Hotel Beauregard Namur

Bonjour, Verwelkoming, Guten Tag and welcome to our first European adventure!!!

Since our last blog, we hadn't really done anything until last weekend; therefore this whole blog will be about our weekend in Belgium...

We booked a Christmas Markets tour to Brussels and Brugge which began on Saturday morning (7am – which made it my 4th day in a row waking up at 530am). Our bus left from Victoria Station and we made our way to Dover to catch the ferry ...

... night and off on my way the next day. So we had a coffee, then said goodbye and I ventured back to the hotel to grab my bag and find my hostel. Surprisingly it was really close and easy to find, so that was all good, and I relaxed and got myself organised for leaving the day after to go to Lübeck where I have relatives and where I would be staying for about a week before heading back to Milan to meet Mum, Dad and Sam again!

... pear trees. The inside has some very beautiful designs that they've done themselves, including sort of mud daubed walls with all natural dyes and some walls of bamboo.
They had some family guests along with me and we had a barbeque outside since we are still enjoying great weather everywhere I go.

On Sunday we drove to the center of Namur and drove and walked around the citadel that looks down over the Sambre and Meuse Rivers. We then went down into the heart ...

... really downhill....Two little kids put some stones on the path next to the basketball court and that infuriated Sonia, so off she went, over to tell them off, started yelling at them to clean it up now and was quite rude to them. She walked off and threatened a fight - with little kids, I mean have some heart! Anyway after that we went home because the basketball was spoiled by a freaking pointless fight between Sonia and these two little kids. First thing Sonia did ...

... did impromptu orals - they had about 5-10 mins to write it, and then had to get up and say it. OK I thought they were pretty well done on the whole, like, to interpret a text (of Shakespearian era) is not easy, but to do it in so little time as well. But anyway, the teacher was quite the contraire and the second the kids looked down onto the notes they'd taken she told them to stop reading and be a better presenter. She even stopped one girl because she was "reading too ...

... eng. We watched B13 - an action movie for Pol, but it was all in French with no subtitles so I battled, and we watched The Shining, a horror movie for me : ) which had a bizarre ending I'm still trying to work out. Need to watch that one again. Anyway, thats all for now, but a night of English was bloody great : ) I guess I'm going to try and study the science that they all learnt before I came, because they have a test Monday and for some reason the teacher ...

... the hostel and just read the rule booklet. Rule after rule after rule. It was the orientation weekend, which would have been okay if we had not already had the same session before we left. The only interesting part was meeting the others there, as there were people from Aus, Brazil, Venezuela and Germany. So I have very little to report to you about this weekend except this cute little photo :) Love you all, xoxoliza

... eine Sitzung ueb** den V**kauf wurde gestu**mt. Und gest**n kam in meine letzte Vorlesung eine aufgeloeste Studi**endenschaftsfuehr**in reingeplatzt und b**ichtete ueb** eine kurzfristig angesetzte neue V**handlungsrunde des "administrativen Konzils" - fu** den naechsten Tag, 7:30. Also heute. Da ich dachte, da wa**e es wirklich wichtig, dass einige frueh aufstehen, tat ich ebendas und war ueb**rascht, etwa 30 and**e Studenten zu ...

... city. So around 4:00 pm we bid the city of Paris "adu" & headed off for Belgium. The train right was quite comfortable and a GREAT deal shorter than the train from Madrid to Paris. For the next four weeks, our group will be staying in a brand new youth hostel in Leuven, which is about a 10 minute train ride to the east of Brussels. I got a funny feeling the moment I got off of the train - this place just felt like home ...

... I found my compartment with no trouble. In the best night train traditions the door to the compartment was closed and the curtains drawn. I barged in and the woman lying across my seat begrudgingly moved her legs to allow me to sit down. I had fond memories from my Inter Railing days of luxurious German trains where the soft and comfy seats slid down to form a bed every bit as good as the more expensive couchettes. Unfortunately this must have been a ...