Bruxelles et la Vie

      So Tuesday was the usual stuff with classes, not much going on. Things went well and I spent the day after classes working on the video for a while and then I went to the local laundromat place to wash pants. We had to leave for Brussels at 8 on Wednesday morning, so I didn't do much Tuesday after dinner. On Wednesday, we made our to Brussels. It was a two hour bus ride, so that was cramped, tiring, and boring. But, we got to Brussels nonetheless, and early, too, if I remember correctly. We got of the bus near one of the main train stations, I think, and we walked to the main square of the city. The main square of Brussels is really quite beautiful. The architecture of the buildings is rather astonishing. It's kinda strange for me to think, though, that that trip to Brussels wasn't my first time there and that I already knew what to expect in regards to what all was in the city. But, I was still really excited to be there though. When we got there, we had about  two hours in the town to do whatever we wanted. The first thing I did was go with some of the Memphis people to see the Mannekin Pis statue. It's statue of a young naked boy urinating into a well. Very strange and somewhat of an awkward statue, but it's a very famous statue. There's also a lot of really good Belgian Waffle places near the statue, so we had waffles there at the statue. After our waffles, we proceeded to leisurely stroll around the downtown area of the city. I wanted to find the Hard Rock Cafe in Brussels to buy the shirts I needed to get. The restaurant is right in the main square of the city right next to the Town Hall, which would normally be a not-so-great place for a Hard Rock Cafe because of its conspicuous modernness. However, they restaurant did a really fantastic job at making it as inconspicuous as possible and it actually took me longer than I would have liked to fine it. But I found it nonetheless. I didn't buy any shirts right when I found it because I still had a lot of time left to walk around. We walked around the area first just to see what the area was like and then went back to places that looked really cool. The first place we went to was a chocolate shop called Neuhaus. It is an absolutely amazing chocolate place and apparently one of the few places that the Belgian Monarchy has deemed worthy enough to be a chocolate store that supplies the Belgian Monarchy with chocolate. I bought candied fruits and a dark chocolate spread from the place. After leaving that place, we casually made our ways to a well-known tavern that has maintained its original building in its original form since it opened in the mid-1800's. We had a beer there known as "gueuze" which apparently is a popular type of Belgian beer. It was quite good in opinion, though I could taste the bitterness more than I would have liked. I don't like bitter beers. I left the group though because I wanted to go back to the Hard Rock Cafe to buy shirts. I got there and spent about 30 minutes trying to decide what to get. I got t-shirt with "Bruxelles" on it, which is the French name for Brussels and a cool collared shirt with the English name of the city on it. It's also interesting for me to think that I'm starting to buy my Hard Rock Cafe shirts in foreign languages. During the time we had been walking around, it had started rain really heavily. The rain was the kind with the gigantic raindrops that are like water bombs. I was wearing a white shirt, so I ran into the nearest tourist shop and bought a cheap umbrella because I left the one I brought in Lille. That umbrella was a weapon. The metal used for the umbrella was very thin and very sharp, and I ended up cutting my finger really badly when I opened the umbrella up. It didn't hurt much because it was a very quick and fine cut, but it was rather deep and my finger start to bleed a lot. So, without anything to stop the bleeding, I put my finger in my mouth and just walked around with my finger in my mouth until I could find something to use to stop the bleeding. We were supposed to meet up in the Main Square to make our ways by bus to the main European Union buildings for lunch, but there was strike going on by the taxi drivers and they were apparently blocking the roads and our buses were blocked. So, we ended up having to take the metro to go to the E.U. buildings. It's also interesting for me think of how many European metro systems I've been on. It was apparently a really novel thing for a lot of the people on the trip because we don't use the metro in Lille much and it was their first time having to use the metro in Europe. I like using metros. But, anyways, we got to lunch about 30 minutes late. I was kind of expecting an actual restaurant but it was more of a cafeteria. Oh well. We were also supposed to see the main room of the E.U. building we were in where the E.U. representatives vote on stuff, but apparently there were cracks in the ceiling of that room and they were worried it might collapse, so that room was closed. So instead, the Hungarian E.U. representative gave us an introduction the E.U. place. It was interesting but I had already learned of what he had been talking about in the European Politics class I've been taking. I wanted to tell him I had gone to Budapest last summer, but I ended up not. When we left the E.U., we left Brussels and made our ways back to Lille. It was really fun getting to see Brussels for a second time. I remembered a lot from the first time I went there, which was way back in the 9th grade. It's also interesting for me to think of how many times I've been Europe......... Anyways, back in Lille I had dinner with some of the State people at this little pizza shop across the street from the University. From the outside, it didn't look too appealing, but it actually has really good pizza. The cheese is amazing. So that was Wednesday. Yesterday, we had French class as usual. We talked about nuclear energy. We had no elective class yesterday, so after lunch, I went back to the dorm for awhile. I then worked on the video project thing with my group. We finished, so that was a relief. I then went to a small, local cafe across the canal from the zoo for a meeting with the assistant director of our State group and some other State people for French speaking practice. That was fun and I've feel like it's very beneficial to just talk in French. After that, I went back to the dorm for a while. For dinner, I went with some of the Memphis people to another dorm and we made hamburgers, fries, and some really fancy dessert that involved peaches, chocolate sauce, and melted ice cream. It was a really fun time relaxing and hanging out with the group. The other State kids missed out. There was also some French people there too (one of which, ironically and somewhat awkwardly, was the daughter of the professor of my French class). It was fun getting to talk to them about French-American relations. After dinner, I went back to the dorm and worked on class work. And that was Thursday. Today in French we a small quiz that went well enough. We worked on grammar and other language related things, as we normally do in French class. We again did not have our elective classes today. So after lunch, I went over to the main train station to get my tickets to go to Luxembourg tomorrow. I did it all in French, so that was fun and exciting. After that, I went back to that laundromat place to wash my non-pant-related-articles-of-clothing. It took a while, but I won't have to wash clothes again until I get back to America. It's not interesting for me to think that I only have 10 days left in Europe. But, I'll just make the best of it and have as much fun these last 10 days as I can. I'm going to miss the Memphis people when I leave. I'm glad though that my sister is dating a guy with connections in Memphis. Gives me more of a reason to go to Memphis to visit my Memphis friends. But, anyways, that's today. Tomorrow I leave for Luxembourg. The train leaves at 9:30, so I'll be getting to the station at around 8:30. I'll be getting into Luxembourg City around 1:45 in the afternoon. I'm really excited to go to Luxembourg this weekend because it's the country's national holiday. But, anyways, that's all for now.

Some photos of Bruxelles:

 The Mannekin Pis