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.