No Pictures Today [now with pictures 6/12/09]

That's not to say that I didn't take any pictures, rather I have no desire to walk the 15 feet to get my camera and back just to upload them.

Last night we had French Class. I will admit I was rather bored...perhaps that's an understatement. Regardless, it was really good to review "je m'appelle" "je suis de Saint Louis" "j'ai dix-neuf ans" etc. ...no that's a lie. That was ridiculous. Lizzi and I aren't going next week because it's way too basic.

We made spaghetti last night as well, which was wonderful. I am not one to stop at the Imbisstand and get something to eat during the day since grocery stores are so much cheaper and more practical. Therefore I think I ate the world famous frites post-Breendonk and then not again until our 10:00 dinner. It may have even been closer to 11:00 when we finished.


The experimental coffee I've been making in the morning is actually quite good, too. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on coffee filters without knowing what size to get, etc., so we are starting with a pack of 36 coffee pods (prepackaged servings of coffee grounds). Each pod makes 2 cups of coffee supposedly, so it's been pretty convenient. I was worried it'd turn out too watery with the hot water getting round the edges of the pods in the filter space, but it tastes fine to me!

Oasis Pêche-Abricot juice is heaven in a bottle. Drink it. By the liter.

Today's class was about the inner workings of the European Union. Gareth introduced it as an incomprehensible mess that we'd probably never understand--quoted from someone whose name escapes me. He then followed it up with a 5-minute summary published to a journal and written by a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) a while ago. Neither of them were exactly correct. The EU is similar to the US government in many ways. However, the 5-minute summary she gave was wholly insufficient. I would not have understood anything about legislative proposal, draft, and passage from her 12-inch article.

Anyway, we no longer follow our syllabus. Four days in and the syllabus is semi-shot. We were unable to meet with the commissioner today after class, didn't have a typical Belgian lunch, and tomorrow we are no longer going to Bruges. With the disorganization we discovered at the start of this trip, this really shouldn't be a surprise. Unfortunately, I really wanted to go to Bruges. We're trying to fit it in this weekend as well as a stop in Antwerp. Funny, though. We didn't realize they're 2-3 hours apart. Must look into that...

After class today, we had until 3:50 to wander around, and so we took the metro down to the Central Station and came up to find la Grand-Place. You've seen pictures, I'm sure, but you can't fully grasp how gorgeous this square is until you see it. I won't pretend I was absolutely floored by it. Italy--particularly Venice and Florence--blow la Grand-Place out of the water. But I was pleasantly surprised by the architecture and overall splendor.


I attempted to buy a raincoat today. Fail. Commerce closed my debit card so I have zero access to money at the moment. That's good, right? The cashier wasn't exactly happy with me. Not my fault.

We had finally made it into the touristy/shopping center of Brussels. I live in Ixelles--the student-y, immigrant-y, well lived-in part of south Brussels. I can find everything I need, to be sure...but no raincoat. I was really excited. Now I have to wait to clear up my bank situation before I can get a proper raincoat...bummer. It was super classy, too.

We returned to the EU district to attend a briefing, given by the undersecretary to one of the EU Commissioners, about EU-US relations. He gave a wonderful and organized talk, but we were all pretty tired and hungry by this point. At least we got some free orange juice, Belgian chocolate, and Commission-branded office supplies out of the deal.


We went to the grocery store to get more dinner supplies. It's really odd to think that we don't even have the basics (although we discovered when we returned home that there is salt still in BOTH salt and pepper shakers) that we take for granted at home. I don't even know what "basics" are, really. We're going to price butter tomorrow if we stay in town--which I think we will for tomorrow night at least.

Dinner was spaghetti again--I love pasta--and salad and french baguette and cheese. We're really good cooks, I must say. Lizzi grilled up some turkey thinking it was chicken. We peeled carrots with a grater and substituted unshaken vinaigrette for olive oil. It all works somewhow.

I think we're in for the night. Our landlord never came by yesterday to pick up our inventory list and the 17 euro we owe him...we're not sure what to do about that because he lives an hour outside of town and doesn't like to come in if he doesn't have to. We finally figured out his email address, though, thanks to Gareth. Maybe Roger'll drop by early next week.

Oh and it's storming again. I still love rain!