Note to all Men: Pointed Shoes are Classy

It's true. I saw a young gentleman wearing pointed patent leather shoes in the Brussels airport this morning going through Customs and decided that the look suited him--very classy; everyone should adopt it.

On another note: the story of my travels across the pond.


I left my house Sunday morning around 9:30 St. Louis time and got to the airport a bit before 10am. Getting checked in wasn't difficult--although I hate those online tickets with online confirmation and online printing--and neither was saying goodbye to my family. The difficult part was that by the time I got through the screening and to the gate at about 10:30, I still had 2 full hours before my plane was to leave, time to kill before Brandon showed up, and 2 flights still to board and depart before mine even hit the gate.

I'm rereading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It's interesting because the first time around I had difficulty getting into it but later on was able to consider it one of my favorite books. Now I had no difficulty getting into it, but am having second thoughts about her writing style. I hated her Prodigal Summer for a reason... still Poisonwood Bible is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.

Two hours later Brandon and I loaded up on our hour-and-ten-minute flight to Atlanta, which went without a hitch. We met up with Lizzie and Nicole within 20 minutes of our landing and reaching our next gate, and sat for an additional 2 hours before that plane was to even begin boarding. All of us ate a last bit of Mexican (Qdoba for those interested) since we'd been warned that Brussels either doesn't have any or what it does have is complete crap.

The international flight was:
a) long
b) boring
c) uneventful
d) mildly entertaining
e) all of the above

Please choose option e.

After 8 hours in the air, 3 hours of non-consecutive sleep, 70 more pages in Poisonwood Bible, a cranky flight attendant who was complaining that people thought she was Latina, and another two portions of disgusting airline food...we hit ground in Bruxelles, Belgium, the Captial of Europe. The time was 8:22am.

We were met outside customs by our chauffer, who took us in a massive minivan to our flat on Rue Gray. To be exact, he took us to Rue Gray 105. Brandon was to be staying further down the street in Rue Gray 238. The driver dropped us off and left to take Brandon to his apartment after we'd been let in the door by Mizzou Professor Overby.

Funny story. So we are in the front hall of this apartment with all our stuff and no way to get into our rooms (Overby didn't have keys for us, since he's not the landlord). Not 10 minutes later, Brandon shows up with all of his stuff, too. Why? No one was even there to let him in Rue Gray 238. So the four of us camped out in the front hall of 105 for 2 full hours [I'm sensing a pattern of 2s] before a woman opened the door and bluntly told us we were in the wrong building.

How could we be in the wrong building? For 3 months we'd been told the girls would stay in 105 and Brandon would be in 238. The driver had directions to 105. Did we not pay for housing at 105?

Furthermore this woman, Christina as she told us she was called, was peeved that she had waited outside 238 since 9:00 to let us in. No, woman, you didn't. Brandon and the driver were at Rue Gray 238 well after 9:00 and you were not there. Regardless, we all moved back down to 238 where our landlord Roger graciously showed us in and around.

The flat is beautiful and nothing like what I expected. Later, when Gareth showed up to go over the course program and syllabus, he described it as "palatial," which is exactly fitting compared to what I thought we'd be assigned. Currently Nicole and I share a room and Lizzie's upstairs. Pictures to come--hopefully before the place looks like a complete mess.


We went out to lunch with Gareth to a small pizzeria--I'm already utilizing my French!--that served absolutely wonderful pizza! I'd not say it's as good as true Italian pizza, but it's certainly up there. Who would have thought to put potato slices on pizza? Everyone should try it. Potatoes and Oregano methinks.

I'm in dire need of a map, less so of a phone, more so of a fundamental knowledge of the area.

This is going to be a very long week, but it's going to be very well worth the pains of jet lag and unfamiliarity! Love and miss you all!

Becky