Tonight for dinner I ate horse.
The end.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
To Spain I go....
Just booked my flight to go visit adam for a long weekend in Barcelona. Im pretty stoked, I got a round trip flight for just 88 Euros. I leave Thursday Feb. 28th, and come back on Sunday Mar. 2nd. Can't wait to hit up the beach!
Living on a Budget
Belgium is pretty damn expensive, so over the past few weeks, I have figured out some ways to make living a little cheaper.
1) Since I have breakfast and dinner provided to me during the week, I eat as much as possible. Im talking like, eat till you feel sick. Usually breakfast can hold me over till dinner, but on the days that I am hungry, refer to step (2)
2) Next to my school is a Colryut (a grocery store chain). Inside the Colyrut, you can obtain free samples of some things. They always have coffee, fruit slices, and nuts. Each day between classes, I make my way up there, drink some coffee while I "shop", sample some fruits, and grab some nuts (yes I know that sounds funny). Voila, there is my lunch.
3) If 1 and 2 fail, you can always buy a one dollar loaf of bread, which is usually good to feed you for three days. If I am really going all out, I may invest in a few slices of salami. But that is just for a treat.
4) Sleep late on the weekends. This way, you can cut down on the amount of meals you eat simply by sleeping through them.
5) Hold off on laundry. Since it costs over 13 U.S. dollars to do a big load of laundry, you gotta do it sparingly. Im talking like, wear your clothes at least three times before washing them. Since everywhere here is smokey, no one can really tell if you smell bad, and even if they do, you are in Europe and will probably not see these people again.
6) Only go to art exhibits etc. when they are sponsored by the school. Chances are you can pull some strings and score some free tickets. No need to waste money buying them yourself.
7) Share things. I do not have one single textbook that I can call my "own." We all share them. This saves me over 200 Euro. Sweet.
I have tried to budget myself to under fifty Euros a week. Can I do it? Probably not but so far so good.
1) Since I have breakfast and dinner provided to me during the week, I eat as much as possible. Im talking like, eat till you feel sick. Usually breakfast can hold me over till dinner, but on the days that I am hungry, refer to step (2)
2) Next to my school is a Colryut (a grocery store chain). Inside the Colyrut, you can obtain free samples of some things. They always have coffee, fruit slices, and nuts. Each day between classes, I make my way up there, drink some coffee while I "shop", sample some fruits, and grab some nuts (yes I know that sounds funny). Voila, there is my lunch.
3) If 1 and 2 fail, you can always buy a one dollar loaf of bread, which is usually good to feed you for three days. If I am really going all out, I may invest in a few slices of salami. But that is just for a treat.
4) Sleep late on the weekends. This way, you can cut down on the amount of meals you eat simply by sleeping through them.
5) Hold off on laundry. Since it costs over 13 U.S. dollars to do a big load of laundry, you gotta do it sparingly. Im talking like, wear your clothes at least three times before washing them. Since everywhere here is smokey, no one can really tell if you smell bad, and even if they do, you are in Europe and will probably not see these people again.
6) Only go to art exhibits etc. when they are sponsored by the school. Chances are you can pull some strings and score some free tickets. No need to waste money buying them yourself.
7) Share things. I do not have one single textbook that I can call my "own." We all share them. This saves me over 200 Euro. Sweet.
I have tried to budget myself to under fifty Euros a week. Can I do it? Probably not but so far so good.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Egg Incident...
So breakfast here is usually a suprise. Sometimes we wake up and have cereal, sometimes meats, sometimes bread, sometimes omelletes. Today we woke up and Iria had prepared us hard boiled eggs, or so I thought.
Alright, I know how to eat these. Being in somewhat of a rush, I smashed the egg open with my spoon and began to peel off the shell. It felt very soft to me, so I figured she just didnt cook it long enough. I then tried to pick up the egg and dump the contents onto my plate, leaving a mess.
Iria came out of the kitchen and gave me a strange look. Apparently, this type of egg is a famous breakfast in Brussels, called "The egg with soldiers." You are supposed to just take off the top of the egg, and dip your bread into the yolk, and the bread is usually cut into little slices called "Soldiers." So afterall, this wasn't just a runny hard-boiled egg, rather it was a famous breakfast.
Way to drop the ball Tom.
Alright, I know how to eat these. Being in somewhat of a rush, I smashed the egg open with my spoon and began to peel off the shell. It felt very soft to me, so I figured she just didnt cook it long enough. I then tried to pick up the egg and dump the contents onto my plate, leaving a mess.
Iria came out of the kitchen and gave me a strange look. Apparently, this type of egg is a famous breakfast in Brussels, called "The egg with soldiers." You are supposed to just take off the top of the egg, and dip your bread into the yolk, and the bread is usually cut into little slices called "Soldiers." So afterall, this wasn't just a runny hard-boiled egg, rather it was a famous breakfast.
Way to drop the ball Tom.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Rubens Exhibit
Yesterday Garret, Matt, Adam, and I went to the Rubens exhibit at the art museum. We got free tickets from this Belgian dude in our class, so we figured we should go check it out. Not being really into art, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this too much. After looking through his paintings, however, I realized th
e skill possessed by artists of those times. You really have to look deeply at the paintings to understand exactly what is going on and to appreciate all of the fine details. For my class, we are supposed to pick a painting that we see in Brussels and do an in depth paper about it. So far, my favorite painting is called "Massacre of the Innocents" by Rubens, because the history behind the painting is pretty interesting, but not widely known. The painting depicts a bunch of babies being killed by some men. Apparently, after feeling that his reign was threatened by the birth of "Jesus" , Herod the Great ordered that all children under the age of two were to be killed, in hopes that Jesus would be one of them. Thus, the name is "Massacre of the Innocents."
e skill possessed by artists of those times. You really have to look deeply at the paintings to understand exactly what is going on and to appreciate all of the fine details. For my class, we are supposed to pick a painting that we see in Brussels and do an in depth paper about it. So far, my favorite painting is called "Massacre of the Innocents" by Rubens, because the history behind the painting is pretty interesting, but not widely known. The painting depicts a bunch of babies being killed by some men. Apparently, after feeling that his reign was threatened by the birth of "Jesus" , Herod the Great ordered that all children under the age of two were to be killed, in hopes that Jesus would be one of them. Thus, the name is "Massacre of the Innocents."
S - CAR - GO
I gave in. I had to try the snails. Escargot. We bought them from a street vendor in the city. Check these bad boys out:
To be honest, they were not too bad. The texture was pretty gross, picture the texture of a mussel with a mucus filling. Sounds nasty, but tastes alright. Slightly spicy. Apparently they are very popular here as I see them for sale throughout the city.
Bon Appetite
Friday, January 25, 2008
Dinner Party
Last night Iria, Els, and Geraldine decided to cook us a fancy dinner and decorate the kitchen and living room. The place looked amazing. There was tons of candles lit, nice silverware and plates, champagne and fine wines, cheeses, breads, and olives. And that was just the beginning. We had a three course meal for dinner. The starter was a delicious shrimp dish made with a wine cream sauce. I don't even like shrimp but there were absolutely amazing. For our main course we had these special french chickens cooked in a wine sauce and another cooked in a red sauce with capers. It also was delicious. For dessert we ate a cherry crumble pie...mmm...i think I put on about 15 pounds by the end of the meal.
At dinner we got into some pretty intense discussions of politics, and I was forced to bite my tounge a few times. But it felt good to hear different points of view on the issues of today. Not saying I agree with all of them, but thats alright. Geraldine (the women who lives upstairs from us) had her step-father over also, a man from France named Louis, and he was very nice.
After dinner we decided to share a taxi ride with Louis so that we could go to our Thursday night Karaoke spot (we are trying to go every Thursday). We met some other Vesalius students there and ended up singing a few songs. Karaoke is so damn fun! We met this crazy German guy at the place who was in Brussels on business, and lets just say, he was interesting.
Speaking of Germany, Matt and I are beginning to plan a trip for the weekend after next to Cologne, Germany, as it is fairly close and cheap, and will be a good first trip for us.
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On another note, yesterday I went to the pharmacy with my friend Adam because he needed to pick up some cold medicine, and I wanted to see how pharmacies worked in Belgium. It was pretty cool. All of the pharmacys are owned by the government I believe, so each one is the exact same. Rather than in the United States, where you get your drugs at a CVS type place, the pharmacys here are strictly pharmacies. When you go in you speak with the pharmacist, tell them your symptoms, and they find exactly what you need and tell you what dosage to take etc. It makes life alot easier!
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My favorite thing about Belgium so far is the fact that they care about food. In French class, my teacher was speaking about how in most cases people in other countries care more about money than food, but in Belgium, food is the number one concern. Every single thing I have eaten here you can tell takes time to cook. They care about freshness alot too, and rarely will you find packaged or preserved foods anywhere, its all fresh. The food quality here is alot higher too. True, the foods we eat here may pack alot of calories because they rely heavily on creams and sauces, and meats and breads, but the overall quality of the food here seems better. (Don't worry Mom, I still think you are a good cook haha).
At dinner we got into some pretty intense discussions of politics, and I was forced to bite my tounge a few times. But it felt good to hear different points of view on the issues of today. Not saying I agree with all of them, but thats alright. Geraldine (the women who lives upstairs from us) had her step-father over also, a man from France named Louis, and he was very nice.
After dinner we decided to share a taxi ride with Louis so that we could go to our Thursday night Karaoke spot (we are trying to go every Thursday). We met some other Vesalius students there and ended up singing a few songs. Karaoke is so damn fun! We met this crazy German guy at the place who was in Brussels on business, and lets just say, he was interesting.
Speaking of Germany, Matt and I are beginning to plan a trip for the weekend after next to Cologne, Germany, as it is fairly close and cheap, and will be a good first trip for us.
-----
On another note, yesterday I went to the pharmacy with my friend Adam because he needed to pick up some cold medicine, and I wanted to see how pharmacies worked in Belgium. It was pretty cool. All of the pharmacys are owned by the government I believe, so each one is the exact same. Rather than in the United States, where you get your drugs at a CVS type place, the pharmacys here are strictly pharmacies. When you go in you speak with the pharmacist, tell them your symptoms, and they find exactly what you need and tell you what dosage to take etc. It makes life alot easier!
-----
My favorite thing about Belgium so far is the fact that they care about food. In French class, my teacher was speaking about how in most cases people in other countries care more about money than food, but in Belgium, food is the number one concern. Every single thing I have eaten here you can tell takes time to cook. They care about freshness alot too, and rarely will you find packaged or preserved foods anywhere, its all fresh. The food quality here is alot higher too. True, the foods we eat here may pack alot of calories because they rely heavily on creams and sauces, and meats and breads, but the overall quality of the food here seems better. (Don't worry Mom, I still think you are a good cook haha).
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Construction
Today we started off the day with a meal of "Lost Toast" aka Belgium's idea of french toast (they obviously don't want to give any credit to the french), and it was pretty tasty. I rushed off to the metro in my usal morning routine and pushed my way through all of the school children to get a spot on the train.
I had my first ART class this morning and my teacher described each of the trips we are to be going on, and explained the sylabus etc. It was a pretty good class and I think the trips are going to be alot of fun.
After class, Matt and I rushed off to meet up with Ryan, Els, and Iria who were working on Els' sons apartment in the middle of Brussels, in hopes to get it renovated for the spring. We spent about four hours hauling debris out of the apartment, taking apart furniture, and lugging the debris to Els' car. It felt good to help them out and do some physical labor to work off all of the waffles, beer, and chocolate! Iria and Els promised us that they were going to suprise us for the help, and sure enough when we got home there were three bottles of rare Belgian beer waiting for us in our apartment. They are too nice! Also, they said that once they finish it (3 or so weeks), that we can stay over there on the weekends if we miss the last metro home. This is sweet because the metros tend to close early, much earlier than the night is done, and a cab ride home costs a lot of money. Therefore, they are letting us use this as a place to sleep until the morning when we can get back on the metro!!!
After that we all had our French class together, where we were put into teams of five and given an assignment to cook a 3 course traditional Belgian meal. We haven't been told what we are making yet, but will be assigned it next week. It should be pretty fun.
For dinner we had spaghetti carbonara, a familiar food that I have made at home, and it was also very good.
I had my first ART class this morning and my teacher described each of the trips we are to be going on, and explained the sylabus etc. It was a pretty good class and I think the trips are going to be alot of fun.
After class, Matt and I rushed off to meet up with Ryan, Els, and Iria who were working on Els' sons apartment in the middle of Brussels, in hopes to get it renovated for the spring. We spent about four hours hauling debris out of the apartment, taking apart furniture, and lugging the debris to Els' car. It felt good to help them out and do some physical labor to work off all of the waffles, beer, and chocolate! Iria and Els promised us that they were going to suprise us for the help, and sure enough when we got home there were three bottles of rare Belgian beer waiting for us in our apartment. They are too nice! Also, they said that once they finish it (3 or so weeks), that we can stay over there on the weekends if we miss the last metro home. This is sweet because the metros tend to close early, much earlier than the night is done, and a cab ride home costs a lot of money. Therefore, they are letting us use this as a place to sleep until the morning when we can get back on the metro!!!
After that we all had our French class together, where we were put into teams of five and given an assignment to cook a 3 course traditional Belgian meal. We haven't been told what we are making yet, but will be assigned it next week. It should be pretty fun.
For dinner we had spaghetti carbonara, a familiar food that I have made at home, and it was also very good.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Yup, I ate them...
So tonight at dinner we had a cauliflower dish with cheese and eggs, it was delicious. It was accompanied with wine, and a delicious tiramisu dessert :).
However, for an appetizer, what laid before me was just plain gross. Anchovies. Yeah yeah yeah. Tiny little fish. I tried to keep an open mind and try them, so I opened my mouth, dropped in the fish, and began to chew. At first it wasn't too bad, slightly salty, slightly vinegary, but then the fishy taste hit me. It was disgusting. Not to knock Iria's cooking, but I don't even think that these things could be prepared in any satisfying way. They aren't good. Period.
At dinner we met the woman named Geraldine and her daughter who live up stairs from us. She was a very nice french lady who asked us if we wouldn't mind babysitting her daughter a few times a month for 5 euro an hour. No problem, I will do anything to make some extra loot. We spent a few hours talking about soccer, tennis, America, and the subject I try to avoid, politics.
Well anyways, this morning I had my first history class. After taking a few minutes to find our actual classroom (Ryan and I), I was happy to see that I recognized a few faces from orientation, and a few friends that I made while on my adventures through Brussels. The teacher seems to be stuck in the 70's however, so we will see exactly how fun this class will be.
It is weird going to classes now as I am still caught up in the awe of being in a foreign country. I mean, I have only been here a week and I already have to fall into routine. Oh well, I have four more months of this so I am pumped. This afternoon Matt and I decided to just take the metro to a random stop and explore, and we ended up re-tracing our steps from the tour the other day and I took some cool pictures that I will post in a few days. We also stopped by the bakery and had an eclair..mmmmmm.....I love eclairs.
Anyways, tommorow I have two classes and then I plan on getting some rest because all of this experience is tiring!
Lesson of the day...do not eat anchovies.
However, for an appetizer, what laid before me was just plain gross. Anchovies. Yeah yeah yeah. Tiny little fish. I tried to keep an open mind and try them, so I opened my mouth, dropped in the fish, and began to chew. At first it wasn't too bad, slightly salty, slightly vinegary, but then the fishy taste hit me. It was disgusting. Not to knock Iria's cooking, but I don't even think that these things could be prepared in any satisfying way. They aren't good. Period.
At dinner we met the woman named Geraldine and her daughter who live up stairs from us. She was a very nice french lady who asked us if we wouldn't mind babysitting her daughter a few times a month for 5 euro an hour. No problem, I will do anything to make some extra loot. We spent a few hours talking about soccer, tennis, America, and the subject I try to avoid, politics.
Well anyways, this morning I had my first history class. After taking a few minutes to find our actual classroom (Ryan and I), I was happy to see that I recognized a few faces from orientation, and a few friends that I made while on my adventures through Brussels. The teacher seems to be stuck in the 70's however, so we will see exactly how fun this class will be.
It is weird going to classes now as I am still caught up in the awe of being in a foreign country. I mean, I have only been here a week and I already have to fall into routine. Oh well, I have four more months of this so I am pumped. This afternoon Matt and I decided to just take the metro to a random stop and explore, and we ended up re-tracing our steps from the tour the other day and I took some cool pictures that I will post in a few days. We also stopped by the bakery and had an eclair..mmmmmm.....I love eclairs.
Anyways, tommorow I have two classes and then I plan on getting some rest because all of this experience is tiring!
Lesson of the day...do not eat anchovies.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Classes
So I am now sitting in the computer lab at school, waiting for my french class to begin. This morning I woke up early to travel to class (which wasn't all that bad), and had Managerial Accounting and Writing this morning. My managerial accounting teacher seems to be pretty cool, and we even got him to move class back a half hour so instead of starting at 8:30 we will now start at 9. I'll do anything to get a few extra minutes of shut eye. After a somewhat disorganized introduction to the school, the teachers suprisingly seem to have their stuff together, and I think that classes won't be too bad.
This past weekend was pretty fun, we had that long tour on Saturday, and yesterday we visited the market in my commune of Jette. They had tons of vendors filling the streets selling clothing, foods, flowers, and some other items. We bought a delicious loaf of bread from the bakery, had a drink with Iria at her favorite pub, and picked up some fruits and vegetables. So far it seems as though Belgians do not eat too many fruits, so the bananas and grapes we bought really hit the spot. Fending for ourselves on the weekend is kind of a pain in that ass, because food here is very expensive, and you can't buy anything in bulk, rather, you have to buy small packages of things that always seem to run out. Oh well, we managed off of bread, cheese, and water and juice.
Last night we went to an American Sports Bar called Fat Boys to watch the football games. It is sad to say but it made me realize how loud Americans are...whoops.
This past weekend was pretty fun, we had that long tour on Saturday, and yesterday we visited the market in my commune of Jette. They had tons of vendors filling the streets selling clothing, foods, flowers, and some other items. We bought a delicious loaf of bread from the bakery, had a drink with Iria at her favorite pub, and picked up some fruits and vegetables. So far it seems as though Belgians do not eat too many fruits, so the bananas and grapes we bought really hit the spot. Fending for ourselves on the weekend is kind of a pain in that ass, because food here is very expensive, and you can't buy anything in bulk, rather, you have to buy small packages of things that always seem to run out. Oh well, we managed off of bread, cheese, and water and juice.
Last night we went to an American Sports Bar called Fat Boys to watch the football games. It is sad to say but it made me realize how loud Americans are...whoops.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Trip Itinerary
We got our list of trips that we are going to be taking with my European Studies class, and it sounds pretty sweet:
1) Day trip to Bruges, Belgium --- February 2nd
2) Day trip to Antwerp, Belgium --- February 16th
3) 3 Day trip to Amsterdam, NL --- February 22nd - 24th
4) 5 Day trip to Paris, France --- March 22nd - 26th
5) Weekend trip to Trier, Germany --- April 26th - 27th
Looks like my birthday will be spent in Germany!
1) Day trip to Bruges, Belgium --- February 2nd
2) Day trip to Antwerp, Belgium --- February 16th
3) 3 Day trip to Amsterdam, NL --- February 22nd - 24th
4) 5 Day trip to Paris, France --- March 22nd - 26th
5) Weekend trip to Trier, Germany --- April 26th - 27th
Looks like my birthday will be spent in Germany!
Boy am I tired...
How is it goin' everyone? Im writing this because I decided to sit in on this lovely Saturday night because I am exhausted.
Last night, we kicked off the evening with a traditional Belgian meal called Mussels and Frites, which is a large serving of mussels served with a side of french fries. I was a bit skeptical to eat them, because in the past I have hated sea food etc, but I decided to get rid of my old reservations about sea food and try it. They were steam cooked in a buttery sauce with celery and onions. I was taught how to eat them by Iria, and they turned out to not be all that bad. I still have trouble looking a them when I eat them, as I expect that sometime I will open them and find something gross. But regardless, they exceeded my expectations.
During dinner we talked alot about the different kinds of food that we will find here in Belgium. It seems that alot of the food here contains mayonaisse, which I am not a fan of, but I made it clear to Iria and Els that I am "allergic" to mayonaisse, ensuring that they will not put it in the food they cook for us. Walking around Brussels I have seen such things as "Americaine Sandwiches", and "Americane Wraps." I was warned not to get them anywhere because Americaine is a combination of raw beef and a special sauce, ground up and spread on bread. No thank you. I will stick to cooked foods please.
After dinner we set out with some other VeCo students for "Brussels After Dark," aka a tour of the pubs in the downtown area. This place was ridiculous at night, as thousands of students call it their home for the evening and early morning. We first started off by dancing at the irish pub called "O'Reilly's," which was actually pretty damn fun. I met a kid named Alex from Romania and talked to him for a while, and I met some other people that I think I would like to hang out with more.
We left O'Reilly's and headed for the famous "Delirium Cafe," which offers a menu of over 1,100 different beers, some very rare beers. The place was huge, and packed wall to wall. Though the menu was impressive I couldn't handle to crowds, so we went across the cobble'stone street to the Absinthe Bar, which was still pretty crowded but not as loud and smokey.
And then I got lost...
We were taking a cab back to our side of town when I got a phone call from Susie (from Bentley), who was by herself and lost, and couldn't find a metro or a taxi stand. She read me the name of the street she was on, and it sounded familiar to me so I hopped out of the cab and attempted to find her. Well, one thing led to another, and now it turned to 3:00am and I finally got my bearings as to where I was and started to head home. But I forgot to mention that this was a one hour walk. I made it home around 4:00am and went directly to bed. Next time, I will try no to get lost.
Today was a very long day. We woke up at 8:30 so we could make it to VeCo by 10:00 for a tour of Brussels. The tour is lead by one of my teachers. We walked throughout Brussels for over 7 hours, and saw some pretty cool stuff. Because it was raining I did not bring my camera but I plan on going back to these sites in the future, after all, I am here for four months! We saw the royal palace, the Royal Museum, the Justice Center, and various other government buildings and old churches. We went into two of the old cathedrals which were amazing!
After our tour we came back home to crash, which brings me to now.
Last night, we kicked off the evening with a traditional Belgian meal called Mussels and Frites, which is a large serving of mussels served with a side of french fries. I was a bit skeptical to eat them, because in the past I have hated sea food etc, but I decided to get rid of my old reservations about sea food and try it. They were steam cooked in a buttery sauce with celery and onions. I was taught how to eat them by Iria, and they turned out to not be all that bad. I still have trouble looking a them when I eat them, as I expect that sometime I will open them and find something gross. But regardless, they exceeded my expectations.
During dinner we talked alot about the different kinds of food that we will find here in Belgium. It seems that alot of the food here contains mayonaisse, which I am not a fan of, but I made it clear to Iria and Els that I am "allergic" to mayonaisse, ensuring that they will not put it in the food they cook for us. Walking around Brussels I have seen such things as "Americaine Sandwiches", and "Americane Wraps." I was warned not to get them anywhere because Americaine is a combination of raw beef and a special sauce, ground up and spread on bread. No thank you. I will stick to cooked foods please.
After dinner we set out with some other VeCo students for "Brussels After Dark," aka a tour of the pubs in the downtown area. This place was ridiculous at night, as thousands of students call it their home for the evening and early morning. We first started off by dancing at the irish pub called "O'Reilly's," which was actually pretty damn fun. I met a kid named Alex from Romania and talked to him for a while, and I met some other people that I think I would like to hang out with more.
We left O'Reilly's and headed for the famous "Delirium Cafe," which offers a menu of over 1,100 different beers, some very rare beers. The place was huge, and packed wall to wall. Though the menu was impressive I couldn't handle to crowds, so we went across the cobble'stone street to the Absinthe Bar, which was still pretty crowded but not as loud and smokey.
And then I got lost...
We were taking a cab back to our side of town when I got a phone call from Susie (from Bentley), who was by herself and lost, and couldn't find a metro or a taxi stand. She read me the name of the street she was on, and it sounded familiar to me so I hopped out of the cab and attempted to find her. Well, one thing led to another, and now it turned to 3:00am and I finally got my bearings as to where I was and started to head home. But I forgot to mention that this was a one hour walk. I made it home around 4:00am and went directly to bed. Next time, I will try no to get lost.
Today was a very long day. We woke up at 8:30 so we could make it to VeCo by 10:00 for a tour of Brussels. The tour is lead by one of my teachers. We walked throughout Brussels for over 7 hours, and saw some pretty cool stuff. Because it was raining I did not bring my camera but I plan on going back to these sites in the future, after all, I am here for four months! We saw the royal palace, the Royal Museum, the Justice Center, and various other government buildings and old churches. We went into two of the old cathedrals which were amazing!
After our tour we came back home to crash, which brings me to now.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
An adventure...
This afternoon, Matt and I decided to take a long walk to try and find the famous site in Belgium called the Atomium. The Atomium is a giant, 335 foot tall, model of an iron crystal, created by Andre Waterkeyn for the world fair in Brussels in 1958. We could see it looming in the background from nearby our house, so we decided to try and see if we could walk to it. We set off down the road but after a few minutes lost sight of the Atomium. But, we decided not to give up and after about an hour or so of walking we finally reached the Atomium. Below is a picture that I took of the Atomium:
The Atomium
The Atomium is located in a place of Brussels called the BruPark, which reminded me much of an amusement park without the rides and only the restaurants. Me and Matt were exhausted so we sat down in this small bar called the Toon Land. We had some delicious Belgian beers to warm us up:
We didn't feel like walking all the way back to our house so we decided to try our luck at the Tram system. We did pretty well and within fifteen minutes we were back to our house. A thing that I find to be better here and Belgium than back home in Boston is the public transportation. Though similar in cost, each time you enter a Subway, Bus, or Tram, you scan your pass, and are allowed one hour of use of the public transportation. So for instance, say you wanted to take the metro to go buy a loaf of bread, assuming you are under one hour of time, you only have to pay once. In Boston, you would have to pay for each trip. The one hour covers all modes of public transportation too, so you can use a combo of the metro, bus, and tram during that hour. I like it!
We didn't feel like walking all the way back to our house so we decided to try our luck at the Tram system. We did pretty well and within fifteen minutes we were back to our house. A thing that I find to be better here and Belgium than back home in Boston is the public transportation. Though similar in cost, each time you enter a Subway, Bus, or Tram, you scan your pass, and are allowed one hour of use of the public transportation. So for instance, say you wanted to take the metro to go buy a loaf of bread, assuming you are under one hour of time, you only have to pay once. In Boston, you would have to pay for each trip. The one hour covers all modes of public transportation too, so you can use a combo of the metro, bus, and tram during that hour. I like it!
A funny sight...
So I was riding the metro today and looked down underneath the seat in front of me and there was a waffle on the ground. Now if there was a waffle on the ground in the states it would be kind of weird, but since im in Belgium I didn't think twice.
Belgium is awesome, and I already feel as though I have gotten fairly aquainted to the city. Wish I could say that about the school, which has provided us with useless tours and basically no information. I am sure I will understand more about the school once class starts next week, but right now it is simply one large disorganized mess.
A thing I have come to love about Belgium is the colors of the homes. Rather than in Boston, where each block is uniform in color and style (ie. brownstones etc.), Belgium has no zoning laws so each house is a unique shape, color, size, and style. It really makes me feel that I am in a foreign country when I look at the homes, they are quite beautiful.
This is a picture of my neighborhood:
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Where to begin?
First I would like to apologize if this entry is not in the best writing that I can offer. Tonight was "Bar Hopping Night" and I am writing this after a tour of some of Brussels best bars. Bear with me.
Today was filled with stuff. This morning we woke up pretty early and had a breakfast of bread and tea, not exactly filling but it was sufficient for me. After breakfast, we had to travel to get to our school. It took in all about 40 minutes (ten minutes of walking and thirty minutes of metro). The trip was not all too bad, it went by fairly quick. When we got off the the metro we took a wrong turn and ended up walking about half of a mile in the wrong direction. After speaking in the best french I could to ask for help, we ended up turning around and walking about a mile and a half in the other direction, finally reaching the school.
At first I was in awe, that my school was in the middle of Brussels. I did not know what to expect. We went to a place called the KultuureKafe for check-in. I imagined this place being organized, but boy I was wrong. After being shuffled around for a few minutes, we finally were assigned a tour group and sat down for a brief introduction to the university. The dean was a very nice man, kind of looked like the european version of Conan O'Brien. He explained to us the expectations of the faculty of Vesalius college, and introduced the various personnel that are to help us with our stay.
Our next speaker was the head of the Vesalius Student Government, a man by the name of Tony who is from Nigeria (and has a striking resembelance to Big Papi David Ortiz), who explained to us the various things that Vesalius students do while not studying. He explained to us the various parties that are thrown by the VSG, and the different organizations we can become involved with. It was pretty interesting to learn about the different programs, and I am planning on joining the soccer club team that plays throughout the area.
After these introductions, we were broken up into groups for a tour of Vesalius College and the VUB campus. Vesalius college is home to about 300 hundred students, 85 being study abroad students and the rest being full time students. The VUB is a large school which we are apart of with thousands of students. Our tour guide was from Southern France, and lets just say that the tour was pointless. He pointed out many buildings, but stated that he "did no know" what went on in them. After our highly un-informative tour, we had a complimentary lunch in the VUB cafeteria. I had some version of chicken pot pie, a waffle and pudding for dessert, and a sprite for a drink. I also tried some of the potato soup which turned out to be pretty good. After lunch we had another meeting to explain to us the various criteria, processes, and options presented to us by Vesalius College. This segment was much more informative than the rest of orientation, thank god!
We finished up with todays orientation at around 3:00pm. I came back to Jette, helped Ryan get his cell phone set up, then took a nap until dinner. For dinner tonight we had roast hen with a mushroom sauce over some sort of baked pastry. For dessert we had a fruit salad. It again was pretty tasty.
After dinner, me, matt, and ryan headed back to the KultuurKafe to meet with the rest of the study abroad students for a night of bar hopping. We were shown many different bars and had a very good time.
Tommorow I have more of the orientation, I will write about that then.
Goodnight!
Today was filled with stuff. This morning we woke up pretty early and had a breakfast of bread and tea, not exactly filling but it was sufficient for me. After breakfast, we had to travel to get to our school. It took in all about 40 minutes (ten minutes of walking and thirty minutes of metro). The trip was not all too bad, it went by fairly quick. When we got off the the metro we took a wrong turn and ended up walking about half of a mile in the wrong direction. After speaking in the best french I could to ask for help, we ended up turning around and walking about a mile and a half in the other direction, finally reaching the school.
At first I was in awe, that my school was in the middle of Brussels. I did not know what to expect. We went to a place called the KultuureKafe for check-in. I imagined this place being organized, but boy I was wrong. After being shuffled around for a few minutes, we finally were assigned a tour group and sat down for a brief introduction to the university. The dean was a very nice man, kind of looked like the european version of Conan O'Brien. He explained to us the expectations of the faculty of Vesalius college, and introduced the various personnel that are to help us with our stay.
Our next speaker was the head of the Vesalius Student Government, a man by the name of Tony who is from Nigeria (and has a striking resembelance to Big Papi David Ortiz), who explained to us the various things that Vesalius students do while not studying. He explained to us the various parties that are thrown by the VSG, and the different organizations we can become involved with. It was pretty interesting to learn about the different programs, and I am planning on joining the soccer club team that plays throughout the area.
After these introductions, we were broken up into groups for a tour of Vesalius College and the VUB campus. Vesalius college is home to about 300 hundred students, 85 being study abroad students and the rest being full time students. The VUB is a large school which we are apart of with thousands of students. Our tour guide was from Southern France, and lets just say that the tour was pointless. He pointed out many buildings, but stated that he "did no know" what went on in them. After our highly un-informative tour, we had a complimentary lunch in the VUB cafeteria. I had some version of chicken pot pie, a waffle and pudding for dessert, and a sprite for a drink. I also tried some of the potato soup which turned out to be pretty good. After lunch we had another meeting to explain to us the various criteria, processes, and options presented to us by Vesalius College. This segment was much more informative than the rest of orientation, thank god!
We finished up with todays orientation at around 3:00pm. I came back to Jette, helped Ryan get his cell phone set up, then took a nap until dinner. For dinner tonight we had roast hen with a mushroom sauce over some sort of baked pastry. For dessert we had a fruit salad. It again was pretty tasty.
After dinner, me, matt, and ryan headed back to the KultuurKafe to meet with the rest of the study abroad students for a night of bar hopping. We were shown many different bars and had a very good time.
Tommorow I have more of the orientation, I will write about that then.
Goodnight!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The city
This afternoon we spent a few hours walking around the main city of Brussels. The weather was crappy, about 40 degrees, raining hard, and windy as hell, but the sights we saw were still captivating enough to make us pay more attention to them and less attention to the rain. We saw the Grand Place, which has some crazy historic guild-houses, dating back hundreds of years. We also saw many of the old cobblestone streets and a few old churches.
Iria took us to an Irish pub in the center of Brussels for a drink, and it was one of the coziest places I have ever been, and is apparently a popular hangout for Americans to watch football on. Looks like I will be spending the Superbowl here. The center of Brussels is very close to where we live, only three metrostops, a total of about 10 minutes of travel time. One ridiculous thing about Brussels is that they have the most restaurants per capita in the world, so everywhere you turn there is a different place to eat.
As far as the food goes, in the center of Brussels there are tons and tons of hamburger places, waffle stands, friterie stands, and pita stands. The pita stands, though supposedly serve delicious food, look absolutely revolting. There is a grill type thing at the window, and hanging above it is a cone shaped mass of meat that they shave off pieces to fall to the grill to be cooked. Picture like fifty pounds of raw roast beef dripping onto a grill, and that is a Belgian pita stand. I sampled my first Belgian waffle today, which lived up to my expectations. Unlike waffles back home, Belgian waffles have almost a sticky sugary coating to them, and the inside is very doughy. I was in a rush so I did not get any toppings, but common toppings are fruits and creams.
After our nice little tour, me and one of my new roomates, Ryan from Chicago, sat down to attempt to watch a movie. I fell asleep pretty early on in the movie, and woke up to the whole family of dogs resting on my lap.
We then ate dinner, which consisted of some sort of meatballs, green beans, salad, and mashed potatoes with cheese. Once again, it was delicious.
This evening we bar hopped with a few of our friends from Bentley and a couple other kids from different schools. It was a good time.
Orientation starts tommorow so I should probably get to bed.
All in all my experiences in Belgium have been amazing!
Iria took us to an Irish pub in the center of Brussels for a drink, and it was one of the coziest places I have ever been, and is apparently a popular hangout for Americans to watch football on. Looks like I will be spending the Superbowl here. The center of Brussels is very close to where we live, only three metrostops, a total of about 10 minutes of travel time. One ridiculous thing about Brussels is that they have the most restaurants per capita in the world, so everywhere you turn there is a different place to eat.
As far as the food goes, in the center of Brussels there are tons and tons of hamburger places, waffle stands, friterie stands, and pita stands. The pita stands, though supposedly serve delicious food, look absolutely revolting. There is a grill type thing at the window, and hanging above it is a cone shaped mass of meat that they shave off pieces to fall to the grill to be cooked. Picture like fifty pounds of raw roast beef dripping onto a grill, and that is a Belgian pita stand. I sampled my first Belgian waffle today, which lived up to my expectations. Unlike waffles back home, Belgian waffles have almost a sticky sugary coating to them, and the inside is very doughy. I was in a rush so I did not get any toppings, but common toppings are fruits and creams.
After our nice little tour, me and one of my new roomates, Ryan from Chicago, sat down to attempt to watch a movie. I fell asleep pretty early on in the movie, and woke up to the whole family of dogs resting on my lap.
We then ate dinner, which consisted of some sort of meatballs, green beans, salad, and mashed potatoes with cheese. Once again, it was delicious.
This evening we bar hopped with a few of our friends from Bentley and a couple other kids from different schools. It was a good time.
Orientation starts tommorow so I should probably get to bed.
All in all my experiences in Belgium have been amazing!
A trip to the market...
Me and Matt went to the super market today, called Colyrut, in what we planned on being a simple and quick trip. We were wrong. First, we couldn't figure out if we were actually at the right place, as it looked more like a strange version of home depot than a grocery store, but once we made our way up the concrete ramps, we entered into a Costco-esque type place.
The funny thing about the Belgian grocery stores, we came to find out after we had returned home with our groceries, is that just because things are wrapped together in plastic rap, dosen't mean that you can't seperate them and purchase only one of the product. So for instance, we bought a package of pasta, that came with four bags wrapped together. The price label underneath the pasta read:
4 x 1.5e = 6e
So we figured, that this cost 6e because it was four packages in one. However, if you were to seperate it, you could purchase just one back for the 1.5e price. Weird. You can also seperate 6 packs of beer and buy a single beer if you wish.
Another big difference that I noticed was that the store dosen't display its frozen items like we do in the states, rather they have them in closed freezers with pictures of the items above the freezers, I thought this was kind of strange.
After we managed to get out of the store with the items we wanted, we hit up a neighborhood bakery for an eclair, it was delicious.
Today we head out to the center of Brussels to learn more about the transportation etc.
Once it stops raining here I will be taking some photos, but the forecast is for rain the next whole week.
The funny thing about the Belgian grocery stores, we came to find out after we had returned home with our groceries, is that just because things are wrapped together in plastic rap, dosen't mean that you can't seperate them and purchase only one of the product. So for instance, we bought a package of pasta, that came with four bags wrapped together. The price label underneath the pasta read:
4 x 1.5e = 6e
So we figured, that this cost 6e because it was four packages in one. However, if you were to seperate it, you could purchase just one back for the 1.5e price. Weird. You can also seperate 6 packs of beer and buy a single beer if you wish.
Another big difference that I noticed was that the store dosen't display its frozen items like we do in the states, rather they have them in closed freezers with pictures of the items above the freezers, I thought this was kind of strange.
After we managed to get out of the store with the items we wanted, we hit up a neighborhood bakery for an eclair, it was delicious.
Today we head out to the center of Brussels to learn more about the transportation etc.
Once it stops raining here I will be taking some photos, but the forecast is for rain the next whole week.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Finally Here...
Well I finally made it to Brussels. My flights went fairly well, except for the fact that US Airways tried to deny my ability to bring two carry-on bags, stating that there was "not enough room in the overhead bins." Oh really, I thought to myself, then expressed my anger to the airline agent stating that I had very fragile things that had to be taken on the plane. After pulling a few strings, she ended up checking my carry-on with the first class passengers, which resulted in me getting my bag handed to me when I walked off the plane. Not too much of a hassle but enough to make me doubt the reliability of airlines even more.
The flights went well, Boston-Philly was completely booked, but the flight was only a little under two hours. It seemed as though we took of and landed in one fell swoop. The flight from Philly-Brussels was nice because it was a large, not sold out airplane, so I was able to spread out and take a quick nap. The movies on board were awful, who honestly wants to watch a Nancy Drew film? Not this guy. Not to mention that the so called "penne pasta with tomato cheese sauce" tasted like a mix between plastic and cardboard.
When we got off the plane we met the driver, who quickly took me, matt, and another girl from SLU to our respective homes. We met one of our two housemoms, Iria, when we got to the house. We were also greeted by her three miniature yorkshire terriers, who are more of a cross between a rat and a troll than a dog, but are the cutest things I have ever seen. They are a family of dogs, a mother, father, and daughter, named Shiva, Indiana Jones, and MacBeal. After getting settled into our basement apartment, we ate some delicious bread with Nutella and then took a quick tour of the area of Brussels I am living in, called Jette. Jette is a beautiful place so far, with many old churches and the Basilica of Koeckelberg, which is an absolutely massive Basilica that takes over your views no matter where you look. The town square of Jette is a small little place, with many outdoor cafes, bars, banks, and a friterie. I was skeptical about the friterie, even though I have heard so much about them. Pretty much a friterie is a small stand serving french fries with many different toppings. Being Americans, me and Matt chose the ketchup as our topping, and boy oh boy were those fries fantastic. I picked up a sim card for a phone over here so that I can communicate at least somewhat, and we met our other house mom, Els, for a drink in the Jette Brassiere called Le Miroir. I had the Duvel beer, which was pretty tasty I must say, and we learned about some rules of the house and customs of Brussels.
After a tasty dinner of some sort of pork with some sort of salsa (it was delicious I swear), we gave our family their gifts and then headed out back to the Miroir for one more drink and to relax for the evening. I tried one of the Trappist beers brewed by the monks of Belgium, and lets just say I think I found a favorite. Westmalle Trapist Tripel. Mmm Mmm good.
Tommorow we will venture into the center of Brussels and try to figure out the metro system here. Photos will come soon!
The flights went well, Boston-Philly was completely booked, but the flight was only a little under two hours. It seemed as though we took of and landed in one fell swoop. The flight from Philly-Brussels was nice because it was a large, not sold out airplane, so I was able to spread out and take a quick nap. The movies on board were awful, who honestly wants to watch a Nancy Drew film? Not this guy. Not to mention that the so called "penne pasta with tomato cheese sauce" tasted like a mix between plastic and cardboard.
When we got off the plane we met the driver, who quickly took me, matt, and another girl from SLU to our respective homes. We met one of our two housemoms, Iria, when we got to the house. We were also greeted by her three miniature yorkshire terriers, who are more of a cross between a rat and a troll than a dog, but are the cutest things I have ever seen. They are a family of dogs, a mother, father, and daughter, named Shiva, Indiana Jones, and MacBeal. After getting settled into our basement apartment, we ate some delicious bread with Nutella and then took a quick tour of the area of Brussels I am living in, called Jette. Jette is a beautiful place so far, with many old churches and the Basilica of Koeckelberg, which is an absolutely massive Basilica that takes over your views no matter where you look. The town square of Jette is a small little place, with many outdoor cafes, bars, banks, and a friterie. I was skeptical about the friterie, even though I have heard so much about them. Pretty much a friterie is a small stand serving french fries with many different toppings. Being Americans, me and Matt chose the ketchup as our topping, and boy oh boy were those fries fantastic. I picked up a sim card for a phone over here so that I can communicate at least somewhat, and we met our other house mom, Els, for a drink in the Jette Brassiere called Le Miroir. I had the Duvel beer, which was pretty tasty I must say, and we learned about some rules of the house and customs of Brussels.
After a tasty dinner of some sort of pork with some sort of salsa (it was delicious I swear), we gave our family their gifts and then headed out back to the Miroir for one more drink and to relax for the evening. I tried one of the Trappist beers brewed by the monks of Belgium, and lets just say I think I found a favorite. Westmalle Trapist Tripel. Mmm Mmm good.
Tommorow we will venture into the center of Brussels and try to figure out the metro system here. Photos will come soon!
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