Photo bomber!

Soooo I know I promised a photo dump last night and I didn't do it. I'm sorry. But you're getting it now!

Czech money! The ones that are copper-looking around the edges are 50 kč, and the silver ones are 2 kč. I have 20s too; they're gold, and look like the 2s. I saved some to bring home!

St. Nicholas Church in Old Town Square, right behind our hotel. It's so pretty! And it's in the Baroque style!

Those things poking out of the top of those buildings are actually the towers of the Church of Our Lady before Týn (Kostel Matky Boží před Týnem in Czech), also in Old Town Square, which is, quite frankly, the most terrifying church I've ever seen. It is tall and spiky and it literally scares me. Go to Wikipedia and look at it and see if it doesn't scare you too. Of course, because it is ancient and huge and impressive looking/generally imposing, I also love it with all my heart.

Old Town city hall, also in Old Town Square

The Prague astronomical clock (Pražský orloj in Czech) on the side of Old Town city hall! The astrological clock on the bottom supposedly has a lot of cult symbols in it.

One of the statues on the Charles Bridge (Karlův most in Czech)! 30 statues decorate the sides of the bridge, and they're all really intense looking and full of religious imagery (2 of my favorite characteristics in art/architecture).

THE PALACE. The two main statues on the gate (the ones in the center) were intense and murderous: homeboy on the right has a bat and is about to bludgeon someone; dude on the left has a dagger and is about to stab the other guy in the neck. INTENSE. Don't mess with the Czechs, man.





That, my friends, is Saint Vitus Cathedral, Katedrála svatého Víta in Czech. Yes, it's the one that took 600 years to build. The original architects died, leaving the building unfinished, and it wasn't until the 19th century that the Czechs hired new architects to finish it. The 2 guys who finished the cathedral actually had themselves sculpted into it; there are 2 statues hiding out over the front door of 2 men in 19th century clothes!

Inside of St. Vitus Cathedral! I walked in and just sort of stared with my mouth open. I repeat: old, impressive church = love it.

I assume this was a minor altar in the cathedral.

This was just in the middle of the street. I'm not joking. Look at that blue sky! O Sunlight, how I miss thee.

Coolest synagogue ever! THE ROSE WINDOW IS THE STAR OF DAVID. We found this on accident, trying to get to... I don't even know where we were trying to go. It was on a street called "Jeruzalémská". Prague has a huge Jewish quarter; I think this may have been on the fringes of it.

The National Museum!

The main staircase in the National Museum! It looks JUST LIKE the opera house in the Disney version of Anastasia.

My favorite building was hands down Saint Vitus Cathedral. Old gothic/Baroque churches make my life, and it was done in BOTH styles because of the gap in construction. Plus (this is completely superficial), I just like to see the church glorified.

I should have been an architect so I could make important looking churches. I have realized this, and am coming to terms with it.

In other (good) news, I FOUND A BLACK HAIR SALON IN LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE ON THE WAY TO CLASS TODAY AND I THINK THEY SELL MY BRAND OF HAIR CARE PRODUCT YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS EXCITES ME OR MAYBE YOU DO.

Okay. I'm gonna go calm down now.

PRAHA

GUYS. I love Prague. Seriously. I love it. It's cold, and it snowed for 2 days (blegh, says the Southerner), but it's a beautiful place (albeit a little sketchy looking in some parts) and the people are friendly and everything is so impressive! I love it.

First and foremost, I must gush about today. Lately, I've been all grumbly and depressed acting because of the lack of sunlight in Louvain-la-Neuve (it seriously rains EVERYDAY), and today... IT WAS SUNNY IN PRAGUE. We walked out of the hotel and I felt like a kid on Christmas with too many presents. I hope tomorrow is gorgeous as well!

Today, we toured the castle panorama, which is on top of this MONSTROUS mountain/hill. I swear, if I don't have the best legs/bum in America by the time this is over I will eat the large furry hat I bought from a souvenir shop today. There was a church that took 600 years to build, and galleries, and so much grandeur I didn't know what to do with myself!

Y'all know how cheap I am. Seriously. I could get blood out of the metaphorical turnip, which is why I must reiterate that the Czech koruna is worth absolutely nothing. It's fallen 2 ck against the US dollar in the 3 days since we've been here, so I'm in cheap stuff heaven, unlike in Louvain-la-Neuve. Right now, $1 US is worth almost 18 ck. It kills me though, because there's very good stuff in the Czech Republic, but it's not priced accordingly. Food around here, for example, is therefore very cheap: tonight is the first night I've spent more than $7 US on dinner, and that was just because we splurged a bit and went to this nice Italian place we found the other night. I had spicy spaghetti, and it was delicious. Speaking of the food, I'm glad y'all asked about it because I was going to tell you.

I have discovered that I like Czech food. It's got much more of a German influence than I expected it to, what with all the sauerkraut and sausages, but it's also Slavic food, like dumplings and grog (yes, grog) and garlic soup. Garlic soup is supposed to be a big thing around here, or so Karen said, but we only found it at 3 places. We had it today at lunch while we were touring the castle and I liked it. Garlic is one of my favorite things ever, so that was pretty much a guarantee.

The Czech Republic is also famous for its apple strudel, so I tried it. Hated it. Absolutely hated it. To be fair, I knew I would hate it when I ordered it. I don't like cooked fruit; never have, never will, but it's a big deal around here according to Karen, so I thought I'd try it for the cultural experience. THERE WERE RAISINS. I HATE RAISINS. I was honestly grimacing the entire time I was eating it. It was a well made apple strudel, sure, and the drizzling of chocolate sauce helped, but it's just not something I would eat ever again. Ever.

All in all, there's a varied food scene in Prague. Apart from traditional Czech food, there are lots of Italian restaurants and Chinese places, and there's a Parisian cafe down the street from our hotel. There's also KFC and McDonald's. I've actually seen more KFCs than McDonald's, which is very random/odd.

We've been to every souvenir shop in the general vicinity of our hotel, and even some in the Jewish quarter. There are Swarovski crystal shops EVERYWHERE, and nearly every souvenir shop sells crystal and glass figurines. They're very cute, but can get a bit pricey.

I was standing around in the souvenir shop the other night, waiting on either Karen or Annie to finish buying stuff, and one of the shop owners came over and talked to me. He was a nice Arab man, and he must have heard me say something in my funny accent to one of the other girls (we've been running around Prague pretending to be British) and asked me if I spoke French. I answered him, in French of course, and he started asking me other things, also in French. He asked me if I was African, and I said, "No, I'm from America, but I guess that counts as being of African origin, yeah?" We had a laugh over it, and it turns out that he was from Tunisia, where the first in this latest series of Arab uprisings was. We chatted a bit more; he said he assumed I was African because lots of African countries speak French as their official language (which is true). I told him that all of my professors think I'm Haitian (which they seriously do), and we had a laugh over it. When the other girls were finished, we said goodbye. He really was a very nice man.

You guessed it. I'm about to get introspective/political.

I find it much less offensive when people here assume I'm anything other than American. One, they don't run into very many Americans, not as many as other English speaking Europeans anyway, so it's just not the first thing they assume. Also, to be frank, there's not very many black people in Europe, as evidenced by the fact that I can't even find freaking hair grease in Louvain-la-Neuve, and most of the ones that are here came from (gasp) Africa, seeing as it's so close. I guess it seems more like a natural train of thought that when a European (or African/Arab immigrant, as in this case) sees me that they assume I'm African, and not insulting like it is when my American professors (and high school teachers) say to me everyday "Are you Haitian?" or "Is there any French in your family?" No. If they want to get technical, if I can for sure claim any European country as my heritage, it is Germany (hoorah for the Subers out of Clinton!). In America, it just seems like they look at me and go, "Oh, she's ethnic (I hate that word) and can speak another language; obviously she's not a regular black person and that language is in her heritage." It's demeaning to me, and I take it very personally.

I've also taken a bajillion pictures, but you'll have to wait until Sunday to see them. Know why? I'm a complete and total boob and left my camera cable back in Louvain-la-Neuve. Who's brilliant? I am!

Srsly though. Tune in Sunday for a photo dump.

Things I have learned:
1. They do not split tabs in Europe. It is therefore best to carry around bills.
2. Grog is real. It is a drink. No, I did not try it.
3. In the Czech Republic, beer is cheaper than water (surprise)
4. It is the Czech Republic. Not Czechoslovakia.
5. I like sauerkraut.

Les vacances!

First things first: RAFA NADAL LOST TO DAVID FERRER IN THE AUSTRALIA CUP WHAT KIND OF WORLD EVEN IS THIS I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Admittedly, Ferrer is a good player, but REALLY?!! REALLY?!! At least Rafa's been a gentleman about it and isn't whining about his hurt leg. HE'S SO CLASSY. I'm still upset though; I really wanted him to get that 4th title. (I'm sorry, but tennis is my football)

Now, the stuff y'all actually care about! After pretty much a 24 hour journey, I have made it in one piece along with Karen G. and Annie to Prague! We're sort of all zombies right about now, but I'll start from the beginning.

We took the train from Louvain-la-Neuve back to Brussels, only instead of being at the Grande Place we had to get off at the Midi stop, also known as the business part of town. BORING. And we had like 6 hours to kill. It was looking pretty wretched, but we wandered around until we found interesting things!



Impressive, right? You have no idea. But that's not the coolest thing we found. Not by any means. THIS is:

THERE IS A REAL LIVE CASTLE TOWER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY FOR NO REASON DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS EXCITES ME I DON'T THINK YOU DO. Seriously, I live for this kind of stuff. Old churches and castles? Sign me up; why is this not 1456. It was just there on the other side of this random park in the middle of the street and I had a small heart attack over it (sort of like the one you just read). We wanted to tour it, but we're going to save that for another day (one where we're not toting backpacks full of junk). BUT THERE WAS EVEN EVIDENCE OF A MOAT. AH.

We flew out of Brussels South Charleroi airport on WizzAir, which is this super cheap Euro airline. It was only an hour and fifteen minutes, AND I DID IT WITHOUT TAKING ANY SEDATIVES THAT IS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. Granted, I was flipping out the whole time, BUT I DID IT. It helped that we stayed awake in the airport all night so I was dead tired and only wanted to pass out, but the point is I did it! I hate planes, guys. Seriously I do.

We're staying at the Hotel Atlantic. It's in a really nifty location pretty much in the center of town near a lot of really important buildings. It's a really cool hotel, and this is probably the biggest Euro hotel room I've ever seen. We didn't do much exploring today because we're zombies, but we did see a few impressive buildings!









Woo pretty things! I have no idea what any of these buildings are except the first one which is something akin the an opera/concert house, but I will find out and tell you.

Things I've learned:
1. Prague is not really full of gypsies. I feel like I've been lied to.
2. The Czech Republic was supposed to switch over to the Euro a year or two ago, but no one really has. Most places still only take the Czech crown, but, unlike Belgium, most places also take American bank cards!
3. Czech money is worth NOTHING. 1 US dollar is 15 Czech crown, and 1 Euro is 25 Czech crown.
4. Czech money is really pretty so I hope they don't get rid of it

An Ode to Food and City Art

Do you see this? This, my friends, is what we have affectionately nicknamed "pizza waffle". It's a waffle. WITH STUFF INSIDE. Technically, this one has nothing to do with pizza at all: it had chicken, curry and tomatoes and IT WAS DELICIOUS. It was 3,40€ at Waffle Factory, this little place close to school. The guys who own it are really nice, and did I mention that it was only 3,40€? 4,50 if you got a drink. Will definitely be going back. Possibly today, if it is not raining and/or disgusting outside.

I have also found popcorn in Europe! Trust me, it's harder than you think. They serve as an appetizer of sorts at this crêperie in town that is mad expensive because they're supposed to have the best crêpes and milkshakes. They average out between 14 and 20 € a crêpe. Yeah. The one I got was 8,95 and suffice it to say that I will not be patronizing them often.


THIS IS ON THE SIDE OF OUR MOVIE THEATER. If you pay attention to how the city is on top of a highway and a railway, that is what I mean when I say that Louvain floats on top of a highway. I actually think this city is meant to be Louvain. Either that, or Minas Tirith in the 21st century ('nother LotR ref!).


And this I just think is cool. Check out the roots coming from the columns! Don't ask what that building is for; I have no idea.

I don't rightly remember if I said this before here, but Wednesday, I AM GOING TO PRAGUE. Every time I think about it, I want to sing "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" by Cher. I'm actually listening to it right now! :]

Of museums and false hair

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I am buying Prince cookies like they're going out of style. Someone stop me or else I'll weigh like 546987631637868764 more pounds when I come home and they'll make me buy out the whole plane to accommodate my massiveness.

Today was a beautiful day. Sun was out, pigeons were being huge in the middle of the street, there were throngs of children were everywhere... AND I LEFT MY CAMERA AT HOME. Don't worry; tomorrow promises to be just as gorgeous, so I will remember my camera and snap photos around town then.

WE WENT TO THE HERGE (airhh-zjay) MUSEUM TODAY OH MY GOSH. For those of you don't know, Hergé is a very famous Belgian comic strip artist/advertiser/media tycoon. He came up with The Adventures of Tintin back in the 1920s, which was one of my favorite things ever back when Saturday morning cartoons were worth watching. THERE WAS TINTIN STUFF EVERYWHERE. I'm pretty sure I was the most excited person to be there. I love Tintin. I love comics. I love museums dedicated to Tintin and/or comics. What's there for me to be unhappy about?

We didn't have time to go by the gift shop, which made me sad, and they wouldn't let us take pictures inside the museum, which also made me sad but is understandable because then you could duplicate the comics and sell them for profit and THAT'S STEALING. Darn copyright infringement laws. There was this nifty little room there, though, that let you do THIS:
IS THAT NOT EXCITING?!! I KNOW IT IS.

We're also doing a photo-comic book project in class. My group's doing a detective story parody: my character goes "missing" but it turns out she's just playing a joke on her sister/roommate/boyfriend. It's going to be pretty awesome, just saying. Also, I am going to Prague for the break. It's going to be freezing and awesome. Can't wait!

Things I've learned:

1. Girls in Belgium don't wear their own hair. It makes me sad, because y'all know how much I hate weaves. If you don't know how much I hate weaves, I'll tell you: I hate them a lot. As in, I wish they had never been invented. But they all have weaves, and they're not even good. Your hair looks like steel wool at the root and then BAM! you have Hawaiian Silky on the bottom and just who exactly do you think you're fooling? Not me! And they all do these RIDICULOUS bouffants and end up looking like this:
only more to' down and raggedy. It's a crying shame.

2. People in Belgium stare. They stare because you speak English. They stare because you don't wear a weave. They stare because you wear colors. They stare because you don't scowl all day long. I'm going to start handing out autographed photos of myself and charge 2€ for them. I'm cute enough; I could totally make money that way.

3. There is an African district in Brussels called Matonge (or something similar) and lots of Black hair care places in Ixelles (near Brussels). I must go visit, because I cannot find product in Louvain-la-Neuve. That is my project for the weekend.

4. Aldi is amazing. I got a loaf of bread, 2 sandwich meats, cheese, Nutella, q-tips, and pain au chocolat for 7€. This excites me. I am a fan.

Louvain-la-Neuve!

LONG TIME NO BLOG, GUYS.

First things first, I fixed the comments section so that you guys could leave comments without having to sign in. Just make sure you put your name SOMEWHERE so I know who's talking to me, k? Awesome!

I'm keeping a normal journal to chronicle adventures, so I can catch you guys up! We spent Sunday-Tuesday night in Brussels, and it was full of frites and moules and cool dinners and loooooots of bars. Y'all know I don't drink, but it was fun to go along! We got to Louvain-la-Neuve (Loo-vanh la nuvv) Wednesday morning after a really sketchy van ride. The distance between the two places is most comparable to Greenville/Spartanburg, and by train it's more like Greenville/Simpsonville. We have free train passes, so we'll definitely be going back soon! As a matter of fact, a few girls went back this weekend.

That's the view from my window in Brussels! That great big spire is part of the Grand Place. SO MANY IMPRESSIVE BUILDINGS IN ONE PLACE I SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN ARCHITECT.

We've done A LOT of administrative work. We had to send off for student cards, and apply for residency in the city so we can make use of the open borders. I'm searching in vain for somewhere to get my hair done (one day I'm just gonna ask someone), and even though y'all know how much I hate the "ETHNIC HAIR CARE" signs I would welcome one right about now because my little jar of olive oil is half empty.

Right now, the students at l'Université Catholique de Louvain (henceforth to be known as UCL) are in the middle of exams, and apparently Euro exams are INTENSE so the city is a ghost town and I never see my roommates. 5 other people share this apartment with me, which is CRAZY to me. It's a bit intimidating that there are so many!

UCL is split up into a lot of buildings across town, kind of like SCAD. The student housing is split into 5 quartiers (kar-tee-ay), which are like boroughs. There's Quartier de Lauzelle (lo-zell), Quartier de la Baraque (like the president), Quartier de Biéreau (bee-ay-ro), Quartier des Bruyères (brew-yehr), and Quartier de l'Hocaille (o-kye-yuh). We're split up pretty evenly between the quartiers, but Hocaille is up this HUMONGOUS mountain-like hill that we have nicknamed Mount Doom (like in Lord of the Rings) because dear goodness getting there will put a hurting on you so we never go there. I live in Bruyères, along with Nick, Anna, Megan, and Janine. Right now my room is bland and ugly, so I will put up pictures when I decorate. Megan and Anna are in the building next door to me, and Nick's building is in front of me. Bruyères is very close to the center of town (though not as close as Biéreau, which practically IS the middle of town), so I don't have far to walk to class or food or shopping. Did I mention the mall? There's a mall on campus, complete with an H&M, Pimkie, Zara, and 2 new places I've fallen in love with called Bershka and Pull & Bear. Love it. I'm going to be so fashionable when I come back you won't even recognize me at the airport. Watch.

There are LOTS of fun, magical-looking places around here! There's a lake behind my apartment, and a giant white globe thing that looks like a dragon egg (we call it Norbert; if you read Harry Potter you understand what I'm talking about), and a tower that's the first thing you see when you take the long way to l'Hocaille that we have nicknamed Isengard (also a reference to Lord of the Rings) because it looks EXACTLY LIKE IT. The tower is apparently part of a church though, and that's intriguing. It's a Catholic university, so there are 4 Catholic churches in LLN as well as several organizations for Catholic students, but there's also a United Protestant Church, a Baptist church, a Orthodox church, and a mosque. If I ever figure out how to get to these places in a timely manner, I'll most likely go to the Catholic churches.

I realize I haven't put up any pictures of Louvain-la-Neuve. Truthfully, I haven't taken any. It's been raining nonstop since we got here, and cloudy/overcast/drizzle is NOT the ideal weather combination for taking pictures. If the weather ever clears up, I'll run around Louvain like a proper tourist/obnoxious American and snap pictures EVERYWHERE.

Food around here is surprisingly pretty cheap. You can get a foot long-ish sandwich for 2-4€ at most sandwicheries (sandwich shops) and BIG cone of frites for 2€ at the friterie, which is ALWAYS open. There's an Aldi across the street from Nick's place, apparently, so tomorrow I think he and I are going to go grocery shopping because it's much cheaper than Delhaize, the other grocery store, which I think is owned by the same people who own Food Lion because they have the same lion emblem. Apparently, Nick is a really good cook, so one day we're going to have an Italian night, and I promised to make legitimate American burgers and tartiflette.

While the legitimite UCL students are taking their exams, we loud Americans (seriously we're so loud everywhere we go) are taking a crash course in speaking/grammar. It's 5 hours a day, everyday, from 9-12 and then 2-4. It's torture for me having to sit in one room for so long/so early; I haven't done that since elementary school! Luckily, there's a boulangerie (boo-lon-jerr-rie, a pasty shop) on my way to school where I can get coffee and/or breakfast, if I so desire. I got a pain chocolate (chocolate bread) this morning for 0,85€! That's another thing about French: where we put periods, they put commas.

There's a week long break starting this Friday (goodness I love Europe), so the gang's all splitting up and going different places. Most of the people I'm with on a usual basis are going to Germany, where Nick's, one of 2 guys in our group, parents live and Kim (one of the girls) has a friend studying, but Karen G. and I are going to go do our own thing somewhere else. We may very well end up in Spain with Megan, Kate, and Chelsea, but that trip is sounding a bit more expensive than either of us care for, so we'll see!

I'm going take another minute here and talk about the food. It is ALL delicious. I think I've had maybe one thing I didn't like. It's called estragon (ess-strah-gohn), and I tried it at Caprice, a sandwicherie/tea room in the Grand Place (city square) after I gave up yelling at Nick across the restaurant. He had had it before, and I couldn't remember if he liked it or not. IT WAS PRACTICALLY CHICKEN SALAD. Do you know how much I hate mayonnaise?! I couldn't chew it and I couldn't swallow it and I couldn't spit it out so I just kind of held it there in my mouth and nodded at the lady even though it was coating my teeth and just ugggghhhhh. Later, he said to me, "I thought you were saying escargot! Yeah, that stuff is nasty; I didn't like it." Thanks, homie. Thanks.

Instead of the chicken salad disguised as estragon, I got a sandwich japonais, which was smoked salmon, cucumbers (conconbres in French! I learned a word!), something else I don't remember, and wasabi sauce. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS EVEN WITH WASABI GOING UP MY NOSE OH MY GOSH. Everything is so good! Seriously, I'm having a spaz attack over a COLD CUT SANDWICH, so you know it's good. Also, there is curry EVERYWHERE and I love it. There's this great noodle restaurant called Woké that generally costs around 6€, but I generally have leftovers when we go so it's totally worth it (last time I was super hungry though). How am I going to go back to American food after this?! I suppose I better learn to cook/wok/make bread.


I HAVE PRINCE COOKIES. REJOICE WITH ME. Seriously, Prince cookies are the best things since sliced bread. I've been flipping out so much about how good they are that everyone else decided they had to try them just to see if I was a complete nutter, and between 4 of us we ate a container and a half while watching Bollywood movies at Nick's last night. Baow.

This is Nick and Karen G. having fondue at Blackfriar's, the Irish pub that is literally next door to me and Nick.

This was my dinner that night: sausage, cheese, and peach beer, hahahaha. Seriously, though, that was the best sausage I've ever had in my life. I've come to appreciate the occasional brew in the week I've been here. I even impressed one of my suitemates, Pierre. He asked me if I knew about abbey beers (beers brewed by monks; I think the concept is unique to Brussels) and I gave him a specific example (Rochefort). I was proud of myself, hahaha.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED IN BELGIUM:
1. Europeans let their kids run RAMPANT all over the place. It drives me nuts.
2. It is impossible to keep a hairdo here. Freakin' humidity.
3. Americans are loud and obnoxious. Seriously wherever we go we're the loudest bunch.
4. All European malls have grocery stores inside of them. It is a fact of life.
5. Cobblestones are horrible to walk on.

FOR COMMUNICATION PURPOSES
* My skype username is lyssalouu. It's free to talk on, unlike my phone, so long as you have a computer and/or smartphone.
* My address is Rue des Bruyères, 28/208 1348 LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE
Y'know. Just in case you want to write me letters or send me prezzies.

You'll hear from me again soon!

Je suis arrivée!

So after 8-ish hours on a plane and 7 hours in Dulles, I'M IN EUROPE. I definitely had a hoodrat moment and wrapped my hair on the plane with the scarf I keep around my purse so I could go to sleep, hahaha. There was a screaming baby all the way to Brussels, and if God had not given us the brains to make iPods I would have done the unthinkable. Just saying.

That's my only complaint! HOW AMAZING IS THAT THAT NEVER HAPPENS.

We rode a train from the Brussles airport to the hotel (Hotel Ibis; it's really cool but they make you pay for internet so I'm rushing to do this on the borrowed internet from across the street). On the way, we passed a kebab place (I LOVE KEBAB), followed shortly thereafter by a porn shop. This is how that conversation went:
Someone: Oh my gosh, look a kebab place!
Someone else: And look! Exotic videos and toys!
Mike: Just what you need to go with your kebab!

It was really funny.

After we got to the hotel, we were all really sleepy but we wanted to explore, so Eliana (my roommate at the hotel), Megan, Kate, Little Karen (there are 2 Karens, who I will call Little Karen, because she's so tiny, and Karen O.), and I set off in search of lunch. We found this cool little restaurant on one of the side streets at the Gallerie next to the hotel, and we got steaks & frites (Belgian french fries) for 10€! AND THEY CAME WITH DRINKS IT WAS LIKE A HAPPY MEAL ONLY BETTER. At Kate's suggestion, I got a panaché, which is beer and Sprite (beer is BIG in Belgium).

AND IT WAS DELICIOUS. So was the steak, even though it was a little rarer than I'm used to (but it wasn't bleeding, so that's good). I kept having to ask the owner what things on the menu were, and they always ended up being really simple stuff like "penne with tomato sauce" hahahaa.

That's Kate and her moules (mussels, in English). Moules frites (mussels and french fries) is a big dish around here; she got that big bucket and frites and a drink for 10€!

The side street we got lunch on! It's so cute and European!

Then we went back to the hotel and passed out, hahahaha. We had a group dinner at 7 at another restaurant on the side street called Le Mariton, and it was delicious! None of us knew any of the food on the menu except for Grace, who just loves food, so it was an adventure. The school budgeted us about 50€ a person for dinner, and they paid for drinks so we all had a 3 course meal at Clemson's expense. I had mozzarella fondue, poulet (chicken) fermier à la Brabaçonne with pommes allumettes (a fancy way of saying french fries), and crème brûlée, which was DELICIOUS OH MY GOSH. We were all trying each other's food, so I had some of Karen O's moules, Grace's rabbit, Grace's foie gras (goose liver, which was SO GOOD OH MY GOSH I'VE ALWAYS BEEN TOO SCARED TO TRY IT.), and Kim's mozzarella from her salad. Altogether, it's reported that the group went through 8 bottles of red and white wine. That's intense.

My crème brûlée! IT WAS SO GOOD. I talked Karen O into getting it too because she had never had it before.

After dinner, a few of us wanted to go out. Grace knew about this place called "Delirium", which was really close by, so those of us who didn't go back to the hotel and pass out went there. They played old American rock music the whole time (Whitesnake, Queen; you know, the good stuff!) and we had a giggle over it. Delirium's logo is a pink elephant, and they were all over the ceiling. They sell their beer in America, but it comes in a ceramic bottle and is like $12.

Things I have learned so far:
1. They do not make lines in Belgium. If you want on the elevator, you better make a run for it or old people will beat you there.
2. There is beer everywhere and you WILL try it just because there is more of it than anything else.
3. French fries and white wine tastes good. A fry fell into my wine glass and I ate it, hahahaha.
4. I like mussels
5. Belgian food is yummy (so don't worry, Granny; I won't starve!)

Bonne année

First things first, happy new year! It's 2011, and here I am, living out of a suitcase like a vagabond and strangely okay with it. To everyone I saw, it was wonderful to see you before I left; to everyone I didn't see, we'll just have to have a Skype date or 2 one of these days.

Me myself, I spent New Year's Eve with my mummy and my granny, and New Year's Day with some of my favorite non-familial people, also known as my bestest best buddies from middle school. New Year's tradition dictates that we go down to Bee's place in Greenwood and have dinner together. It was good to have everyone together, since most times at least 2 of us are too busy to make it to the usual group functions.

You know how sometimes you take group pictures and everything you need to know about the group dynamic somehow makes it into that group picture? That's what this picture is for us. A similar phenomenon happened in 2010.

Shortly after this picture was taken, we all went our separate ways and I teared up a bit in the driveway saying goodbye to everyone (but hid it like a pro). I'm gonna miss those guys for the next 5 or so months; and y'all too, not to mention the handful of folks that I didn't get to see :[

The next time I update this thing, I'll be in Europe. :]