La Mouche, et autres histoires

Hey guys! Just a quickie update while I'm sitting here listening to one of my flatmates play guitar. They have Lundi de la Guitare here (Guitar Monday), which is pretty much where people get together and have drinks while students/local folks play guitar. I've never been, but apparently he plays it sometimes.

So the exchange rate has gone bonkers. I have stopped checking it, because I had a miniature heart attack Sunday when I looked online and it was $1.42 to €1. Make it stop please dear God I beseech you.

Last weekend I went back to Leuven! RANDOM FACTS: Belgium has 3 official languages--French, Dutch, and German. The German speaking people pretty much live in a corner of the country and are in no way/shape/form important because there's like 5 of them, and everyone knows that the French and the Dutch hate each other. As a result, every city in Belgium has 2 names: the Dutch name, and the French name. Leuven is the Dutch name for Louvain (not to be confused with Louvain-la-Neuve, because they are different). I think Leuven sounds better, but when I come home from the weekend and say, "I was in Leuven," people look at me like I'm crazy because they have no idea where I'm talking about. It's kind of funny.

Anyway, we wanted to eat Mexican food, but apparently you have to have reservations to get in ANYWHERE in Leuven on the weekends so we ended up at (you guessed it) PIZZA HUT.

Now, I can't stand Pizza Hut. Y'all know I don't like it. The crust is soggy and the pizza sauce tastes like metal (at least to me). THIS WAS HONESTLY THE MOST DELICIOUS THING I'VE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE. I wanted to curl up in a ball under the table and just live there for the rest of my life. Euro Pizza Hut > American Pizza Hut. I kid you not.

I've had a hard week. I came out of one funk to be literally, physically, and metaphorically thrown into another one. But it's a beautiful day in Louvain-la-Neuve, and I will rejoice and be glad in it. (srsly, it's like 60° and beautiful I'd be a fool not to)

That was depressing. To lighten the mood, I'll show you what I call "La Mouche".


It is giant. It is a fly (la mouche = the fly). It is a statue. Yayaaaa.

Bright sunshiny days!

Hellooooo lovelies! I've had a super busy week; sorry for the lack of updating! It's midterm time, so I've got lots of studying to do. I learned to make stewed potatoes too! I COOKED! AND IT WAS EDIBLE!

I'm going to Germany and Greece for spring break! How exciting is that? I KNOW. We're going to wander around Bavaria and then head off to Thessaloniki. It's gonna be awesome.

Don't get all bent out of shape over this, but lately I've been in a funk. That happens to me sometimes. Most days I'm pretty apathetic, and then one day I'll be ridiculously happy--euphoric, even, and then I crash by 8 o'clock and go back to being apathetic because being that happy, and then randomly (literally, for no apparent reason) I'll get sad and stay that way for a few days, intermittently having spurts of intense anger, and then I'll go back to not really caring. I've been kind of in the dumps since Thursday, complete with angry spells, but today. TODAY. Today I woke up and the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the weatherman said 62°. I've been floating on a cloud since like 7 AM. Not kidding.

To celebrate my newfound non-depression, I took a few (literally, 3) pictures of my neighborhood.







LOOK AT THAT SKY. LOOK AT IT. THE SKY NEVER LOOKS LIKE THAT HERE!

The best part? IT'S SUPPOSED TO STAY LIKE THIS ALL WEEK. YESSSSSSSSS.

Clearly this is a sign from God that everything's going to be alright.

Side note: happy birthday to my dearest darling friend Kevin! He's a big boy now :]
Don't let that face fool you. He does actually like me. I've even gotten him to admit it before.

Day trippin' : Leuven

Hey guys! Long time no post, I know, but I've been sickish lately (yayyyyy sinuses!) and therefore hiding in my room, not doing anything exciting (like taking over Europe). Gear up though, because this might be a long one.

Yesterday, I was supposed to go to Brussels with Grace but we didn't so I ended up on a train to Leuven with Nick and Annie instead. Leuven's about 50 minutes from Louvain-la-Neuve if you catch the fast train, and it's the site of the original UCL (the university I'm studying at). The only problem is that Leuven, and, consequently, the university, are in Flemish country, and the Flemish and the Walloons (French speaking Belgians) hate each other, so they kicked the French students out of the university. I'm not joking. I couldn't make this stuff up. We wandered around Leuven for about 5 hours, getting into mischief, chasing ducks, and meeting funny Irishmen in restaurant/pubs named after Nostradomus.

Random river/large creek that ran through the city

Saint Michael's church

The canal!

Saint Gertrude's Cathedral at twilight

Leuven's pretty great. It's slightly smaller than Greenville, area-wise. It's about the size of two Mauldins. There is Mexican food there, which has endeared it to my heart forever, and cool old buildings, and it's got a cozier feel than Brussels. There's some huge mansion/castle/thing on top of a hill that we didn't make it to before dark, so we're going to see that next time! I count this day trip a success.

Next week, we're going to Waterloo, where Napoleon had his last stand. I like Napoleon. He was tiny and powerful and didn't take anyone's crap. Like me!

Now I'm gonna go off on a tangent!

So, I love French hip hop. It's AWESOME. Kayna Samet, Soprano, Sinik; they're all great. When we go out, however, they play house music (i.e., techno) and not hip hop, so I'm all pouty and going through francophone rap withdrawals. I was having lunch with Nick yesterday before we jetted off to Leuven, and he played me a song by this group Sexion d'Assaut called "Désolé" ("Sorry"). It's got your bread and butter of rap songs (I had to go find myself in the streets, etc.) but some parts of it are also really political. One of the guys (Adams; how random is his name) calls Paris ALCATRAZ, and talks about war and how he wants to be with his people in Senegal.

Here's a link to the lyrics in French and in English so you can follow along!
http://lyricstranslate.com/en/desole-sorry.html


SO. MUCH. AWESOME. IN. ONE. SONG. When Nick played it I was sort of "Buhh" about it until the guy who does the chorus started singing. LISTEN TO HIM. I LOVE HIM.

I am now on a quest to find more French rap, preferably of the Belgian variety because I think these guys are based out of Paris. Wish me luck!