Brussels, The Hague, Delft, and Amsterdam

OK ok I know, I need to post more often. Yadda yadda yadda. Let me first talk a little bit about my daily life in Brussels and then I will tell you about the trip I just got back from in Amsterdam.

So living in Brussels is awesome! My house is great. My classes are good (Midterms in two weeks however are NOT!) I finally started my internship (R.I.P. 5-day weekends) and that is also going really well. I am pretty busy whenever I go into the office and I have even had to take some work home on the weekends. There are some pretty nice perks though. Last night I got to go to the American Ambassador's residence for a reception for all of the new and returning Fulbright scholars.

Some of the highlights in my time here have been:

- Volunteering as a bartender at a convention in front of the EU (free beer all day :-)
- Visiting the Belgian parliament
- Meeting the Ambassador
- Production of Hairspray at the gay club. Hearing "Good Morning Baltimore" definitely was a good dose of home!
- Farmer's market every Wednesday
- Meeting french speaking students through the study abroad program
- Cooking with my housemates

Best story so far: I got lit on fire!

So, the next time someone says to you, "Hey wanna go do an absinthe shot?" Your response should be, "Sure. Just as long as it's not on fire!" Well, my roommate Bobby did not know this lesson before we took our shots. At an absinthe bar, you can do a particular kind of shot that is kind of like inhaling flaming absinthe through a glass pipe. The bartender stands on the other side of the bar and lights the absinthe on fire while he coaches you through the shot. I went first. Relatively uneventful. Aside from the fact that absinthe tastes awful, it wasn't so bad. But, when Bobby tried to take his shot, he choked and spit the absinthe out. Unfortunately for the bartender (and me), the absinthe was a little more flaming than we might have anticipated. A fireball hit the bartender in the stomach and he ran away behind the bar trying to muffle the flame and take his shirt off. We didn't see him again. I then look at my left hand to find that it is also on fire. I quickly shook it out and blew out the small fire that had lit on the bar. Overall, kind of one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Other than the singed hairs on my hand and wrist (they are starting to grow back now) there was no damage (except maybe for the bartender) and the best part is that there are now a few people in the world who only know Bobby as "Torch"

Favorite beer so far: Quintine
It is a blond beer. 8% very very good. Really good taste, not too alcoholic but not too light either

Favorite meal so far: Indonesian buffet in The Hague

Favorite Belgian food: Frites. I should definitely add this to the title of the blog! Frites (not even comparable to french fries back home) are a real staple here and most of the stands are open until 3am. They come with all kinds of different sauces (anything from mayo to ketchup to spicy sauces, sweet sauces, special sauces…) My favorite sauce is andoulouse which is a kind of sweet sauce with a little bit of a kick but they are all delicious. I introduced them to Raph and Prosser and they haven't stopped eating them since.

OK so, now the trips. Last Thursday, my program took us to The Hague to see the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. It's a pretty cool place where they are doing some really interesting work. We saw a part of the trial of a man who was accused of war crimes in Serbia. Very cool, but a little creepy to be so close to a man like that. Afterwards, we went to Delft which is a charming little city that reminded me a lot of Brugge. Not a lot going on but very pretty and very nice to walk around.

After walking around Delft, we went to this great Indonesian restaurant and I ate until I just about burst. After dinner, a pretty big group of us headed to Amsterdam for the weekend. It was a really great trip and I had a lot of fun with kids from the program and my friends from home who are visiting. I went to the Anne Frank house which was something that I had missed when I was there with Mom. I stayed at a Christian youth hostel for the first two nights (because it was the cheapest one I could find). That was also a bit of an experience. We were very nicely invited to nightly bible study and to ask the person at the front desk about the meaning of life or anything else that crossed our minds! There was a really nice free breakfast though so I couldn't complain. The second two nights, I stayed at a campsite because it was way cheaper than any hostel. Camping is definitely an experience. One that I probably could have gone without but they say study abroad is a chance to try new things so… In truth, it wasn't that bad. I was a little cold and not having a sleeping pad definitely makes things a little more uncomfortable. Overall, not terrible and I will definitely be able to survive camping at Oktoberfest next weekend.

Agenda for the next few weeks: Tomorrow I am doing a day trip to Luxemburg to see an investment bank and then we are going to a few cities in Wallonia (southern Belgium) on the way back. This weekend, I head to Oktoberfest with Prosser and Raph. I am a little nervous about driving with them (on the autobahn no less) but I am pretty excited for Ofest. Then the following weekend, I head to Spain for two days in Barcelona and Madrid each! I will try and post in between the Germany and Spain trips but no promises. Midterms start after the Spain trip so I may be kind of underground but I'll be back!

Thanks for reading, miss you all.

Happy Trails!

5 day weekend!!

So, I finally have my schedule and I must say, it's great! As of right now, I only have class on two days of the week. Once I start my internship (I accepted) I will work all day Thursdays but that doesn't start for another two weeks and I will still have four day weekends after that :)

I ended up dropping Development Economics and keeping the military class. The military class is too cool. It's like taking a course at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, just not something you get to do back in the states.

Yesterday, we discovered a great market right near our house with amazing and cheap food. There was a great homemade pasta guy and a ton of fruit and vegetable stands. We made a big pasta dinner last night with chicken and fresh veggies in the sauce.

Should be a fun Thursday-Sunday weekend. Today is someone in the program's birthday so we are going out to a nightclub. It seems like a pretty nice club but we have to be dressed "up to par" so hopefully a group of 40 loud Americans can get past the bouncers...

Then Josh and his Uncle get in on Friday in time for Belgian Beer Weekend http://www.weekenddelabiere.be/en/pages/programma.htm
I'm not even sure how to describe my excitement! There is a scorecard of beers about a mile (or should I say 1.609344 kilometers) long! Saturday, I am skipping the Brugge trip to hang out with Josh and then Sunday, I think a group of us still want to go out because there are a handful of people in the program without class on Mondays either!

I can't figure out how to put pictures on the actual blog but I have a Picasa album with all my Brussels and Brugge pictures. Enjoy!

https://picasaweb.google.com/115599000627342047413/BrusselsAndBrugge?authkey=Gv1sRgCO6WxJbz8tSnDA

Happy Trails!