Arrival in Brussels

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Bonjour or Hallo (depending on whether your Wallonian or Flemish),

I finished packing this morning and then I got a ride out to the airport where I had 3 hours to kill before my flight took off. The Canucks games was on, but it was only playing on 3 small tvs in the Milestones that they have inside the airport. I didn't want to pay for a drink ($6 hello!?!?!?!?) so I sat on the regualr chairs outside the bar. I was just getting comfortable when "Peter Wright, please come to Gate 71". Oh no, what have I done now!?!?!? I booked it over to the gate and they were wondering I had been assigned two seats. Seeing as how I am long and narrow rather than short or wide, there did not appear to be an apparent reason as to why I had been assigned the seats so they decided to revoke one and give it to someone else.

I boarded the plane, it wasn't a Boeing or and Airbus for the first time ever, without a hitch. The flight itself was quite talented actually. I knew it was going to be a good flight when the pilot came on to describe his flight path to Amsterdam. "I'm going to take off, make a couple of left turns, and then we'll be there." Priceless!!!

My row was empty when I got on, so I kept hoping that no one would join me for takeoff. The plane lifted off and I was the only one sitting in the row so I was ecstatic. After an hour or so, a little old lady took the far seat in the row. It wasn't a problem because she was friendly and I helped her set up her dinner tray and tv. An hour or so later, another women came up and took te middle seat next to me so I had lost my entire row in the space of an hour. I was dreading sleep. I was right to dread it. I did manage to get a couple of hours or so, but can't fathom how I achieved that as I had the seat across from the toilet and everybody decided they would try to use it at the same time and in light of it being in use, discussion ensued. Finally, people began to shuffle back to their seats and I was able to drift off for a little bit. When I awoke, I watched "The Reader". If you have not seen it, I thoroughly recommend watching it as it is a fantastic film!

I arrived at Schipol airport in Amsterdam, which wasn't as nice as I remembered it being from the last time I was there in 2001. I caught my connection without any problems and I arrived in Brussels 30 minutes later. The only reason I think the plane took 30 minutes to get from A to B was because it had to up and over the buildings in Rotterdam as there is really nothing monumental on between the two cities.

The airport in Brussels was easy to navigate, but it required a lot of walking and is really unattractive. Interestingly, there would many posters for EU Paliamentary elections that are happening across Europe in early June. One such ad I found interesting was one that asked whether people wanted the EU's borders as either a fortified wall, or a hedge-row. An interesting juxtoposition of politics. But I digress...

I made it to the hotel alright, and I met up with Viktoria who is also on the study tour and a subsequent internship as I am. I wandered around the area near the hotel, which is in a very swanky area on the hill just inside the new town.

I slept fairly poorly last night, not due to jetlag or anything logical like that, but more due to the lover's quarrel that was happening on the ground outside the window. I walked to the past the EU area to the area called Etterbeek where I will be staying. I actually got lost en route because I didn't have a map and I got went down the wrong street. I asked in a shop, and I was directed to the street where my accomodation for the internship is. I met the person I'm renting from, who has to be one of the smallest people I have ever met! I signed a contract, something new for me, but it was in French so I'm relly hoping I didn't sign away my first born ir anything like that! It's a large house and I even have a tapestry on the wall in my room!!! I'm excited about the place, but I won't be living there until the start of June. For the mean time, hotels will have to do.

When I got back to the hotel, the twins Ally and Christina had arrived. We went for a walk down to the Old Town and wandered past the Eglise Notre Dame le Sablon on our way to the Grand Place. Fittingly, there was a large Tintin image in the middle of the square. After the Grand Place, we got some food and wandered back to the hotel to try and sort out the room situation. We had some success, and we were content with that.

Bye for now,

Things I've learned in Brussels:
-There is more dog crap on the ground than Paris!
-There are Belgian waffle stands everywhere. The smell is intoxicating.
-Tintin is on everything: the ground, the walls and the ceilings!

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Comments

[Ladan]

I thought Tintin was French....20 year of my life I've been living a lie.