Well, everyone from the short couse left yesterday, so today I decided to see a new town. Got up this morning and hit an open air market for coffee and a pastry. Wandered around Gent for a while and then went to another market for a half dozen oysters and a glass of wine. Then I hopped a train to Ieper (Dutch, Ypres in French), which was where some very significant fighting took place during WWI. Unfortunately the "In Flanders Fields"museum was closed until February, but I still saw St. Martin's Cathedral, the Menin Gate which is a monument listing the [View Full Entry]

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For the first two weeks I was in Belgium I participated in the Renewable Biomaterials Intensive Program. It was a ten day series of lectures on various aspects of green chemistry, sustainability, renewable materials, etc. The course was amazing. Professors from all over Europe and the U.S. came to lecture, and a very wide range of topics were covered. Everything from supercritical fluid extraction, to biodiesel, to biodegradeable plastic cups, to wood preservation without the use of arsenic. I've been involved with renewable resources, biodiesel specifically, for a couple of years now [View Full Entry]

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Bonsoir, You have no idea how bizarre the belgium keyboard is. You have to press shift to type a number, about half the keys are in the same place, but then the other half is all over the friggin place (the "q" is where the "a" is supposed to be, so if I mess up a lot with that you know why), and I canùt figure out how to type the "at" key. Every time I want to type it I have to copy and paste it from elsewhere. If you only knew how long it is taking to type this. [View Full Entry]

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The last night in Paris was an amazing cultural experience as well. However, not a french experience...a German one. We met a 30 year old German dude who is finishing up his last year getting a PhD in neurology. We talked for 3 hours about social issues and politics. It was amazing to hear his account of the reunification, etc. Also, it was fun to talk about the differences in perspectives of history (esp. WWII). Although, it doesn't seem that the Germans try to ignore or skew the past. Regardless of the details (which I could write a book about, but [View Full Entry]

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No trip to Belgium is complete without a trip to Brussels, so I went with Daniel and Dr. King, both from the U of A. We took a train to Brussels Central, got off, and started walking around. We walked past the royal palace, down to the Grote Markt (Grand Place), saw Manneken Pis, and had a late lunch of what else...mussels. [View Full Entry]

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Well knowing Luke and I of course a weekend away to a European country is going to include exciting times and of course small problems too. To put it another way, we almost didn't even make it there!!! Now I don't wanna point the finger of blame at anyone in particular (largely because it was my fault!). To start off with, we got up a little too late (ahem...Luke) and were rushing around to get ready in only half an hour before we had to walk to the train station. In the kafuffle and rush, it was only when we were [View Full Entry]

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So it's still Saturday, the second day of my time in Belgium. It's about 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon. I've been touring Brugge all day, there's only about an hour or two of light left...what to do next? Hop a train to Oostende. Oostende is a port city on the North Sea and it is very close to Brugge (everything is close to everything in Belgium). I thought the town was great. Didn't spend much time there, just long enough to walk down to the beach, dip my hand in the North Sea (just to say I did), and walk [View Full Entry]

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I have had it every time. During the days before I leave on a trip I'm getting nervous and ask myself why I decided to go travel alone to some godforsaken countries while I could be relaxing in the comfort of my home... But once I'm on the road I know why! And it won't be any different this time. Preparations were a bit more thorough this time and packing my gear took a lot more time than I expected, but I guess I'm ready now. I will try to keep you posted via this blog from time to time. From [View Full Entry]

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Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst Municipal Museum for Contemporary Art Went to the SMAK on the Friday night that I arrived in Belgium. Fortunately they were having a "Nocturne" (first Friday of every month), so the museum was open late, and admission was free. What can I say about the SMAK? I wasn't sure what to expect from a modern art museum, but I enjoyed it immensely (which kind of surprised me). The artwork exhibited a level of creativity that I've never encountered before. Don't get me wrong...some of it was weird, some of it was disturbing, some of it was [View Full Entry]

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OK. So I've been in Belgium for 24 hours now, what to do next? Hop a train to Brugge. Brugge is a very old Medieval city, with lots of great buildings, streets, towers, and markets. I don't really feel like writing about it right now (honestly, I'm posting this blog about a month after I visited the city) so I'll just show you the photos. You may be wondering about the ice festival. Yes, that was my idea. I found it on the internet before I left the U.S., and I had to go. I know, I know, it's kind of [View Full Entry]

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