Amsterdam!!

AMSTERDAM!!

The weekend I got back from Italy for spring break I hopped on another train to Amsterdam. Because Amsterdam is part of the Benelux, trains there are especially cheap and easy. I met my friend Dan there in the morning. We got some Thai food for lunch and then started exploring the city.

Our first stop was the House of Bols, which shows you the process of making cocktails. It was a very interactive experience. We got to smell and taste the different liqueurs, practice flair bar tending, and sample our own special cocktail. You can watch me below. It's basically me laughing at how horrible I am at flair bar tending.




Lori flair bartending

Next we paid the expensive price to go see the Van Gogh Museum, but I thought it was worth it. You got to see how his work evolved and my favorite part was the temporary exhibit of his starry nights work.

For the rest of the afternoon we took it easy and hung out and explored.

The next day we went to the Keukenhof Gardens. After standing in multiple lines for what seemed like hours we finally made it to the gardens. It was packed!! I was really surprised. The gardens were huge and had millions of flowers! On our bus ride there (and my train ride), you could see the colorful fields with rows of flowers. It was really beautiful!


After a stressful day at the gardens we relaxed in a park and then went and got Wok n Walk which is my new favorite place. Basically you order whatever you want, noodles or rice, and then chose what kind of veggies you want in it and what sauce you want and they make it in a wok right there! It was delicious and a brilliant idea! I wish we had something like that in the States. They took out my favorite stir fry station in Danforth last year. :(

That night we found an Irish pub called Mulligans (which alsoppens to be a nickname of mine) and listening to some live music and sipped some cider.

The next day we walked around the canals and went to the Ann Frank House. I really liked this museum. I especially liked all the quotes and the video clips of people talking about trying to keep the Franks hidden. It is actually really sad what happened in the end though.

After that we went to the Pancake Bakery as per my friend Glenalyn's suggestion. Basically the idea is to make giant pancakes and put whatever you want in them. I had chocolate, bananas, and whip cream and Dan had something a little more hearty.



In the afternoon, we went to the Heinekin Brewery. The highlight for this was not the beer (Belgians make beer so much better), but a little ride they have where they Brew You! I felt like I was in Disneyland for a second.

A little bit of Belgian Pride

Spring Break Italy

So because there is so much to say and you probably don't want to spend a lot of time reading this I will just do highlights for each city.

Milan.



Appertivo
Balconies in hotel rooms
Having the same gellato guy recognise us (our first and last gellato in italy)
sun bathing on top of the Cathedral and the really awesome architecture of the cathedral
people watching-seeing the fashionable Italians


Lake Como

Spending 2 and a half hours on a ferry
Enjoying the beautiful views of the Alp
Good lunch and good wine
Taking a nap


Verona


View from the top of the hill!!
Mexican food
My wonderful hostel. It felt like I had an apartment in the city.
Meeting tons of old Italian men trying to figure out how to get to my hostel
Traveling by myself. It could be quite rewarding and quite frustrating at times.

Bologna



Laughing from all the comments I got from old people regarding my clothing (Isnt it a little cold to be wearing a tank top) It almost reminded my of California when the weather goes below 50, people break out their winter coats.
An Italian man asking me to cafe

Rome



Getting into Rome at 10 and being told our hostel has water problems so attempting to find our new hostel at 11pm in Rome.
Meeting loud Irish people on the way to find the new hostel. Also meeting some fun people at Texas and all just chilling.
The hotel people moving in a new bed at 1am to accomodate a couple who found themselves sharing a room with 3 girls.
Getting a blessing from the Pope


Florence



Piazza Michelangelo at sunset with a beautiful view of the city
Haggling over a poster of Venice.
Delicious food/wine. Tuscany bread soup
Our hostel with an amazing shower!!
Ponte Vecchio at night with the flowers lining the pathway and live music plus a gorgeous full moon!

San Gimngagno (not hyped up enough, but probably a good thing because its so peaceful)



View of Tuscany
Excellent Bruschetta
Relaxing afternoon

Siena


Cute old Italian men hanging out and chatting and then moving out of the way so I could take a picture of their neighborhood Elephant statue
Lowlight: Getting fined because we couldn't figure out where to buy tickets.

Cinque Terre: I loved everything!!



Watching the sun set (even though it wasnt a very good one) on some rocks by the water.
Hiking through all five towns. Going up and down thousands of stairs.
Getting to the horribly uncomfortable beach with rocks.
Our cute and very pink hostel room.
Seeing all the cats!

Dublin!!

One day in February I was randomly searching travel websites (I do this from time to time when I have the urge to travel somewhere) and I came across incredibly cheap travel to Ireland (yahh Ryanair). I quickly asked everyone in the house if they wanted to come and Emily immediately jumped in with me. We bought our tickets within minutes of finding the cheap, tax free fare. Eventually Judith would come to realize that Dublin sounded kinda cool and also bought her tickets to come.

We woke up incredibly early (are you sensing a pattern) and proceeded to the train station so we could take the Charloi bus to the airport that's about an hour outside of town. We checked in, making sure our ONE carry on bag could fit into the TINY lugguge restrictions and we were off.

Our first interaction with the Irish people was at border control in Ireland. Originally I was nervous because the people in Brussels told me I wouldn't be able to get back in the country if I left, but I thought I would chance it anyway. The Irish man stamped my passport and wished me well on my weekend.

Because we were all hungry, I immediately suggested we find an Irish breakfast. Best decision of my life. Most Europeans don't eat breakfast. The Italians have an expresso, the French a croissant, and so on. The English have a good breakfast, but I3m sorry but Ireland just wins best breakfast of the year for European countries.

The Irish breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, fried potatos, toast, beans and black pudding. (Note* I just found out that black pudding is made with animal blood. Everything in the Irish Breakfast is good except for that...oh man..I cant believe I ate dried up pig's blood) I had it all and wiped the grease off with my bread it was that delicious. The others don't seem to know how I did it, but I think it might have something to so with my dad's delicious breakfasts of bacon, eggs, and fried potatos. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and the most important. I get hungry just picturing it in my mind.

Moving on from food...Friday we walked around Dublin a little bit. Saw St. Patrick's, Christ Church, the Guiness Factory, and Temple Bar.

Saturday however was my favorite day!! We decided to book a tour of Wicklow and Glendough. It was reallly funn and super beautiful! Our bus driver was super nice and funny and very informative. We got to see the place where they filmed PS I Love You where she meets her future husband. We also heard about these two snowboarders who got stuck in a snow storm on the top of the hills and the Irish government rescued them for free. We also learned about their community housing that puts low income housing and regular housing in the same communities (novel idea eh?).

With recommendations from our driver, we also went to Howth which is in Dublin but its right on the water because its a yacht club and fishing port. We had fish and chips, went to a local bar to watch Bulgaria v Ireland, and met the captain of a boat. He was such a cute old man and from the moment he walked in the door he looked like he could be a captain. He was wearing a navy blue peacoat, a cute little hat, and a scarf. He had his pint of Guiness, talked to us and some of his other friends, and then went home to his wife.

Other excitement of the day included being almost flashed by a 12 year old drunk boy, learning to put Black Currant into Guiness, finding the best cider ever...Bulmers, and just having good conversation and good fun with people who speak english as their first language!!

Getting back into Brussels was actually no problem. I think the border patrol just wanted to scare me. I am glad I took the chance because Ireland was a blast!!

Strasbourg

A very short excerpt. The European Parliament has their plenary session once a month in Strasbourg, France. You might be wondering why the parliament would waste tax payers money (they spend hundreds of millions on transporting everything), and waste their time (it takes about 4 hours to drive and 5 hours on the train), but there is only one reason: the French. the French are definitely one of the dominant players in the EU. It brings business for the Strasbourg area and France as a whole. However, the rooms are much smaller (there is only one room), and it wastes money and time of people who don't have a lot to spare of either.

While I was there I watched a little bit of the plenary session-they were talking about the upcoming G20 Summit. I also went to lunch with Anneli and her friend from home who is now a successful businessman in Russia. They were talking about the upcoming elections and how best to deal with the economic crisis when talking during the election season.

To pay for our expenses the program gave us some money, but to maximize that money I tried to get a ride from someone who was driving. I ended up with this nice French woman who works for an English MEP in the unattached. She has been working in the EU for over 20 years so she had many stories to tell me. It was nice to get a different persepctive on the EU. I feel like I'm missing out on that aspect in my office because my superviser is usually "too busy" to tell me about how the EU works. I guess that just makes me more self-sufficient in the end, but for now I wish I could learn a little more.

I was in Strasbourg for 3 days total and I spent an afternoon just exploring the town. Strasbourg is very pretty. There is a river running through it and all the buildings look like they could be from Shakespeare's time. I was a little sick and it was actually kinda cold so I didn`'t stay out for too long.

J'adore Paris!

My first visit to Paris was the summer of 2005. I was 17 and went with my mom and brother. This past weekend I also got a chance to go, this time spending the majority of my time with Emily.

We woke up at 4:30am on Friday to catch the tram, then the metro, and finally the train to Paris. The train ride was only about an hour and a half and it went by rather quickly. When we arrived, we split off into different directions. Celeste was staying with a friend, Judith her boyfriend, which left Emily and I to go check in at our hostel. After spending 20 minutes trying to find it wishing we had a map, I realized that my guidebook had one. This would become a future occurence. With a good map, we found the hostel no problem. We left our bags there and started our adventures in Paris.

We started at the Arc de Triumph and walked around the whole thing while waiting for Judith and then we decided it would be the cheapest view of the weekend so we walked up the 200 steps to the top! It was a great panaromic view of the city!

After we walked down the Champs de Lysees, and grabbed lunch at a cafe and continued our walk. We ran into a few gardens and streered right to the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. From there we walked across the bridge which gave us a beautiful view of the Seine River and the Eiffel Tower. While Judith and Emily talked, I walked around the bridge and took pictures. I took over 500 pictures of Paris this weekend. It is just such a beautiful city!

We continued on our journey and arrived at the Place de le Concorde where the American embassy is (no pictures), the most exclusive hotel in Paris, and some fountains. We also went down the street to Le Madelaine, which is a very pretty church which looks like a Greek temple, but is not one.

We also went to an underground bathroom expecting it to be disgusting and smell bad, but instead it was like enetering a magical world. Each stall was decorated and had its own sink. They had a sign that says no pictures so I couldnt take photos, but it was kinda like your grandma's bathroom. We also didnt have to pay which was amazing!!

The afternoon we spent in the Parc de Tuluries in front of the Louvre where we pretended we were Harry Potter. We also watched some people show off their fancy footwork while rollerblading around cones and jumping over obstacles. We also went around the royal gardens and dropped Judith off at the metro.

Emily and I took off to find crepes and ended up in McDonalds. lol. It is actually pretty hard to find creperies that don't want all your money. We also stopped briefly at the opera for some photos and then dashed off to the Louvre.

The Louvre is free for youth under 26 on Friday evenings so we skipped the line and headed straight for the Mona Lisa. Some people say the Mona Lisa is dissapointing, but I dont agree. Yes, she is behind a glass barrier, yes she is far away, and yes there are hordes of tourists snapping pictures, but you can always admire her from afar. Im not sure what has made her such a stark icon, but she is interesting to look at.

We spent about 2 hours total in the Louvre taking many breaks because we had been up since 4:30am. I was exhausted as was Emily. We walked through a few rooms and were delighted when we came across Reubens artwork (Antwerp represent) because we actually recognized an artist probably most others wouldn`t.

When we finally got back to our hostel, there was a mix up with the beds. We were a little scared that the Argentinian man who lived there before us would come attack us in the middle of the night, but we lived to see another day.

DAY II

This morning we spent a good 2 hours at the Eiffel Tower taking pictures of the Iron Lady in as many positions as possible. I had fun...and Im sure emily did too. :)

Because it is difficult writing so much and you probably don't want to read about every little detail i will just let you know some highlights.

-Musee d'Orsay: beatiful artwork, very managaable, cool clock and building. Hightslights included Degas pantings of ballerinas.

-Garden of Luxembourg: Loved lounging around near the pond where little kids were playing with wooden sailboats. Old man came up and welcomed Emily to Paris.

-Being cheap at a Parisian cafe and having the waiters play around with us.

-Nutella Crepe

-Having drinks with Judiths' boyfriend and friends.

-a romantic stroll along the Seine river at night




Day III

-being freaked out by the Erotic Museum

-Seeing the Monmarte artists gathered trying to sell their paintings to make some money.

-cute parisian dogs and their owners who do not clean up after their dogs

-Getting a sun tan

-watching the street performers and their lovers

-watching the performances in front of the Museum of Modern Art

-Going to the graveyard and lowlight: not seeing Oscar Wilde's grave

-delicious Indian food

-watching the sun set on Paris and watching the Eiffel Tower glitter at night

-meeting up with Judith and Celeste to share our experiences. :)

Balloon Parade

A couple years ago my family and I went to NYC for Thanksgiving. I was really excited about the Thanksgiving day parade. Because Im an idiot I didnt listen to my mom when she said we had to get downtown by 6 am to get a spot to see the parade. At 8 or 10, whenever the parade started we took the subway down to see the parade and she was right...we were 30 feet away from the parade and could barely see anything. This was my chance to make up for the parade, Belgian style.

Like I said in my post about Binche Carnivale, Belgians dont have any rules to parades. We got there early and scoped out a place to stand...the Belgians just stood wherever and walk around and dodged giant balloons. Eventually we did the same because Belgian parades aren't efficient either. BUT in their defense, this was the FIRST annual balloon parade and they had to call in the experts from America to teach them how to do it. Where we were was right under the cables, so the balooners (is that what they're called) had to pull down the balloon far enough so they could go under the cables. This made it hard to see the balloons so we decided to move to get a better look.

Also in Belgian fashion, the Mannekin Pis has to be somewhere!! He was the second balloon! The Atonium was the second! Of course they had to represent Brussels! They also had balloons to represent Clifford the big red dog, Dr. Seuss, the Smurfs, a giant dinosaur, and other interesting balloons. I will post pictures when my computer gets fixed. :(

After the balloon parade, Olivia took us to get some super good hot chocolate! It was delicious and very strong!

After that we are went are separate ways and since it was actually a nice day out, I decided to explore Brussels a little more. I went to the Grand Place once again and walked by the Mannekin Pis, in costume, saw a few of the cartoon murals, and bought some souvenirs. It was nice just to walk around the city and not get lost! Brussels is finally beginning to feel a bit more like home. I can't wait for my friend Jasmine to come visit March 20th!!

The weekend

Nothing exciting really happens during the week so I will skip the last 5 days and just talk about the weekend.

All week I had been craving Thai food so finally on Friday, Emily, Celeste, and I went to St. Gery for some awesome Thai food. St Gery is across from the Burg and contains a lot of Brussels ethnic food so I have deemed it my favorite street. It just so happens to be next to O'Reilly's...my least favorite bar. I had chicken with yellow curry and Celeste had the same with red curry. Emily got rice noodles and everything was soo soo delicious!

Saturday we decided we would do some more exploring in Brussels. We took our tram line, in the opposite direction of where we normally go, to a huge park. When we got there we couldn't figure out how to get in so we hopped on the tram again and headed towards the Atonium. For those of you who don't know, the Atonium was built in 1958 for the World Fair held in Brussels. It is basically a 335 foot metal magnification of an atom. I actually don't know why they chose to construct an atom, but I do know original plans were supposed to be for an upside town Eiffel Tower. However, the Atonium has become a symbol of Brussels for everyone to recognize.

Although you can go inside the Atonium, we were going to save that for a nicer day. We also went to explore the parks around the Atonium. As we went further we found more and more sparks and one in particular we had a lot of fun in!! We were the only ones there and had fun taking jumping pictures on a small bridge over a pond.

I wont bore you with the rest of the details about us getting lost taking the long route to the Chinese park, but I will say there is lots of cool grafitti near the Chinoise Tram stop.

My last highlight for the afternoon was eating the best Dorum of my life!!! Just try to imagine this (I should've taken a picture). A tortilla with chicken, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, ranch-like sauce, and FRENCH FRIES!! It was seriously the best thing I've ever eaten.

That night we all wanted to do something, but not be out super late so we searched through some websites with things to do in Brussels. We found out that we can go to the Phil Harmonic for really cheap so we decided to do that. We got all dressed up, got directions, and then rushed out. As luck would have it, we had to wait a while for both the tram and the metro leaving us with 10 minutes to find the place and get our tickets. We got there right at 8pm, but decided we would rather wait for another show then come in late. The rest of the evening turned out good though because we ended up going to Chi-Chis and getting Margaritas, quesadillas, and fried ice cream.


Sunday
Most of you probably know Carnivale has been going on and today we decided to go to Binche to celebrate. Binche is one of the biggest Carnivales in Brussels. When we got there, I was almost surprised to see an empty town. No shops were open and there weren't many people around except for in a small bar which we could hear a mile away with their loud music and shouting. We walked around town only to stumble upon the main town square where the whole town was. Bars were packed! The streets were packed! There were tons of people in costumes with their kids and drummers. Confetti was flying everywhere and there was a small coat of confetti on the ground.

We decided we needed to fit in more so we went to a little makeshift costume shop and I bought a crown (which other people liked to make reference of) and my two friends got a mask.

Feeling much more celebatory we wandered around trying to figure out what carnivale was all about. I think at some point the original idea had something to do with religion, but like many religious holidays got turned into something different. While tons of kids were dressed up and having fun, there were also adults gargling beer and hanging out in bars (with their children). It seemed like the kind of event any person could enjoy.

Finally the parade started. One thing about Belgian parades is nobody cares about standing or sitting on the curb and waving to the people in the parade and clapping....no...people walk whereever they want and do whatever they want. As the parade came down people were dancing and walking right in front of, beside, and behind all the performers so we couldn't really see anything. But we werent too worried because the parade moved slowly, very slowly.

How the parade was set up was there were probably at least 10-20 different groups with similiar themes..or sometimes they didnt have themes they were just crazy. The first group was a bunch of kids dressed as everything under the sun. They would walk 20 meters and then do this little dance where you kinda switch the weight your foot is on and do that a bunch of times and then turn around and face the band (every group had their own drummers and horn blowers). Then they would turn around and do it again and then they would walk another 20 meters and do the same thing. You can imagine why this was a 3 hour parade. Everyone also had a stick associated with their costume. I will post pictures later to show you how elaborate some of these outfits really were.

By the time the parade ended we were exhausted. We grabbed some hot chocolate and dessert and we boarded the train home. The train was littered with confetti and tired kids still dressed up and with confetti in their hair. It was a wonderful afternoon getting a glimpse into real Belgian culture.

Cologne

This past weekend we made out first long weekend journey to Cologne Germany. We left Friday evening on the packed Thayls train. Thayls is the high speed train that travels from Paris through Brussels to Cologne.

The first thing we saw when we stepped off the train was all the delicious German food. Lots and lots of meat and potatoes!! While it was tempting, we were anxious to get to out hostel and get settled. Our hostel wasn't too hard to find and it was brand new so everything was really nice! We spent that night gnawing on delicious food from a late night snack store. Emily and I had some sort of double layer pizza with spinach.

The next morning we did some sightseeing. The main attraction that brings people to Cologne is the Cathedral. It is literally massive...so massive I couldn't fit it into one picture. Mass was going on when we got there, but we decided to pay the 1 euro and hike to the top of the church. The view from the top was amazing, but actually quite scary. There are basically no stops once you start climbing the stairs and once you do get to the only stopping point under the rotunda then you have to walk up these scary stairs where you can see how far you're climbing up.





One we got to the top it was a relief but it was also really cold! That's the only bad part about sightseeing in the winter, everything is soo cold! The view was really great and since it was sunny you could see for a ways.

After the church we went back to the hostel to get out stuff for the soccer (futbol) game. FC Koln was playing..well i'm not sure. :) They were from Germany and their colors were blue, but we couldn't figure out who they were. The stadium they played at was huge and it was packed!! The other team's fans were all together in a small section with no chairs so they jumped up and down the whole time, waved flags, and chanted. Of course the Koln fans just yelled at them and flipped them off.



The game was really good! No one scored so the end result was disappointing, but nonetheless I had a great time cheering for my adopted team. After the game it was madness! The security was intense. My highlight was seeing a line for the men's bathroom...that would never happen in the States.

Lindsay ran into some high school kids and they proceeded to hang out with us for the next couple hours. We went to a Mexican restaurant and had some chips and queso. It was good, but I was waiting for some Thai food back near the hostel although that would never happen because they closed before we got back.

That evening we just hung around the hostel bar and just chilled.

The next morning we checked out of the hostel and walked around a little bit more. We crossed the Rhine river, got some delicious pastries, and had an excellent lunch. I had spicy schnitzel and fries!!

We had about an hour before going to the train station so we split up into two groups. Jackson, Emily, and I decided we would follow all the people dressed up to wherever it was they were going. We had noticed on Saturday that some people were dressed up...I guess getting an early start on Carnivale. We followed these people all the way to this hotel with hundreds of people in costumes. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.





After that we made it to the train station with time to spare so I grabbed a Starbucks!! The only Starbucks in Brussels is in the airport so I had to take advantage. It wasn't cheap either, but it was worth it! And finally some decent proportions.

Ghent

Slowly but surely we are getting to know Belgium. Our third day trip in a row was to Ghent. Ghent is located about a half hour away from Brussels, but it took us more than an hour to get there because we took the slow train that stopped every 5 minutes.

My description of Ghent would be a cross because the beautiful quaint town of Brugge with its canals and old buildings and Antwerp which a bustling city with lots of things to see and more much more modern. While Ghent has an old taste with large churches, a castle (!!), and great architecture, it also has a booming student life with more than 30,000 students attending.

We began by just wandering a little and walked into two beautiful churches. Emily liked St Bavo's Cathedral most because it was gloomy and more reverent. It contained the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb which is a huge painted polytych with 12 panels. I personally preferred St. Nicholas because it was open and bright.

After looking through the churches, we went for lunch where I ate a typical Belgian lunch, a Croque-monsieur which is basically a ham and cheese sandwhich with a fried egg on top. The only thing that would've made it more delicious would've been some frites with it.

We also went on a boat ride which we all decided later it wasnt worth it once we realized we didnt actually get to see anything we couldn't have seen walking along the canals. Being a bit dissapointed, we went to the castle which did not dissapoint! The views were fabulous and there the castle had basically been converted into a museum of torture.

It had been a long day so we decided to catch a train back in the later afternoon. The Belgian countryside is beautiful with big luscious green patches of land, small rivers, and lots of little towns scattered about.

A wonderful afternoon

So far the only real sightseeing we've done in Belgium was the first week and the first Saturday when it was raining ridiculously hard. On Friday afternoon, Celeste, Emily, and I decided to go on a walk through the Park de Bruxelles which was a decent size, lots of nice status, and some museums close by. While we were walking, this random guy with lots of camera equipment approached us and asked if he could take pictures of one of us with this energy/yogurt like drink. Celeste volunteered and pretty soon he is snapping away. Don't worry, I took my own pictures to commemorate the moment.


After all the excitement, we walked over to the Royal Palace where no one royal lives anymore, but it is still very pretty. From there we walked by some museums, through a really pretty section of town with a nice view and a convenient van selling waffles. were getting hungry so we stopped for a delicious waffle from the van. We made our way from Upper town to Lower town (Brussels is actually set on a hill, although not nearly hilly as San Francisco).

At this point we realized we were basically retracing our steps from our tour that first Saturday, but things were much more enjoyable. What prompted us to take this walk was the absolutely gorgeous day it was!! It was sunny and relatively warm for once!! We knew we had to take this opportunity. My favorite part of the tour was seeing the huge cathedral named the Notre-Dame du Sablon and the beautiful park named the Place du Petit Sablon. The giant fountain in the middle was built in remembrance of Counts Egmont and Hornes who led an uprising against the tyrannical Spanish leader of Belgium at the time. They were beheaded in the Grand Place.



From there we walked to the Palace of Justice to finish off our walk as it was getting late and we headed home.

Antwerp

Before going to Antwerp, I checked weather.com and it appeared it was going to be a warm 40 degrees. Because that's the warmest its been since I arrived, I thought it was actually going to feel warmer. Turns out it has been one of the coldest!



The name Antwerp comes from a mythical legend. Apparently a giant named Anitgoon charged a toll to cross the river into Antwerp. Anyone who didn't want to pay the toll would have his or her hand chopped off. So one day, Brabo fought Antigoon and defeated him, throwing the giant's own hand into the river. So the word Antwerp comes from the Dutch word for throw (wearpan) and the old English of hand, but Antwerpen was later shortened to Antwerp.

Antwerp is the second largest city in Belgium and is one of the largest ports in Europe as well as a large business in selling diamonds. It is the capitol of the Flemish speaking country. From the train station, our walking tour took us around the diamond district past many beautiful sparking diamond rings. From there we walked down the very large Meir Straat which is the shopping street. I counted at least three H and Ms and some very expensive stores. By chance, we walked into Urban Outfitters and came across a very beautiful mall. Walking through some stores was nice because it was warm, but we didn't come there to shop.



We continued on the walking tour until we reached Rubenshuis or Pieter Paul Rubens House. Rubens was a painter and architect from Italy who came to Antwerp in 1610. His house was typical of a house around this time and throughout the house there were both paintings he had done and ones he admired. It was absolutely beautiful and had just the right amount of art and rooms to showcase to keep my entertained and engaged. We ended the tour in his garden which had a huge statue of Hercules.



Next we set out for lunch. We found this hippie-esque place and thought it looked good so we went in. While it was probably a little too expensive for lunch, it was a unique place with toasted sandwiches, good soup, and a huge selection of tea. I got Bruschetta with some cheese, tomatoes, and a little salad. It was pretty good and filling.




After refueling ourselves, we set off on our journey towards the Grote Market. Before we got there, we visited a few churches.




Sint-Carolus Borromeo Church:




The Sint-Carolus Borromeo Church was my favorite church on this trip! It was beautiful inside with lots of light being let through from the windows. I much prefer churches with lots of light rather than dark that are gloomy and drafty. I don't know much about this church so I'll just let the pictures above give you a snippet of what it was like.




After looking at churches, we went though the Grote Plaza and headed towards the river. Once we got there we saw there was a huge ferris wheel with almost no one on it. We checked out the prices and it was 5.50 each so we decided to skip the ferris wheel. We checked out the Castle Steen which was probably the most unimpressive castle I've seen.

Next to the Steen though, they were advertising a movie by lifting people in a sports car and then dropping it. There was a bungee of course.









The Antwerp Cathedral (aka Cathedral of our Lady) is the largest Gothic church in the Low Countries. Unlike a lot of the churches we have visited so far, this one was bright and uplifting. We actually went to mass in support of Emily and her coworker Olivia (from England) and even though it was entirely in Dutch, we still enjoyed the experience. One thing I noticed however was that the congregation was old. We were the youngest attendants by 40 years. It will be interested to see what happens to old churches like the Antwerp Cathedral when all their members literally die out. Young people don't tend to go to church and I think people are becoming less reliant on the church.




My favorite part of the day was eating CHOCOLATE!! People keep going on and on about Beglian chocolate, but you can't really explain it! I'll instead let the pictures do the explaining.


The place we went to specialized in chocolate so we all got hot chocolate or milkshakes and Lindsay and I split a fondue plate with fruits, nuts, and some very very good milk chocolate. I strongly believe chocolate can cure almost anything.



We ended the trip was having some "Chinese" food in "China Town". We're not sure where China Town was but we found a place that was alright. My hot and sour soup kinda tasted like BBQ but I liked their fried rice and Chinese Tea. It was also freezing in the building so that wasn't very comfortable.

We ended up getting home at around 8:30 so we went out to a couple bars and then walked home at 1:30 and arrived home at 2:30. I def got my exercise that day!

It really is a fairytale!

On Saturday, Celeste, Emily and I went to Bruge. We looked up the tickets before hand and the website said they would be 24 round trip, but when we got to the ticket counter at the train station, it only cost us 8 euro!! With this in mind, we decided we would treat ourselves this weekend. At least for my, I had been eating rice and veggies every day for dinner and it would be nice to finally have some real food.

The trip was only an hour long and a pleasant ride. The Belgium countryside is beautiful. It's mainly flat with lots of green open land and a few rivers and canals and cities along the way.

From the train station, it was only about a 15 minute walk into the city center. Surrounding the city is a wall and a canal. Immediately when you enter the city, cobblestone greets your feet. (A note about cobblestone: it is not good for your feet and hurts after you've been walking on it for 8 hours!) The city brought me into its fairytale right away. For one couple, it was just too romantic to handle and they absolutely had to stop in the center of the sidewalk and make out to express their overwhelming love. That's just what Bruge makes you do!

To get to the market (the center of town), you must walk over bridges and by churches and by chocolate shops and each is more delightful than the previous. When we finally got to the market, we were hungry and there was a little store that said "cheeseburgers". We had all been craving some beef so we went over only to discover it was a Quick. Quick is like the European McDonalds only less good and a lot more expensive. I was unimpressed because as people from Califorina know, nothing beats and In n Out cheeseburger.



After eating, we went on a walking tour of the city as per Celeste's guidebook. After walking for about 15 minutes, we realized there was a couple to seemed to be going the same direction as we were. We noticed the book in their hand was the same as Celeste's which we all found amusing. We helped each other travel through the guidebook's tour. The tour took us to the fish market, to various status, along the canal with city views and charming stores, through a couple churhes, and finally we ended up back at the market.

With all this walking, we set out to get a snack.....and not just any snack...a waffle!! We found one rather quickly and I immediately studied my options. Chocolate, whip cream, ice cream, fruit, sugar, etc. I decided to go with the fruit and whip cream. AGHHHHHH soo good! It was a little hard to eat, but sooo soo good. Did I mention it was good?

After eating, well actually before eating we had gone shopping. I bought a sweater as Pinkies and a scarf at H and M. I also rain the rain jacket that was stole at H and M, but it wasn't worth buying it again.



We went back to the Market again and walked 366 steps up to the top of the Belltower for a superb view of the city. I was actually surprised on how big the city was. Every roof has a red roof and you can even see to the flat areas around the city!

After this we went into a few churches. In one we saw the Madonna and Child statue. It was the only one of Micheangelo's sculptures to be removed from Italy.



Next, we went back to the train station to see if we could catch an earlier train. We had only written down train times for after 9pm. When we were walking back to the city, we walked around the wall and next to the canal and stumbled upon the most beautiful place! I was in love. I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.



Finally we grabbed a drink at a bar and then set off for this Egyptian/Mediterranean place we had seen during the walking tour. When we arrived we were the only customers. We all tried the Tajine which is meat and veggies and sauces cooked in this special pot (where the name tajine comes from). It was delicious!

After that we walked back to the train station and took a train back to Brussels. It was a wonderful day!

Life as an Intern

I finished my second day interning at the European Parliament and I must say it isn't quite as exciting as I imagined. The parliament is a lot less modern than what I thought. Our ID badge pictures come out in poor quality resolution and my colleagues still use internet explorer.

My office is rather small. I work in a room with my supervisor, Pesska, and in the adjourning room is my MEP (member of Parliament). She is quite nice, but it doesn't seem like either my MEP or my supeviser really have any idea what they want me to do. So far, I've been to a committee meeting on investment in green energy and I've written about the effect Obama's presidency will have on foreign policy in regards to Europe. It isn't the most exciting, but I have to remember it is only my second day.

Working with all Finnish people can be a little difficult too. We had lunch today with some people in our group and some Swedes that live in Finland (I guess they are a small minority) and they spoke in Finnish 90% of the time. I felt a little left out. I wish I was working with an English speaking country so at least I would understand what they're were saying. I feel like my supervisor's directions are poorly directed partly because he doesnt really know what he wants me to do and also because it's hard to explain it in english. I hope it gets better. This is not really making me that excited for politics, but I guess like anyway, an experience is what you make it. Once I get settled in a little more I think it will be better.

I'm really starting to become frustrated with the language barriers (yes there is more than one barrier). Even something as easy as asking for milk becomes a whole ordeal because chances are the person working in the grocery store doesn't understand or speak english and I don't have that big of a vocabulary in french yet. This is why I'm taking French. But really, French only helps me half the time because the area my school is in (and the school where the classrooms are located) are in Dutch, and at work all I hear is Finnish.

This is my life right now.

School-Dutch
Work-Finnish
City-French
Home-English

I'm so confused all the time. And all I want to do is try and speak Spanish or use sign language to communicate with people.

First day of classes

My first day of class was today at Vesalius College. It's weird because Vesalius doesn't really have a campus so they mouch off the VUB campus which is a university I cannot spell, pronounce, and have never heard of. It took me a little while to find my classroom because on our tour during orientation they never pointed out where the classrooms were. Before I went to campus though, I went to the Hotel Derby, rated one of the top 10 hotels in Brussels...just kidding! I think it may be top 10 worst hotels in Brussels. I thought I was having a conversation with the manager, but it turns out it was just another guy who worked there. He called the two maids down to ask if they had seen my coats and neither of them said they had (well at least I think, I didn't actually understand anything they said). He let me go up to the room again and it wasn't there. He basically said there was nothing to do because it was a she-said, she-said thing. My program director also called (and she spoke to the manager) and said there was a miscommunication because the maids were never asked if they had seen the jackets. But I saw the guys ask the maids. Sounds a little fishy so we'll see what's up.

Back to my classes.

My first class was history of the Middle East which is taught by Professor Palo. He seems like a cool guy. We basically have a huge paper and a midterm and final. The second class was Intro to French which I'm really excited about. At first the teacher was kind of an ass to students in the class, but once she warmed up she was ok. We learned how to say what we were studying, how to order things, ask for the menu and check, and she gave us some good tips for getting along with the French.

After classes we went searching for a bank to set up my bank account and although I didnt have the correct documents, we did run into some cute Belgian bankers. :) We then went to Fat Boys, an American bar right across from the EU to watch the inauguration. It was nice enjoying the whole ceremony with fellow Americans and Europeans who probably just for off from the EU. I thought it was a pretty good speech...not sure what the soundbites will be. I'm very impressed with Obama. I think that he is very humble, yet very steadfast in his beliefs and his goals. He knows what he needs to do and he is set on doing them.

First week

I’ve almost been in Brussels officially a week, but it seems like much longer. In only a week, I’ve learned a couple important French phrases: “je ne comprends pas” and “parle vou Frances?” and I’ve also recognized a few words on menus. I still have a long way to go but hopefully I will learn how to at least pronounce French words in my French class that I start on Tuesday. On our first night in our new apartment, the owners were telling us how to pronounce our street name and none of us could pronounce it correctly! Our new apartment is super nice! It is a four story brick house in a residential area. The family that lives there has two kids and they take up the first 2 floors and their little children live on the third floor. Our group of 4 takes up 2 rooms and the bathroom on the third floor and on the fourth floor there are 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living area/kitchen. We live about a five minute walk from the metro, and it’s only about 15 minutes from our school and 20 minutes from the European Parliament.

We’ve done a little more sightseeing since I last posted. On Saturday (after being an hour late because we got lost), we went on a walking tour of Brussels. We saw a view of the city (it’s actually very hilly, but not as hilly as San Francisco), a few churches, the Grand Place, Galeries Royales Saint Hubert, and a few other important buildings. It started raining halfway through our tour (you would not find that all too surprising if you lived here-we’ve only had one day of sun) so we left at lunch. For lunch we had Pumpkin Soup that was delicious! It was perfect for a chilly day!

On Thursday we went to visit the European Parliament for a tour. We saw their debate chambers and a lobby area. The EU is actually a fairly complex government system that I won’t go into detail about, but I will let you know who I’ll be working for. My MEP (member of parliament) is Anneli Jaatteenmaki from Finland. She was the first prime minister of Finland from April to June of 2003 (although I’m not sure why this period was so short), she had been a member of the Finland parliament, Minister of Justice, and the leader of the Centre Party of Finland from 2000 to 2003. She is on the EU committee for women’s rights (when she was Prime Minister, half of her cabinet members were women) and she has also battled breast cancer. She seems like an intelligent, caring woman.

We’ve also had a chance to experience the nightlife. On Wednesday, the student government took us on a tour of some cheap bars in the center of Brussels (which would never have happened in the US). That is one BIG difference I’ve noticed between Europe and America. In America, drinking is this big taboo for anyone under 21 years old, but everybody seems to do it. We discourage drinking at all costs, yet we’re secretly pounding back beers in dimly lit bars. We constantly judge people who drink too much or not enough. However, this is a staking contrast from Belgium culture. I’ve seen more bars than I have grocery stores. Every restaurant serves alcohol and they will serve it anytime of the day and to just about anyone. There’s no stigma associated with drinking because it’s a way to come together with people, discuss politics (or religion like we did last night), and just hang out. We met some Irishmen the night of my 21st birthday and they thought it was ludicrous the US made us wait until we were 21 to start drinking legally. They joked about how they had been drinking since they were 14. Also the night of my Birthday, I was sang to in eight different languages. Lindsay sang to me in German, Judith sang to me in Hebrew, Emily sang to me in Spanish, these two guys sitting next to us in the restaurant sang to me in French and Dutch and I think also in Spanish...lol, two Morracan guys at the bar sang to me in Arabic, the Irishmen said happy birthday in Gaelic, and there should be one more, but I can't remember right now.

The Belgians also take their drinking very seriously. Duvel (which means Devil) seems to be the most popular beer and is considered a blond beer. Fruit beer is another Belgium specialty which I personally love. On Wednesday we went to a bar with over 2000 different beers. They included Trappist beers made by monks, Abbey beers which try to imitate the Trappist beers, and Lambic which is wheat beer and has its own subcategories. I could go on, but if you want to know more I would suggest looking at the Wikipedia page.


a chocolate shop

Another thing I’ve noticed about this city is the delicious smell arising from certain metros and streets. Usually on the subway in New York City you try to keep from breathing because it’s so disgusting, but here I find myself breathing in deeply trying to devour the smell of waffles covered with chocolate, ice cream, whip cream, and other sweet toppings. The desserts are also beautiful. Chocolate shops literally shine with gold decorations and chocolate displays and I always find myself drooling a little when looking into them. I have not yet had a piece of chocolate, but I’m sure it will get an entire post when I do.



The jackets that were stolen


The only bad things in my trip so far has been anything to do with our hotel, the Hotel Derby. First, the beds are super uncomfortable; the springs hit you all over your body and it’s hard to sleep. Second, the staff is stupid and rude. There is one man who looks like Peter Pettigrew with an orange comb-over and bushy eyebrows. I wouldn’t be surprised if this man had claws and pointy teeth too. He cost us 14 euros for a cab we didn’t need because he didn’t bother listening to us when we said we needed a cab for 3:30 and not 2:30. Finally, and this is the worst, is that the maid stole two of my favorite jackets and both that I got the weekend before I left. When we checked out Friday I forgot to look in the closet, but I realized I forgot my jackets after uploading pictures to my computer. I immediately called the hotel and asked if they could check the room. The man said he could not leave his position, but would ask the maid. The next day I go to the hotel again and check the room myself. I didn’t see them there and the man (the one that looks like Peter Pettigrew), said the maid wasn’t working that day. I called them again today and they said the maid didn’t find them. That really only leaves one conclusion: the maid took my jackets after cleaning the room either Friday or Saturday because no one else was even in the room. I’d love to be wrong about this and have the jackets magically appear in my closet, but they are not there. I know she took them and I intend on going to the hotel Tuesday morning to speak with the manager. It is outrageous that someone would steal something like that and I have no problem calling the police as well. I hope it’s just all a big misunderstanding and I get my coats back.

I have no idea what you're talking about!

After being here for three days now (it's Wednesday the 14th), I'm surprisingly not that jetlagged. Our first night, 5 of us went out to a bar and I had my first Belgium beer. It was called Fromaige which is the good fruity beer. I was surprised to find out that Belgium doesn't have any laws against smoking in bars and restaurants. After going to the bar we came home and slept.

Tuesday we wandered around a little bit in the central area of Brussels and saw the Grand Palace and the Minnekin Pis. We just missed him dressed up as Elvis. If you thought Rochester had bad weather, you should come to Brussels. It rained the whole day and was freezing! Apparently it snowed all of last week (a rarity), but it feels cold enough to snow. We also went to a bar and had lunch. The food so far has been pretty good. I had a ham and cheese sandwich warmed up and it was delicious. We also went down this one alleyway (Rue des Bouchers) and it had cute fancy restaurants where all the hostesses would stand outside and try and get you to come inside. There were piles of seafood outside on ice on display. They all looked way too expensive for college students on a tight budget. What was nice though was their outside seating had heaters so it actually felt really good to walk by them because they were so warm.

We also saw our first chocolate shops in the Galeries St-Hubert which is a really expensive mall with a domed glass ceiling! The cholcolate shops all look like they should be right out of the movies! They all look warm and inviting and in one shop they even had their truffles on glass shelves. I haven't had any chocolate yet, but I'm sure there will be plenty to come.

Tuesday night we went to this Italian place that had very good pasta and pizza. The guy must have liked us because he brought us cups of vokda+ grapefruit juice or that's what we thought he gave us. The food was really good and we will probably go back tomorrow night.

Today (Wednesday) we had orientation at Vesalius College. Classes look like they will be pretty easy.I register Friday for my classes but I'm thinking I am going to take French 101 and the History of the Middle East.
Vesalius College is also part of a much larger university-VUB which is a Dutch university in the city. For those of you who don't know Brussels is split between French and Dutch speakers so while most of the city speaks French, some people speak Dutch( ver ver confusing). As for dealing with the language barrier I definitely hope to learn enough French to get me around. Some people know English, but a lot of people know very very little english if they know it at all which can be frustrating but there are 7 of us in a group so it's nice that we are all experiencing the same thing.

So far I really like the people in my program and we've had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the next weeks!

I'm here

It's 6:25am Cali time but 3:25pm in Brussels where I currently am.

Some updates:

There are 7 people in my program (only one boy).
I will be living with the three other Rochester girls. We move in on Friday.
I am working for a Finland representative in the EU parliament. She is on the committee on women's rights and the delegation to the US. I have to schedule an interview with her sometime next week.
Tomorrow if free time so we might do some sightseeing.
Wednesday is orientation for Vesalius.
Thursday is a tour of parliament.
Friday is move in day.

well i am going to take a shower and get some sleep (I haven't slept in 24 hours).

Tomorrow is the big day

Before yesterday my mind was completely tied up in whether or not I would receive my Belgium passport in time and now that it is actually in my hands, I am starting to get nervous about my trip! I leave tomorrow afternoon and won't get in until Monday afternoon. Unlike my east coast counterparts, I will get to sit through a double digit hour flight and enjoy lovely entertainment by Northwest Airlines (who knew they flew internatonal?) Luckily my coworkers at the LAB made me a little going away care package with a couple magazines, games, and some DVDs. I am also bringing my LSAT study books and hopefully I will find motivation to study!

Today is also my last day at Forever21 and one of my managers offered to buy me some pizza.I'm really thankful for all the cool people I've met working both at the LAB and Forever21.




Grand Palace