Ik Spreekt een Beetje Nederlands (Part 1)

This past weekend was one of the best I have had during my time in Europe so far. It all started on Wednesday afternoon when I decided to book a last minute trip to Amsterdam. With less than 2 months left during the semester and with plans for every weekend in April, I realized that I was running out of time to visit the closest major city to Brussels. I had also been meaning to visit my friend Sien, a student from the Netherlands that studied abroad at Richmond during the fall and lives in the Hague. We had talked about meaning up at some point but had yet to schedule anything. So with little time to spare, I arranged to meet up Sien on Friday afternoon and spend the rest of the day in The Hague before hopping up to Amsterdam for the rest of weekend.

Ironically, this weekend would start off with a CIEE organized trip to The Hague on that Thursday. Unfortunately, I wouldn't not be able to stay the night in The Hague, so I would have to hitch a train ride the next day.

Oh Yeah, I Had a Birthday

When I told most people that I would be celebrating my 21st birthday while abroad, the most popular reaction seemed to be, "well, that sucks". Now, we all know the American tradition is to go out and get your first legal drink on your 21st birthday, but having been legally able to drink for the past 2 months, that doesn't quite have the same appeal anymore. That said, that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy my 21st birthday as I please.

Ghent Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

Alright so I've been meaning to write this one for a while now, but you know midterms, excuses and so forth.

So a couple of weeks ago, I was out at a bar or school (I'm not sure which. are they not the same thing at this point? I'm kidding), when I realized I didn't have anything planned for the weekend. So I thought, hey I should go somewhere for the day on Saturday. I looked to my right and asked my friend Kyle if he wanted to go on a day trip.
"yeah", said he.
"Cool. let's go to Ghent", said Bo.
We both nod.

So that Saturday, we got up at a time before noon, hopped on a train and embarked on a romantic getaway to Ghent. Why Ghent? Well, having been for the LichtFestival, it seemed like a pretty cool city, but since I was only there for a few hours during the festival, I didn't get to see much of the actual city at all.

Parliament, Street Art, Chocolate, Beers and Francophones

I'm going to start this blog off by taking a minute to talk about my program here in Brussels. I am fortunate to be studying here with the CIEE Study Abroad. That acronym may not seem like much but it can provide a pretty big difference in the type of experience you can have abroad. Studying through CIEE has provided me with numerous advantages that other abroad students at my school in other programs or direct enrollment do not have.

First off, CIEE takes care of your housing, which is huge. Other students at Veco came to Brussels without having a clue where they would live, and so need to go looking for an apartment immediately without any real knowledge of the city. I didn't have to deal with that.  I was assigned an apartment and I live there. Point set match.

Another advantage is that CIEE organizes several trips and activities for us. In addition to day trips to Binche and Bastogne which I have already talked about, we have several more day trips planned around the Benelux countries (that's Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg for those who ain't with it), a weekend trip to Alsace, France, and a variety of activities during the week that we can take part in. I have already mentioned how with the program, we have toured the Cantillon Brewery the Belgian Comic Strip Museum as well as seeing both Him and Her versions of the Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. In the past few weeks, we have been fortunate enough to tour Belgium's federal parliament, various street art of Brussels, a traditional belgian chocolatier and another brewery.