Brussels, Bruges, & Bremen

Belgium:
Belgium was absolutely amazing...

When we were in Brussels, we just happened to stumble upon Belgium's annual beer festival. I have never tried so many different beers in one weekend.... and they were all good in their own way. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back to American beer now. We also met a ton of people from all over the world, including a guy walking around in a UT shirt (yes, we bonded over our love for our alma mater). My favorite people were a group of older English men we met. I don't know if I've ever laughed that much in my life. The English have a very witty, sarcastic sense of humor and I absolutely love it. (We actually met some more English men in Bremen yesterday, and they made my day again. I don't know what it is, but everything they say I find hilarious). Nothing beats their accent either.

We also saw the European Parliament, toured the Royal Palace, ate at the "Best Fry Stand in the World" (which, by the way, definitely lives up to its reputation), and tried our first Belgian waffle (their secret is they cook the sugar on the inside...delicious). And we couldn't leave Belgium without buying ridiculous amounts of Belgian chocolate. I refuse to think of how many calories we ingested in one weekend.

Saturday night we took a one hour train ride to Bruges. (Have you seen the movie In Bruges? Yeah, the city is exactly like that hahah). Sunday morning we climbed the 366 steps to the top of their Bell Tower and saw some amazing views of the city. We also took a canal tour of the city, but spent most of our day at a local brewery trying more local Belgian beer. "When in Rome..." right? The weather was perfect, and all in all, it was my favorite trip so far.



Other news:
-- 3 Italian teenage girls moved into the empty room next to mine for 3 weeks. They speak very little English and less German, so I haven't found out too much about them yet.... except that they like to use my bathroom products. soooo now everything is in my room. ugh.

-- I've already worn all my "winter clothes".... in August and September. The weather here is one thing that is very hard for me to get used to. I just purchased a rain jacket, but I still need to get a good winter coat, boots, etc. or I am going to freeze real soon.

-- Dyed my hair brown. Why not?

-- Bike was stolen. I asked for it though. Left it sitting in front of the language school with a flat tire for a little too long haha.... whoops.

-- Next week I have to give an oral presentation (in German, of course) about any topic I want. I chose German wine culture, which seems to fit perfectly since I'm moving to Germany's wine region soon. Should be interesting.

-- Stayed in Bremen for once this past weekend and had a lot of fun. Especially when we went salsa dancing (or attempted to salsa dance) with our German friend. We also went bowling this week at a place that was about 20 years behind on bowling technology. It was pretty amusing. Won Bingo at a bar. Ate at an amazing Greek restaurant (I think I'm getting a little better at branching out of my sheltered eating patterns). Went to the Universum (interactive science museum about the universe) which had some pretty cool exhibits. Seems like there is always something going on...

-- Made Cincinnati chili for some Germans. My friend Helen and I cooked two batches of it for 5 people and it was all gone so I'm guessing they liked it. It was nice to taste a little bit of home. Oh, and the cheddar cheese cost 9 Euro alone. The beef would have too, but the lady at the deli was nice and gave us a kilogram for only 5 Euro. It was funny trying to figure out the conversions (If we need 6 cups, how many liters is that? Well a pint is this many liters, wait... how many cups are in a pint?? crap!)

-- Next weekend Germany is having the largest wine festival... in the world. You can guess where I'll be.... that is, if we find somewhere to stay. If not, I'm sure we'll find another interesting adventure. Berlin for the weekend? Hamburg? Copenhagen? The possibilities are endless... and I love it.

Picassa Album is updated with pictures. Check it outttt.