Wow...I returned to Belgium from Rwanda this morning. And here is a shocker. I have cancelled the rest of my flights, and I have booked a flight back home to Edmonton. I am cutting my trip short by over 2 months. Rest assured that everything is fine on the home front, and there is nothing urgent for me to return to. I have not grown weary of travel and my budget has not let me down, but I have found a much more important cause than my travels. The time I spent in Gitarama, Rwanda at the Urukundo Village for Children [View Full Entry]

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Hi there, So ... I'm back since Wednesday but I still haven't finished my blog. So the next days you will find the rest of my earlier stories translated and I will finish what I started and that is my stay in Quebec untill September 7, even though I'm back in Gent. I hope you will enjoy it, any comments, please send them!! take care, Ann. [View Full Entry]

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We grabbed the "Map for the Young Travelers" and quickly located a "Frietkot" (fries shack) nearby the hostel. The early morning train ride from Luxembourg to Brussels had left us hungry. Yes, our very first stop in Brussels was a fries shack! The crispy fries with mayonnaise (or curry sauce) were absolutely delicious. Who cares about the fact that they are fattening? As far as I was concerned, I had a insatiable appetite for fries. This marked the beginning of our quest for the best Frietkot in Belgium. Despite the fact that Brussels is the home of European Union, home of [View Full Entry]

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With the small size of both the Netherlands and Belgium it didn’t take too long to go from one capital to the next. We arrived at a camping ground on the outskirts of Brussels, out the back of a pub in the town of Beersel. We had arranged to catch up with our Kiwi friends here, we saw the infamous van there but had just missed them. Decided to chill out for the afternoon as the sun had come out, and after a walk to the shops to get provisions we settled in for the afternoon with some Belgian beers, a [View Full Entry]

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The first post Well here goes, as promised, the blog :-) My short stay in Brussels is coming to an end and departure date is getting close! It’s been great to have these 2 weeks to catch up with folks, in person, telephone, and by email. The “to-do list” is getting shorter, and there is not much else to do now expect pack… oh and get to the airport on time! A big thank you to everyone who has helped and encouraged me to do this, thanks to all the Luxembourg folks for the wonderful send off, thanks also to Mum. [View Full Entry]

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Café of Europe! Spa.... Ville d'Eaux, has given rise to the word we all know today. Where Pouhons (source, water wells) run abundant. A French speaking village where the world's first beauty contest was held in the 1800's, once home to English/Catholic dissidents & now Circuit National de Francorchamps- Formula One Grand Prix. It is considered to be one of the most challenging race tracks in the world & a favorite to many race car drivers. Michael Schumacher made his debut here in "91" & began his winning streak the following year from this track. In the early 1900's the German [View Full Entry]

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There was a point at the end of this summer when I realised how very special my last night in Prague was - retiring from the unbearably hot and noisy hostel dormitory to surrender sleep for a second night in a row and dance, for 3 straight hours at that nightclub to my preferred strand of tech house getting the high-energy reception it deserves. This rather inspired me to try and see Silicone Soul live as soon as I can, since I'd been listening to their mixtapes since about last November and hence came my love of tech house. Their gigs [View Full Entry]

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On a visité l'Atonium à Bruxelles (construit pour l'Expo Universelle de 1958, première exposition Universelle après la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale...) et on a passé l'après midi à Brugges, l'une des plus belles villes que j'ai vu! [View Full Entry]

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Magnifique fin de semaine à Bruxelles et Brugges avec des amis de l'école... on a eu un bon rabais avec des billets de dernière minute en autobus...on s'est rendus de Utrecht à Bruxelles en 2h30 et de Bruxelles à Brugges en une heure... On a tellement mangé qu'on aurait pu revenir à la maison en ROULANT! Chocolat (souvent on pouvait y gouter gratuitement!) Moules & Frites, Biere, Gauffres....mmm.... [View Full Entry]

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Beste familie en vrienden/Dear family and friends: One of the nice bonuses to this exchange is having the opportunity to do things like catch up on my reading and exercise for fun--things I didn´t have the time or motivation to do last year. I have read Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, the 2nd and 3rd Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books by Ann Brasheres, Adrian Mole: The Lost Years by Sue Townsend, Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman (I don´t know if that´s been published in America) and I´m in the middle of The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. Our school [View Full Entry]

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