The Wine Comes Cheap, The Hangover Cheaper...

Before going about this past week, I want to apologize for not having updated in damn near forever. My hard drive crashed a few weeks back, and I couldn't get a new one installed and get my computer back until this past Wednesday. Sadly, I have a brand new hard drive and none of my old data to put into it (including pictures I'd taken in Brussels). I may be able to retrieve some from Facebook So I'm starting over with a fresh computer in an old shell essentially. If I find the time, and somehow manage to recall everything from the last couple weeks in Brussels, I'll come back with some late updates for that. In the meantime, here's Paris:


Week 5: Paris
Sunday started off well enough. Woke up before too late, got all my things thrown together. Had my bags packed already, had a box ready to send home, laundry was done, cleaned my room, made my bed, swept up, and ate American waffles for breakfast. Henry and I got a ride to the metro around 1:30 in the afternoon. Mr. Quinn was away for the weekend, so we only had Mrs. Quinn to say goodbye to. Quick ride to the central station, short wait for everyone to arrive, then on to the train and on our way!
The ride to Paris was remarkably short from Brussels, or maybe it really wasn’t. I had never been to Paris so I didn’t really know the distance. But I expected it to take a few hours; we arrived within an hour and a half. Thankfully, Dr. B decided it would be easier to load everyone into cabs than take the metro, so we get outside the Paris station and load up.
And this was my first look at the city of Paris. The driver was nuts, like just about anyone else with a license in this city. As we zoom across the city, we happen to pass a handful of old buildings and popular monuments along the way. And soon enough we're here, home number two for the trip: Hotel Saphir.
Our room is about the size of a broom closet, if you somehow managed to squeeze two twin beds in it side by side. That wasn’t too terrible, but it makes living out of a suitcase a bit more difficult than it already is. Wore, there are two electrical outlets in the entire room, both of which are on the wall opposite the head of the beds. The bathroom is actually fairly large, compared to the expectation set by the room, and we actually had a full shower and tub. Unfortunately, there is no shower curtain. Instead, there is a glass pane, less half the length of the tub, and it swivels in and out of the tub. On more than one occasion, more water might have ended up on the floor than down the drain. Sleeping wasn't exactly easy either, but it got better over the week, and a thunderstorm rolling in the first night made it a bit easier.
My laptop had been out of commission for almost two weeks, so Sunday afternoon I took it to an Apple store for service and left it with them. And in the evening we went across the city to for food and a sunset cruise on the Seine. It took us down to the Eiffel Tower, turned around back towards Notre Dame, and then looped back to dock. Monday was a free day and a welcome day off. Breakfast was served at the hotel. And we roamed the city for most of the day. A group of us went to Notre Dame, and then later to the Louvre before splitting the group in half to either go in and look at the artwork or wander the city more. I went in and straight to the Mona Lisa, then saw the Venus de Milo before wandering aimlessly through Egyptian artifacts and Napoleon’s Apartments. We got back early enough to spend the evening on the lawn of the Eiffel tower, sharing a picnic and a couple bottles of wine amongst the group.
Tuesday we had our first site visit. We were able to sleep in, and met at 2pm to leave for the Quai d’Orsay, the French Foreign Ministry in Paris. We first had a chat and Q&A session with press officers for the Foreign Ministry. The first Mr. Benoit was formerly at the French mission to NATO during the Libya crisis. He spoke for a length about the future of NATO, and France’s role in that future. And when talking about Syria, he stressed France’s will to push diplomacy in the region for the time being.
The second Mr. Benoit and a Ms. Stephanie, spokespersons for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explained their job as the magnets to journalists’ questions at the Ministry. They hold press briefings five days a week, and Benoit focuses on EU, while Stephanie focuses on Arab and Middle Eastern media. The brunt of the questions we had for them regarded Syria, with some about the Euro crisis and what is needed for economic growth.
After our time with the speakers, we were granted the privilege of touring the Quai d’Orsay. We got to see where the minister receives guests, hosts dinners, and luckily we were even shown the minister’s office. We also were taken through the guest offices and private restrooms of hosted dignitaries. And as we left, we were given the honor of walking out through the front doors of the building.
Wednesday we were up early, 9:30 start to go to Senate. We were given a walking tour of the Senate building by Senator Bernard Saugey, getting to see the Hemicycle and the grand Library of the Senate, among other things. He talked about the history of the Senate and how it works in conjunction with the National Assembly as a functional legislative system. The library of the Senate housed over 10,000 books, and we are also shown busts of Victor Hugo and Marie de Medici; Hugo being a very prominent French Senator and statesman, and Marie de Medici having had the Luxembourg Palace, seat of the French Senate, built for herself.
Thursday morning was another 9:30 start. Woke up earlier than necessary, but I couldn’t fall back asleep so I got breakfast early. Got suited up and ready to go, and no sooner than I stepped from the hotel to the sidewalk, I started feeling ill. The feeling lasted through most of the morning’s briefing at IFRI, or the French Institute of International Relations, a non-partisan think tank on France’s external affairs. Luckily, I was able to ignore my stomach, as the briefing was extremely interesting.
We had two presentations and Q&A sessions with three different speakers. The first was given by  a short overview of why France entered in Afghanistan and about opinions about France pulling out early. The second focused on the French Perspective of the Arab Spring. Both of these topics are of great interest to me, and receiving the deeper thoughts of a foreign perspective on these topics is very intriguing. And both of these were completely overshadowed when the third speaker arrived: Etienne, the Director of the Center of Security Studies at IFRI. Etienne is a very strongly opinionated man, and quite the realist in regards to French and European politics. It was almost depressing hearing him talk, as realism can almost be taken as pessimism, especially in light of the very pro-European talks we had in Brussels. But there is nothing wrong with new and different ideas being brought to the table, and Etienne is very good at bringing ideas anywhere it would seem. It was unfortunate we couldn’t stay longer, but we had to rush across town.
Our second briefing for the day was at the US Embassy in Paris. We made it through security rather quickly for an American embassy, but I certainly won’t complain about that. We were hosted by a Consort Officer named Kyle. He gave us a quick overview of the role of the State Department in foreign service, then went on to talk about US-French relations. He talked, and we discussed, about Syria, Iran, and Russia, and how US and French relations affect and are affected by relations with these other nations, and before we left he went on to talk about the process of becoming a foreign service officer.
I was exceptionally happy come Thursday evening, as I finally had a working computer again. We also went out to dinner with some of Dr. Birchfield’s former students, and some their friends who study in Paris. Thursday night was Fête de la musique, a huge music festival that goes on all across Paris. We were able to walk through much of it as we went up to the Sacré Coeur, a church situated at the highest point in Paris. The evening was capped by a fight to find ice cream, and the struggling through the crowds that were everywhere for the festival.
Friday was Normandy, and one of my favorite site visits by far. It took about 3 hours from Paris to arrive at the historic site, and once we reached the memorial site, I broke off from the group to wander and take it all in by myself. It was amazing and inspiring and depressing. The stories of individuals were touching, some with heroism and courage, and some with sadness and sacrifice. I caught part of a tour that highlighted the Garden of the Missing and the Cemetery. I walked through it for at least an hour, and found one of the three Medal of Honor recipients buried there. Unfortunately, I took too long and had hardly any time to walk the beaches and no time for the bunkers. I nearly sprinted down the hill just to walk along Omaha Beach, and I emptied my water bottle so I could take a bit of the sand back with me. I met back up with the group with enough time to spare for the bus ride, and we went into the town of Bayeux to see an historic tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings.
Saturday was just a day of relaxation and tourism. I woke up very late, and did very little. My highlight of the day was visiting the Arc de Triomphe, climbing up to the top. I spent well over an hour at the top of the Arc just looking across the city. Around 6 or so, I came back, bought a baguette, and began the evening that would be filled with packing. And now I sit, finishing this entry recounting the week, because I’m a terribly lazy person and am doing it last minute. And I have to be up in 3 hours to leave for Berlin. Hopefully there won't be 3 weeks in between this post and the next one, but who knows.


"We may lose and we may win, though we will never be here again... so take it easy." - Eagles

I'm starting to get the hang of this

So I've been really slow about updating everyone, and for that I apologize. In my defense, I'm really tired and lazy when I get home. Not good enough? Okay, I have to walk/ride a bike a distance from the metro station to home, after spending more hours than I care to count on my feet, oftentimes in a suit (though that last part I don't mind so much). We've been lucky enough the past few days to have discovered the Quinn's children's old bikes, so after a bit of dusting and work, we at least have those to ride to the metro every day now. Still, I'm tired when I get home, so cut me some slack. I have your updates now though, so relax and enjoy.

The last update brought you all the way up to this past Monday and the trip to Leuven. Tuesday was NATO, Wednesday a conference, Thursday at SHAPE, and Friday a trip to Maastricht. (Pictures will be added later, I won't get to upload any for a couple weeks).

So starting with Tuesday, we had an early start to meet up in town before taking a bus out to NATO. Security was pretty tight, and we didn't get to take any electronics in, so we didn't get any photos until the end. We had sit-down briefings with three individuals throughout the day, and we ate lunch in the NATO cafeteria before the last briefing. It was an enjoyable site visit, but the diplomatic side is less my forte than is the military hand of NATO, SHAPE (I'll get around to that one in a sec).

Wednesday's conference more of a workshop, will several presentations given both by academics and diplomats. The topics ranged in levels of interest, but wound down at the end with discussions on EU Security and Trade. It ended up being a fairly long day, but it ended nicely as I got a chance to meet up with a friend from the states, Alyssa, who had flown in to visit her host-parents from her time on this trip last year. Alyssa pretty much directly recruited me for this program, and she's pretty proud of herself for that, but I'm pretty proud of her too. Anyway, we went out to a cafe for a drink and some catching up, then walked around a couple blocks before each heading home for the night. I got back to the metro station and waited about 15 minutes for Henry to get there so we could ride home.

Thursday continued our first week of site visits with a trip to SHAPE - Strategic Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. Despite the early start at, and at an inconvenient location, the trip out to SHAPE wasn't so bad. I slept for most of the initial 45-minute or so drive to the base, which was much needed. Once we arrived, we were greeted at the front gate by our guide, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Polish Army. He boarded our bus and got us on the base very rapidly. We arrived somewhere, and he gave us our first of two briefings for the day, the other from an officer in the Swedish Air Force. Lastly, we had a Q&A with the two officers and an American Colonel, before heading to lunch at the Officer's Club on base. We were able to share lunch with our Polish and American hosts, which was a very enjoyable experience.

Of all the site visits [including week 3 visits] I have enjoyed SHAPE the most. I have a strong affiliation towards the military, and I can't state the amount of respect I have for service men and women, so I was almost awestruck to have the chance to spend an afternoon with a Colonel serving in the heart of Europe. We talked about his past commands, like his service South Korea and Kabul, Afghanistan, family life with military families, and various other things. And by the end of lunch, I was so caught up with the base, how much all three officers liked living there, and how nice they all made it seem, all the questions I asked revolved around civilian jobs at SHAPE. I'm loving Europe and I love the area. I could definitely see myself here a few years down the road.

After some schedule shuffling, Friday became a short day trip out to Maastricht in the Netherlands. Dr. B has a friend that is a professor at the University of Maastricht, and after a couple hour train ride to the city, he agreed to give us a walking tour of the city. He also had to fly out of Brussels that afternoon, so our walking tour was very brisk, but the city was lovely. First we walked along the newer half of Maastricht, sitting on one side of the Maas River, and later toured the older half. We got to see his faculty building at the University, the monument dedicated to the liberation of Maastricht during WWII, two converted churches (one into a classy hotel, the other into a 3-story bookstore), and several other gorgeous parts of the town. We finished with lunch at a cafe, and managed to make it back to Brussels before 5pm.

That night a few of us went out for drinks at a semi-touristy bar called Delirium. Delirium boasts having over 2000 beers in stock at the bar, and makes several of their own beers. Alyssa joined a few of us for the night, as she was leaving the next morning for more travel. We ran into a larger group of American students, and got to chatting with them a good bit before heading out around 11:30. We hate calling nights in early, but Henry and I live kinda far out, and public transport stops running just after midnight.

So all in all, week 2 was very fun and exciting, both inside and outside of the site visits. The following weekend was focused heavily around beer, and I will have that update as soon as possible. But my posts are somewhat sporadic, so just keep your eyes peeled.

"All non-believers stand aside and fear, a new day is marching through the door." - Coheed and Cambria

Brussels is.. Home

Moving on to Monday (21st)--the day started a little bleak and dreary. This was the kind of weather we had been expecting for a couple days. It was chilly, windy, and very foggy out. Not exactly the best kinda of day for sight-seeing, but it was the hand we were dealt. Henry and I arrive at our meeting point in the city a bit early, but slowly people arrive. Around the time everyone has shown up, our tour bus arrives, and we all pack in for our guided tour. Francois, our tour guide and a couple girl's host-father, points the bus through the city, laying out the history of Brussels and Belgium. He is very knowledgeable, and it was a pleasure having him lead us around.

We passed several historical places and buildings through the course of the day, stopping at the Place Royale, in front of the Palace, by several embassies, and making trips into two different cathedrals, the Grand Place (Town Hall and Square), and around several shops and marketplaces. We also visited for a short amount of time the Atomium and the Cinquantenaire. 

Midway through the day, we stopped at Falstaff, a Belgian restaurant with a decent sized Belgian menu. I ordered rabbit, quite delicious, with a Hoegaarden. I'd had a Hoegaarden before back in the states, so I didn't bother with writing up all its information. After lunch we walked around a bit more, visiting the Grand Place, as well as largest cathedral in the city, the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula.


At the end of the day, most of us went to an old and prominent bar in Brussels called, À La Mort Subite, or Sudden Death. The bar was pretty busy, and the waiter seemed like one of the cantankerous old men you'd expect working/running a place like that, but he wasn't unfriendly, even making a couple jokes on the girls when they asked him a question. It was a nice place to go and grab a drink and spend time with some new friends.

The next day (Tuesday) was the start of our classes for the week at the ULB, Université libre de Bruxelles. The three classes focus on the European Union overall, European Union Security, and EU-US Relations. Dr. Birchfield teaches all three classes in a, more or less, blended fashion, so we learn about bits and pieces of all three subjects throughout the course of a lecture or a day. The first two days and Friday were all full-day sessions of lecture, extending into the late afternoon.

However, Thursday was only a half-day of lecture, because we went to a conference dealing with Belgian and EU citizens' issues. While I must admit I had an issue focusing during the first couple speaker's turns, I woke myself up and was very intrigued by the rest of the afternoon. After the conference, we stayed for a reception to chat and share a glass of wine with the speakers and audience members alike. I had quite the informative discussion with a German journalist about the strength of the EU, the Euro, and the idea of a European identity that may eventually outshine national identities. That evening was the first and only time thus far that Henry and I have experienced bad weather in Brussels, and it was finished before we made it off the metro.

Friday was the start of the Brussels Jazz Marathon, a three-day Jazz festival starting Friday that lead into a marathon on Sunday. Friday evening a decent part of our group went out to eat, find a drink, and listen to jazz for a good part of the night. Before the night was over, we went to watch the sunset over the Place Albert gardens. Afterwards, we went back down near the Grand Place to find a bar, which we did in a little hole in the wall bar. I ordered a Kwak for the first time, a beer that literally quacks at you as you break the bottom bubble of the glass.









That night ended from there, but the next day was a fun trip back into Brussels, starting with an African museum dedicated to the Congo, followed by the best fries in the world, and ending with Belgian waffles, chocolate, jazz, and beer. Somewhere along the line, Henry and I stopped at an Irish pub called Kitty O'Shea's, and we made it back to the house early enough to cook up a spaghetti dinner for ourselves.



The next day, Henry and I met a couple girls from the group, Yvonne and Chloe, at the Central Station for a trip back to Antwerp. Neither of them had been before, so we had to show them around. We arrived in Antwerp just before noon, took a walk around the Chinatown-looking area, then proceeded down towards the waterfront. We ended up back toward the main part of town and ate lunch outside at an Italian restaurant, and hung out after eating to watch the start of a bike race around the main square of town. After that we took the girls to the nice little bar we visited last weekend. We ordered a few beers and got the girls to drop a couple Euros in the box to get the musical wall playing.

We left before too long to walk around a small weekend market. We left there after a bit to get ice cream, then went back to the main area of town where there was a small festival occurring alongside the bike race. After we all finished our ice cream, we were planning on heading to the Ruben's museum. However, Chloe got distracted by a tent where you could play with clay for free, and shortly we all joined her. Unfortunately, we made it to the Ruben's museum about half an hour late, so from there we hopped a train back to Brussels, and parted ways once we made it back to the main station.

Monday (28th), Henry and I decided to sleep in as much as possible. I woke last, just a bit before noon, to the smell of hamburgers being cooked up on the stovetop. Breakfast/brunch was a medley of leftover foods from the fridge, including hotdogs, curry and rice, sloppy joes, and a bowl of mixed veggies. After lunch, we went to Leuven, a nearby small college town, to wander around and see the sights. We walked the city, went in a couple churches, and viewed the remains of Saint Damien, a Catholic Father canonized recently in 1995, who is native to Belgium. Later, we grabbed a beer at a nearby café, before heading home. We grilled out in the backyard for Memorial Day, which happened to share days
with the Belgian holiday of Pentecost this year. We played lawn games, grilled pork chops, drank beer, and had a good ol' American time. And I should take this time out to say how thankful I am for the American Armed Forces. Love and respect to every serving member, past, present and future.

Anyway, that's the past week in a nutshell, more or less. This week brings sight visits to NATO, SHAPE, and the European Commission. Also, my friend Alyssa is coming to visit for the week, and lands tomorrow morning! Alyssa did this trip last year, and pretty much recruited me for this year, so once she touches ground we're gonna have some fun.
Stay tuned for next time, hopefully it won't be so far out.


"I don't wanna make excuses, I don't wanna lie. I just gotta get loose" - Boston

Day 2... 3 Days Late, and Another Day Late, +1

Thursday, May 24, 21:45ish

So first off, this should have been up late night, but I left my charger in the classroom last night on accident, and only had about a 10 minute charge on my computer when I made it home. But here it is now, and this will be an update of the first full day spent in Europe.

So fell asleep around 10pm Saturday. Slept soundly until 11am Sunday morning. Henry and I are both up now, head downstairs, and just generally wake ourselves up for the day. Bill says he's taking us to Antwerp, so we go get dressed and grab a few little things. Left by noon for a short trip out of Brussels toward Antwerp. Now the gps got us a bit backwards once we got inside the city, turning us a couple wrong ways and even down a pedestrian street, but we manage to park in a garage and make it down to the street all before 1pm.

Bill points us in the direction of the waterfront, so we head off in that direction without much of any destination in mind. There's a big cathedral near the center, and after a few blocks that's where we end up.
The cathedral is just huge, from outside and in. And it's as beautiful as it is large. You have to pay to walk in and view the entire church, but there is a portion at the front you can view for free, and you don't miss more than some small items on display. The only downside was that there were renovations being done on the building, so the altar was blocked by scaffolding.







So afterwards we make our way the rest of the way to the waterfront. Before going to look out across the water, Bill tells us about a fun little bar he's been to, so we go looking for the bar. It's only about a block away so we get there quickly. We sit down at the bar, which is empty because it had literally just opened, but before we each order a beer, Bill hands Henry a one-euro coin and points to a box. Henry drops the coin in the slot on the side...

...and from the wall erupts a band of music!

Now of course we noticed all of this as we walked in, but I thought maybe the owner or the bar itself turned 75. The organ turned 75 just three days before, but still plays quite well. Then we sat down for a couple drinks before exploring some more. In continuing of documenting my beverages for Bill, I enjoyed both-- 

a De Koninck: made in Antwerp, Belgium; 5% abv; light and slightly sweet, pretty refreshing.

and a Vedett (sorry no beer in the photo): made in Breendonk, Belgium (between Brussels and Antwerp); 5.2% abv; lager style similar to standard American beers, nothing special to me, but I could see myself having a few after a day of work.

--and both of these were served flawlessly from our kind bartender. Like most Belgians, she spoke English quite well, and it was fun to have a conversation about being Americans in Belgium. She lives in and loves Antwerp (and was trying pretty hard to convince us it's 10x better than Brussels). And we enjoyed being there so much, Henry and I intend to bring as much of our study abroad group there for a beer and a wall of music.

The water is only about a stone's throw from the front of the pub so we walk across the street and down the sidewalk until we find the pier entrance. There was a huge cruise ship docked along the waterfront blocking much of the view, but a little farther down we found a spot to look over.

These are the views looking out over the water and further down the water front. We heard music coming from that direction, so shortly thereafter we headed that way down along the water.

What we found was a fairly large crowd surrounding an interesting little polka band. They set up underneath the turret of a small, castle-esque building. It was another gorgeous day out, people were picnicing nearby, and little children were playing in little inflatable pools. The atmosphere was nice, so we stayed and listened to them play about a 12 minute song. But it was headed into mid to late afternoon, and none of us had eaten anything in awhile, so Bill tells us about a place back by the cathedral.

We take a wide arc back in the direction of the cathedral just to look around. Most of the buildings in that area of the city seem to date back a century or more. Roads are mostly hand-laid brick or stone. It just feels like a good place to be. 

                    

 

We walk back by the town hall, complete with a statue of a man throwing a giant's hand, the front of the cathedral, and down along an alleyway to a small corner cafe. We grab a seat outside, and after we order lunch Bill tells us about this place-- Elfde Gebod--The Eleventh Commandment.

Interesting name for any bar/café/restaurant I thought, and it makes sense sitting in the shadow of this cathedral. Then we're told to go find the bathroom upstairs to "wash up." 

This is just the bar. The entire restaurant, bottom and first floor up, are covered with religious statues. Any and every bit of space, windows, shelves, counters, railways, and even some tables. It was a very nice restaurant as well, and we stayed for an hour or so. 

We spent another hour or two wandering around the city. We walked around the more metropolitan areas, but most things were closed on Sunday. We walked past the Peter Paul Rubens museum but didn't go in. And our last stop before heading back was finding the Central Station.

The rest of the day was returning home and relaxing. With our late lunch, Brenda didn't need to cook dinner, so Bill, Henry, and I shared a few frozen pizzas (way better than frozen pizzas in the US). And with our early meeting to tour Brussels on Monday, we crashed fairly early again. 

I'll try to update soon to cover this whole week. There are a lot of things planned this weekend, so there should be a bit more to add by Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully when I get caught up these won't have to be so long. Just keep your eyes and ears open!

"And may sunshine and happiness surround you when you're far from home" - Rod Stewart

Bienvenue. Welkom. Willkommen. Welcome...

To the city of Brussels, Belgium. It's been 3 days since I've landed, and so much has happened! It's gonna be difficult trying to recall everything, but bear with me because this is gonna be a long one...
So let's start with the flights. The flight out of Norfolk was fine. I'd been up most of the night so I was pretty tired. My parents stayed with me in the terminal for awhile before I went through security and waited at my gate, pretty standard. The plane to JFK was tiny. One seat, aisle, two seats--I probably couldn't have stretched all the way across it. But, I had a solo seat, it was uncomfortable so I didn't have a drive to nap, and it gave me time to finish my journal assignment.. Which I did, and eventually paid for an internet connection at JFK to email all my assignments to Dr. B. And after waiting in JFK for a couple hours I hopped aboard the Boeing 757 that would eventually take me to my new home.
However, I would have to struggle through the flight before finally making it home.. Because, lucky me, I get stuck in the middle of a row of 3 seats, with a sleepy guy on one side and a large lady on the other, and both of them quite liked their arm rests. Sleeping was rough going, the movies were no good, the food was actually not bad, but it all just took too long. But the sun came up sometime over England, and then we met the runway sometime within the next couple hours.
And here I was. In Brussels. At about 7:30 in the morning and by myself. Things weren't quite getting fun yet. I made my way to the Gare Centrale by way of metro, but nobody else was there when I arrived. So I throw my things in a corner and sit down and read to kill the time. Henry, my roommate, was the first to arrive, and slowly the others begin to trickle in. We get kicked out of two different areas of the station by the maintenance staff, so we decide to camp out in front of Starbucks. I felt bad for [eventually] 11 of us taking over the shopfront, and I was pretty close to exhaustion, so I bought a cup of coffee. Most of us were at the point of sleep deprivation that everything becomes funny. Luckily Dr. B showed up before too long, and we all made our way to Cook and Book for lunch. We ate a nice lunch, browsed the bookstore, and everyone took a nice nap outside in the most comfortable outdoor lounge chairs ever created, all before we met out host parents for the first time. Which leads me to my new home...
Bill and Brenda Quinn, [Henry and] my new parents, are the nicest people on the planet! After they pick us up (in a Dodge Caravan, quite a sight to see in this area) they take us back to their house. It's a three-story house out in a nice suburban-type community. On the one hand, all the houses out here are different and look amazing, on the other hand we're almost as far out of the way as possible, while still inside Brussels. Henry and I have to walk or take a bus to the metro station, take a train to distant stops, and sometimes even take a tram from there to our final destination. But it could be worse, and we're still has happy as can be out here.
Back to the point... nicest people on the planet! Bill works at NATO, and was in the Air Force for 30 years. Brenda teaches math and science at the local DoD school. As previously mentioned, they have three children, all of whom have now graduated from college, so they we very well attuned to the young adult's mindset, and are very good at recommending and pointing out places we're likely to be interested in. Even better, Bill has quite an extensive knowledge of, among other things, beers. And he has the perfect mindset in regards to alcohol: the more you know about it, the better.
Our deal with him is this: we may drink as much of his beer (or other alcoholic beverages), on the conditions that we write down and save
     - The name of the beer
     - Where it is produced
     - The alcohol content of the beer
     - And what we think about / taste in it
Pretty good deal in my opinion.

The weather so far has been extraordinary! Not the bleak, dreary, wet place I'd been hearing about. So in that light, we started our weekend with the Quinns with a trip to Waterloo. The site of the battle is now a large expanse of farmlands, but it is a gorgeous sight nonetheless. We walked by the statue of Napoleon and the path by the fields. We came back and searched the gift shop. And, as I thought we were leaving, Bill sits down at a table outside the connected restaurant. "You guys want to try a beer?" ..Well if you insist. And so I sat down and ordered my first Belgian beer of the summer: the Waterloo Double 8 Dark. Délicieux!

After that, we came back to the house. Henry and I settled in a bit more, while Bill grilled up some good ol' American pork chops for dinner. Brenda wanted to keep us up until at least 9pm to help fight the jet lag, which wasn't hard considering the sun doesn't set until 10pm. You just don't notice the time going by. But around 9:15 we were both ready to crash, and we did, hard.

So that was my first day in Brussels. This week will feature less adventure, for the most part, than the previous weekend had, so tomorrow I will update on Day 2, Sunday in Antwerp. Pictures will be added soon as well. So stay tuned!

Pre-Adventure II

As of the beginning of this writing:
4 days, 10 hours, 9 minutes until the first flight to New York.
4 days, 10 hours, 54 minutes until I hop the next one across the pond.
5 days, 7 hours, 44 minutes (local time) until I meet up with everyone in Brussels.
Then the adventure officially begins!

Despite the end of my first entry, this is the first time I've really counted down the time. Just looking at it like that makes it finally start to seem real. The excitement hasn't quite hit me still though. It's partially due to the complete exhaustion imposed by the last couple weeks--finals went well, 4 As 2Bs for the semester; moving out and getting home was a mess--and it's partially because I'm not an extremely expressive person in regard to excitement. But that's okay, when it hits, it'll hit hard. The pre-trip assignment is definitely more taxing than I had expected though, but I'm truckin' on through it pretty steadily.

I'm getting to do as much and see about as many people as I had expected in the amount of time I'm getting home, which is very nice to have. One close friend finished finals at the same time as I did--spending a good few nights catching up with him. Another getting back from Army basic just a couple days later--didn't get to spend more than a few hours with him one day before he had to pack up for his training school. Plans to visit another tomorrow at/after she gets off work. Unfortunately, the last one moved away and isn't coming up for the summer until after I'm gone, but hopefully he'll still be here when I get back.

Other exciting events: Shelled out a fun amount for some pretty classy new attire (yall will see some photos soon enough). Got to enjoy a little bit of yard work, spent a little bit of time at the beach, and am enjoying as much time laying on the couch as possible. Was able to attend a surprise party for my sister's birthday, since her "planned" party would have been the weekend after I leave. So being home is getting to be as enjoyable as I'd hoped.
Also, puppies! Just getting old enough to run and play and bite everything, still small enough to cradle with one hand (the way all dogs should stay).

So, all that's left is a few long days and nights, a bit more reading and writing, a few more people to see, and as much sleep as I can muster.


4 days, 9 hours, 28 minutes until the first flight to New York.
4 days, 13 hours, 13 minutes until I hop the next one across the pond.
5 days, 7 hours, 3 minutes (local time) until I meet up with everyone in Brussels.

Here it comes, yall!

"And I hear this calling, still you don't seem so far at all" - All That Remains

Pre-Adventure

So.. after a long and tumultuous few months, I'm finally set to head to Europe! I'm starting a blog so that I can somewhat organize my thoughts and experiences, as well as keep anyone interested in what sort of trouble I get myself into. I've finally got the trip paid for, booked my plane tickets, and emailed my host parents in Brussels. The only thing standing between me and Europe is a heavy dose of finals and then time. Then I'm off to see the EU!

Backtracking a bit, I have been planning to go on this study abroad trip for months now. I have been wanting to go since the fall '11, after hearing all about it from my friend Alyssa and others who took the trip last summer. I've been planning on studying abroad in general since before last summer. I've never been out of the States, hardly ever away from the East Coast, so I've been thinking it's about time I go somewhere. Issues arose mid-spring semester when I found out I wouldn't receive the main part of my financial aid to pay for the trip. After several attempts to figure out why and how to fix it, in March I had pretty much given up hope that I'd actually get to go. I'd even gone to my program director to let her know all of this, and she had all but taken me entirely off the roster to go. Then in early April a miracle arose in the form of my grandparents [who are now supporting me for the trip] and suddenly everything is back on track. I can't thank them enough. Grandma I promise I'll visit you 10x more often for the rest of forever!

It was a little difficult finding a decent series of flights at a reasonable price in late April when the trip begins mid-May, but given the short time I think I found pretty good airfare. I'll have a week and a half at home to get several things in order and see as many people as possible before I leave, so I'll just have to make the most of my time while I'm there, even if it means giving up some of the summer vacation sleep I truly enjoy.

The same day I booked my flights, I sent an email to my host parents. I'll be sure to dedicate a post to them later, but I'll mention a bit about them now. My new family is the Quinns. I'll be staying with them along with another student on the trip, and unlike most of the other students on the trip, my new family is American. Brenda and Bill both went to Virginia Tech, but they're taking me in, so I'll have to forgive them for that. Brenda is a teacher, and Bill works within the EU, so I'm sure he will help give some insight to some of the places and events we witness during the trip. They live in a small town called Sterrebeek, which I currently know nothing about but can't wait to learn all I can. The Quinns have three grown children who are back living in the US, two of the three having already graduated college, and the third about to graduate.

Everything seems pretty unreal at the moment. I don't even feel like I'm about to take finals, let alone be living in Europe in just a few weeks. I definitely cannot wait to go though! Finals, pack, home, errands, busywork, pack again, go. T-minus 22 days and definitely counting!

"Just as free, free as we'll ever be" - Zac Brown Band