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Published: February 11th 2012
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Brussels Town Hall
This is in the Grote Plaat, it's rather nice, though hilariously enough marriage takes place here first under Belgian Law Well I suspect this is the last quiet period I've got in front of me for a very long time, so I guess that means it's time for an update! I'm fairly certain that apathy's going to keep me from actually finishing this while I'm being lazy in Germany, so for location's sake let's pretend I'm posting this from Belgium. Why am I back in Germany you ask? Well I can officially say I've resolved my long standing visa situation with the Belgian government. And there was much rejoicing. Was it entirely satisfactory? Well no, the visa covers a very truncated period of time, and I'd sort of hoped to dick around in Europe on the Belgian government's permission slip for a little bit longer than May. Still, things like that have never stopped me before! So somehow I doubt my greatest adventure is going to end when the visa does.
So like me you may be wondering, how is the actual country I spent four months trying to legally enter? That's an excellent, and very entertaining question, and though a few weeks belated now, here's my first impressions of Belgium!
Fun Sized Mannekin Pis
Meet the Mannekin Pis, a strange little fountain that the Belgians love to dress up. The Archer's guild was responsible for this one. To be completely honest, after Berlin Brussels managed to feel a little underwhelming. There are only three metro lines, and it's possible to be anywhere in the city inside of thirty minutes. Still, that's not to say this is really a bad thing. As my commute home in Berlin today testifies, just because it takes an hour to get somewhere doesn't mean it's always worth it. I currently live with a family in a small town called Kraaihnem, which immediately draws comparison to a frequent sarcasm target, Kleinmachnow. Still, given Belgium's proportionate smallness, my walk to the closest train station is fifteen minutes, not fifty, and therefore much preferred. The only down side is that the time the trains run is equally fun sized, ending at 12:30 even on weekends (what leading experts call "bullshit"). Of course, when this fails, the local response is seemingly to go off and drink until dawn. It takes getting used to. The size thing really carries over into other parts of the city though. Even the city's mascot, a bizarre little child called Manequin Pis (guess what he's doing) is famous for being a bizarre little child (less well known is his female
Tintin
Ah yes, the only part of Belgian culture I was familiar with prior to arriving. These (including a few poor choice ones) are painted on the side of my Metro counterpart).
Fruity, with a side of drunk I couldn't go through even three paragraphs talking about Belgium without bringing up the beer. Belgians, if such a people exist (more on that later), then they are almost entirely united by a love of Tintin and high alcohol beer. The lowest alcohol content in Jupiler, the cheap beer, is five percent, but don't worry it usually averages at 8 or 9, and peaks at 12. And don't worry about variety, any self respecting bar has at least four to six on tap, and another thirty kinds hidden in bottles nearby. All kinds can be found, and I'll be honest it's been grand fun trying to sample them all. Incidentally that particular challenge was something the program manager Jerry explicitly warned us against doing. We did the math on just trying Belgian beers alone, and it came up to about three and a half daily for the entire semester (assuming no repeats/stomach pumps etc.). I'd say it's fun for the whole family, but I think that counts as advertising alcohol to minors.
541 daysBelgian politics might have the funniest political process I've heard of this
Bruges
meet the fairy tale city. It's almost hard to describe this... side of Italy and the United States itself. They hold the world record for longest period without a functioning parliamentary government (hence the title), and yet in a moment that will befuddle anybody who likes normal semi-functioning governments this didn't seem to cause any lasting harm. Since most day to day authority rests with the regions, the lack of a functioning government would've been a real problem...if Germany had decided to invade again, or if they'd wanted to levy new taxes. In short, Belgium muddled along just fine. What makes it even better is that the final solution has left Belgium with an Italian Prime Minister, who when asked to sing his national anthem, sang the French one. In short political theater of the highest and finest quality.
Germany does not have a monopoly on organization To my mild joy and equally mild dismay, Jerry Sheridan is one of the most organized men on the planet. He also might be well on his way to running the world given the insane level of connections he has. Aside from convincing the former spokesman for NATO Jaime Shay to teach at the school for fun, he pretty
The Grand Place
Gorgeous. No other words needed. much found internships for every student in the program. Throw in his encyclopedic knowledge of...kind of everything, and you begin to wonder how three languages can find the space to dwell in his brain. This is great, for what the program offers us, horrifying for my free time. I remember muttering darkly when I came home at eight or nine at night once or twice a week in Germany. Ha. Foolish me. That's about average now, class twice a week goes that way, including a French class at the very end of the day. Throw in my work as a legal intern (I'll come back to that at some point) for the other two days, and trips to cities like Ghent, Leuven, and Antwerp (all this weekend. We'll come back). In short, I love this place, but lordy does it keep me busy. And as a final thought, this is very nice, and maybe it's taken me three weeks to say it here, but I think this place is a keeper.
Til next week!
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