and Stephanie for a ten day vacation in Croatia, which we are all super excited about. Then, hopefully on July 11, I will be flying back home to the good old USA! I still haven't booked a flight home yet, so stay tuned for the actual fight date.
This week ahead will feel long, I'm sure, as it always does when I'm counting down the days to see Brent again (5, if you're interested). But these next five days will be packed full of cooking, studying, driving, exams, and my French exam on Thursday! Yikes, lots to do!
I hope everyone at home had a great weekend and has a great week ahead!
All my love
XOXO
What a week it has been! I'm seriously tired out. I feel like I could fall asleep at any second. This week has gone by so slow and there has been so much going on. And there is so much more to happen in the remaining three weeks that I have here in Belgium.
It's amazing how time is such a fluid concept. We count things down by days and hours and minutes. And for each person the time seems to pass by at a different rate of speed, although in reality we all have the same 24 hours in each day on this earth. Curious.
So, after a last weekend of traveling with Brent, Monday was difficult as always, because I was tired. It didn't help that there were construction workers at our house for the first three days of the week repairing parts of our driveway. They came early every morning and all the noise right outside my window woke me up each day.
Monday passed without too much excitement, just English class as usual for Elise.
Tuesday evening, I had my French class and we took a walking tour through the village with our professor. It was really nice because although I know the city now, I didn't know the history behind everything there is here. It turns out that Arlon is the oldest city in Belgium! Who knew?! After we walked around the village, we all stopped and sat at an outdoor cafe in one of the small plazas and had a drink. It was nice to just chit chat in French with our class mates and get outside of the classroom for a change. After we were done for the evening, I walked back to the school with a Spanish girl from my class, and I encountered my first tri lingual problem. My brain is so used to defaulting to French these days that I found it difficult to speak to her in Spanish, which irritated me very much, since Spanish is my first language love and I have studied it much longer than French. But it is true that if you don't use it, you lose it, and I haven't had any practice with Spanish conversation in many months.
Wednesday, the girls had a half day of school, like normal, and much to their dismay we had to begin to study for their exams. Here in Belgium, there is a large exam at the end of every school year and if the kids don't pass it then they can't go on to the next year of school, and they have to re do the previous year. This exam is huge and covers all the material they did over the entire year. It's so big that they do it one subject/section at a time each day over the last two weeks of the school year. Holy crap! So it's overwhelming for the girls, but also for me, because it is my responsibility to make sure that they pass the exam and do well and can go on to the next year. As you can imagine, this is a lot of pressure for me, because I want them to do well!
On Thursday morning, I met my friend Michelle for breakfast and coffee at Maison Knopes, my favorite cafe here in the village. After we ate quickly, we walked around the market that comes to town every Thursday. It's like a farmers market with all sorts of fresh grown foods but it also has local artisan goods and clothes and such. It was nice to get out in the sun for the morning with her and enjoy the marketand her company. After this, I came home and made lunch for the girls and studied with them more after school.
On Thursday evening, I had my French class again and we began to seriously study and review for the final exam, which is this Thursday! So not only am I trying to study for my own exam, but I am trying to help the girls with theirs! Obviously theirs are more important, because it doesn't really matter much if I pass or fail my exam, however, I would like to pass it just to say I did well and accomplished something while I was here.
Friday was a whirlwind. Sebastien had been in Paris all week for work, and on Friday Catherine left to meet him for the night in Brussels. So the girls and I were alone. After school, I took Elise to her art class and then Emma to her English class at Michelle's house. When I can, I like to stay with the class on Fridays because I enjoy working with them and I also enjoy watching Michelle's teaching methods. Truly observing her classes of different age levels has made me consider becoming an ESL teacher of some sort. I enjoy working with education and forging language and the kids. I admire how hard she works.
After the class, Emma and I came home and it was just the two of us for the night, since the parents were in Brussels and Elise was staying at a friends house for the night. We went to the store together to buy sleepover goodies. In American stores, there is an international section which has a small section of products from select countries. Friday for the first time, I noticed that there is an American section in the international aisle, here! How bizarre this was for me! So we bought American microwave popcorn, which Emma had never had before, and some Belgian chocolates and headed home.
We had lasagna for dinner, and afterwords, we made a giant pillow and blanket fort in the living room and enjoyed our salty American popcorn (in Europe they eat it with sugar!) while watching "The Parent Trap" in French. Finally around midnight, we went to sleep.
Saturday afternoon, the parents returned home with Elise in tow and we had a quick lunch together before the girls went to tennis in the afternoon. I skyped with my friend Brittany, and as always, it was good to see her face and catch up with her.
Then, around five pm, I walked into town to my friend Lora's apartment to meet her and her daughter, Lea. We went for a walk around town together to enjoy the beautiful weather we have had this weekend, and then we had dinner at a pizzeria and sat outside. At least three people passed who she knew. She is so kind and she is friends with everyone she meets. What a good soul.
After eating dinner, we went to the movie theater in Arlon, my first time going. We went to see Maleficent, since her daughter was with us, and it was more kid friendly. It was her first time in a movie theater! (She is 2). And she did so well! Although the movie was all in French with no subtitles, I was happy to say that I understood most of it. Also, there are some things you don't need language to understand, like hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially if that woman is Angelina Jolie.
After the movie, we walked around town a little bit in the fading light and then back to Lora's apartment to have a quick drink before I headed home for the evening.
I had such a great time with her and she is truly a good friend that I have met here. I will be sad to leave her!
Today, Sunday, we all had breakfast together at home, and I helped Catherine prepare some dishes for the big family barbecue we had today. Today in Belgium it is Father's Day. It isn't until next Sunday, my birthday also, in the United States. But it was truly the perfect day for a barbecue, hot and sunny. The girls and their cousins used the pool. But all the drinking wine in the sun has made me oh so tired today.
However, I am happy to say that the whole family noted how much my French has improved since the last time I saw them on Easter. This made me feel good about myself, because I still think my French is fairly weak. But it was a true compliment to hear.
Tonight, the girls cousins are sleeping over since there's no school tomorrow for some sort of religious holiday. But tomorrow we also need to crack down on studying because exams begin on Tuesday! I'm sure they will not be happy about this. I will be just as relieved when these exam are done as they will be!
But it won't be long until I am done with my brief time here. I say brief, although at time it has not felt this way. There have truly been ups and downs and highs and lows, but in the end, I suppose that's how life goes anywhere. The one consistency around the world is that no matter what happens, life goes on.
The rest of my time here looks like this: this coming Friday, I will head to Groningen for one last time for my birthday weekend to visit Brent. When I return next Sunday, I will have just two weeks left in Belgium before I depart on the 1st of July to meet Brent and Stephanie for a ten day vacation in Croatia, which we are all super excited about. Then, hopefully on July 11, I will be flying back home to the good old USA! I still haven't booked a flight home yet, so stay tuned for the actual fight date.
This week ahead will feel long, I'm sure, as it always does when I'm counting down the days to see Brent again (5, if you're interested). But these next five days will be packed full of cooking, studying, driving, exams, and my French exam on Thursday! Yikes, lots to do!
I hope everyone at home had a great weekend and has a great week ahead!
All my love
XOXO
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Brussels&Bruges
Hi there, everyone!
So i know it's been a while since I posted last. I keep trying to be better about posting more often but life seems to keep getting in the way and making me busy! Anyways, lots has happened since last week that I would love to tell you about.
Last week was short, since I left on Thursday morning for a long weekend away. On Wednesday, Emma had her belated 10th birthday party sleepover, and she had four friends come over and spend the night.
Don't get me wrong, it was super fun to make cupcakes with the girls on Tuesday night and put all the decorations up, but as always, taking care of 6 kids at once all alone is not an easy task when it isn't your native language.
Everything was going fine until somehow the girls ripped down part of the net that goes around the trampoline. Of course, this was somehow labeled as my fault even though I couldn't control what was going on or stop it even if I wanted to. So, luckily I was able to fix the net, but it didn't put me in a very good mood. Thankfully, Seb and Catherine took care of dinner and the evening activities, and I went to bed early because the next morning I was leaving for a long weekend in Brussels and Bruges with Brent!
So on Thursday morning I got up and had breakfast and Seb dropped me off at the train station. My ride to Brussels was an easy 2 and a half hours without problems. Brent and I met at the station and we set off to find our bed and breakfast. Luckily this was an easy walk from the central station, so we got in and settle and met our host, François. He was very kind and helped give us tips about what to see and do in the city. We set out to explore in the late afternoon and just wandered around the city and marveled at the architectural beauty of the Grand Place, the large open plaza in the center of the downtown area. We had some lunch and also some beers at an extremely old bar called "A La Mort Subite", or "Sudden Death". After a while, we returned to the apartment and recollected ourselves for the evening. François gave us a set of keys and he headed out for the night to stay with his girlfriend. But not five minutes after he had left, somehow we had broken the flush on the toilet. So of course, we are both panicking and we emailed him to ask what to do. Of course, he said not to worry, but we were still worrying anyway.
Despite the unease, we went out and found a Thai food place for dinner, which was pretty good, although not too cheap. Afterwords, we headed to a large bar in the city center called "Delirium", which is quite well known for it's atmosphere and it's beers. We spent a few hours there watching lots of drunk friends smash pint glasses on tables in their drunkenness. We went home and headed to bed later on.
On Friday morning, we woke up early and more funness ensued when neither of us could figure out how to work the shower properly. This lead to hair washing under the faucet. After struggling a little bit with this, we headed to back to the Grand Place and had breakfast at a little cafe there, which of course included Belgian waffles.
After we ate we headed to the metro station and hopped on to go to the Atomium, which is basically the large silver metallic structure of an atom that has become almost as iconic in Belgium as the Eiffel Tower in France. Although the line was long, it was fun to go up into the structure and see how it was made. Mainly though, we were interested in getting to the top to see the view, which took a while of waiting in line to do, but the view was worth it, because we could see all of Brussels from the top.
After coming down, we took the subway back towards the city center and bought things for a picnic lunch and ate in a large park next to all of the European Union Parliament buildings. Belgium, and Brussels in particular, is the headquarters of the EU, so it was interesting to see all the sleek, modern buildings that resembled something you would see in the US blended in amongst the more historical aspects of the city.
After we ate and relaxed in the park for a while, we headed towards the Palace of Justice, which also was on a nice hillside and had another great view of the city. We also saw the Royal Palace, which is where the Belgian Royal Family lives. Belgium has a similar government to England, where the Royal Family serves as more of a figurehead/placeholder and the parliament really does all the leg work.
In the early evening, I did a little bit of shopping, and then Brent and I bought some food to prepare dinner at the apartment to save a little money. It turned out really well, we made breaded fish fillets and broccoli and had some rose wine and rested our legs for a little bit.
After dinner, we went on a walk around other parts of the city we had yet to explore. We both agreed it was one of our favorite places that we have been so far, and we enjoyed it a lot. We stopped in at a pub and had a few beers and just sat and talked for a few hours about all of the things that are coming up for us in our future. There's a lot to plan and do, and it can seem overwhelming, but we have decisions to make soon that will affect both of our futures.
After a nice long evening, we made our way back towards the apartment and of course had the best Belgian late night snack: fries! We ate as we walked back and then came home and slept.
Saturday morning we were up early once again, and after taking quick showers (thanks to François showing us how, which was actually super easy and made us feel like idiots) we said our goodbyes to François and headed towards the train station to get on our way to Bruges!
Bruges is about an hour northwest from Brussels, in the Flemish, Dutch speaking region of the country. It is a smaller city that is commonly referred to as the "Venice of the North" because it is a city with lots of canals and breathtaking views. It truly was like a fairytale city, but of course Brent and I kept referring to it as a "shithole". If you have never seen the movie "In Bruges" with Colin Farrell, rent it and you will know why.
So we ate some breakfast at the train station in Brussels and took the hour train ride to Bruges, which was quick and easy. When we got to the station, we looked on a map to find our hostel, the Snuffle, and we set off to walk there. The weather was pleasant so the twenty minute walk wasn't bad. Once we got there and checked in, we left our backpacks and set off to explore the city! It was just past noon so we has the whole day and night ahead of us!
First, we headed to the city center and saw the beautiful grand plaza, including the Belfort clock tower. After passing through the winding streets lined with chocolate shops and breweries we made our way to the part of the city which is all canals and bridges and looks like something out of a fairytale. We ate some fries (of course) and got tickets to go on a boat tour of the city. This was my favorite part of the whole day. The little motor boat whisked us through the winding water ways and under stone bridges and past ivy covered brick walls, coated with brilliantly blooming flowers. If you continued along the canals, eventually you would reach the North Sea. I wish we would have had the time and money to go that far! The views from the canals were great, and showed off the many architectural wonders of the city, such as homes, churches and also the oldest hospital in Europe (which is no longer a running hospital, just a museum).
After hopping off the boat (where I got slightly sunburned, although I won't complain about the nice sunny weather) we headed back towards the city center to climb to the top of the Belfort. It was 336 tiny winding narrow stairs to the top, and there was only one way up and down so with people going both directions you can imagine how crowded and claustrophobic this got. If you have super claustrophobia, I would not recommend visiting any church towers in Europe, because they are all like this due to their extreme age.
Although the climb was rough, the view from the top was worth it, to see all the veins of the canals flowing out towards the sea, and all of the red and orange brick rooftops dotted alone the greenery. When we came down, we headed in the direction of where we were told by the hostel worker would be a walking tour, but when we got to the supposed location, there was no one in sight. Although a little bummed, it ended up putting us along the river on a hillside with a large windmill, which was also a good view of the city. We sat on the hillside in the sun trying to figure out what we wanted to do next, and decided on headed towards the Church of Our Lady to see the Statue of the Madonna and Child, by Michelangelo. However, although we could see the inside of the church, the statue was already closed for viewing for the day. I a as a bit bummed to not be able to see this great work of art, but what can you do, that's just life. And it gives us an excuse to come back in the future!
So we headed in the direction of Minnewater Lake/Park on the outskirts of the city. This beautiful area where many canals meet to form a "lake" was beautiful with all the weeping willows on the banks and white swans lazily floating along the water.
At this point, we were famished and realized that we has hardy ate that day and/or drank a lot of water. So what did we do? Found a brewery and had a beer tasting, of course, because we are super responsible. After a brief rest and some tasty beers, we finally found an Italian restaurant and very tiredly made our way through a shared pasta dish and a pizza.
After dinner, we walked back to the Snuffle (if only it was the Winchester...) and enjoyed their "happy hour" with one euro beers, and rested our legs. As the sun went down, we made our way back towards the city center and enjoyed the lovely evening glow over the canals. We enjoyed a beer on the main plaza and just admired the view and enjoyed each other company.
As the evening wound down, we made our way back to the Snuffle and attempted to head to bed. I say attempted because when we got back to our room someone was already sleeping in my bed. Apparently somehow the hostel has booked 9 people for an 8 person room. So after talking to the people at reception, and juggling things around, we were finally able to get our beds and go to sleep.
Once again on Sunday, we were up early and on the move. We had breakfast at our hostel and checked out. We left our backpacks there in storage though, and headed to the Church of the Holy Blood, where there is supposedly a vial of Jesus Christ's blood saved. Upon entering the church, we lit a prayer candle and placed in on an altar in front our a podium where there was a satin pillow with an ornate crystal and jeweled vial. Inside the large vial was a crystallized and congealed clear and red substance, which is supposedly the actual blood of Christ. For some reason the whole church seemed to suck the air out of my lungs. The feeling was very surreal as the choir sang a low, hauntingly beautiful melody in the background. Although it was interesting, I feel as if I surfaced from cold water when we left the building.
After this, we walked towards some artisan markets that were set up in the square with all kinda of handmade crafts as well as antiques. We bought two paintings of Bruges for our apartment as well as a vintage bicycle shaped key hook for the wall. Making our way along the canals, we went to a small park for a while and then had lunch at a small cafe near it. After we ate, we went back to the Snuffle to collect our backpacks, and began the walk back to the train station.
After a short wait at the station, we boarded our train back to Brussels. The ride was a brief hour, and when we got back to the station we went outside to sit in the sun for a while before our separate trains departed. As always, leaving Brent makes me sad. Even when the time between visits is just two weeks, the time we spend together is never enough. I can't wait to finally be living together for the first time in just a few months from now.
So I sadly boarded my train back to Arlon, which was an easy ride, and I read most of the time. I got home and took a shower and unpacked and had some dinner and then had a Skype with my family, which was nice. It is always so good to talk to them.
Monday morning it was back to reality. The reality is setting in that I have just under one month left here in Belgium. I will be leaving here on July 1st for a trip to Croatia with Brent and his sister, and heading back to the US around the 11th or 12th. The time left seems so short and so long all at once.
Next weekend, the weekend of my birthday, I will go to visit Brent in Groningen one last time, which will be my final weekend trip before leaving.
Tonight, I have my French class, which is also approaching an end. The first part of the final exam is already next Thursday. I'm not sure how prepared I am. I hope to pass, but if I don't, oh well, it's not the end of the world, and nothing bad will come of it.
In the mean time, in the remaining month and a half left here in Europe, I am just trying to live each day in the moment as well as plan for the near future of Brent and I beginning our new chapter in Florida together.
I hope all is well at home, and as always, I am missing you.
XOXO
So i know it's been a while since I posted last. I keep trying to be better about posting more often but life seems to keep getting in the way and making me busy! Anyways, lots has happened since last week that I would love to tell you about.
Last week was short, since I left on Thursday morning for a long weekend away. On Wednesday, Emma had her belated 10th birthday party sleepover, and she had four friends come over and spend the night.
Don't get me wrong, it was super fun to make cupcakes with the girls on Tuesday night and put all the decorations up, but as always, taking care of 6 kids at once all alone is not an easy task when it isn't your native language.
Everything was going fine until somehow the girls ripped down part of the net that goes around the trampoline. Of course, this was somehow labeled as my fault even though I couldn't control what was going on or stop it even if I wanted to. So, luckily I was able to fix the net, but it didn't put me in a very good mood. Thankfully, Seb and Catherine took care of dinner and the evening activities, and I went to bed early because the next morning I was leaving for a long weekend in Brussels and Bruges with Brent!
So on Thursday morning I got up and had breakfast and Seb dropped me off at the train station. My ride to Brussels was an easy 2 and a half hours without problems. Brent and I met at the station and we set off to find our bed and breakfast. Luckily this was an easy walk from the central station, so we got in and settle and met our host, François. He was very kind and helped give us tips about what to see and do in the city. We set out to explore in the late afternoon and just wandered around the city and marveled at the architectural beauty of the Grand Place, the large open plaza in the center of the downtown area. We had some lunch and also some beers at an extremely old bar called "A La Mort Subite", or "Sudden Death". After a while, we returned to the apartment and recollected ourselves for the evening. François gave us a set of keys and he headed out for the night to stay with his girlfriend. But not five minutes after he had left, somehow we had broken the flush on the toilet. So of course, we are both panicking and we emailed him to ask what to do. Of course, he said not to worry, but we were still worrying anyway.
Despite the unease, we went out and found a Thai food place for dinner, which was pretty good, although not too cheap. Afterwords, we headed to a large bar in the city center called "Delirium", which is quite well known for it's atmosphere and it's beers. We spent a few hours there watching lots of drunk friends smash pint glasses on tables in their drunkenness. We went home and headed to bed later on.
On Friday morning, we woke up early and more funness ensued when neither of us could figure out how to work the shower properly. This lead to hair washing under the faucet. After struggling a little bit with this, we headed to back to the Grand Place and had breakfast at a little cafe there, which of course included Belgian waffles.
After we ate we headed to the metro station and hopped on to go to the Atomium, which is basically the large silver metallic structure of an atom that has become almost as iconic in Belgium as the Eiffel Tower in France. Although the line was long, it was fun to go up into the structure and see how it was made. Mainly though, we were interested in getting to the top to see the view, which took a while of waiting in line to do, but the view was worth it, because we could see all of Brussels from the top.
After coming down, we took the subway back towards the city center and bought things for a picnic lunch and ate in a large park next to all of the European Union Parliament buildings. Belgium, and Brussels in particular, is the headquarters of the EU, so it was interesting to see all the sleek, modern buildings that resembled something you would see in the US blended in amongst the more historical aspects of the city.
After we ate and relaxed in the park for a while, we headed towards the Palace of Justice, which also was on a nice hillside and had another great view of the city. We also saw the Royal Palace, which is where the Belgian Royal Family lives. Belgium has a similar government to England, where the Royal Family serves as more of a figurehead/placeholder and the parliament really does all the leg work.
In the early evening, I did a little bit of shopping, and then Brent and I bought some food to prepare dinner at the apartment to save a little money. It turned out really well, we made breaded fish fillets and broccoli and had some rose wine and rested our legs for a little bit.
After dinner, we went on a walk around other parts of the city we had yet to explore. We both agreed it was one of our favorite places that we have been so far, and we enjoyed it a lot. We stopped in at a pub and had a few beers and just sat and talked for a few hours about all of the things that are coming up for us in our future. There's a lot to plan and do, and it can seem overwhelming, but we have decisions to make soon that will affect both of our futures.
After a nice long evening, we made our way back towards the apartment and of course had the best Belgian late night snack: fries! We ate as we walked back and then came home and slept.
Saturday morning we were up early once again, and after taking quick showers (thanks to François showing us how, which was actually super easy and made us feel like idiots) we said our goodbyes to François and headed towards the train station to get on our way to Bruges!
Bruges is about an hour northwest from Brussels, in the Flemish, Dutch speaking region of the country. It is a smaller city that is commonly referred to as the "Venice of the North" because it is a city with lots of canals and breathtaking views. It truly was like a fairytale city, but of course Brent and I kept referring to it as a "shithole". If you have never seen the movie "In Bruges" with Colin Farrell, rent it and you will know why.
So we ate some breakfast at the train station in Brussels and took the hour train ride to Bruges, which was quick and easy. When we got to the station, we looked on a map to find our hostel, the Snuffle, and we set off to walk there. The weather was pleasant so the twenty minute walk wasn't bad. Once we got there and checked in, we left our backpacks and set off to explore the city! It was just past noon so we has the whole day and night ahead of us!
First, we headed to the city center and saw the beautiful grand plaza, including the Belfort clock tower. After passing through the winding streets lined with chocolate shops and breweries we made our way to the part of the city which is all canals and bridges and looks like something out of a fairytale. We ate some fries (of course) and got tickets to go on a boat tour of the city. This was my favorite part of the whole day. The little motor boat whisked us through the winding water ways and under stone bridges and past ivy covered brick walls, coated with brilliantly blooming flowers. If you continued along the canals, eventually you would reach the North Sea. I wish we would have had the time and money to go that far! The views from the canals were great, and showed off the many architectural wonders of the city, such as homes, churches and also the oldest hospital in Europe (which is no longer a running hospital, just a museum).
After hopping off the boat (where I got slightly sunburned, although I won't complain about the nice sunny weather) we headed back towards the city center to climb to the top of the Belfort. It was 336 tiny winding narrow stairs to the top, and there was only one way up and down so with people going both directions you can imagine how crowded and claustrophobic this got. If you have super claustrophobia, I would not recommend visiting any church towers in Europe, because they are all like this due to their extreme age.
Although the climb was rough, the view from the top was worth it, to see all the veins of the canals flowing out towards the sea, and all of the red and orange brick rooftops dotted alone the greenery. When we came down, we headed in the direction of where we were told by the hostel worker would be a walking tour, but when we got to the supposed location, there was no one in sight. Although a little bummed, it ended up putting us along the river on a hillside with a large windmill, which was also a good view of the city. We sat on the hillside in the sun trying to figure out what we wanted to do next, and decided on headed towards the Church of Our Lady to see the Statue of the Madonna and Child, by Michelangelo. However, although we could see the inside of the church, the statue was already closed for viewing for the day. I a as a bit bummed to not be able to see this great work of art, but what can you do, that's just life. And it gives us an excuse to come back in the future!
So we headed in the direction of Minnewater Lake/Park on the outskirts of the city. This beautiful area where many canals meet to form a "lake" was beautiful with all the weeping willows on the banks and white swans lazily floating along the water.
At this point, we were famished and realized that we has hardy ate that day and/or drank a lot of water. So what did we do? Found a brewery and had a beer tasting, of course, because we are super responsible. After a brief rest and some tasty beers, we finally found an Italian restaurant and very tiredly made our way through a shared pasta dish and a pizza.
After dinner, we walked back to the Snuffle (if only it was the Winchester...) and enjoyed their "happy hour" with one euro beers, and rested our legs. As the sun went down, we made our way back towards the city center and enjoyed the lovely evening glow over the canals. We enjoyed a beer on the main plaza and just admired the view and enjoyed each other company.
As the evening wound down, we made our way back to the Snuffle and attempted to head to bed. I say attempted because when we got back to our room someone was already sleeping in my bed. Apparently somehow the hostel has booked 9 people for an 8 person room. So after talking to the people at reception, and juggling things around, we were finally able to get our beds and go to sleep.
Once again on Sunday, we were up early and on the move. We had breakfast at our hostel and checked out. We left our backpacks there in storage though, and headed to the Church of the Holy Blood, where there is supposedly a vial of Jesus Christ's blood saved. Upon entering the church, we lit a prayer candle and placed in on an altar in front our a podium where there was a satin pillow with an ornate crystal and jeweled vial. Inside the large vial was a crystallized and congealed clear and red substance, which is supposedly the actual blood of Christ. For some reason the whole church seemed to suck the air out of my lungs. The feeling was very surreal as the choir sang a low, hauntingly beautiful melody in the background. Although it was interesting, I feel as if I surfaced from cold water when we left the building.
After this, we walked towards some artisan markets that were set up in the square with all kinda of handmade crafts as well as antiques. We bought two paintings of Bruges for our apartment as well as a vintage bicycle shaped key hook for the wall. Making our way along the canals, we went to a small park for a while and then had lunch at a small cafe near it. After we ate, we went back to the Snuffle to collect our backpacks, and began the walk back to the train station.
After a short wait at the station, we boarded our train back to Brussels. The ride was a brief hour, and when we got back to the station we went outside to sit in the sun for a while before our separate trains departed. As always, leaving Brent makes me sad. Even when the time between visits is just two weeks, the time we spend together is never enough. I can't wait to finally be living together for the first time in just a few months from now.
So I sadly boarded my train back to Arlon, which was an easy ride, and I read most of the time. I got home and took a shower and unpacked and had some dinner and then had a Skype with my family, which was nice. It is always so good to talk to them.
Monday morning it was back to reality. The reality is setting in that I have just under one month left here in Belgium. I will be leaving here on July 1st for a trip to Croatia with Brent and his sister, and heading back to the US around the 11th or 12th. The time left seems so short and so long all at once.
Next weekend, the weekend of my birthday, I will go to visit Brent in Groningen one last time, which will be my final weekend trip before leaving.
Tonight, I have my French class, which is also approaching an end. The first part of the final exam is already next Thursday. I'm not sure how prepared I am. I hope to pass, but if I don't, oh well, it's not the end of the world, and nothing bad will come of it.
In the mean time, in the remaining month and a half left here in Europe, I am just trying to live each day in the moment as well as plan for the near future of Brent and I beginning our new chapter in Florida together.
I hope all is well at home, and as always, I am missing you.
XOXO
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