I’ve been so daunted by the fact that I haven’t blogged (or journaled) for so long that I keep putting it off. But not anymore. Maybe one day I’ll go back and retell what I’ve done this past month in Belgium, but until then i will start from current events.
As a preface, it must say I absolutely love it here. I am terrified of having to go back home and really don’t miss too much. I have class only 3 days a week, yet I constantly feel like I have no time to do anything (like blog). Leuven, where I am “studying” is the perfect place to go abroad. It’s small enough that you can easily get anywhere -unless of course you are me and have absolutely no sense of direction- but it is still big enough to accommodate the 40,000 students (I think…). Theres some great building as well as the Oude Markt which is lined with bars on either side. I’ll estimate about 40. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time there. I eat kebabs and frtis like it’s my job. My dorm, Junior House, is filled with people from all over the world that I am getting to know quite well since we share a kitchen and living room area. The other dorm, Vives, has a lot more people who are all pretty great as well. Many of the parties happen there. I have met more international students than I have Belgians, which in a way makes sense since we are all the “internationals.” The Belgians I have met however have all been extremely nice and helpful when it comes to just about anything. And language is not a problem, since everyone here speaks English. I know very very minimal Dutch and I am leading a life free of the frustration that comes from a language barrier.
In more recent news, Mary Claire is here! Her and two other girls she is studying with came to visit after their London and Ireland trip. Yesterday we had an amazing fail of a day trip to Luxembourg. As we left Junior House, the weather was great and aspirations were high. 7 of us decided to go and were having a good time… until things took a turn for the worst. The weather quickly turned from extremely pleasant to windy! cold! and rainy! But, hey, it happens. The train ride there was supposed to take 3 hours and we were supposed to have only one transfer. In reality it took 3 train (one of which we sat on waiting for around 2 hours due to problèmes techniques) We left JHouse at 9ish, didn’t get to Luxemburg until I want to say 4ish and we got back to Leuven in time just to see the Canadians beat the US in hockey around 10sh… not that I was very invested. I also had the worst kebab since I’ve been to Leuven. Train station trap.. I was hungry and couldn’t resist. Even though all of that sounds terrible, I still had a lot of fun. Today we are heading to Delerium and then showing the girls the Leuven nightlife before they go back to Granada tomorrow. During the weekend, most Belgians go home and the town pretty much shuts down which is quite conducive to traveling.
I’ll probably post some more later about general life here in Leuven, as well as daily happenings. It doesn’t seem as impossible now that I’ve actually posted something.
March 01, 2010, 9:24am Comments
