Last Full Day

Thursday was our last official, entire full day in Brussels. How do you spend your last day anywhere? For everyone it's different. We spent it on the computer most of the morning until class at 11 where we reviewed the articles we had turned in the night before.

Gareth was critical, but not overly-so. I feel his comments helped me understand how in the world to write more journalistically, since I've never actually done that. Op-Ed is not the same and that's all I've ever done. It's great to hear back on your piece of work.

Then he gave us the lovely news that he doesn't give A's, which I believe is probably connected to the fact that he was a 2.1 student his whole life. He was an average, but never great student, and As should be reserved for the "great." Well, he says we've done well...but anything below an A will shoot down my GPA. Ah well.

We then had a "typical Belgian lunch" (cue chorus of: That's so Belgian!) at a little restaurant off Place Fernand Coq called Volle Gas. It was delicious. I had Chocun au gratin which was essentially endives in a cream sauce and mashed potatoes blended with herbs and vegetables. I could eat that all the time. But it left me feeling quite full.

Gareth was kind enough to cover that meal for us, which was unexpected but quite helpful since it cost around €13 and I had €17 on me. The four of us said goodbye to the Welshman and took the bus down to Grand Place for some last-minute souvenir shopping. Souvenir shops are all the same no matter where you go. Worthless. But I did find Barclay a birthday present while I was there. I guess that's a success.

There was some event being set up in the Grand Place while we were there. Lots of temporary stadium seating and then a stage with the royal chairs on it. I wouldn't call them thrones, but if that's your term of choice go for it. Lizzi asked a police officer what was going on and his response was "something important." He spoke at length, but essentially that's all he said.

We did take time to run by the Mannequin Pis--the famous fountain of a little boy peeing. We'd come across it during our first trip to Delirium (this is to show how lost we were, for you native Brussels inhabitants), but it was dark and I didn't take pictures. It's much funnier in the daylight to be sure. Word has it there are a dozen or so of these scattered around Brussels, including a female one--she's squatting. I didn't find any others, but I think I can live with that. Next time I'm here, I'll go on a city-wide scavenger hunt for all the Mannequins Pis.

Bus ride back to Flagey where we saw a concert going on. It looked to be more band-practice than actual concert. Partly because no one was listening except for a few girls dancing and partly because things were being moved around on stage and the lights crew was in a cherrypicker adjusting his appliances. I tried to go back later that night to see what was going on, but the concert had ended. Or perhaps it wasn't even for Thursday. Either way, nothing was going on.

We hung out around the apartment for a while, enjoying the cooler temperature inside. Outside it was a staggering 88 degrees or so. Gareth likes to comment on how hot it is by giving us temperatures that are supposed to make our jaws drop or something of that nature. The problem, though, is that he does so in Celsius. Sorry, American's don't think that way.

Nicole and I then made a trip up to Neuhaus near Place Jourdan to buy chocolate for Brad and his family. Since he's offering up his house to us for two nights, we figured that would be good--Belgian chocolate straight from Belgium itself. But the fact that it has a German name does somewhat bother me.

My last souvenirs were inside Lidl. Rachel and Barclay will understand when I bring them home. So we got them and left for home. I spent from whatever time that was (at least 7 by this point) until midnight working on my homework--listing 10 differences between the US and Europe. Listing them isn't really that hard; nor is going into detail about those differences. I have no idea why that took me so long. I got really, really distracted. And at some point Nicole, Lizzi, Brandon, and Brandon's roommate Marcus all left to go out. I promised to catch up with them later. But when I finished at 11:40, emailed it in, and actually thought about it, I realized that I hadn't yet packed for Paris, hadn't cleaned the apartment, which I had planned to do, and didn't have anything important charged like my phone or my camera or my iPod.

So all that took precedence. Laundry was going, I was sweeping the entire ground floor, and I wiped down the counter and the table. It was pretty nasty, actually. Cleaning the bathrooms I didn't have the heart to do since they're just going to get dirty again in the time that we're here. I did a half-ass job and then called it quits. At some point in the cleaning though, I finally got a call through to Mom where we discussed plans for Monday, of which there are many.

Not to mention, the entire night I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for an email from Tiffany. It never came. I think that was my biggest distraction, actually. Obsessive compulsively checking my email every minute.

Around 2 I realized that going out would now be pointless so I went to bed instead. And that is how you spend your last day in Brussels. Exciting? Not really. But it was a good last day.

[pictures to be added]