Hallo van België!

---

Dear friends,

I 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 Brabant) in Flanders, (the Dutch-speaking part of) Belgium.

I graduated high school in the States last year, but I have wanted travel to Europe ever since I was younger and read Bloomability by Sharon Creech (about an American girl who goes to school in Switzerland), and this dream was reinforced by seeing the movie A Little Romance last year (about an American girl falling in love with a French boy in Paris). I wanted to take some time to travel and find out more about the world and about myself before I went to college; however, this still seemed like a pipe dream until I applied to YFU, was very grateful to receive a scholarship, and was able to travel here.

I love it here so far! Just to see the beautiful old buildings--churches and town halls, cathedrals and universities--is amazing. The weather, despite the great amounts of rain, is very kind to us. The food is absolutely delicious (probably more on that later). I am living with a host family that consists of my host mom Marijke, my host dad Wim, and my host sisters Annemie (almost 21) and Liesbet (19, who just came back from a year in America with YFU). We have been to Bruges/Brugge together as well as Leuven, a shopping mall, and the mini-Europa park in Brussel(s). We also eat dinner together and watch TV together in the evenings. In the place of K-dramas, I now am addicted to Home and Away, an Australian soap opera that is broadcast here with Dutch subtitles. I really love my host family and the adventure of being here! Even though I am going to high school again, in a way, it is both a learning experience and an opportunity to meet new and friendly people.

I do miss everyone back home, and worry about you guys a lot. But I am so so grateful to be here because it is both a tour of a beautiful country and a chance to make myself a better person. And eat a lot of Luikse wafels and choco!

I have to run to church choir now 😊 but I will certainly write--and post pictures--later!

Dag,
Anna

---