I love Brussels! I love Belgium! I love the Netherlands!

I have been having the same wonderful conversation with my friends here. We talk about how even though we've all been here only two or three weeks, we feel like it has been much longer. We don't constantly remember anymore that we're "away on exchange in a foreign country". Rather, we are living in another one of our world's remarkable cities. But every once in a while, we stop and think, wow, I can't believe that I get to be here, in Brussels for so long.
So finally, I feel like I am living in Brussels, not just here studying on exchange. And for the first time since coming here, I realized what it meant to not only be living in Brussels, but also in the whole of Belgium.
I took a trip to Bruges this weekend. Incredible, incredible, incredible! That city is magical. Its beautiful canals, small, elaborate, colorful houses with pointed roofs, and winding cobblestone roads are only part of what gives the city its charm. I climbed up the 366 stairs to the top of the clock tower, took a boat ride through the canals, learned about the history of chocolate at the Chocolate Museum, wandered through the roads of the city, admiring the every beautiful house, church, square, and bridge Bruges had to offer.
The second day my friends and I rented bicycles from our hostel and decided to bike outside of Bruges. We followed the most amazing canal from Bruges to the small but pretty town of Damme, then made our way to Sluis, a town just on the other side of the Belgium border in the Netherlands. It was on this bike ride that I really felt what it meant to be living in Belgium. I realized how beautiful the countryside is, how all the small towns and villages we passed on the way were similar but offered their own charm, and how Belgium's central location really does make it easy to go anywhere.
My first adventure outside Brussels was a grand success, and I can't wait to see where I'll go next!

A bientot!
Sarah xoxoxo

Crossing the Dutch border

L'universite francaise....

The most intimidating thing about taking classes in French is being the only one sitting in the auditorium not furiously taking notes. Sure, I could take notes, but that would require me missing everything being spoken by the prof during the time it took me to write anything down. I never realized before how amazing it is that in an english class you can be writing something down, thinking about what it is you are writing down, all the while still be listening to what a prof is saying. Incredible! So until French becomes a bit more natural for me, looks like I will have to endure a constant battle of listening vs. note taking.

Apart from the whole 'taking notes' situation, first few days of classes have been good. Had a Societe et Environnement class this morning (reminiscent of Geog101A mixed with EOS 110), which was amazing! I knew everything that was going on!  My Histoire de la litterature Francaise class (english translation: history of french literature) however, went not so well. Showed up, BARELY understood a word that was being said, and on top of that was given a reading list of 4 pages of books, and a course outline with 4 exams, and a final oral exam. Knowing that this would be a bit of a feat for erasmus students, the prof had set up a special 2 hour weekly session for us to keep up with the reading material, and our comprehension. Unfortunately, this meant answering pages and pages of reading comprehension questions every week. Not wanting us to get behind, the prof put the exchange students right to work. Class was on Monday, and for Wednesday I was supposed to have read a quite large portion of the bible AND another book AND answered 4 pages of questions. All in French. I think NOT. Am no longer in that class. :) This is the beauty of the school system here. As overwhelming and frustrating as it is to still not have a concrete schedule, it is nice to be able to 'try out' different classes to see which ones you like, and which ones will end up being the death of you. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have a good idea of what I'm going to be taking.

Not much else new over here. Just realized that in the time it took me to write this post, I have eaten half a bag of chips. Well done Sarah. Not only am I having to use every ounce of self control to not consume a million waffles a day, try to stay clear of the most delicious french fries on the planet, and avoid the dozens of boulangeries on my walk home from school, but now I have to worry about potato chips. Oh well!

Still miss everyone so much. Hope school is going well (or if not in school.. just hope all is well!).

A bientot.

Sarah
xoxoxoxoxo

Mannequin Pis' latest fashion

Oh, Canada

I still struggle trying to remember words in french, still never remember that people give "bisous" here (always awkward...one or two? which way?), and i still can't walk on cobblestones without tripping, but other than that, I am finally starting to feel at home in this city!
Finally found an apartment! I moved in two days ago and packed all my things into a tiny little room (good thing there was a 50 lbs bag limit on the plane..) and made a trip to IKEA yesterday. My building is a 5 minute walk from the university and all the rooms are rented to ERASMUS students (the name for a European exchange). So basically I live in an international residence, which is awesome! I have two roommates; one girl is from Spain, the other from Italy! I communicate with the girl from Spain in English, but me and the girl from  Italy have made a vow to only speak french to each other as we are both trying to learn!
I have been meeting a ton of other international students through the club "express", which organizes events for Erasmus students. Went on a pub crawl the other night and met a few Canadians (so exciting!), some Swedish people, many people from Spain, and others  from all over the world (well.. mostly from Europe)! We went to four bars - one, called Delirium - has the LARGEST selection of beers in the world. They have usually 25 beers on tap (the tap is massive, and hoses are everywhere!), and then have 4000 bottled beers available (Not sure of the exact numbers, but there are a lot!)! How you are supposed to choose what to drink is beyond me. Tried Cherry beer for the first time, and I think I'm hooked. Never had I had a beer so delicious!
Another bar we went to was amazing. It was a little tavern/cave with low ceilings, dim light, long wooden tables with wooden stools, live Celtic music (all the musicians were sitting around a table, drinking and playing their instruments), and an endless stream of new little rooms. I found myself in the furthest, darkest corner of the bar with two tables. At one table was a large group of Spanish students, and at the other was the french Canadian and other Canadian students. The Spanish table was singing all the drinking songs from their country, and so feeling the need to show some pride, all the french Canadians started singing their french drinking songs (which I had never heard..), and when they felt truly overpowered by the Spanish's endless repertoire of songs, they burst into the Canadian national anthem. So we sang Oh Canada, half in french, half in English, in the middle of a tavern in Brussels.

All is wonderful in Brussels. Miss everyone.

A bientot.

Sarah
XOXO

View from my bedroom window.

My little room :)

the best café in Brussels

Brussels, so far

This whole "blogging" thing is quite new to me - but here it goes...

I've been in Brussels for almost 2 days, and its been both terrifying and amazing. Terrifying, because I am in a place where I know NO one, have no place to live, and where my french only allows me to keep a broken conversation with someone. Amazing, because it is a beautiful city.
Yesterday was my apartment search day. Sent out what seemed like a MILLION emails, and made a ton of phone calls asking about renting a room for a year, all of which led to no luck. Feeling frustrated, I  dropped the apartment search for a bit, and decided to go take a walk. La parc du cinquantenaire was a two minute walk from where I am staying, and turned out to be absolutely amazing! Apart from seeing the many groups of friends having fun together (...not nice when you are alone...), I had a wonderful time looking at the beautiful trees, and the great arch.  Then decided to go roam the streets of Brussels, where after about half an hour I realized I had NO idea where I was.  Came upon all these streets blocked off to cars for a "garage-sale" type flea market, where everyone had old, unwanted things to sell for cheap, sprawled on blankets all over the streets! It was really amazing - WHY does this not happen in Canada? After wandering for quite a bit longer, by some miracle I ended up back at my street.
Got home, DREADING the apartment search again, and found out that a friend had just landed in Brussels! So we decided to meet up in "Le Parc du Bruxelles" and go  for dinner. Left the apartment, and walked back to the fantastic park I was at earlier, with the idea that this was le Parc du Bruxelles. The two of us ended up in COMPLETELY different parks. My friend had to borrow someone's cell phone to call me, and after trying to find each other by the fountain, I realized that I was in the wrong park. Finally, I arrived at the actual Parc du Bruxelles, where I met up with my friend who had met a group of Finnish people drinking wine in the park. Stayed and chatted for a while, then we decided to make our way to the centre (downtown-ish) of Brussels. The streets were oddly quiet for a Friday night, and when we started to think that we were way far from the area we had planned to be in, we turned a corner onto a series of narrow streets lined with restaurants, cafes and bars! It was amazing! So many people, so many lights, so many sounds! We ate dinner there, and afterwards went exploring the streets. Some festival was happening, and so at around 11 they set off fireworks! It was the most amazing light show, and having seen it from a bustling street in the middle of Brussels made the experience 10 times better!
The next thing that happened may have been one of the most incredible experiences I have had, ever! Walking further and further through the streets of Brussels, we turned a corner onto another narrow alleyway, and walked into a large opening. I stopped, looked around, and realized that we were standing in the middle of La Grand Place! I can't imagine having seen it for the first time any other way! It has been called one of the most beautiful squares in Europe, and I definitely believe that (not that I've been to many squares in Europe... but I feel like this one would beat them all!). It was beautifully lit for the night, and there were so many young people sitting on the ground all over drinking their bottles of wine! We ate waffles covered in chocolate and ice cream there (my GOD were they good), and at around 1:30 decided to go home.

So this has been my time in Brussels so far. I am crossing my fingers that tomorrow I will find an apartment, so I can finally start to feel a bit more at home in this city.  Wish me luck!
Missing everyone terribly.

A bientot,

Sarah
 xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo