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Published: April 26th 2009
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Tri-Delt sisters...Laura and Lauren My last weekend hoorah! I cannot believe that this semester has almost come to an end. It is crazy to think that I am now taking finals and have to pack up all my things. Last Thursday night was our end-of-the-semester boat cruise. It was so much fun. We had to meet at the school and take an hour long bus ride to the Marie Astrid River. Once we got on the boat everyone found a table and got ready for dinner. I explored the top deck and enjoyed the weather outside. It was such a beautiful day, sunny and in the sixties. For dinner we had chicken in a white wine and mushroom sauce with potatoes. I really enjoyed the sauce on the chicken. For dessert we had a pie with crème on the side. That was really good as well. I was impressed by the meal. This is the last semester for our current dean of the school, so this was his final hoorah as well. He gave a speech and talked about the semester. He loves to talk and tell stories so we ended up listening to him for a quite a while. After all the speeches were
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with Emily on the boat over everyone just mingled around the boat and there was dancing as well. The cruise was only for four hours so it felt like we ended back up at the dock so fast. It was fun to see everyone dressed up and to have a nice evening set up for us. After the boat cruise we were dropped off in the city so we all ended up hanging out for a little bit and everyone was exhausted from the day so we all went home to get some sleep. Emily and I had to wake up bright and early the next day to pack and catch our train to Bruges. We met up with our friend Lauren in the Luxembourg train station and we caught our first train to Brussels. It was a three hour ride and we had to switch trains at Brussels Nord. Our connection time was not very long so we got really lucky when our train ended up being on the platform right next to our arrival train so we just had to hop off one and hop on the other. It was only another hour to get to Bruges from Brussels. When we got to
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Katrin and I on the boat Bruges we had to find our way to our hostel. The directions we had were very vague, but we knew what bus to get on, so our first step was a breeze. The bus was jam packed with people so we had to stand right next to the bus driver. I was holding on tightly so I wouldn’t knock anyone over on the sharp turns. The bus driver spoke really good English and he knew exactly where we needed to go so he was our private tour guide as we were driving along. At our stop he gave us the rest of the directions to our hostel in much more detail. Thank goodness we had that bus driver to help us out. He was actually one of the nicest bus drivers I have come across; it seemed by everyone we had met in Bruges so far they were all so friendly to us. As we were walking to our hostel a carriage ride came by and an old lady in the back was like oh you’re looking for the St. Peters Inn, just go up your right. We hadn’t even asked where to go, she just looked at us and
I guess she knew that is where we were headed. It was crazy! We got checked in and then decided we would head towards the city center to the market square. Bruges looked exactly how I would picture a quaint European town. It had cobblestone roads with cathedrals and towers hovering over the main square area with older buildings surrounding. There were people lining the streets and main square area sitting and enjoying the weather and shopping around in the souvenir shops. We walked around a found a little sandwich place to get some lunch. I had a barbeque chicken sandwich and it was delicious. I think I was just so hungry that anything would have tasted delicious. After eating and sitting in the square we decided to climb the main tower of Bruges, Belfry. It is the tower that became famous from the movie ‘In Bruges’. After 366 wooden, uneven steps I was very excited to be at the top. We stood next to the bells of the bell tower so when they rang I had to plug my ears so I could hopefully still hear when we got back down. You could see all the way around Bruges.
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Liz and I on the boat It was a beautiful site. After making our way back down we ended up walking around some of the side streets and checking out all the Belgian chocolates and looking around all the souvenir shops. We came across a canal ride and decided we would try it out. It was the most relaxing and enjoyable canal ride. We learned about the different areas of Bruges and we were able to just sit back and enjoy the sun. We got really close to the swans and I was so surprised by how big they actually are. After the canal ride we wandered around town for a little longer and ended up at a nice restaurant in the middle of the market square. I had soup and chicken. The waiter was not the nicest of all waiters, but at this point I come not expecting wonderful service. Lauren’s mom had been in Bruges a few weeks prior to us going and she had found the oldest bar in Bruges and she told us we had to check it out so after dinner the three of us headed in the direction of the bar. The bar, Café Vlissinghe, was built in 1515. It
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Katrin, Kerianne and I was so cozy and had a fun atmosphere. There weren’t very many people there, but there was a main room and then an outside area as well. We decided to stay inside because it was starting to cool down for the night. They had piles of games so we busted out the Scrabble first and then I taught Lauren and Emily how to play Blokus. We had a lot of fun just hanging out there. Saturday we woke and headed in the direction of Church of Our Lady. In this church was one of Michelangelo’s famous pieces. The ‘Madonna with child’ is one of the only Michelangelo pieces not still in Italy. Then we walked to the Holyblood Chapel. Here is where they have a little cylinder of what Catholics believe is Jesus’ blood. They have a little ceremony and then you can line up to put your hand on the glass cylinder. We had to run to catch our train so we could get to Brussels. When we got to Brussels we found the main square and just walked around that area. There were still lots of souvenir shops and chocolate shops all around. We walked down to see
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with Laura on the boat cruise Mannequin Piss. It is a main attraction, but one that no one really understands why. Brussels will have ceremonies and dress him up for different occasions and that was the revealing day for a new outfit. He was dressed up like a street cleaner, but I’m not sure what the importance of it was. There was just a crowd of people pushing and shoving just to see this little statue. We found a waffle stand so I got to try my Belgian waffle. I had a strawberry with whipped crème and it was worth every cent. It was so filling, but I just had to finish it because it was so good. We then caught our train back to Luxembourg and the boring part of my weekend began. It is now finals time so I have a ton of work to do to make sure I am prepared for my exams. I have two exams on Monday and one exam on Wednesday but I also need to finish a paper, pack, and get everything organized to leave on Wednesday afternoon. I feel like everything is just creeping up on me and I’m just not quite ready to have to pack
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hanging out on the boat up all my stuff and leave Luxembourg. It has been such a great semester and so much fun getting to travel all around and learn about so many new cultures. I guess I have one last big hoorah coming up, so I will have to see what Italy, Greece and Paris have in store for me…
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