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.