One Emptied appartment, One Major car Crash, One quick bus journey, one long ass wait in a airport, one sleepy flight and a CONFUSING train ride and we're finally here.... Everything leading up to this in the past few days almost made it seem like fate had a different plan for us and we were trying to fight it!!!but as soon as our plane touched down on the brussels runway, not even the rain outside could bring us down no longer...our trip had began and no amount of bad luck was gonna keep us back....it had begun...Once we landed though we [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Brussels around 5 last night, as I recall. We met our hostess at a pub near her apartment. She was very gracious to put up with us for two nights! She marked a map for us and gave us a full day's sightseeing itinerary. Our first stop was the massive Palace of Justice. We didn't go in, but we were able to appreciate the larger-than-life proportions of the structure from the outside. We took our pictures with the famous Manneken Pis (the Pissing Boy). Next we went to the spectacular Grand Place. After lunch, we saw the city [View Full Entry]

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I have made a few observations about customs and actions of the people in Brussels so far. I don't know if all of them can be compared to the people of Belgium as a whole or not. I will hopefully find out for you. Lets do this in a list: 1. When you greet people (even if it is the first meeting), you 'kiss' on the cheek. Well, it's more of that you touch the other person's right cheek and make a kissing sound. Now, if you really know the person, you do double; but I have yet to experience that. [View Full Entry]

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Today the others (except Martin) left at 4-something in the morning to catch their flight out of Düsseldorf. I got to sleep in, relatively speaking, until almost 7. After saying goodbye to my host parents and thanking them for all their hospitality, I took the train to Geldern where my organ teacher was waiting for me. I had my first lesson today in the town of Walbeck (not to be confused with Wolbeck!) on a fascinating organ built in the French Classic (baroque) style. I wish I had taken pictures. After lunch, I had my second lesson back at the church [View Full Entry]

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When the European Union forces all of its member nations to give up their sovereignty to build a super-nation, Belgium will be the model and Brussels will be THE capital. But hold that thought for a moment while I recount dinner Monday night, which I had previously forgotten to do. On Monday night, Elizabeth and I went to her French friend's house. Sandra is from the area and has a very nice apartment. She speaks English, but the three of us got along the entire time in French. Sandra later commented that I had a French accent, but not a French [View Full Entry]

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Salut tout le monde!‏ Desolee si je nai pas ecrit plus tot; jai ete vraiment occupee et je ne trouvais pas de cafe internet nulle part!‏ Desolee aussi pour mon ecriture; je capote les claviers ici sont tellement compliques; jai jamais vu ca. Bon alors mon vol sest deroulee sans aucun probleme, mis a part le fait que jessayais de dormir etant donnee que cetait un vol de nuit mais que le gars a cote de moi arretait pas de me parler et de me reveiller haha longue histoire mais enfin bref on est arrivees sains et saufs: La ville de [View Full Entry]

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Ok. The first entry is hard to start. I guess the beginning would be best. I do not suggest that you go on vacation with your family and only have 8 hours to recover from that and then take off on your own to a completely different continent. Speaking from experience, that is a very difficult situation. My flights were good over here (all three of them). I didn't actually get to sleep until the last flight from New York city to Brussels. When I landed here, it was 9am. I had a whole day to go through before I could [View Full Entry]

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Yes yes y'all! We've arrived in the chocolate/beer capital of the world; Brussels. We're shacked up with Laurent and treating the beds and fridge like GODS after a week in the tent! 250 miles in, muscles are sore and legs look like they've done an hour on the Barbeque....but were alive!?!? Please use and abuse this Blog for everything and anything that your minds come to conjure people. We will be updating, replying and putting up picks all the time so keep it coming...photo's of you all, stories etc, and don't forget to push push push for sponsors from friends. http://www.justgiving.com [View Full Entry]

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Antwerp on Wednesday was great (minus our group of 15 getting on the wrong train, which postponed things about an hour). Anyway, if that was the worst of it (which it was), we did great. Our site visit on Wednesday was Ecover---everyone should use their products!!!! Their mission is to produce household cleaning products that are environmentally friendly, from the raw materials through production, use, and discard/recycling. We were given a tour of their production plant (see pictures!), and even went into the lab where they test products!!! Chem peeps, they use an HPLC to determine if the 100 [View Full Entry]

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So far, the itinerary is holding up. After a night in Cork, Ireland, Jay and I headed back to Dublin Monday evening. Cork is a nice little city, also building and feeling the boost of the recent boom. As a result of the newfound prosperity, the island is also experiencing a tourism boom. When we got off the train late Sunday afternoon, Jay and I met five raucous Welshmen, who sang an impressive version of John Denver's "Country Roads" when Jay told them he lived in West Virginia. They were with a man from Surry, England, who works for oil companies [View Full Entry]

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