Weekend in Brussels

Hi all! It's been about a week since I last blogged...not much has happened. I started my phonetics class this week, so that means a whopping 4 hours of class a day. I've made friends with some people from class and we've started getting coffee after class each day. Things like that are so simple but they make me so happy! Nothing beats coffee and conversation.

This past weekend I went on a group excursion to Brussels, Belgium. We took the express train Saturday morning and arrived in Brussels around 10am. Regardless of how early we leave the house, it seems like Candida and I are always racing to make it on the train. Brussels is a beautiful city full of chocolate, beer, and waffles. What I found most interesting was the juxtaposition of modern architecture with the 17th century architecture. I don't find this to be the case in Paris, everything is really really old or made after the 1970's...anyways, this is probably boring you. The plaza in the center of the city was amazing! There was a spirit about the city, a little bit of whimsy and eclectic culture mixed into one.

The best part of the trip was the trip back to the train station. There were about 40 of us in the group, we all recollected at the end of the day and planned to walk to the train station together. Either the Metro was not where it should have been or the director of the group didn't know where we were, but we got so lost. Time was ticking..30 min...20min...15min...we finally found a tram that would lead us to the train station. We hop onto the tram, it is packed full of people, we are like sardines in a can. We arrive a block away from the train station and are told to run like we have never run before to the platform. here we are 40 AMERICAN'S RUNNING THROUGH A TRAIN STATION. The looks by the locals were priceless. Everybody was laughing and running at the same time, it was so funny. We were about 3 minutes late for the train and had to wait for a later train. So funny.

Here are some pictures from Brussels:

Plaza


its so beautiful!


Manneken Pis
(sorry for the pic)


Atoimum
(im lazy)


one of many chocolateries


a look inside


My sweet glasses I bought in a costume shop