And this is what happens when I get behind on blogging... SO MANY WORDS.

Currently experiencing my first time drinking at a bar alone. I like to think that since girls do it in the movies all of the time, that it is absolutely normal. Already had a lovely conversation with some guy about only he knows what… I have definitely been implementing the smile and nod technique here. Still not amazing with accents.

The moment I stepped out to come here, I was overwhelmed with the sense of freedom. Not because I was leaving the “Zav Center,” the place I am living for the next month, not because I was on the way to a bar, but because I’m in Europe and I have my entire life ahead of me to do with whatever I wish. What that is… well, that remains to be seen.

Now let’s take a look at the last few days of my life. My life in Belgium, so far, has been so much more than I could have hoped for. I have two amazing roommates, Mallory and Amy, who provide sanity and a steady stream of comic relief. Today is Sunday, and I think the last time I wrote was Thursday, so I have a lot to catch up on and am clearly having a hard time figuring out where to start.

HA. That guy just came up and asked me if I’m alright… I guess maybe only sad girls drink at bars alone. For me, it’s a good place to think… I am soaking in the culture while I try to describe it to you, not really any better way to do it if you ask me.

We have settled into a comfortable routine. Weekdays we wake up at about 7:45 and prepare for 4 hours of screaming children, exploding diapers and just enough smiles and laughs to get us through to lunch. After lunch we are free to do… WHATEVER WE WANT.  So, Friday we set out for Ghent. I, of course, did significant research and was prepared. Of course, it was impossible for everything to go as planned.

Back to the bar I’m at: Everyone here is speaking English. Europeans are so much smarter than most Americans… I’m in a small town and they all know English.

Also, I might have skipped Thursday: as far as I can recollect, I explored Zaventem, relaxed, hung out with people... probably, maybe? Who knows.

Anyway, back to Friday, I wanted to leave at 1… We left at 2. There were just enough screams from the children for us to need an hour before we went off gallivanting. I ended up leading us to the train that took an hour instead of 30 minutes. OOPS. But it’s OK. WE MADE IT. I don’t think there was a moment in the first few hours where I didn’t have my head buried in my Rick Steve’s book searching for guidance.

First, we went to St. Michael’s Bridge. (This is after I got us on the RIGHT tram going in the RIGHT direction… my confidence is soaring. Maybe it shouldn’t be, but it is.) This provides a breathtaking 360 panoramic view of the town. Something about canals just never gets old. Ever. The way the buildings line up along them, the way they twist and turn under bridges and disappear… It is perfection in the rain and the sun, in the day and the night. Suffice to say, we took a lot of pictures here.

We gawked at St. Michael’s Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Bavo and Belfry. It’s amazing how uninterested I get with anything built after 1600. But even the Neo-Gothic spire is beyond impressive and it was built in 1913 (which is 100 years old, but I feel like it was not that long ago, so weird!) We went into St. Nicholas’ Church, which was stripped of all adornments in the 16^th century by the Protestants during the reformation, quite sad actually. We checked out the Castle of the Counts, which was closed, but more than worth the short trek along the canal to reach it. It was built in 1180 to intimidate the city’s independence-minded citizens. It intimidated me too.

For dinner we checked out ‘t Stropke, “The Noose,” which was recommended by Rick. Unimpressed, dude. We had to go get coffee elsewhere while we waited for their kitchen to open (which wasn’t half bad, considering the elegant teacups and frothy cappuccinos). We were at the restaurant from 6:00 – 7:30 on a Friday night and we were the only ones THE ENTIRE TIME. Anyone that knows anything about eating in general knows that is a bad sign. The food was great, but the service was sub-par, which was odd, because it was just us. But hey, we were in Ghent, so it didn’t faze me. Just remember to try elsewhere for dinner if ever you venture that way.

After wandering for a while longer, I had an awesome bar, with 249 beer selections, that my roommate, Mallory, and I really wanted to go to… but we ended up going back because some other people wanted to leave. Which was fine. Something that I think some people don’t understand yet is how alcohol is such an important part of culture. Food and alcohol. I think I have more pictures of those two things than any cathedrals and castles. So, needless to say, I am hoping to head back there with people who understand me!

Saturday. Orientation day. Not going to lie, I was not looking forward to this because I had wanted to do a weekend trip, but I am so happy that I went! I think about 15 of us headed to St. Andrew’s Church of Scotland to meet with the pastor and figure out where we would be going each Sunday. It was so great to finally get some quality time with the families that we are staying with. Up to that point, the only contact we had with parents was when they dropped their kids off for us to take care of them… or the hallway and bathrooms.

I connected with one family in particular, I think because they remind me of my brother, Jon, and his family who are always ready for adventure! I love it when I see parents with four kids headed out into the unknown and doing GREAT! So impressive.

Bonnie, Amy and I hung with them for most of the afternoon (after a 15 minute scare of thinking that we had lost Bonnie  - who had gone to buy herself lasagna in the market and was none the wiser). We explored Brussels amidst the heavy downpours and random moments of sunshine, heading into many shops along the way to explore and escape the rain. After hours of exploring, they headed back to town while Amy, Bonnie and I ventured on. We went back to the Grand Place, where I gave a history lesson of all of the buildings, courtesy of Rick Steves.

RANDOM THOUGHT: At some point this week, it has all meshed together so I can’t tell you when, but Ben, one of the missionaries, and I had an awesome, bonding conversation about Rick Steves. It must have been when we came back from Ghent. He mentioned Rick when I was telling him about Ghent and he ran and got his travel guidebook. The same one as me. I was elated. I flipped through the pages and showed and told him everything I could think of. Thank you, Rick, for helping me bond with people over your Awesomeness.

After exploring all over Brussels, I came back to my wonderful roommate, Mallory, who was thankfully ready for some dinner in Zaventem. We went to this Belgian diner that Amy had raved about. I got this beef stew type of thing that you dip your fries into. SO GOOD. We also tried the famous “Kriek,” cherry beer. After a few sips we came to the same conclusion: cough syrup. NOT HAPPENING ever again.

Sunday morning we went back to St. Andrew’s and then went to an awesome place for lunch. Rick Steve’s mentioned Le Mokafe, so four of us headed there and were entirely impressed. After that, everyone else headed back to town and I stayed to do the “Upper Town walk.” I had way too much fun by myself. I read every historical fact in my travel guide about everything that I was looking at and walked away feeling scholarly and well traveled. I saw Place Royale, Parc de Bruxelles, Notre-Dame du Sablan Church, the Palace of Justice and Tour d-Angle… just to name a few! I could describe how beautiful each building and street was and what I learned, but it would take much too long.

Basically, to sum it all up… if anyone is worrying about me, you’re crazy. I am beyond happy here and cannot wait to see what else I am going to experience. Sorry that at times this turns into a diary instead of a blog. I just hate the idea of actually keeping a diary because no one will read it, so some random thoughts end up spilling onto the pages of this blog.