Amster...Damn

Well lots has happened since I last posted...most importantly, my first overnight trip with my european studies class, a trip to the ever-so-famous city of Amsterdam. We left Brussels early Friday morning, at around 8:15. Matt and I almost missed the train...whoops.

Anyways, we got on the train which was actually pretty comfortable and set off on our journey. The ride took about two and a half hours to Amsterdam Central station - which is one huge station. It was a pretty sweet station, and I have many pictures of it. After we all got off our train and got our stuff together we set off to find our hostel. It was located about a ten minute walk through the city and over a few canals. It was called the Hotel Keizersgracht and was located right on one of the main city canals. It was a pretty humble place but the location was good and easy to find. We checked in to our room; I was in a room with Matt, Garrett, and Tim - who joined our trip at the last minute and therefore slept on our floor. We had a private bathroom etc. so it was not too bad, and we had a pretty sweet view over the garden.

After we settled in Prof. Delsemme hooked us up with some free sandwiches and fruits and then we set off on the beginning of what would be a 48 hour tour of the city.

We visited and did many different things in Amsterdam over the weekend including:

• The Van Gogh Museum
• The Rijksmuseum
• The Anne Frank House
• The 'T Ship Museum
• Canal Tour
• Museum of Amsterdam History
• and the Portugese Jewish Synagogue....

At night time we were free to do what we wanted, so we enjoyed some of the Amsterdam nightlife and took a walk through the famous red light district. Wow...interesting place. It was almost surreal. There were hundreds of women of all shapes and sizes ready to prostitute themselves out to whatever perverted customers wanted. Not for me. But it was cool to see and I am glad we walked through it.

Amsterdam is a crazy crazy city. There are so many bikes that I feel if I spent any more time there I would have gotten hit by one. (Mom - picture Copenhagen and multiply it by ten) It almost felt a little claustrophobic, but it was still a very pretty place. All over the city are the famous "coffeeshops" which do indeed sell coffee along with any type of marijuana you want. It is weird to see stuff that is so illegal back home and even here in Belgium be sold as a legitimate business. Just another strange offering from Amsterdam.

My favorite thing - which was actually the thing I dreaded doing the most - happened to be the Anne Frank House. Something about being in the same house that was talked about in a book that I read back in middle school was really interesting. We got to see the entire house including the Annex in which they spent months living.

We came home Sunday evening, and I was absolutely whiped out.

Overall my trip was pretty good. I can't say I enjoyed Amsterdam as much as I had anticipated, but I am definetely glad that I went. Now I can cross the Netherlands off of my "Countries to Visit" list.

P.S. Check out my pictures on the link at the right!

BARCELONA IN THREE DAYS!

Antwerp, Beer, and Frog Legs...

So I have had quite an eventful last few days. On Friday it was my turn to cook food for the family so I cooked my favorite thing in the world, kielbasa with noodles and garlic sauce. Everyone really liked it so I was happy.

Saturday we had our second class trip, this time to Antwerp which is to the north of Belgium. We visited many different things including Ruben's House and a printing press museum, and the famous cathedral of Antwerp, the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The printing press museum was actually really interesting. We watched a film on how the first printing press came about, and lets just say that it was way to difficult just to print one page. Thank god for printers. We also saw the famous harbor, which reminded my of a less populated Charles river...so it wasn't that exciting. Antwerp had a different feel than Bruges, as it was a little more populated and lively, but certainly not as pretty. The church however was pretty sweet. A few of us ate lunch at a small italian pizza place, and I got a pretty big personal pizza and a coke for 6 euros...score! This was once again another hectic day with Professor Delsemme, so by the time we got back on the train we were all pretty tired. By accident a few of us sat in the first class section, and after about 15 minutes we were told to move...whoops. We spent the night just hanging out downtown etc. with some friends. We met a few kids from Brazil who were studying in Germany and showed them a few things including Delirium Cafe. They were cool.

Today I slept in till about 1:30, and when I woke up I was starving, but broke. So I had to find an ATM that actually worked, which ended up being one downtown. Ryan, Matt, and I went to the ATM then found a pretty cool little Thai Restaurant for lunch. I ordered a chicken and honey dish, Ryan a chicken and curry dish, and Matt got FROGLEGS! I tried some of the legs, and they were suprisingly pretty good. They were like real tender chicken wings (smaller of course). After lunch Ryan wanted to check out a beer store. So we went there and guess what I found...the number one ranked beer in the world, Westvleteren 12. Beeradvocate.com has had it ranked number one for years, and it is extremely rare to find. You can only buy cases of it from the actual monastery, and the monks brew only a small number of batches of beer a year. Yeah, be jealous. I can't wait to try it. It was very expensive though, 7 euros, so that is vitaully a 10 dollar bottle of beer. But whatever, number one is number one :)

During the afternoon we watched a rally of people in front of the Bourse building. We werent sure what they were doing but we figured out that it was a bunch of people from Kosovo who are celebrating their new independence from Serbia. People were beeping horns, hanging out of cars with flags, and dancing through the streets. It was pretty cool to see and I felt happy for them.

This week is going to be hectic, I have lots of work to do. But its okay, because on Friday we are heading with class to Amsterdam for the weekend! I have heard so much about it and can't wait to go.

One Month Down...

So I have survived my first month in Belgium! (Crazy huh). What a great time I have had so far. The food, the sights, the travel, the beer, and even some school has all been great. Except, after a month of me talking about how great this place is, maybe your wondering what I don't like. So here it is.

1) Waking up at 6:00am Mon-Thursday just so I can eat breakfast and start my 40 minutes commute to school.

2) The trash on the streets. It gets pretty gross especially after the weekends.

3) The crowdedness of the subways. At 7:00am I don't want to be grinding with a bunch of business men and smelly homeless people.

4) The expense. Stuff here is way overpriced. Granted, I can buy a few things cheap (chocolate, waffles, rice cakes), but everything else is ridiculous. Not to mention that it first looks over priced (ie. a package of cookies will have the price tag 4E), at first you think "oh thats not too bad," but after doing the conversion from euros to dollars, you realize that the cookies cost 6 bucks.

5) 10 DOLLARS TO DO MY LAUNDRY. ARE YOU JOKING?!

6) The fact that stores close at the most random times, and often for lunch, and it just so happens that those times are exactly when I want to go to them.

7) Getting lost on a regular basis. Though I am getting better, its still annoying.

8) The inability to buy all that you need in one place. Suppose I want to cook dinner, I have to go to the butcher to get meat, the baker to get bread, the wine store to get wine, the pastry shop to get desert. I feel that in order to accomplish any one single shopping trip you would do in the states requires you to visit at least three different stores here.

9) Mayonaisse on everything. EVERYTHING. Just so happens to be my least favorite food. Luckily on day one I told my host family that "mayonaise makes me sick" so they do not use it in my food :).

10) Dog poop. Lots and lots of it.

11) The fact that you can rarely find cold milk anywhere. They sell the milk (and eggs) on the shelf here, and it is always served room temperature, and can last for days. I don't understand how they do it.

12) The homeless people. Im sure I'd say the same if I lived in the heart of Boston, but seriously, get off your ass and get a job.

13) The inability to get a straight answer from anyone. "Where do I need to get my train ticket?" "I'm not sure, try one of the stations."

14) Having both dutch and french signs for everything. I can't speak either. Why do you have to confuse me like this?

Despite this list, I am still having a blast here! This weekend I am heading with class to Antwerp so expect an entry about that.

Champagne for Breakfast?!

So last night Iria and Els told us that they wanted to suprise us for breakfast. They said that we would need about an hour to eat in the morning, and that Els was going to stay home a little longer from work to eat with us. They were both very excited about it. I was up all night wondering what it was going to be.

I don't think I have seen as much food on the table for breakfast as I did this morning. Omelletes, Tomatos, Cheese, Strawberries, Beans, Sausage, Grapes, Breads, Sweetbreads, Fresh Squeezed juice, and... champagne! Apparently it is a common Belgian thing to offer champagne with brunch, so we had a nice glass of champagne from southern Spain which was actually quite refreshing in the morning. Check this out:

After breakfast Matt and Ryan had to go to class, and since I have fridays off I decided that I wanted to go explore this park at the end of a busline near my house. It was a pretty sweet forest, and part of it was full of public gardens. It was nice to get some fresh air, and the weather today finally was cooperating. About 55 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I took some cool pictures. And then, as usual, I got lost but suprisingly was able to find my way home after about an hour of walking. All in all, a good afternoon.

Review of Brussels

I wrote this review of Brussels for my writing class and figured I would post it so you all can read what I think of the city. It sounds like I am obsessed with the city (which is partially true) but I buttered it up mainly because my teacher lives here haha. I'm always thinking!

Putting Brussels on the Map

Tourism today is a multi-billion dollar industry, and will most likely continue to be so for years to come. Many people love to travel to different places, to meet new people, and to experience new things. However, there are certain cities in the world which see many more tourists throughout the year than others. What makes a city a popular destination is whether or not it fits into some of the many criteria for determining whether or not a certain city is a nice place to visit. Such criteria can include: cost of living, cleanliness, infrastructure, culture, social, beauty, and whether or not the city has an interesting history. I believe that a city can be judged accurately simply by the following three major points: public transportation, social and cultural activities, and overall beauty. Brussels, Belgium is an excellent example of a city that fits, and at some points exceeds, the given criteria. Brussels has a great system of public transportation, an excellent social and cultural scene, and is a beautiful place to sightsee, making it a great choice for anyone to visit.

The public transportation of Brussels is perhaps one of the strongest elements that make Brussels a nice place to visit. The public transportation system of Brussels is excellent, making it cheap and easy to reach your desired destinations in a timely manner. Transportation throughout Brussels is made simple by the use of the metro, the trams, and the public buses. The metro system is divided into only three lines, making it feasible to reach your destination without the hassle of switching trains. But, if you do need to switch trains, you can do it easily by following the signs at the metro stop which will point you in the right direction. Granted, at times the metro trains can be quite crowded, so if you do not want to fight the crowds you can simply wait for the next train, which usually follows in only a few minutes. If your destination is somewhere a bit further away from one of the many metro stops, within ten minutes of each stop you are likely to encounter a bus or tram station. As a bonus, when you use your purchased ticket for any of these forms of transportation (bus, metro, and tram), you have one hour to do as much travel as you want. In other cities, such as Boston, Massachusetts, you are required to pay for each entry, making a quick trip to the market somewhat costly. One downfall of the Brussels public transportation system, however, is that the metro and major bus lines stop running at midnight. They do offer a night bus, called Noctis, but routes are limited and you must pay an extra rate. On a different level, Brussels is at the heart of Europe, and you can reach virtually all of Europe from Brussels either by train or airplane. Brussels is a central hub for travel all over the world. Commercial airliners travel to and from Brussels Zaventum airport, which is located only a few kilometers away from the heart of Brussels. Those looking for cheaper flights can access them at the Charleroi airport, which is located less than an hour south of Brussels, with transportation going to and from all days of the week.

Brussels isn’t just a city that’s easy to get around; it is also a cultural hub that offers many options to soothe ones social appetite. Being the “Capital of Europe,” Brussels is comprised of a variety of people from different backgrounds and countries, which have all come together to offer a mix of opportunities and a taste of their own cultures. Compared to other European and North American cities, the people of Brussels tend to be very warm and accepting, and if you do not speak the native tongue (or tongues), they usually try to accommodate you in your own language. Brussels is also a very safe city, with crime rates lower than most cities in the world, so walking at night time, even alone, is not too dangerous. On the entertainment and leisure levels, Brussels is world class. There are thousands of bars, pubs, restaurants, lounges, and clubs strewn throughout the city, so it is simple for you to find one which suits you. On the weekends, the city nightlife comes to life, and thousands of people head to the downtown area to meet with friends and enjoy their evenings. One downfall is, however, that compared to other cities, such as New York, Boston, and Miami, and Denver, there seems to be a lack of sports entertainment. There are a few soccer stadiums around the city, but that’s about all. For those interested in educating themselves while here, Brussels offers a number of museums, encompassing themes such as comic books, musical instruments, modern and ancient art, and history. Brussels is also home to the European Union and NATO, which are both interesting places to visit. The food in Brussels is fantastic, well crafted, and certainly abundant. There are frites stands and waffle stations all across the city, an assortment of chocolate shops and specialty liquor stores, and the quality of food is very high. It isn’t common for people to eat or make food loaded with chemicals and preservatives, and all meats and vegetables are sold fresh in the grocery stores and markets.

As far as beauty is concerned, you will be swept away by Brussels. Usually beauty is what initially grabs the attention of the traveler and makes them interested in visiting. People want to see beautiful scenes that will make them feel as far away from home as possible, and scenes that they will remember for years. The fact that there are only a few zoning laws in Brussels makes each home unique. Unlike cities such as Boston, Massachusetts, which has streets of houses that are all identical in shape, color, and size, Brussels is pleasing to the eyes because it is colorful and exciting, and really has the feel of a ‘true’ European city. The red rooftops of each building also add a touch of uniformity, without making everything look the same. In downtown Brussels is the Grand Place, which showcases some ancient guild houses that have been greatly preserved over the years. The city does a great job at keeping this area clean and displayed nicely with various lights and illuminations. Even though much of the city has been ransacked by graffiti artists, and trash seems to accumulate in the heavily traveled areas, the overall beauty of the buildings remains untouched. You can get a great view of the city if you travel to the upper town area, where you can look over the city and visit the Palace and its park. Another great aspect of the beauty of Brussels is the displays shown in many of the stores, especially the chocolate stores. Shopkeepers do their best to attract customers into their stores by creating lavish displays of their goods.

When you pair friendly people, beautiful sights, delicious food, and entertainment galore with a city that is safe, central, and easy to get around, it is tough to find a better place to visit. Brussels far exceeds my expectations, and I am finding that the more I live here the more I have come to love it. There are far more things to love about Brussels than to find wrong with it. I have visited many cities so far, and Brussels is sure to rank highly on my list.

My First Souvenir...

And boy is it awesome. Yesterday after class, Matt, Adam, Ryan, and I all hopped on a train at 10:30am to head to the Mardi Gras festival in Binche. It is a really popular Belgian carnival where people dress up in these crazy traditional costumes, parade through the streets with drums and instruments, and throw blood oranges into the crowd for people to eat or throw at other people. The train ride took about one hour, and when we got there we just followed the crowd to the town center. Binche is not a very large city, and it is kind of located in the middle of a bunch of farmland, but it was a pretty cool place. We met up with a group from my school and began to go to the various parties along the street. When the parade started, we all did our best to catch some oranges, and I succeeded and caught about 8 oranges. They were delicious. During the parade we met some Belgian locals who we helped catch some oranges for. I spoke with them for a while, and we became pretty friendly with a guy named Yannick and his friends. They hung out with us for a few hours. We wanted to stay in Binche until the fireworks at 9:00, so once the parade was finished we just kind of stood around for a little while.

And then a fight broke out right next to me between a bouncer and some drunk dude. So, being a good citizen, I held the drunk guy back and talked him out of fighting. He was like "Okay okay okay" and walked away. But then, he bent down and picked up an emtpy beer bottle and smashed in on the ground, started running towards the bouncer again, and I was stuck in the middle. He hit me with the bottle on my hand, making a pretty large gash on my thumb. He must of hit a vein because blood started dripping all over my jacket and pants. The drunk dude never ended up making it to the bouncer because right after he hit me four guys from the crowd came out and laid the smack down on him. I'm talking like UFC type stuff right in front of me. So not knowing what to do, I asked Yannick for advice. He brought Matt and I to a group of medics who were on some random street, and they looked at my hand and told me I needed to go to the hospital to get stitches. Great. I am in some random ass tiny city in the middle of Belgium and I need medical attention. Awesome. So after searching for the hospital with Yannick for a while (who is from Mons, not Binche so he didn't know exactly where to find it) we finally found the little place. SKETCHY...

We had no idea what to do so we asked an ambulance driver, and they brought me into the ER - more like a small warehouse which was pretty gross. As I am sitting there getting local anesthesia injected into my hand, a guy is overdosing on the floor. Makes me feel comfortable...not! Yannick helped us translate anything that they were telling me. So I get my thumb stitched up in about 10 minutes, which was actually kind of nice because for that to happen in the states the whole process would have been over two hours, in Binche - 20 minutes. Mind you, in the US at least you feel like you have credible doctors doing the procedure, here, I had no idea if this guy was even in highschool let alone a doctor. Oh well. It looks like they did an ok job. They instructed me to "remove the stitches myself in 8 days". I don't think so buddy, I think I will go see the doctor at school. So all in all I got three stitches and a good story to tell. I am not even sure if I have to pay for this thing, because all they did was quickly glance at my ISIC card, and didn't ask any questions or take any information from me at all...guess we will find out eventually. My first Belgian souvenir....a sweet scar:

Then we took the train home, and that brings me to the present where I am waiting for french class to start. What a day.

Trip #1 - Brugges

On Saturday we had a class trip to Brugges. We all met at the Central Station at 8:30am to catch a 9:00 train to Brugges. Inevitably, people got lost so this process was a fiasco, but finally, we were all on the train and good to go. It was a very cold, but sunny, day so I was sure to have lots of layers on. First things first, the trains in Belgium are amazing. Being used to the smelly, loud, and bumpy train that I take to work everyday in Boston, this was like heaven. Comfortable seats, smooth ride, silence, and tons of bathrooms in case nature calls. All in all, the train ride took about an hour. It was cool to see the Belgian countryside, and it reminded me alot of Sweden, minus the rolling hills. It was mainly farmland with a few villages here and there.

When we exited the station at Brugges, I immediately took a liking to the city because I saw that the bike racks were full. I'm talking probably close to a thousand bikes were parked at the station. Sweet! Our first task was to walk along the boulevard, which was once a wall to protect the city, to Our Lady's Church. And just like that, Brugges became my favorite city ever. This place is absolutely amazing. Entirely cobblestone streets, horse drawn carriages, old buildings, waterways, bakeries. It seemed as though it wasn't actually real. Everywhere you turned was the potential for a postcard shot. Ridiculous! We viewed the church, which was pretty large, and made our way to St. Jan Hospital, which is now a museum. We also had our first student presentation on the Plague, which was pretty interesting but weird because it occured where we were now touring... After that, we went to a different church, called Onze Lieve Vrouw, to see a sculpture made by Michelangelo, and to see the tombs of Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy. We then broke for lunch, and a bunch of us went to a little cafe to relax. I brought a salami sandwich (yeah JJ and Ted, you better be jealous), so all I ordered was a local beer, mainly so I could get the bottle cap from it, but I also wanted to give it a try. It was called Bruges Zot, translated to mean Bruges Fools. Pretty tasty, but not my favorite. Garrett ordered some sort of meat, which he thought was going to be cooked and on a plate etc, but it ended up being the Belgian version of a Slim Jim, guess thats what you get when you don't know exactly what you are ordering haha. After lunch we climbed to the very top of a bell tower, and got a pretty sick view of all of Brugges. It was a pretty ridiculous climb though, up hundreds of flights of narrow staircases. I got some sweet pictures from it. Then we had another student presentation on the cloth industry, but were interupted by a drunk man in a rabbit costume......weird. The rest of the time we listened to Delsemme mumble about just about everything, but finally we made it to the Begijnhof, a community within the city that requires you to be silent when you enter it, as nuns live there and require silence. It was pretty sweet, kind of reminded me of a mix between Harvard Yard and Amish people.... All of the buildings were white and the grass was covered in tulips (which you can't see cause they aren't in bloom yet, but it is apparently pretty sweet.)

And then our tour was done and we headed back to Brussels.

I urge anyone and everyone to go to this city. It is amazing. I can't say anything else about it.

The most famous thing in Belgium...

Yes, beer, chocolate, and waffles are known worldwide as what makes Belgium famous, but do you know about Mannekin Pis? Yeah, pictured below is the most famous statue in Brussels, a little boy peeing:

They dress him up in different costumes throughout the year, and each costume is then put in to a museum, showcasing all past costumes. Apparently the legend is that during some war in the 14th centure there was a little boy who pissed on a bomb fuse, saving the city from blowing up.