 How refreshing it is to see a familiar face in a foreign place! I realized this over the weekend when my best friend from home, Maris, came to visit me in Brussels for the weekend with her friend Sessie. She and Sessie are studying in Strasbourg, France for the weekend, and they made the trek to Belgium on Friday evening. We spent Saturday exploring the downtown area. Wandering the side streets near Grand Place, we happened to stumble upon what is quite possibly the most amazing vintage shop that I have ever seen. It’s called “episode,” and it has everything from old Converse sneakers to quirky pantsuits. Old t-shirts and fabrics have been re-worked into unique dresses, tops, etc. It was honestly a shopping paradise! Somehow, I managed to walk out of there with only two items…I was quite impressed with my self-restraint!We were fortunate enough to meet up with Jennie, my friend from Furman, as well. She was in Brussels for the day with one of her friends from Groningen, so the two of them joined us for our shopping adventure.
 Of course, I had to take the girls to see the legendary Mannekin Pis. It was actually a very special day because the statue was decked out in “World Diabetes Day” garb for the 14th of November. It was absolutely surreal to see this Brussels icon promoting the cause that I have been working on for the past few months. Two of my co-workers from IDF happened to be at the fountain filming a promotional video for World Diabetes Day, and Sessie and I appeared on film to discuss the cause. It really meant a lot to me that she was willing to contribute.
After our World Diabetes Day adventure, I showed them the shopping district of downtown Brussels. It was absolutely bustling with people on a busy Saturday afternoon, so they really got to witness the insanity.
 We were pretty exhausted from navigating the crowds, so we took a break back in the apartment with a Chinese food dinner and some cheesy television. We were lucky enough to catch a British game show called “Hole in the Wall” – one of the strangest competitions that I have ever watched.
We began our Saturday night out with a trip to the Delirium alley. We eventually made our way to the Central Station after hearing rumors of a free party in the train station. Of course, I curiosity got the best of us, so we at least had to check out the scene. Stepping out into the station, we heard thumping music and saw swarms of police officers and drunken teenagers. Apparently, this is a famous annual event with renowned DJs who I would not be able to identify. After scoping out the crazy scene and realizing it was not worth waiting out in the rain and bracing the crowd for an undetermined amount of time, we headed back toward Grand Place to go dancing at Le Corbeau. This was a wonderful choice as the bar/club had a decent crowd and a spectacular music selection ranging from Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” to Grease’s “You’re the One That I Want.” It was a splendid night in Brussels, indeed.
 On Sunday morning, I took Maris and Sessie to the Place Jourdan Sunday market to see the wide variety of stands and to get coffee in a nearby shop. It was a relaxing way to start the day and give them a taste of authentic Brussels traditions.
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching Mad Men in the apartment before the girls departed back to France. Oh how we’ve missed the joys of vegging out with American TV together. It is certainly an underrated pleasure.From dancing to chilling and everything in between, it was absolutely one of my favorite weekends in Brussels with two wonderful girls!
 This weekend, my friend Jennie from Furman came to visit us in Brussels! She is spending the fall semester studying in Groningen, a town in the Netherlands. She hopped a train and arrived on Friday night. We promptly took her downtown to meet up with some people from Vesalius and show her around.The Vesalius Student Government sponsored "Pub Golf" - a tour of the pubs in downtown Brussels. Some people were very into it, dressed up as golfers and gallivanting about. It was really entertaining. We separated from the group at one point in search of somewhere to dance. We ended up at a bar called Celtica. Downstairs, a man was jamming on his guitar to sweet tunes like "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. Upstairs, the lights were flashing and MTV videos were playing and music was thumpin. So, in a group of 5 Furman girls, we just danced. It was really entertaining and fun, and even more so when funny European boys approached us and we laughed at them. One asked where I was from, I replied, "The US." Apparently, this made him very pleased. He excitedly shouted at me, "I'm from Ireland!" It was very comical. What's funny about the dancing here is that it really is not nearly as provocative as some of the dancing that I've seen back in the States. Here, people just kind of bop around in their own little area, occasionally moving closer to a dance partner. But there really isn't as much "grinding," which is rather refreshing. It's funny to me that the advertisements are much more sexual and PDA's are much more prevalent when compared to the US, but the dancing etiquette is a bit more conservative. My friends and I agreed on this, and found this to be an interesting observation. After dancing for a bit, we stopped to get Jennie some Belgian frites with mayonnaise - a delightful treat. All in all, it was a pretty fun night.On Saturday, we decided to show Jennie some of the sights near our apartment. It was a beautiful day weather wise - warm and mid-70s, so we thought we would take advantage. We took her to the European Parliament buildings, and walked her through Parc Leopold, and then on to Cinquantenaire (the park with the giant archway). For dinner, we ordered some authentic Belgian Chinese food and had it delivered. It was surprisingly delicious! Later on, we took her to Grand Place to see all of the beautiful buildings lit up at night. We set her up with a true Belgian waffle and a Duvel beer so that she could get the full experience. We also took her to Delirium, an international style bar with over 2000 types of beer. There were lots of Americans and international visitors there, so it was a fun atmosphere.Today is a day for getting work done, unfortunately. We leave for Venice on Thursday, so I'm trying to get as much done as I can before then. It's funny because Jennie says that her classes are relatively easy (in one of them, 80% of the grade is based on attendance), and most of them are cancelled. In comparison, we have barely had any free time between internships and Vesalius classes. It puts into perspective for me just how much I am pushing myself on the trip, and I really appreciate how much I am learning - not just in my classes, but in daily living and working in a foreign city.Brussels has designated today "car free" day in the city. There are hoards of people just walking in the middle of the streets, and riding their bikes, and playing music, and being very loud outside of our building. It is certainly entertaining. Let's hope I can actually muster up the strength to be somewhat productive!
|
RSS Feed