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 :)