In Bruges

For our last “orientation day” we took a bus from the Monty and headed to Bruges. I really wasn’t sure what to expect at Bruges, but it was a fantastic trip! We left fairly early (about 9am) and about one and a half hours later we were outside meeting our tour guides in Bruges for a two hour walking tour.

The morning was freezing and there were clouds of fog hovering above the buildings in Bruges, but that didn’t take away from the gorgeous architecture and picturesque buildings we were about to see. The tour was nice, and our tour guide was fine, but I was barely paying attention to what he was saying because I was so blown away by how gorgeous my surroundings were. I was snapping pictures left and right trying to capture every alleyway, cathedral, and canal I could see. Right after we got into town there were all these huge swans swimming and walking near a gorgeous canal. As we continued through town there were chocolate shops on every corner (Bruges is the capital of chocolate), gothic cathedrals, and renaissance style buildings lining the streets. The tour concluded in front of the Belfry, which is a huge bell tower in the center of town (you can see the Belfry in the picture below).

The rest of the afternoon was ours to explore the city and do whatever we want. I started my Bruges adventure in the chocolate museum taking advantage of every free chocolate sample available. The museum finished with a woman giving a demo of how they make Belgian Chocolates. It was impressive. Especially the fact that the woman giving the demo was making chocolate, passing out free samples, and translating the entire presentation into Dutch, French, and English simultaneously. After our chocoholic fix had subsided, we moved on to explore a couple of gorgeous cathedrals. In both of the cathedrals the architecture was amazing and the ceilings were incredibly high, lined with beautiful designs.

After a while, we wanted to pick up a quick snack, but not a real lunch because we’ve been warned we are having a massive steak dinner that is included with the trip. We find a cheap shop that sells Belgian fries (French fries did not actually originate in France, but actually Belgium), and we got some fries to snack on with mayonnaise to dip them in. Like I said before, Belgians are way into their condiments and especially mayonnaise. However, just before I enjoyed these fries, I decided I needed to use the bathroom. So, I wander towards the back of the shop assuming there is a bathroom back there, but an employee tells me there is not one in the shop, but there is one across the street. Seeing a small building I think that he is pointing at, I head out in the direction of “bathroom.” I walk into what I think is the bathroom but really it is just a staircase leading to a parking lot. Confused and eager to find the closest urinal, tree, or fire hydrant in the vicinity, I get back outside to look for a sign pointing me in the right direction. On the outside of the building there is a sign that says “WC” and points to the right. So, using my highly effective detective skills I head in the direction of this illusive water closet. Seeing a number of similar shaped buildings down the line I quickly inspect each one hoping it holds some precious porcelain. The third one down is a bit bigger and has a sign pointing inside that is labeled “WC.” So I hurry inside, down two flights of stairs, around a bend and down a hallway when I see an automatic glass door that seems to lead to the bathroom. Just when I think I’ve hit the jackpot I walk up to the door, only it doesn’t open. No, it just has a red sign on it that I can’t read, but I now know it read “closed.” Frustrated I sprint up the steps still in search of a closet to unload my water. I ask a gentleman upstairs who seems to work there where the bathroom is and he tells me the bathroom is CLOSED on Sundays. Who closes a bathroom on SUNDAYS!? This guy does, that’s who. He tells me to ask around at one of the pubs, so I run across the street to the closest building to see if they would let me use the bathroom. I realize I choose a rather nice restaurant as I come in all frantic wearing my jeans and big orange coat asking for the bathroom. At first the waiter tells me to go across the street to the same place I just came from but once I told him the whole “closed” situation he led me to the back of the restaurant and shows me to a door and says “go downstairs.” At this point I’m wondering if I’m headed to some sort of dungeon where they throw underdressed patrons, but due to my other pressing issue, I push that thought aside, fly down the steps, whip open the door, and witness one of the most beautiful sights I had seen all day…..the toilet. Relieved and breathing easy again, I went back to the shop, greeted my friends who wondered if I had abandoned them or fallen in, and continued on enjoying Bruges.

The next, and final thing we did before dinner, was climb the Belfry. All 360+ steps of it. It was task climbing up the narrow, winding steps to the top of the tour, but the view was great so it made it all worth it. You could see over the entire city, and apparently on a clear day you can see the ocean from there. It was gorgeous.

At five we met up for dinner and headed to a small restaurant to enjoy this epic steak dinner that has been all built up for us. Let me tell you, it lived up to and exceeded every expectation I had in my mind. The dinner started off with some version of tomato soup that was delicious. Then came the main event, steak with mushroom sauce, baked potato with garlic butter, salad, and Belgian fries. It was scrumtrilescent. So delicious! As we savored every bite of this phenomenal meal in great company, we were hit with a slice of knowledge no one even saw coming….dessert was on the way! Everyone’s face lit up in anticipation of the icing on this cake of an amazing day. Then the goods floated our way. Two scoops of smooth, creamy, vanilla ice cream topped with a cookie straw, and melted Belgian chocolate (see left). The dessert was so amazing! Really enjoyed the food and conversation at dinner and had a great time in Bruges.

This weekend is Amsterdam.

Dreamcatchers and Samurai Mayo

The trip started out in a state of total exhaustion. In order to get our bodies on Belgium time, we all stayed up the entire first day of being here resulting in a 31 hour day with maybe 1 hour of sleep on the plane. I was beat. On top of that they expected us to sit through an orientation lecture that I kept pulling the old ‘head bob’ maneuver in. However, despite my extreme exhaustion on the first day, my body adjusted to Belgium time pretty much overnight and I have been able to continue to enjoy the city ever since.

The building we are staying at is called The Monty and is a set of apartment style suites where many of us have one roommate and two other suitemates with whom we share a bathroom and a kitchen. The Monty’s location is pretty amazing. Literally across the street is a chocolate shop where they make and sell their own Belgian Chocolates. I went in a few days ago and tried a couple of chocolates that were very good, and I hear we are going to take a tour there before too long. Around the corner and across the street is an enormous and beautiful Cathedral (see right.) The University of Antwerp (where we will be studying) is just a couple doors down from where we live, so walking to class is very convenient.

We took a practical tour of Antwerp the first day and one of the most beautiful things we saw was Central Station, an enormous building that looks like a cross between a Medieval Cathedral, The Taj Mahal, and something from Hogwarts. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and inside there is a beautiful grand staircase as well as an amazing clock and an extremely tall, beautiful ceiling. (see left)

The first night we ate dinner in a nice Italian restaurant where I had delicious pasta with shrimp and a fantastic spicy cream sauce. I also tried my first Belgian Beer! I had a beer called Duvel (pronounced Duvul) which was served in a really cool glass shaped similar to a vase for flowers. The beer is a bit stronger here but it’s really good. The coolest thing about drinking in Belgium (besides the delicious beer) is that every beer has its own glass that it is served in, and most of them are quite different from one another. Everything from a glass that looks like a big orange juice glass to a goblet style glass harboring delicious De Koninck, a beer with an interesting fruit/cherry flavor.

On the second day we were given some free time to explore and in our explorations we stumbled upon a gorgeous little square where we were approached by a homeless man who heard we were American by the way we were talking. He told us of his travels to America and then proceeded to try and sell us dream catchers that the Native Americans “taught him to make.” He was selling them in exchange for a small donation of Euros or if we could give him some weed, he’d be fine with that too. As appealing as his third grade art project was, we respectfully declined and continued our adventures to a great pasta shop called “Spirelli’s.” One of the employees was nice enough to come explain the entire menu to us, give her recommendations, and wait on us even though it seemed the other people in the restaurant were serving themselves. Great pasta, and a really nice lady. We will definitely go there again. Somehow, mostly due to the amazing sense of direction on of the people in our group had, we basically were in a perfect spot to get back to the Monty which was now right down the street.

What followed in the afternoon has been my biggest bit of culture shock yet—the grocery store. It was wild to be in a place that normally is so familiar and feel completely lost. Just about NOTHING is in English, and many of the foods were unfamiliar to me. After navigating as much as we could on our own, Ryan (my roommate), and I had a bag of groceries ready to go consisting of everything from frozen pizza to samurai mayo. Yeah, they’re really into flavored condiments here. The Samurai Mayo is a spicy Mayonnaise that is pretty delicious. They have tons of different types of mayonnaise and ketchups that I’m excited to try out. Fun fact about the grocery store: you know when you’re at the grocery store and you’re looking at that pack of 6 milks packaged together that aren’t refrigerated and thinking “man I really just want one milk, not 6?” Yep…me neither. But Belgians will just open up packages of stuff and take as many as they want. For instance, if you see a six pack of cans of soup, but you just want one can, you break open the plastic and just take one can. They also don’t sell milk that is refrigerated.

So far operation Study Abroad: Europe has been a success, more stories coming soon!

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So this is my blog. I will be attempting to keep you informed about exciting adventures while I am abroad this semester. Feel free to forward this blog address to anyone who you feel like might wanna read about my adventures. I hope you enjoy it!