http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Belgium , Flemish Brabant , Leuven en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:18:36 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:18:36 UTC J.M.J.T. Dear family and friendsLondon and Paris were both fantastic Indeed I feel like I am settling into such a nice routine balancing leisure with schoolwork with friends and family. I am sorry it has taken me so long but here are some pictures from London along with some miscellaneous pictures I have not posted before. Paris is forthcoming http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-340063.html J.M.J.T. Dear family and friendsTomorrow morning I leave for LONDON with my friend Astrid from school. Astrid's dad lives in London and we are going to stay with him. I am going to be there until Thursday afternoon then I leave Friday morning for Paris with my host family.Needless to say I am sooooo excited Remember those days dear family when all I would do all day was mope around th http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-338556.html Dear family and friendsI am a lazy procrastinator but every day gets a little better. I am taking a little break right now because I just wrote two and a half pages of my history paper about the American government system. Would you believe Im back to writing about John Marshall judicial review and current events Some things change so much and others not at all.This weekend I spent a lovely http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-337077.html Beste familie en vriendenDear family and friendsOne of the nice bonuses to this exchange is having the opportunity to do things like catch up on my reading and exercise for funthings I didnt 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 Town http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-332347.html Dear ReadersSo I know it is going to be a bit hard to update this as frequently as Id like what with homework posting pictures on Facebook which I still need to do yikes keeping up with correspondence Lexi youre next and actually living life in Belgium but I really want you guys to be able to read this so I will do my bestI am really grateful for my host sisters Annemie and Liesbet. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-328316.html Dear friendsI have been in Belgium since 8 August but this is my first opportunity to post a travel blog entry. I am an exchange student through Youth for Understanding YFU and I am from New Jersey USA. I am in Belgium until late December semester program. I am living in the town of Heverlee which is a municipality of the larger city of Leuven in the province of Vlaams Brabant Flemish B http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-325618.html Hi guys I'm so sorry I've been MIA for the last few weeks. I hope you didn't think that I's forgotten about you I've just been so busy So hopefully this will update you a bit on my first two weeks and I promise from now on I'll be better about keeping in touch. So after my flight got canceled I took a second trip to the airport on the 27th. My first flight landed in Dulles Washington which I http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-323109.html Having never kept a blog before when I started this one I wasn't sure how it would go. I've never really been comfortable with the concept of sharing daytoday personal reflections on the LiveJournal model what would I say Would I keep up with it Despite a couple of big gaps I'm happy to say it has been kept up and in the end has been a good way for me to process and digest the trip. I've b http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-321529.html There's a lot of evidence to suggest that I don't understand the concept of blogging. Aren't blogs supposed to be a regular thing the blogger posting weekly or even daily during the some event or trip so others can share the experience It's been more than a month since my last post in fact there's been nothing since I got on the train... I apologize. As things turned out it was harder than I' http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-321521.html De voorbereidingen voor mijn reisjes naar Japan kunnen starten. Het belangrijkste is reeds gebeurd en dat is het boeken van de vluchten. Binnen welgeteld 16 dagen zit ik voor de eerste keer op het vliegtuig naar Japan van 8 augustus 19 augustus. Twee maandjes later ga ik voor een tweede keer maar dan voor een volle maand 25 oktober 25 november.In augustus zijn we Jerome en ik van plan o http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-307454.html Certainty The thing about traveling is that it gives you the change just to lay back and and do the things you want to do through escaping our daily serious lives. For me and Mathias my friend that will be joining me it means no more cost accounting me or making complex engineering designs of apartment blocksMathias. But is it just that running away from lifeWell for some people it actu http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-292773.html InterexamPrePrePrePrevacationday dreams For weeks a friend and I have been thinking about going on vacation somewhere in the world. Restrictions for this endeavor are budget travelexpensesapprox. euro700 location somewhere hot purpose pleasure by culture and relaxation Unfortunately at this time in the present day now we are experiencing a period in our lives that every http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-284954.html Hello to everybody reading this blogI can imagine that you are more interested in my travel experiences some call it adventures rather than in my person so I will keep this short I am just a normal guy working as a teacher in Brussels taking every chance he gets to discover a part of the world. As I shortly will turn 40 my way of moving around the world has changed a bit during the years http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-227991.html I should have been here by now settled and learning how to temper dark vs. milk chocolate and finding out firsthand that white chocolate actually smells kinda bad when you're tempering it.But no. I donrsquot even have a place to live yet. I was in Leuven again for less than 48 hours although I planned on staying for a week but before that it was for a month at least in the hotel I booked. I http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-216861.html Having the privilege of avoiding any 'real life' responsibilities read jobs one thing we really wanted to do was spend some quality time with friends and family during our trip to Europe. First stop .. a return to Hendrix's birthplace Belgium.My big brother Gordon and his partner Ingrid live in a cute wee village called Wakkerzeel just outside Leuven famous for being the home of Stella Arto http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-202411.html I got back from Belgium yesterday afternoon after a busy Saturday.After my flight from Copenhagen was delayed and I finally got back into Leuven I sprinted towards the chocolate shop after dropping my bags off at the hotel in Leuven.I slowed down a bit and then stopped when I saw the shingle outside since I kind of knew that what was about to happen would impact my life pretty profoundly for the http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-196569.html Two weeks ago we moved into our newest home. It is amazing. It is only around the corner from where we used to be but it is HUGE and full of all sorts of character which our last apartment was lacking. We now have a big living room with a fire place for some chairs. We have a big dining room also with a fire place and a small galley style kitchen. We have a lot more counter and cabinet s http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-196519.html Finally an entry from abroad that actually involves some travel. Your dreams have come true kids it's even better than Christmas morning.I arrived in Belgium this morning here for a few days to talk to the chocolate shop proprietors to iron out the details of my apprenticeship and to find a place to live. It didn't quite turn out the way I thought it would.The chocolate shop is closed until Sat http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-194383.html The sun was shining down on us today Yeah. What a birthday treat for the birthday girl. We made pannenkoeken for breakfast and stuffed them with jelly andor nutella and bananas. Everyone loves that meal. We stayed around the house most of the morning so I could clean up for our first house guest Jonathanrsquos cousin Eric. We walked to the bakery and got a strawberry tart for dessert s http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-188437.html Ok despite Teresa previously mentioning 'Peter Gabriel' this is a particularly strong edition of the Brag Site. Peter Gabriel sucked I can't stress how much he was the suckiest suck that ever sucked Couldn't hold a crowd with 80000 revelers in front of him his unnecessary mic headset and vest didn't help matters... Headed over there in a group of about 20 the first beer was cracked at http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-177697.html Ah France. I was up at 7am and made a pot of coffee and basked in the silence and stillness of the day. It was the only peace I would have until I sat down to write this at 945pm. But what a day. The rest of the family got up at 810 and we were all dressed and out the door at 835. Caught the bus to the train station and a train to Brussels. All smooth sailing. We brought waffles and yogurt dr http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-174635.html Abigail and Eliza napped while Emma did email and played computer games we often have to fight each other to see who gets on. When the girls woke we all played Uno and then I made dinner chicken onion pepper broccoli stir fry with rice. We then walked up to Abdij van Park behind the Phillips Site. It was really cool. I had discovered it a few days earlier while I was out for a walk after http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-172920.html Happy Fatherrsquos Day The kids got up around 8 and had a bowl of cereal. I got dressed and took Eliza to the bakery to get some special pastries for fatherrsquos day. Emma made a card and Abigail made some wrapping paper to wrap his new water bottle up the metal kind he was the only one without a water bottle. We were all out the door and on the bus a little after 10am. At the train sta http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-170580.html WOW This is the most amazing park I have been to. It is very reminiscent of Look Park in Northampton MA but much bigger and with the best play structures around. Zoe and Henry picked us up at about 3 and we smooshed into their car and drove about 15 minutes to get there. The first play area we went to have all sorts of mechanical diggers to lift sand into steel buckets that could be pushed http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-169597.html Today we decided to meet Jonathan close to his office on the grounds of the university We meandered down the street towards the Arenburg Kasteel Castle. The property currently cover 29 hectacres and are filled with all sorts of walking and biking paths. Before World War I the Arenburg family could supposedly walk from the Atlantic Ocean to the Czech Republic and never leave their own land. Afte http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-168769.html We got up around 9am and scrambled to catch the bus at 1018 to the train station. Everyone had a quick bite to eat and we made it. We bought our train tickets to Gent 11 euros roundtrip for Jonathan and I and the kids were free. We caught the 1035 train and were on our way. We read a few chapters of Charlottersquos Web on our way and shared some fruit we had packed. The girls had a good tim http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-168030.html We are all getting up a little earlier. Even Emma was up by 930 this morning. Abigail and I went to the local bakery about 2.5 blocks away and picked up some yummy pastries for breakfast. It is a gray and rainy day but we thought we would head out anyways and maybe go to the flea market. It rained a little bit off and on at the beginning of our day. The kids were initially a little concerned http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-168029.html Eliza was up at 9am this morning. So early I went for a run for about 25 minutes. Still didnrsquot feel great and canrsquot seem to get back into my usual routine. At least I am walking a lot during the day. Jonathan went to work around 1030 and the girls and I had a slow morning around the apartment. A little before noon we took off for the Grote Markt by the town hall. We found some postc http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Flemish-Brabant/Leuven/blog-168026.html