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Bonjour,
The Study Tour is now over and I have begun the process of adjusting to life in Brussels, which will be my home for the next 3 months.
I packed my bags, checked out of the hotel and began my quest to reach my new home. My metro journey wasn’t that bad, but the escalators at the stop I got of at weren’t working so I had to lug my stuff up the stairs. Now, I’m not saying all Belgians are selfish and inconsiderate, but almost everyone I met that day was. People just wouldn’t let me walk up the escalator, almost pushing to get past me. I was having trouble until a sweet old lady was coming down saw me, stopped and turnaround to go back up and let me pass.
I then arrived at my new home which is located in Etterbeek, aka one of the swanky districts in Brussels. The house is an early 20th century mansion with four floors. The upper two floors are rented and I am currently sharing the place with 3 Belgian girls (Malou, Christine, Claire) and 3 Spanish girls (Lucia, Natalia, Monica). It’s a tough life I lead
isn’t it? I have one of the largest bedrooms in the house and it comes with a lovely tapestry on the wall and a view of the garden. The only downside is the kitchen which has a low ceiling in parts and gets very tight if there are anymore than 4 people in there at one time. I bought some groceries and a phone, and then I explored the neighbourhood. It’s very residential, with some nice parks nearby but there are plenty of bars, restaurants and cafes that are a short walk away. I’m quite excited!
I met up with some of the other interns who are at different institutions in the city and we headed down to Grand Place where there was a massive jazz festival going on. We grabbed some fries, followed by some waffles (it was a stereotypical Belgian evening) and then listened to some great jazz in the middle of Grand Place. The singer that we caught was Jennifer Scavuzzo and I thoroughly suggest you download some of her music as it is quite good.
The next day I met up with Taylor and Claude at Xavier’s place where he made an excellent lunch.
He has an awesome view of the city from his place! We then relaxed in a park for a while and Xavier and Taylor played some soccer with some local kids (13 or so) who referred to Xavier and Taylor as the big guys! Claude and I headed off to the Uccle district to we could go to Elaine, Viktoria and Christina’s housewarming place. I don’t know how they scammed it, but they have one of the nicest places of everyone and are paying the least! Again, the downside for me was low ceilings in parts. That seems to be a big problem for me in Europe. We hung out there for a while before going out in search of a club that was recommended to them by their landlord. We wandered through a forest to get to it, only to find that it was middle-aged night and the youngest person was 40. We then went to another club across the street which was lit by eerie red lights. It resembled more of a cult than anything, I thought it was the Belgian scientology headquarters, but it was also closed. We cabbed back downtown to find a club, only to be notified that it was gay night at every club in town. The 8 heterosexuals still hanging around decided that sleep was more interesting so we all just went home.
Things learned in Brussels:
-Grand Place is awesome all the time!
-European cell phones are sooooo much better than back home.
-Don’t go clubbing in Brussels on Sunday. If you feel compelled to, just start your own rave.
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