Alright, so after my slightly deep ramblings on the Battle of Normandy, let’s shift to battles the Normans have been in: the Battle of Hasting, the 1066 invasion of England, and the most recent time England was successfully overtaken by a foreign power. We saw the Bayeux Tapestry, a football-field long tapestry illustrating the lead-up to and the actual battle of Hastings. I hadn’t known much about it before hand, but the audio tours we took while looking at it, piece by piece, really pulled the whole thing together. It was a lot cooler than I thought it would be, and I should also note that it’s not actually a tapestry but rather a hell of a lot of embroidery. We also made a quick stop in a grocery store, to get some drinks for the night, which leads to all sorts of disaster later. But imagine me now walking through a small French city with two bottles of wine in my purse. Not enjoyable.

Okay, back onto the bus! To Arromanches, a shore town closer to the British and Canadian beaches. We saw a pretty cool 360 degree movie, with a lot of still shots and video from the invasion juxtaposed with modern day scenes of the area. We then visited Mulberry harbor, which was created just for the supplies needed after the invasion. By now we were all pretty burnt out, so we got some ice cream and sat on the promenade for a while.

Now to Bayeux again, where we’ll be staying for the next few nights. So, a run-down of this place. It’s kind of shitty—we have a bathroom in our room, but the sink is the only part that works. In fact, the toilet flushes once and then continues to run for the next 3 days, without flushing ever again. There are only 4 toilets we found in the whole place, which complicates things. It’s mostly our group in the hostel, but there are others. We’re eating dinner there in a weird family-style restaurant…thing. There a giant chess board in courtyard. Oh, and the group before us forgot to turn in their keys and are in Germany now, so we can’t have our rooms for a few hours. Say whaaaaat?

Our dinner was pretty good, and we got to drink some of our professor’s wine, which was nice of him to share. Shortly after this, we all wound up in the courtyard for some chess and wine. Followed by a run to a durum shop for some beers. The night went in much the same way, with people wandering in, contributing liquor, playing chess, starting arguments sometimes. We were out there till about 2, and all pretty far gone—I mean a friend walked into a glass door that was closed and I thought we were on a boat. Craaaazy. To some up these bad decisions, one friend has the quote of the weekend from the next day: “Taylor, your gin makes me hate myself.”

The next morning, many of us woke up still under the influence, which led to really badly timed hangovers later. However, we pushed onward and went to Mont St. Michel, a 13^th century abbey on an island; it doesn’t seem like an island, until the tide comes in. It’s this amazing mix of castle and museum and tourist town, and it was wonderful. I don’t think I’m doing it justice…

The tide comes in from 18 km away and you can no longer just walk up to it then; it's pretty crazy.

After our time there, we went to an apple orchard, which might not sound too exciting, except them make a TON of stuff there--cider, alcoholic cider, this liquor called Calvados, native to the region, and a weird apple spread. The tour was fun, and the cider was really good, but I couldn't even stomach the alcohol after the previous night. It was really acidic too, and I didn't enjoy it, but others apparently did since a ton of people bought stuff to take home. We returned to our hostel for dinner and a much calmer night, which for me included some wanderings around town and chitchat.

Our last day in Normandy was a pretty busy one. We left the hostel that morning and drove to Caen, a city in France that was liberated after Normandy. We went to the Peace Memorial, which was pretty incredible--great exhibits on the build-up to World War II, a lot of cultural stuff on the occupation, and the Cold War. We also saw a great film using a lot of old footage, and it was really moving. I also saw a wedding dress made out of a parachute--like I said, a lot of interesting stuff.

We stopped at the Abbaye aux Hommes church, founded by William the Conqueror; he is, in fact, buried there. The tour guide didn't know English, so his basic French tour coupled with our professor's translation was pretty good. It was really interesting, but we were all exhausted by then.

I won't get into the next few hours, as they're just a horrible traffic jam because the French loves tolls yet don't know how to do them right. There were also awful movies, though there was a parking lot picnic which was pretty sweet.

In the end, the trip was amazing and I'm so glad I went! Now to enjoy my final week in Belgium!

Norman Conquests

By which, of course, I mean our tour group sufficiently overran Normandy and emerged victorious. This wasn’t one of our normal excursions—it was a trip for my history class which we had to pay for ourselves, and though they took good care of us, this was not to be the three-course dinners and bottomless wine bottle to which I’d grown accustomed. It was a four day trip—we had Thursday and Friday the 1^st and 2^nd off for a public holiday—and believe me, there was still more to see even after that time! I have to cheat and look at our itinerary now just to try to write these chronologically…here goes!

Thursday was an early departure, and, as we boarded the bus, it became clear this was not our usual group. Our professor and his professor wife had organized the trip; there were a dozen kids from our program, a few other study abroads, some full time VeCo students, and a ton of graduate students, who ranged from really annoying to mostly good people. It was to be an odd, multilingual group for us. The grad students were all in their 30s and were pretty good for accidentally making you feel bad, since they had disposable income and refined tastes, and we did not. But I’ll get to that.

Normandy is itself a large region of France; its 525 km from Brussels to Bayeux, where our hotel was. I’m not exactly sure what that means in miles, but believe me when I tell you it was a very, very long ride. We stopped at Beauvais, in France, to look at the St. Peter Cathedral—all that’s left of the original structure is its choir. It’s also the tallest gothic structure, I guess in the world—it was even taller, but when it fell apart, the townspeople assumed they had gone as high as God would let them. So the giant choir area has been converted to a church; unfortunately, we entered during services, and apparently Ascension Thursday is a big deal here. Feeling awkward, dozens of us left and engaged in an elaborate coffee-buying scheme to get access to free bathrooms (free refills and free toilets, two of my most missed loves of America!)

From here, we went to Chateau-Gaillard, the ruins of an old French castle. I haven’t gotten pictures up, but you need to see this place; it was obviously well defended in its past, and it was quite a hike to get too. Plus, we were pretty high and could SEE the rain clouds approaching our gathering. We also had a picnic there for the whole group, which had a strange combination of homemade sandwiches (the joys of traveling with someone else’s parents!), vegetables, boxed wine, and fruit. Yummy. We didn’t have much time there, though we encountered our first terrible bathroom of the weekend, a trend which would sadly haunt us our entire trip.

A few hours later, and we’re disembarking at Rouen. You may know Rouen for being the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. It was a pretty nice city, and had great crepes, but was marred by that rain storm finally catching up with us. At this point, we were supposed to drive to Bayeux; unfortunately, our hostel couldn’t accommodate us, so they worked something out with a pseudo-motel in a small town along the Channel. It was weird being in a legit hotel, with other guests and functioning facilities. Our goal was to get some beer and sit out by the docks, just taking it all in. Instead, every store was closed for the holiday! Think Jersey shore in the off-season. After paying 6 euro for giant beers, we just walked along the pier, which included a few friends climbing up in a makeshift lighthouse—I was terrified of the French Coast Guard finding us and arresting us for reasons I couldn’t translate. After this, we scaled a really muddy hill in the dark to explore an old fortress structure and check out the view of the city. This trek was very worth it, though I could without so many near-death incidents in one night. We left this town in the morning, though we should have stayed—a lot better than the hostel we wound up in later!

Friday was also a really busy day, and really varied in terms of the sights we saw. First we stopped at a German cemetery; of course, allied casualties were not the only ones in the battle of Normandy, and over 21,500 Germans were buried at cemetery de La Cambe. I can’t remember if it was a world war I or II edict, but German soldiers cannot be buried under white crosses; it’s a weird part of the guilt clause. So these headstones were all very dark, in sharp contrast to the American cemetery I had seen earlier, and the one we would see later that day. This was a very brief stop, and from there we went to Isigny-Sainte-Mere, a dairy production…place. Normandy is not just the site of bloody conflicts, but also of dairy products, and Normandy cows are a pretty big deal. I’m not a big fan of gourmet cheese (I live in Europe and still buy their equivalent of kraft singles for all my grilled cheese needs…), but I learned a lot and enjoyed the experience. I had to stop myself from buying a can of whipped cream for the ride; the deliciousness of it would not cancel out the digestive havoc it would wreak. However, a number of people bought cheese with the coupons they gave us and some, stupidly, put them in our overhead compartments on the bus. This was forgotten for about 6 hours, when we all boarded the bus for dinner and couldn’t stand the smell any longer…

We then drove to the actual beaches of Normandy, specifically to the American cemetery, which is built on the grassy land adjacent to Omaha Beach. I’m sure we all know Omaha Beach and Utah Beach were the American beaches of the Normandy invasions; the Brits and Canadians split Sword, Juno, and Gold. Utah had these huge cliffs to scale, but Omaha had the most casualties due to a few logistical failures. Their floating tanks were destroying by the currents, leaving the infantry without artillery cover; on other beaches, this strategy worked fine. Also, bombs were supposed to be dropped on the beach the night before to leave large holes to use for cover, like giant foxholes; sadly, these were misdirected and dropped in fields inland. I hadn’t know any of this before the trip, and after hearing all this, it makes the thousands of deaths all the more sad; however, it also made me wonder how anyone survived it at all. Any family members reading this know Grandpa was discharged from the army before WWII started; I don’t have a personal connection to these events, which in many ways is fine. However, a few of the kids we were traveling with had grandfathers who landed at Normandy; Eric’s grandfather was artillery who landed at Omaha in the second wave of the invasion. I pretty much lived vicariously through his families stories for the weekend. Having seen the American cemetery in Luxembourg, I didn’t spend too much time touring this one; instead, a few of us wandered on the actual beach, which is gorgeous beyond words. The tide was very low then, so we had to go out pretty far to dip our feet in. It’s one of those painful ironies I’ve experienced while being in Europe; so much of the countryside, and the coast, is absolutely beautiful, and you just can’t reconcile it with the horrors that occurred there. During the summer, these beaches are recreational just like all the others; but how many men, from whatever country, died here? Though Omaha doesn’t have the cliffs of Utah, there’s still marshland and a large hill to scale even after surviving the trip across the sound and the landing on the beach. I have so much more respect for the men involved in that invasion, and even the tactical maneuvering behind it. It’s the most well-orchestrated large-scale invasion in history, and its hard to imagine anything else after claiming that title.

[I’m going to leave you guys hanging here—something to mull over. As you can see, this is going to be an extremely long post, so it’s best to do it in sections. Plus, I’m having friends over for dinner and need to get into the kitchen. The weather is incredible here in Brussels, classes are over, and exams haven’t started yet, so it definitely calls for a celebration of sorts.]

Belgium Insanity

A few of us were discussing the insanity that is Belgium on our way back from Belgium class today. How things are so random if you're a visitor, but once you live here, it all becomes part of the charm. And to that end, I want to offer that it is 2:58 Beligum time, and I finished a beer about 10 minutes ago. And I have class in an hour. AND, this beer was given to me, and the rest of the class, as a prize, by a teacher. Something that would never happen in the states. And I drank my beer in the hallway and no one thought it was weird.

I'm also looking down the barrel of a four day weekend, courtesy of Ascension Thursday, and my class trip to Normandy, which I'm pretty psyched about.

So on that slightly buzzed note, I'm off!

Alsace--a little France, a little Germany

This weekend marks our last big group excursion; this means it was paid for by our program (bottomless wine bottle included!) and was most of our group of study abroads. In fact, this was the end of my travel for the most part; next weekend, I have a class trip to Normandy for four days (really exciting, actually), and after the program, I have a few day trips in and around Belgium. But this excursion was our last big group hurrah, until the farewell dinner, and it was well worth the trip.

I’m still not exactly sure what we were going to see—we ambled around the Alsace region of France and the Black Forest region of Germany for three days, looking at wine country and cutesy villages. It was a great tour of areas I wouldn’t have seen on my own, but I don’t feel like we had a central purpose. But, well, that’s okay.

Excursions mean an early start, and our “space bus” left Brussels about quarter to 8 on Friday morning. I forgot to tell my teacher I’d be excused from class, but eh—the general consensus is that most of us have given up on non-essential workload. Anyway, it was a very long ride to Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace. We stopped once for an awkward picnic, but I slept most of the ride; I had a pseudo-stomach bug for the weekend that kept me from feeling top notch. Please note I ate rich local delicacies anyway, but I did in fact feel bad.

Anyway, Strasbourg is a cute little city, without too much to do. Like I said, it’s the capital of the Alsace region; we’re probably all aware of the historical tug of war between Germany and France over Alsace & Lorraine (until this weekend, I didn’t know you could have one without the other!). Strasbourg briefly served as a national capital, when Alsace declared its independence on November 11^th, 1918, as WWI was officially ending. This only lasted about 12 days, but hey, give credit where credit is due.

Our day in Strasbourg was nothing too special; a terrible bus tour followed by a better walking tour. Our guide was really great, and managed to dress up a city that may otherwise be a bit dull. The weather was gorgeous, too, so a few of us took the opportunity to catch some sun sitting on the town square; it was really relaxing to just sit still and enjoy a nice pretzel.

Dinner was quite an affair—we went to this traditional Alsatian restaurant, built into the basement of an old house. There, we drank wine from the region, had an appetizer of tart flambé (which is kind of like a pizza), and had these tremendous main courses. There was, of course, the ice cream and dessert, by which point everyone is either half asleep or half drunk (including our resident director, who was at our table). A large group of us (again, program directors included) decided to go out for a drink, since it was only 10 pm, which led to 20 Americans winding their way through the streets in search of a bar large enough.

When we found one, we didn’t know what to do—Belgium is known for its beer, but what the hell we were going to do in France? To be economically, two friends and I split a bottle of sangria, complete with tiny dishes of fruit. Then a wave of my friends came in, saying the hostel had been boring…so we got more sangria. We were there a very, very long time, with shenanigans ensuing—a saucy French waitress, some sort of hole in the time-space continuum on the way to the bathroom, and a former professor rambling at a group in French for about an hour.

Upon boarding the bus the next morning, most of our group was hungover; a few exceptions were still drunk. This was really promising for the day we had ahead of us. By now, with my hangover and stomach thing, I felt like death. We visited a medieval castle that had been refurbished by Wilhelm in the 19^th century, back when that territory was German. It was fully furnished from the time and meant to serve as a museum. The best part was not realizing how high in the mountains we were until we got to the castle. The view was incredible, as the fog rolled off the mountains.

As we departed the mountain on a sickening roller coaster ride in our space bus, we took in the view; there was a nearby monkey preserve (Monkey Mountain!) but it was just not going to happen. We made our way to a nearby small town, after driving through the vineyards for what felt like forever. We had lunch there, with the meanest sandwich counter man ever (I don’t even speak French, and I can hear the differences between the numbers 1 and 2!) then hung out in a tea room for a while—we were all to exhausted to take in the small town charm. After this, our group made its way down the hill to the beautiful Dopff Winery, where we had a tour (I was pushed into the French group with the promise of translation, to make the groups smaller) and a wine tasting. Maybe they do a special college student tasting—we got to drink our small glasses instead of the spitting out and cleansing of the pallet. At this point, my hangover was gone, proving that alcohol is the cure for that disease. We also got to keep the glasses too, with their logo on it. The wine was all fantastic—as someone who’s been enjoying the occasional 3 euro bottle, this wine was an incredible treat! It was a really nice experience, even if I felt underdressed for the occasion.

After this, we crossed into Germany—if you look at a map, you’ll realize this isn’t really a big deal! It was about an hours drive. We stopped in Freiburg for the evening, which was perhaps my favorite place on this trip. It’s a very small city outside the Black Forest, with a pretty cathedral and good ice cream (cheap!). We took a brief walking tour, and then had dinner at a modern brewhouse. We very rarely go anywhere modern, but this was the kind of place I know the Carolan clan would love. Dinner was also excellent, with mugs of the house beer and a giant leg of pork too difficult for me to fully attack. Since we had to head back to Strasbourg, this was a faster dinner than usual.

We got back to Strasbourg around 10 and decided to go out. This whole night became a big bust, including the 4 euro I paid for a beer. Also, there were skinheads from Lichenstein in our hostel. Oh, and were like 14. And drunk. And weren’t just being annoying but offensive and hostile towards a ton of women in our group. I came downstairs really shaken from it, and as soon as someone asked me what was wrong, I launched into a tirade, resulting in our program directors going upstairs. One of them told them off in German while the other was, I guess, just his muscle. In the end, we had no real serious encounters with them, though I was possibly angrier than any other single instance in my life. This kind of set the ton for the night, which is not worth going in to except to say that we drank and played texas hold ‘em on a boat.

By the next day, everyone’s spirits were much higher. It was kind of a pointless day, spent exploring the German town of Trier. Trier’s big attraction is a roman arch from over 2000 years ago, which has been used and resued throughout the town’s history. It was a nice city and all, but it took as longer to get there then we actually spent there. Also, after 3 days with the people you also have all of your classes with, you kind of want to just get back home. We got in around 8 pm after being stuck in my first Belgian traffic jam.

My cousin Alysssa’s confirmation party was Sunday—I was supposed to be her sponsor and couldn’t, so my mom stepped in. Figuring out the time difference, I decided to call her for her day and talk to whoever else was there. Little did I know that this was apparently an event of Thanksgiving-like proportions, and I was on the phone for 90 minutes talking to family I barely even talk to when I’m in New Jersey! It was good, though it made me a bit homesick.

This week has been a lot of work—I was originally supposed to have a ton of papers in the next 7 days, but some rescheduling was led to the same amount of work spread out much better. So I haven’t completely pulled my hair out yet. I have, though, reached that point in the semester where I just want to be done with school—which is sad, because that’ll mean I’m done with Belgium! But I will be glad to return to the states, which will occur in a month. Get excited!

Bruges

Bruges is a small picturesque town in Belgium, close to the North Sea. Sometimes known as the Venice of the North, thanks to an abundance of canals, it was also recently the setting of Colin Farrell's movie "In Bruges." In case that wasn't obvious. It was also the site of our recent one-day excursion.

Bruges had been hyped to me for a while, even before I got to Belgium, so I went in with pretty high hopes. I'm not sure they were quite met; we didn't really spend too long in the town itself and while our tour was good, I don't feel like I saw a lot of what it had to offer. It was very Ghent-ian, if I may. The weather also didn't help; it was supposed to be fifty, but was instead close to freezing, with intermittent rain storms.

But here's the big deal of the day: the 12 mile bike ride through the Flemish countryside. I was pretty nervous about this; sure, the area is pretty, and flat, but can I ride a bike?? See, I didn't get a bike until I was 9 or 10, and didn't spend much time learning to ride it. There was an embarrassing period involving training meals, and then I only had maybe a summer on it as a normal bike before I outgrew it. So I never really comfortably rode a bike. During my driver's license ordeal, my dad would frequently tell me driving was like riding a bike--you never forgot how to do it. And then he would remember that this was a meaningless metaphor for me.

But the important thing here is not childhood regrets, but rather that I successfully did this entire bike ride without falling! There were some touchy moments: in the populated town square on the wet cobblestone; down the street as a bus silently crept up on me; on the rocky path when I jumped off in time to avoid a fall, mostly out of fear of ending up in the canal. But all in all, things went very well. This was a four hour ride, with over 30 of us in our group, and people were so supportive and kept cheering me on! We did stop for a break and had a beer, which is perhaps a strange choice while out biking. Let me tell you, though, that by the end of this, we all desperately wanted to get back to Bruges for our multi-course program-paid dinner. We were all horrifically sore afterwards, and the bathroom being on the second floor didn't help things!

After dinner, most of the group hoped on the train home, but a dozen of us, our tour guides, and our program directors stayed in town to grab a local beer. It was a pretty low key thing, and we couldn't stay long since the last train left at like 10:30 back to Brussels, but it was a nice night out. I'd like to go back to Bruges to spend some more time exploring, but I don't think that's going to happen this trip. I'd also love to see the countryside when it was actually nice out (though the weather did eventually clear up for us!); however, it'd be nice to see trees blooming again finally!

This weekend: two night program trip to Alsace and the black forest region of Germany. Finally, I can see Alsace for myself and understand why it has been such a hot spot in European territory disputes! I'll come back with a full report.

Self-Improvement Scorecard

Pretty much as long as I've known people who had studied abroad, I've been hearing about how much it changes you. Characteristically, I figured that wouldn't affect me; I've changed a lot during the course of college, it's something you can't avoid, and I kind of figured I'd reached the end of that. It's always hard to see the changes in yourself, but being in this new environment has given me a much better backdrop against which to examine this. It's been almost exactly three months since I first landed at Brussels National Airport and I think it might be about time to examine some of the things that have changed about me, and to think a little bit about the things I'm still eager to get back to.

Food: I eat a much greater variety of things since I've got here. Fun new foods have included goat cheese and rabbit, as well as the raw herring episode, which will never be repeated. I can't afford to cook like a gourmet and certainly not to go out to eat like one, so when we have program-paid dinners, I've learned to appreciate whatever comes with my meal, regardless. I figure, these people make food for a living--I can probably trust what they come up with.

Also on the food note, I find myself cooking better and healthier than before. Not having a microwave has required I learn to cook, for real--I'm using fresh ingredients and new recipes, including trying some combinations of my own. I'm learning that oil can be used for so much more than just cooking, and that measuring cups are in fact for chumps. I've also cut meat out of my diet almost completely for financial reasons; this has led to me searching a lot of vegetarian sites for recipes and to make sure I'm staying healthy. While I'm not swayed enough to make the jump to vegetarianism, it has me thinking a lot more about what I put into my body. Hopefully the healthy trend will keep going at home. I've also remembered to take my vitamin the whole time I've been here.

All this talk about healthy eating brings me to health in general. I've lost about 6 pounds since I got here, but that may be a bit off since I can only estimate based on kilogram conversion. I walk a lot more, including the four flights up to my apartment every day. Since it's gotten warmer here in Brussels, I'm trying to walk more; my 30 minute c-wayommute to school everyday translates to a 45 minute walk, and the walk is often less frustrating. I'm going to try to walk it at least one-way on these nice spring days. It's exercise that has really been lacking from my routine since I graduated high school. It's not very intense, but I feel how tired I am afterwards and know I have to overcome this. Ideally, I'd like to be able to start running again; thanks to my knee and being out of shape, running is incredibly unenjoyable for me. I'd like to overcome at least one of these hurdles.

Also on this note, I'm thinking about yoga. I've tried a yoga class before and didn't love it--perhaps because it WAS so much more taxing on my body than I'd like to admit--but I'm thinking that incorporating a little bit into my day couldn't hurt. At the very least, stretching before and after bed couple really help me sleep. I know when I get home, all the resources I have available will pale in comparison to working and class, but I have to get into the habit now and hope that I can just follow the routine when I get home. I read recently that 50% of skinny people are still considered unhealthy based on their BMI, and I have no doubt that is the case with me. I'm young--there's no reason I shouldn't be healthier.

I think I've also gotten smarter in my time here, if we can look past how egotistical that sounds. I'm more savy in terms of how I act--living in a city will do that for you--but I've also been reading a variety of things I hadn't had time for in my busy life back home. I've really found my passion in women's studies and politics and can often talk circles around people in those areas; I'm learning that focusing on those passions can take me pretty far. I'm also surrounded here by a lot of smart people who LIKE being smart; I have this back home, too, but here we all have the luxury to sit over coffee and actually spend time trying to be intellectuals. It's nice. All of this has led to me being more devoted to my beliefs.

Making friends from a variety of new places has also been good for me; it's no surprise for anyone that Fairfield is lacking in all sorts of diversities. I think it's interesting to look at all the American kids over here and try to figure out how we could all have wound up in Brussels considering what different lives we all come from. It's funny, when you have a familiar group and a familiar environment, you forget what it's like to start all over. I was really pleased it was as hard as I was afraid it would be.

So, I'm feeling better than I have in a while. I've got a great new group of friends here, and hopefully that can hold true when I get home. My relationship has only been improved by being here together. All in all, I've feeling comfortable and confident.

Being here isn't without its pitfalls, of course. To review:

-Money! Not making it, and spending a lot of it, sucks. Not to mention the exchange rate (I initially type that as rape, which may be a more accurate depiction at this point) of $1.60 to a Euro. My last few weeks here have the added pressure of living on a crazy limited budget. Also, I don't yet have a summer job lined up, a fact which is causing no short supply of anxiety.

-Coffee! European coffee still pales in my comparison to what I'm used to back home. I miss coffee being my go to staple: a $2 bottomless cup would have me set for the night! By that token, I miss diners and all our adventures in them. I miss Dunkin, and I miss my tiny little coffee maker all to myself.

-Friends and family. I've been really homesick since spring break; I wish I could see everyone for like a week and then come back to my life over here. Missing Alyssa's confirmation, when I was supposed to be her sponsor, along with Kevin's college choice and other family things, has made me really want to be home. I miss Fairfield friends and New Jersey kids alike. However, I'm so psyched to come home in six weeks and see everyone! I expect to see some tears of gladness, people!

-My wardrobe. This sounds superficial, but I can't afford to buy new over here, and I'm really sick of everything I have here. This especially applies to shoes. Also, with the weather changing, I'm wishing I had more in terms of warm-weather wear.

-Nice weather. Brussels has gotten better lately, but Rome gave me a taste of forbidden fruit. I'm excited to go home, wear skirts and sandals, work on my tan, go to the beach. In short, European adventure or no, it's almost the end of the semester and I'm ready for some summer vacation.

-Language! An Oxfam rep tried to get me to sign up for something the other day; I had headphones on, and though he probably asked me in French, I thought it might be Dutch, especially since I was at the Dutch-speaking campus. Since I didn't know what language he used, I didn't know how to explain that I couldn't speak it. For I mumbled awkwardly and then said Sorry in English, and left. Cause saying "no thanks" in any language would have been so hard...

That's a brief review of how my thoughts have been bouncing around lately. I've loved the travelling, but I think come the end of May, I will be more appreciative of home than ever before!

I've got an appreciation for John Mayer right now--he has a lot of songs about the glamour of something new wearing off. And I've always liked Why Georgie, but here's a snippet of why:

I rent a room and I fill the spaces with
Wood in places to make it feel like home
But all I feel's alone
It might be a quarter life crisis
Or just the stirring in my soul
...
Everybody is just a stranger but
That's the danger in going my own way
I guess it's the price I have to pay
Still "everything happens for a reason"
Is no reason not to ask yourself

If you are living right
Are you living right?

Munchen

Munich, for those of you who just thought it was a funny sounding word I made up. I'm pretty sure my last entry left off with the train ride--the all-night sweat box followed by the journey through the alps I slept through? Excellent, so that brings us to Tuesday, round noon. We had to take the S-bahn to get to our hostel, but had no freakin' clue what this was--we'd heard of the U-Bahn, was I sure the website hadn't said that? Knowing these are very different letters, I assert that what's we needed; the S-bahn is like an above-ground subway (the u-bahn is, of course, Underground), and once we learned this, bought tickets for the week from an agent whose "little bit" of English puts some native speakers to shame.

I was glad we could check into our hostel at that time, because I desperately needed a shower and to stretch my legs before we started our explorations and got some food. We were staying in a 14 person room--intense I know, but cheap!--but it was a former suite, and really was more like two rooms, which helped with the privacy a bit. We all shared one bathroom, which was an issue for me--anytime I had to pee, there was ALWAYS someone in there. But over the few days there, we met an interesting cast of characters and even took the tour with a few of our rommates. It was nice to get in at night and compare notes, where to get a cheap beer, etc.
to th
After settling in and getting cleaned up, Eric and I wandered into the downtown area. We had no bearings of the city, or a map, so we just wandered and got sandwiches from a little deli type place. I also engaged in some window shopping--most of the stores were the same as we have in Brussels, but I hadn't been in so long! My Converse are still holding out, though after spring break, there are noticeable holes and scuffs; my ballet flats have long outlived their $7 lifespan, but I will continue wearing them (and coloring in scuff marks with a black marker) until their end. Regardless, I thought I'd look into a new pair of "everyday" shoes, and sadly fell in love with a pair. I won't get into details, since they were haunting my dreams and I've only now gotten the image out of my head, but I was almost suckered in by the exchange rate! 19 euros? Sounds like a bargain! Until realizing that means more like 30 USD, and they're not even built to last...this was a sore spot of my trip to Munich, and my financial situation means I cannot possibly by new shoes while I'm here. So if anyone starts calling my Joe Jackson, I shan't be surprised...

Anyway, we wandered around this area, looking at what we thought were important buildings (and they were, we just didn't know WHAT they were). We cooked dinner at the hostel to keep things cheap, after a long strange voyage in search of the elusive ALDI. That evening, we went across the street (literally, though it was quite a bitch since there were tram tracks and you had to walk allll the way down the block to the crosswalk...) to the brewery and bar there. It was a pretty sweet place--nothing like a half liter of beer and homemade pretzel served by a surly own in traditional beer wench attire--to make you really FEEL like you're in Germany. We were there until last call, and this was quite enough for me.

Tuesday was the free tour through the freezing cold and occasional driving rain. It was probably the best way we could have spent the day, though--we did a free tour with this company in Paris too, and they just know such great little facts about the city. We saw the glockenspiel, the hofbrauhaus, and lots of historic places in Munich, especially as it related to the Third Reich. As you might imagine, Hitler is a sensitive subject there, especially since he got his start in Munich. The general opinion is that people are getting more open about it, as everyone who lived through the horrors are getting older and out of the public discourse. So it was interesting, and I'm glad we did it.

Eric and I then got some coffee, to get feeling back in our fingers, and I "read" German-language Glamour. Oh, how I wish someone had english magazines I could thumb through! After this, we went to the city museum and were informed it was free admission. Sweet, why? Oh, because it's under construction and all the good stuff wasn't available. After going through a really freaky exhibit on puppets and amusement park things, which was mostly in German, we wandered across the way to the Third Reich Museum. Here, the item descriptions were also in German, but enough was in English that I could understand. They had a lot of artifacts and reproductions of propaganda, etc, so it was really interesting.

I didn't feel well, so I went back to the hostel to sleep, apparently for two hours. I'd been sick the whole trip, and I think travelling had caught up with me. For dinner, we went to this super trendy young professional restaurant called Gast; it's all rice and pasta, and they make it in front of you; we had a pretty friendly chef, and some delicious food. It was relatively cheap, and so nice to do something different both in terms of the food and where we were. We stayed and had a half liter of beer there; I didn't realize that at our next stop, Hofbrauhaus, you could only order by the liter. So it was big night for me. At Hofbrauhaus, we got see pricey pretzels, chatted a bit with the international group next to us, and then spent a while talking with this mom and her son from Toronto who were travelling Europe for her 50th birthday. By the end (and I mean the end, we closed the place downn), I was a little bit tipsy--like being loud and silly on the S-bhan--but amazingly, not drunk. Thanks, Belgium, for the iron liver.

Thursday was an emotionally draining day. Eric and I took the train to Dachau, which is a charming small city outside of Munich. It also houses the Dachau Concentration Camp, the only one functional during all 12 years of the Third Reich. It was not an extermination camp, though thousands died there; it was built within months of Hitler's move to power as a place for his political opponents. I didn't know what to expect there; most of our day was spent in the incredible museum there, which highlights the story of Dachua and some of its particular prisoners, as well as tells the whole story of the Holocaust. We didn't even get to see it all, because by the end, you just couldn't take in any more information. After this, we spent an hour or two exploring the grounds--the rebuilt bunkers, the administrative buildings, the crematoriums, and the various religious memorials now built there. An additionally level of horro was there, because the camp was used for things AFTER its liberation--Nazi officials awaiting trial were held there; it served as a prisoner for US soldiers convicted of crimes in the area; and in the 1960s, was used to house refugees. All of this played through my mind during our visit, and the sentiment of "never again" was never resounded more strongly in my head. What was most striking for me, and why I think everyone should visit a concentration camp, is understand how it all started, and how there were so many chances to stop it. The violation of civil rights in the beginning of the Third Reich was like nothing ever seen before--no one envisioned it could possibly get worse, so they just dealt with it and hoped it would be over. We all known 12 million were killed in the Holocaust; this is part of the total of 55 million killed as a result of World War II. Think about how different the world would be with those 55 million, all the promise that was lost. It's made me more aware to the current political climate and revived by dedication to the idea that nothing like this can ever be allowed again. We can never allow people's rights to be trampled, assuming it will end there.

Now that I'm off my soap box, the rest of the day: it was pretty sobering and powerful, and its hard to transfer to other things after that. We were, though, pretty hungry, so we grabbed an early dinner at this very authentic place in Dachau. Back at the hostel, we spent the night in, planning the rest of the trip, taking care of registration stuff, etc. Which was okay after that day.

Friday, our last day, we went to Neuschwanstein Castle, which is near Fussen; it's a two hour train ride from Munich, and Fussen is the last stop before you get in Austria. After this, it was a bus ride to the village, then a 40 minute walk up to this fairytale castle. It was built by crazy, crazy Ludwig II who bankrupted his kingdom of Bavaria to build it. He died suspiciously shortly after he moved into it, and it was never finished. The whole thing is an homage to Wagner's operas, and really creepy in that way. However, it WAS gorgeous, especially with the snow. We tried to go to the really scary bridge nearby to check out the view, but it was closed because of the snow, and, already terrified of this bridge, I wasn't about to circumvent that. We stayed in Fussen a bit, having dinner there, and then took the ride back with some American kids studying in Denmark. We meant to go have a drink, but we wound up downtown seeing the sights and enjoying a great street performer.

Back at the hostel, we packed; our flight was at 8:30 the next morning, and we had to leave by 5 am to make it there on time. Since we no longer had a working alarm, I slept (terribly!) for four hours while Eric stayed awake and watched the time. Munich's airport sucked, and we both slept soundly through the flight. We got back to Brussels by 9:30, and home by noon. Since then, I've caught up on my sleep, bought myself food for the apartment again, done a ton of work, and am now looking down the barrel of a Belgian weekend! Going to a friend's house for dinner and a girl's night tonight; tomorrow, program trip to Bruges, which is supposed to be amazing, but will include a 4 hour bike tour. I'm not quite sure I CAN ride a bike, so a full report and an injury update will be sure to follow this week!

Roman Holiday

I can't tell you much about our flight to Rome, since I was completely asleep for it--we took a lot of early morning flights on this trip, and the best thing to do it just sleep from take off to touch down. I do know that when we arrived at the Rome airport and they informed us of the weather, it wasn't much warmer than Prague had been and it was raining--I was pretty upset that I was not going to get a reprieve from the gross weather. Also, Rome doesn't have enough gates, so small planes like ours have you disembark via staircase, get into a bus, and drive you to the terminal. We had to wait a long time for our luggage, which must really have confused since Joseph since I had already failed to give him any details about our flight besides arrival time. But when we emerged from the terminal (after some odd questions from customs which I still don't understand), he was waiting there. A touching Carolan reunion ensued. We boarded a train to his house (and then transferred to another train--I didn't realize that he lives in a village on the sea about 40 minutes outside of Rome), and by the time we arrived, it was absolutely gorgeous out. I mean I was walking around without a jacket, which I haven't done since, oh, September? It was a great start and kind of cancelled out the fact that we hadn't slept.

We got to Joseph's and ate, showered, etc. We also got to meet his girlfriend Alethea who we saw a lot more of during our visit. Maybe an hourish later, Joseph, Alethea, Eric and I got back on to the train (we only bought one ticket, by the way. The entire 4 days, we lived off of one ticket each. It was fabulous) and set off for Rome. We did a lot of the basic tourist things that day--of course stopped by St. Peter's, though we decided to tour it the next day when it might be less crowded; we got gelato from an amaaaaazing gelato place. Maybe because it was our first taste of it, but no other gelato in the city compared to that place. It was Rome heritage week, so a lot of sites were free admission--we went to Castel Sant'Angelo that day, where we had a great view of the city. We also stopped by Joseph's office to use his internet connection--I feel like we got to know the people there pretty well thanks to our stops. I think we mostly just wandered the city that day; I know we definetly went to the Spanish steps and gawked at all the stores lining the way--Gucci, Louis Vitton. I don't know where Europeans get all this disposable income from, but I want in! We went to dinner at this outdoor place where Joseph knew the owner, and he gave us two rounds of free strawberry wine--delicious. He was an old Italian man, and everything that conveys--flirting with us girls, joking with the guys. We called it quits after this, since Eric and I were exhausted.

The next day Joseph took us back in and we did St. Peter's. First we climbed to the top of the cupola, stopping on the way to view the inside of St. Peter's from above, which was incredible enough. From outside the dome, you could literally see the entire city and even mountains in the distance. It was such a long climb, and the stairs are obviously very old--sometimes they're not quite uniform in size, and other times they start tilting so the wall is no longer at a 90 degree angle with the floor. The view and the weather were both amazing, though, so it was worth the walk. We wandered through a few of the bigger plazas, obtaining more gelato and pizza and avoiding the awful street vendors--they're pretty horrible. We also went to the Colosseum; saw a beautiful Italian family taking wedding pictures; visited the forum from above; and saw a number of other ruinous things. This was also our first visit to the Trevi Fountain, with which I am pretty much in love. We went for drinks at this bar owned by Joseph and Alethea's friend, which was a really good time.

Sunday saw me and Eric touring on our own, since Joseph had to study for a test. We did make it to the Pantenon, which was one of the major spots we wanted to hit--it was previously a Roman temple and has since been turned into a really remarkable church. There was a choir singing chamber music, but the church was otherwise hard to enjoy--it was too full of tourists. Now, I mean, I'm a tourist here, but you're in a church--keep your voice down, remove your hat, and turn off your phone. A little respect wouldn't kill anyone. We also found some ruins which they were having a hard time dating, and saw a lot of cats running around there. Oh, right, because in Rome, ruins can be used as a cat sanctuary! Of course! It was a very strange place. We met up with Joseph for mass in English--where he hobnobbed with the American ambassador to Vatican City, who he apparently already knows. Then we went to dinner and got some truly outstanding pasta. Joseph had to take the early train home, so Eric and I went back to the Trevi fountain to enjoy it at night--still very beautiful.

Monday was our final day there, and we had to meet Joseph after he took his test, and bring our luggage to store at his office. Eric and I planned on relaxing, taking our books to this coffeeshop on the beach, and enjoying the morning. It was not to be! Joseph's apartment lost power, so we went searching for the circuit breaker; then Eric got a power converter stuck in an outlet. By the time we were done with all this, we just sat at the cafe for a little while to regain our composure; we saw Alethea who was babysitting this absolutely adorable little girl. When we met up with Joseph and dumped our luggage, we went to the ruins of the forum for most of the day. It was so nice to explore--especially since it was free--and the weather was still beautiful. A lot of people were picnicing there, and I feel like if I ever go back there, I'd like to do that too. It was a great way to spend our last day, and I had the chance to take a ton of pictures. We met Alethea and attempted to find a wine bar, but after traipsing across town, we were running a bit late; we scrapped the wine search and instead went to this awesome Chinese restaurant where they fed us until my seams were about to burst.

After our leisurely dinner, there was the scramble for the train. We had plenty of time to make it--Eric and I were taking an overnight train until Verona, then transferring to a regular train for the rest of the ride to Munich--but only after we picked up the tickets did we learn we were at the wrong station. We had half an hour but no idea how far the station was; Joseph talked to a cab driver, but he tried to rip us off. In the end, we learned the subway went there, so Eric and I said our goodbyes and hauled our stuff there. We had extra time at the station, which was unfortunate since it was pretty much a shithole. A really shady place; I wouldn't even go to the bathroom, because of the characters I had to pass on my way there.

The night train was an experience I don't need to have again soon. We had couchettes, pretty much bunch beds with two others, who were very nice guys who didn't speak english. The room was so hot and didn't ventilate well; the train was also not a smooth ride at all. We had to transfer at 6 am, and we tried to sleep, but thanks to Eric's alarm not being consistent lately, I woke up every hour in a panic. Eventually, the alarm did go off and we waited in the vestibule, only to find out the train was at least 30 minutes late. We only had 50 minutes between trains, so we were pretty much resigned to missing our transfer when we pulled into Verona. On the plus side, the ride to Verona I saw in the sunrise was gorgeous.

We did in fact make our train, and it left right on time. It's a six hour ride to Munich and though I tried to stay awake and enjoy the view, I soon passed out in the seat. It wasn't very comfortable either, but better than my sleep the night before; I got to see some of the alps, but according to Eric, I missed the best stuff. We had our tickets checked three times, and our passports twice--once in Austria, once in Germany. They gave ours right back even though they looked at others more closely, and I felt that odd privilege that being an American sometimes gets you. I'm glad I slept though, because the 6 hours may have been intolerable if I'd been awake the whole time. We arrived in Munich right on time, which will take me to my next post!

Prague!

So the Monday after Easter, at about 6 pm, Eric and I departed for Prague. Our flight was delayed about an hour and a half, but this didn't matter since we weren't meeting up with anyone. It took us a very long time to find our hostel, but we soon discovered it was more like a hotel and a great deal for the money. We even had TV, with CNN International! I was a news junkie for our whole visit, I hadn't watched CNN in weeks.

We came to Prague with no agenda to speak of--we were eventually meeting with some friends who are studying there and figured they could direct us. This became tricky as my phone was dead--when I turned it off for the flight, I left the code to turn it back on in my Brussels bedroom. Someone, I managed to survive 12 days without my phone, clock, or alarm. Amazing.

The first night there was figuring out a bit of a game plan and enjoying the cheap Prague prices at a small pizzeria, where they were watching the NCAA tournament--this made Eric pretty happy. The Czech crown (they don't us the Euro yet, even though they're in the EU) is about 25 to 1 Euro (or 15 to a USD), and the prices were good there; Prague was the first place I've been to with a favorable exchange rate in a while.

Tuesday, after a delicious free breakfast at the hotel, we set out exploring—we thought we could pack a whole lot of stuff into one day, but one stop led to another and so our day was spent just meandering around the main tourist area—we saw the Jewish Quarter and the “new town” (not new by any measure!) and Wenceslaus Square, which was a major site in Prague history, including the Communist takeover and the Velvet Revolution. We also went to two separate street fairs in between the sudden snow storms that would blast us. That night was spent holed up in the hostel checking out Prague beer, watching CNN, and definitely not touching the minibar.

The next day we set off to the castle! The castle isn’t just one building, it’s the entire early settlement of Prague; “castle” refers to everything within its walls. This includes a cathedral, several small churches, restaurants, the former royal residence, a post office, and a few museums, plus gift shops galore. We literally spent all day there, except for a brief foray into the city center to go to KFC. Who’d have thought Prague had KFC!? It’s another touch of home that I need every now and then to keep me sane. The night, we picked up our luggage and made our way to our friend Denise’s apartment—she’s studying there for the semester, along with Becky, who was there for dinner. It was really great to see these two, especially since I usually see them every weekend up at the townhouses at Fairfield. They’re really fun, and it was so nice to see familiar faces! We ate dinner there, and then went to see a friend of a friend of a friend’s band. I feel like, years from now, I will remember Prague by the really cheap beers and the angry Czech language rock bands we saw! We got word that a bunch of other Fairfielders, specifically the nursing majors in Galway, were in town—we met them at this incredible wine cellar. It looks tiny, but it goes on for 12 rooms underground. A lot of these girls I didn’t know, but a few of them were friends from back at school, and the whole scenario was hilarious. One of the guys we knew was trying to buy pot from a guy who had fallen asleep during the deal. Ridiculous.

Thursday was our last day in Prague, to be followed with a really early flight Friday morning. Eric and I went to Prague’s giant park, which was a long uphill walk rewarded with an amazing view. They have a smaller model of the Eiffel Tower there, and once we climbed it, we got the best view in the whole city. I feel like this couldn’t have been our whole day, but I was pretty sick, so maybe we just took it easy. I know that we went out to dinner with Becky and Denise for traditional Czech food—thanks to not understanding the menu, I ordered chicken with ham, cheese, and a peach. And it was delicious! We were then going to go to another Fairfielder’s house for a few drinks, take it easy—truth be told, the whole party got pretty big. After a few drinks there, we went back to the wine cellar since it was someone’s birthday. Then they were going out dancing, so we went to. In the end, we got home around 1 am, maybe later, and I slept till 4. Eric had to stay awake, because my phone was dead, his is temperamental, so we had no alarm. We hoped on a tram, then off, then back on, then to a bus, and finally to the airport—we left Prague at 6:30 am, which is terrifyingly early. We arrived in Rome at around 8:30 that morning to my cousin Joseph waiting for us, which is where I’ll leave you till next post!

The Hague and Easter Sunday

The Hague was kind of a mixed bag, tainted in part because we had to get up so damn early! After getting up before 5 with Mike, I slept the entire way there despite a graphic war movie playing on the bus. The purpose of our trip there was to attend a hearing at the United Nation's International Criminal Tribunal. the ICT was established in the last ten years to address the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. Considering that's their soul purpose, it's unbelievable there are still so many trials ongoing--Slobodan Milosevic was on trial there we he died. So they do some impressive work there. We had a pretty basic briefing there to explain how the court operates, and how it's a lot liberal in its proceedings that the courts we're used to.

It was a pretty crazy trial—the man on the other side of the class from us was on trial for, among other things, genocide. He was also his own defense, and could pop in and make responses to anything the prosecution said. The trial has been going for a long time, and it’s all a bit dry, but it was a very strange thing to witness there. He actually made a good defense too—it’s not that he denied what he did, he just pointed out that the prosecution made a lot of assumptions that shouldn’t be taken at face value.

After this and a great lunch, we stopped by a museum there—it houses “The Girl with the Pearl Earring,” which is a simply beautiful painting. I really enjoyed the museum and our American tour guide—I unfortunately lost the postcards I bought there, but the paintings were gorgeous. Dutch painters are really impressive, even if sometimes their work in mundane. They’re not a catholic country, so there’s no incessant focus on religious figures like the art in many other countries around here.

So, we went to Delft, a small town in the Netherlands—it where Delftware, that blue and white handmade china, comes from. It was freezing cold and raining, so the whole place was miserable, and yet quaint. We did stop by two protestant churches there, and I got myself a copy of the golden rule in Dutch, which I think will make for an interesting apartment decoration. We also add a “Delft specialty”—raw herring topped with raw onions. I only had my requisite one bite, since I had such a mental block in eating it, but hey, I had a new experience with that. Then off to a bar, for a mid day beer to warm us up.

Dinner was at an Indonesian restaurant, which was quite enjoyable until I forgot my blazer there. I’m still in the process of getting it back—that was going to be my trendy European piece to bring back with me! The movie Girl with the Pearl Earring played on the way back, but after a few bottles of wine, we all had a really interesting pow-wow on the bus instead of paying attention. I love the other folks in this program.

The worst part of this week was the next day, when I had a take home midterm due the next day that I hadn’t started. In the end, it turns out I wouldn’t have done any better work on it had I started early, as it was simply a question I couldn’t have cared less about. It’s the same class I had to present in that week as well, so I felt a little bit of overload.

Also, before I moved on to the spring break entries, let’s talk about Easter: I did in fact go to the English language mass downtown at this beautiful church that was originally built in the 12^th century—it was a pretty impressive mass. Then me and some of the girls got together to make Easter dinner. I love having the family together for Easter and was pretty homesick, so our adventures in the kitchen were enough to distract me from that. We couldn’t get ham, so we made pork in pineapple juice (bought for the ham glaze!) and potatoes and some veggies—mostly without using the stove, as we were terrified of burning Kate’s house down while her family was gone. I’ve got a good group of girlfriends here, and it was nice to sit there over wine and dinner (and then chocolate!) and get to know them better. It was also the biggest meal I’ve ever been involved in executing, and planning, so I was pretty proud.

The next day began our Prague-Rome-Munich adventures, which only ended this morning, so stay tuned for all my exciting adventures there!

Carolans in Europe--St. Patty's Day, Cologne, and Cars

So my older brother Mike arrived on March 16th. Some of my readers don't know my brother well--is a 24 year old engineering grad student who works lives outside Boston now. We don't see each other too much even when I'm in the states, so the visit was exciting just for that. For those who do know him, you may know Mike has never been to Europe before, and also took German in high school--hence, our visit to Germany.

It was a pretty packed week. His first day, Mike pushed through the jet lag as we took a never ending tour through Brussels. We managed to catch up on all manner of family gossip over coffee and croissants (which I order flawlessly in French). We saw plenty of things I hadn't seen since orientation, so it was a nice refresher for me on Brussels. After we both slept for a while (I'd been out late dancing at Le Corbeau for a friend's birthday--it's quite a tourist spot, but everyone also dances on the tables, so it's worth it), we went for some traditional Belgian food for dinner. I rarely go out to eat here, so it was a nice experience, especially since the place is right by my house. We unknowingly order 12% alcohol beers with our meal, so the night was already off to a good start. After this, we went to Delirium--a world-famous Brussels bar which serves over 100 beers on tap. It holds the Guinness World Record for most beers on tap in one day--I think it was 400 when they won. Again, a pretty touristy spot, but a must-see; as a result, everyone we knew who had friends in town stopped by, and it was pretty nice to get to meet people's friends from back home. We stopped by Frietland after a few beers, which is the quintessential frite stand in Brussels. We both enjoyed them immensely, so much so that we smuggled them on to the bus home. You haven't lived until you've toted frites around in your purse.

The next day, I skipped class, oddly with my professor's blessing, as Mike and I explored the EU area. Don't get excited, this wasn't an intellectual trip--we were on our way to Autoworld, a classic car museum built into these beautiful buildings up near these historic parks. It was pretty entertaining, even for me who isn't a big car fan. It focused a lot of European companies that may have fizzled out by now, and also let us see some cars from the war as well as the Belgian Royal Family's car from the 60s--it was almost exactly the same as the one in which JFK shot. We came back to my house and cooked together, which is not something we'd ever done before--I think the results were ultimately positive, though. After this, we went to De Valera's, the Irish bar on my square--after all, it's St. Patty's! Eric met us there, and since it was his 21st birthday that night, celebrating was of course in order. My friend Kate met up with us there, and we eventually walked up the road toward Eric's to go to Michael Collins, another Irish bar owned by the same guy. Michael Collins has a reputation for being rowdy, and it was more crowded (and fun, I think) than the earlier one. Eventually, though, we ran out of drinking money and headed home to prep for our early departure to Cologne the next day.

We were only in Cologne for a few hours, but that is in fact all the time you need there. It has a pretty epic cathedral, and we spent most of our day there. The weather was bitter cold, so that put a damper on exploring the city on foot. Mike found us the chocolate museum, which is on a little time island in the river, and also has a legitimate chocolate plant inside it you can watch. There was also a rainforest greenhouse so you can understand where chocolate grows--for me, it was just a welcome reprieve from the cold! Mike also continued his search for a chocolate squirrel and though we found one, it was only for display. We also had sausage from a street vendor and I had both Burger King and Dunkin Donuts. Brussels is not very Americanized at all, so these fast food places I thought I'd never miss have become pretty important in my travels. It's just so nice to have a touch of home. Mike remembered an impressive amount of his German too, and Eric also took it, so I was pretty lost that whole trip. When we got in, Mike and I just chilled at my apartment.

Wednesday, Mike's final day, I had a mandatory class trip to a museum in Brussels, so Mike and I spent a few hours learning about Belgian art--for example, there is such a thing! The bus strike that day complicated things, but I got to school on time to give my presentation for a class, while I unleashed Mike on Colruyt--it's like wholesale club, but you can buy only one if you want, and it has the oddest selection of European goods. After this, it was durum time! Durum is a middle eastern food like gyro, but better and with frites in it. I had to ensure Mike had one of these tasty treats while here. After enjoying our meal, we went to a bar right on beautiful Grand Place, where our program had rented a room so we could all enjoy a (free!) beer before heading to a local soccer match. The room was in this beautiful old building, and not a place I'd have found on my own, but worth the visit. Then it was on to the metro to head over to the Anderlecht (a Brussels team) vs. Antwerp game. They were actually playing a cup match, and had tied the previous one, so this was an important game. I've never been to a legit soccer match before, and the game itself along with the hooliganism was a very good time.

The next morning, Mike and I were up and out the door at 5 am, taking a tram and then getting him on a train back to the airport. It was a bit tense, as ticket sales don't really exist at that time, but we got home without incident (and if there was one, MY blog certainly isn't the place for it...). It was a really great visit, if brief, and made me miss so many other things and people from back home. I'm loving my time here, but I'm also SO excited I get to see everyone again in 6 weeks.

From the train station, I made my way to school at 6 am for a trip to the Hague--read the next post for that summary.

Luxembourg & European Court of Justice

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted here--since Luxembourg, I've also gone to the Hague and my crazy recent spring break adventures. I'm going to try to make a separate post for each location, so bare with me if they're a bit brief or slow in appearing. Oh, and my older brother visited, so there is LOTS to tell.

In other news, this month is when things get busy--papers, etc. So again, if this isn't updated regularly (1 post in March!? Sorry!) forgive me.

And finally, I'd like to let you know that ads are going to be appearing on this blog. In the next few days, they're going to switch to "content relevant," which means google scans my text and gives ads related to that--based on what I write about, I bet it will be about air fare, travel destinations, etc. I do get a kick-back from these ads per click, so if you have any interest in the ads they post--which may be useful to anyone who is abroad now, or is looking to be--go crazy.

Okay, so, to business:

Shamefully, Luxembourg was March 11-12, which is actually in the middle of the week. I am a big fan of the fact that our program gets us excused from classes to galavant around Europe. We didn't leave until about 4 pm, which means we got to Luxembourg in time to head to our hostel and then go out for dinner. Keep in mind in all these descriptions that we travel in a pack of at least 20, up to 60, 20-something Americans, in a double-decker bus. We took up the entire hostel, and in fact, they needed to get us more buses.

For those who are not up on their obscure European geography, Luxembourg is a tiny country (a Grand Duchy, meaning its ruled by a Grand Duke) next to Belgium--in fact, it's territory was originally part of the same land as Belgium. It has the highest per capita income in the world, which means Luxembourg City was chock full of Louis Vitton and Coach stores--in short, enough to make any poor college student sigh a little with jealousy.

I absolutely loved our time in Luxembourg. Our hostel was outside the capital city, in a tiny little village that fulfilled every stereotype I had of the European countryside. Dinner that night was at an Italian sort of restaurant--I had the pork, because I never get that here--and featured our program's signature bottomless wine bottle. The bottomless wine bottle is important to understanding why these trips are so much fun--we all drink good wine, for free, with no objections from our chaperones.

Think about any overnight trip your high school ever had, and their concerns about the bad things that could happen. Then imagine them all coming true--this was pretty much our hostel. Between the wine, and a few other bottles of (allowed!) alcohol in the hostel, and a number of students going to a bar, getting soaked in the pouring rain,and finding the bar closed, things were crazy. A few guys had no pants--their only pair had gotten soaked in the store and were left to dry in the dining room. There was an all girl's arm wrestling tournament. There was debauchery as far as the eye could see; I sat on the spiral staircase between floors with a few others, nursing the last of some Bacardi, and oversaw the whole thing like a strange sort of lifeguard. Drunk people are hilarious when you're not one of them.

The next day, though, was a bit more serious--it started with a visit to the European Court of Justice. I've learned recently that the EU has the Court of Justice for taking its own members to task--if a country isn't complying with a ruling, the European Parliament or even an individual from that country can sue the country--class actions cases will soon be available too. The trial is overseen by up to a dozen judges and is very formal, and very different from the American legal system. The case we saw was against France for not complying with restrictions on genetically modified food. France is a frequent flyer in the court, often needing to be tried and fined before they'll give in. The Czech Republic was also there, as they had a vested interest in the case.

The trial was available in several languages via headphones, with live translation, so if you got bored by the legalese, a quick foray to the Greek language channel could wake you up. The trial was dry, some of it was lost in translation, and we missed the briefing before hand, so it was hard to follow, but we had a good session with a British employee there afterwards explaining how the court works. The ECJ is one of my favorite components of the EU, as it makes countries accountable not only to the Union but also to their citizens.

After this, there was a walking tour of Luxembourg City, which is up there with Prague and Paris in my favorite cities. It was so beautiful, such a great blend of modern and historic. There's not too much to do there, but it seems like the perfect place to visit for a weekend and just relax.

Then we visited a castle in the Namur province of Belgium. By now, I've seen a fair few castles--this one was unique in that some nobility still live there today. The Namur area is also really beautiful, so it was time well spent. Dinner followed at a traditional restaurant there--we had apertifs, individual appetizers, shared appetizers, bread, wine, the main course, dessert and coffee--in short, a veritable feast! The food was amazing, and so was the company at my table.

I really enjoyed Luxembourg City, and our visit to the ECJ is just one more example of a cool experience I never would have had on my own. And it was already paid for! Good times.

Amsterdam, Pizza, and Bagels--it's just like New Amsterdam!

After a week of midterms, I think we all needed to relax for a bit. So, since we’re in Brussels, Amsterdam is the obvious answer. I had to take a test at 1, but right after, I zipped off to the train station and hopped on board. Amsterdam is only three hours away, and since I was traveling alone, I had a really nice time reading and just relaxing. This was in sharp contrast to how the rest of the night was spent.

Travelling as a group of ten is tricky, and there certainly was some drama. Looking for a place to eat, we ran in to some other folks from our program, which was a bit strange; even weirder was Gerilyn running into people she knew on two separate occasions while we were there. Eventually, I got some Chinese food—its been a while since I had that—and then we spent the evening bouncing from bar to coffeeshop, and so on. Coffeeshops, of course, are not actually places you go to for coffee in Amsterdam. I feel like this brings up any number of questions about my time in Amsterdam, and since this is a public forum, I will go with the decided response for the weekend: I didn’t do anything illegal. Oh, we also toured the red light district, which was kind of humbling, because these women are people, and not much older than me. A couple, though, were on their cell phones while waiting for customers, which I can’t imagine bodes well for business.

Since we were only there for Saturday, I thought the day would be chock full of touristy stuff, but the cold weather made it hard to enjoy being outside. We went to the Van Gogh museum, which was pretty awesome and really well put together. After that, Kate and I wandered all across the city, perhaps needlessly, and checked out this famous park. We saw this strange beer table/bicycle contraptions which we need to do next time we’re there.

We checked out the Anne Frank house, though I didn’t go in—long lines and high cost. Kate, Chelsea, and I got ourselves really disoriented, and cold, so we stopped for coffee and bagels—the coffee was absolutely giant, big as my face, which doesn’t happen in Brussels. And bagels aren’t to be found here either! So sightseeing be damned—“bagels & beans” was all I needed.

And that’s pretty much it in terms of my Amsterdam-y adventures. Our train ride back was eventful, since someone we know was searched and detained by cops for possession. Yeah, crazy. And then the cops didn’t even bother to even check our ID—though I did earlier get carded at a coffeeshop, where you only need to be 18!

Then last night was our friend’s 21^st birthday—even though we can drink here anyway, a celebration seemed in order. The night ended with more random encounters, an absinthe bar, an undissolved sugar cube nearly killing me, frites, and the birthday girl having no memory of most of this. A good time was had by all!

Tomorrow is our overnighter to Luxembourg and the European Court of Justice--more to follow!

Tip the Eiffel Tower with One Glance

Words cannot describe Paris. Despite this, I'm probably going to spend a decent amount of them in trying to convey how wonderful this weekend was.

Friday morning was a bit hectic, as I really thought we were going to miss our train--Amy and Kate were travelling on their own, but Eric had to stop by school. We boarded the Thalys with about 5 minutes to go. True to its name, Thalys is quite the high speed train; it might not seem like it the whole time, but going from Brussels to Paris in about 80 minutes is amazing. That's shorter than the trip from Fairfield to NYC. True, we certainly paid enough for it, but that's beside the point...

Anyway, finding the hostel was an adventure, but it was ultimately a good place. Right on the canal in a residential area, but very pretty. So new they were still doing construction--they installed two beds in our room while we were out! A nice bar in the downstairs. Eric and I spent the afternoon sightseeing and eating our way through some of the touristy areas. The Louvre is free for students on Friday nights (Europe does student discounts right!), so we spent a few hours there until is closed. We, along with Kate, saw all the "must sees," but maybe the best part was discovering the Louvre is built on a castle, there from as early as the 12th century. So we got to explore that a little bit. Then we trekked to the eiffel tower , which is much further from the Louvre than it looks on the map! We were exhausted, but I was so excited to see it in person--I had to do it my first night. Eventually met up with Amy at the hotel bar, after an encounter with some drunk America fans at a pizza place.

Saturday was a blur. All together, we went to the Arc de Triomphe, and climbed the 300ish stairs to the top, with an amazing view. After that, we wound up at the Pantheon, the "civic temple," which was gorgeous--see photo album. Its where a lot of important french folks are buried, like the Curie's, and Voltaire. Kate, Eric, and I did the tour of Montmarte, the artsy-red light district--Moulin Rouge, Van Goh's old haunts, and Sacre Couer, a breath taking church with gorgeous view. We ran in to two girls from Fairfield who Eric knew from class, and who were in Germany--small world! We did dinner and went out for wine and (for one) escargot. Since we were in the red light district, we did visit this really overwhelming sex shop (the sexodrome) and left upon it getting awkward. After they went home, Eric and I went back to Sacre Couer for wine and the view--the view was breathtaking. The wine was less worth celebrating. Still, an amazing way to see the city. When I watched the movie "Paris" this week (a French blockbuster of sorts), I was so excited to see places I knew, and had found memories of!

Sunday was a tough morning, what with the wine not letting me forget the night before, and the smell of...what, new furniture, permeating the room. After a breakfast of coco krispies at the bar (ah, hostels and their unique use of space), we stashed our luggage, and Eric, Kate, and I went down to Les Invalides. Despite a seemingly horrific name, the Invalids is a military hospital first built well before Napoleon, for French soldiers returning wounded. It's gorgeous, as the then king felt it should be used to honor veterans. So now it's still the hospital. And the French military museum. Oh, and Napoleon is entombed there. Admission was steep, so we didn't get to see his site, but otherwise, a really amazing place. It was maybe 10 minutes from the Eiffel Tower, so we returned for some touristy daytime pictures. Kate foiled a pickpocket, which was pretty much the highlight of her otherwise very odd weekend. We got pretty damn lost for a while, after visiting the OTHER Statue of Liberty--much smaller, and up(?) river from the Eiffel Tower. If you've seen National Treasure 2 (and I have..) you understand.

Upon recovering our bearings, we toured the Paris Sewer Museum, which involves actually walking on a grate path above a fast flowing river of sewage. An interesting visit, to be sure, but one that had to be cut short just because it was so unpleasant down there. After that, we went to a classy museum--Musee d'Orsay, which picks up where the Louvre left off. That means impressionism and onward, with some Van Gogh, some Monet, Manet, Gauguin. Really nice, and worth a visit, but we were a bit short on time. After recovering luggage, we got to the train station with 20 minutes to spare. This is, sadly, not enough time to run across the street and get one last Parisian crepe--I had to get my money back and leave, or else miss my train. So I chose the train.

In all, Paris was wonderful and was worth all the hype for me. I could have gone for another day there, to actually get to relax and have a cup of coffee somewhere overlooking the Siene, but the only thing I didn't actually get to see was the catacombs, because they're closed through March (a return visit, perhaps?).

More stories to tell from this weekend, but I'll do a separate post so this stays neat and organized (haha, yeah, really).

Ghent--a city, and not an STD!

So Sunday found me in Ghent, the third largest city in Belgium. It feels much more like a small town, especially since so many businesses are closed on Sundays, but is really adorable despite that. This trip was especially ironic for me since I have lampooned this very town for so long. The Treaty of Ghent was signed there, ending the War of 1812 (yes, that warm existed. No, I'm not really sure what it was about. And yes, the treaty of this essentially British/American war was signed in what is now Belgium). And ever since learning about it, sophomore year history class, I've sworn that Ghent sounded more like an STD than a bastion of 19th century diplomacy. Turns out I was wrong!

Ghent is another Dutch speaking town (seen a few of those now...) and is only 30 minutes outside Brussels. The day was warm, so Eric, Kate, and I spent it exploring a 12th century castle, complete with torture museum!; walking along the canal, and eating more often than we probably should; and learning that this town has three catholic churchs, all of which can be seen from a single point in the town. Excessive? Yes. But also an impressive display of architecture and art from back in the day. Kate commented on how we're doing the cathedral tour lately, and it's true--the names and places are starting to blur a bit. This one did have a giant crypt downstairs for former bishops of that diocese, and this was coupled with some beautiful decorative pieces. I think as Catholics, Eric and I appreciate this stuff more than others do--we can explain the weird nuances (well, some of them) and understand that the people taking candles, instead of lighting them, are quite confused.

The castle was pretty amazing, and the best 1,20 euro I've ever spent. Also, Belgium has fantastic ice cream, a feature I was not alerted to earlier. I think all throughout Europe we'll find this gelato-esque treat, and I'm fine with that. In all, Ghent was a pleasant distraction from the work I have due soon and definetly worth the trip.

Today I had to wake up at 6 am, a time I have not seen since my summer job. How did I do this everyday for high school!? The moon was still out, and I don't mean that weird fadaway thing it does during sunrise; I was, in fact, done with the bus and tram and already at school for sunrise! (stupid northern atlantic country!). Anyway, we took a program trip to NATO headquarters, which is located in Brussels. Security was pretty hardcore, and our delicious NATO cafeteria meal was amazing. Oh, and the speakers in between were pretty sweet. I think we all felt really smart asking these people our foreign policy questions. Especially with Kosovo declaring independence this week, it was especially relevant. Oh, and Castro resigned today. One plus of being at NATO was the bevy of cable news; also, we found out at 9 am, which was 3 am at home, so it was existing to be on the cutting edge.

The rest of this week is taking care of work, so I can skip class and go to Paris on Friday!! I have no idea yet what I'm doing there--give me some suggestions!

Antwerp-ing

So this weekend was the grand foray into Antwerp. It was full of strange occurrences, odd transportation issues, and people appearing and disappearing at will. It felt kind of like Euro Trip, but in a much more PG sort of way.

We all met at Gare Centraal on Saturday morning to take a train at about 9:30. Except Sara, who thought it was only 8:30. And then realized she wouldn't be able to make it in time, and told us to go ahead, except I didn't see the message and thought we were supposed to wait. So we did. Until we tried to board our train, now with all group members (one more than expected), and the station was evacuated. Yeah...we saw a large number of cops and transit cops congregating, but they all seemed really chill. Plus, nothing happens in Belgium. So before we know it, we're shooed across the street, with no information, in an evacuation that should take about an hour. I still do not know what happened there, but I do know a friend of Sara's from school decided that since she couldn't get to Ghent, she'd just travel with us.

So after finagling and debating, we wind up at the North station and hope on a train. It's on a different track than we thought we needed, and things were running late, so when we saw 'antwerp' on the side, we thought we were set. Until we stopped at Antwerp something else. It sounded like the train stopped, but we're like, whatever, there's other people here. This will keep going....until the conductor walked the length of the train and got into the booth facing the other way, which we were sitting right next to. So Eric asks if this train is going to Antwerp Centraal--this guy looks at us seriously, says matter-of-factly "no," and turns around to start the train. So now eight of us are grabbing our bags and lunging for the door--one of our members gets stuck in the door and has to pry the apart. Kim and Eric are in there as the doors shut, and we're sure they're going to the station we just came from. Instead, the conductor hits a button, doors fly open, and we are free.

So, getting our bearings. I suggest taking the tram, but someone makes the point that our tickets cover the ride to Brussels Central, so lets just finish the ride there on another train.

(picking up where I left off...)

So we find the other train, and its departing, and a few of us stand a little too close for the conductor's comfort, so he yells to get out of the way. The rest of us don't know that two of our group has slipped on board, even though we have tickets, and are now off on their own. Ticketless, not knowing dutch, and with a pissed off conductor. We're also nervous on our own train, since our tickets are not completely legit for this train. Also, there's a unicorn painted on the wall of the car and a gender ambiguous conductor. Amazingly, all goes well, no one is imprisoned and we arrive at the station.

We set off for our hostel, whose directions are given in metres from intersections rather than with cross streets. We wander for a bit, the ten of us (only 6 staying the night!) through a neighborhood that gets dubbed Sarajevo, for its bombed out appearance. It's also a popular neighborhood for hassidic jews, a fact that actually makes me feel better. Despite the area, our hostel is fine, the lady is wonderful, and a poor Japanese stranger must spend the night with us. Hooray!

From here on, I'll be less detailed. We saw the Cathedral of Our Lady, which was amazing, as well as the Church of Carolus...something. Also gorgeous. We spent some time on the promenade over the canal, enjoying a beer and uncharacteristically gorgeous Belgian weather. We wandered quiet a bit and took in a city that mixes its history very well with its present. The next day we went to the sculpture garden, which was definetly an impressive experience. The whole town was so quaint, and the bars were good. We never go to drink beers from the year we were born, or go to the gin bar, but we did have a good time and I'm very glad we went for the weekend, not just a day.