Waffles, Chocolate & Beer ... Oh my!

  Brussels, Belgium
Friday, September 26, 2008

Our trip to Belgium was awesome!

We left REALLY early on Thursday morning. The train ride was a painless 2.5 hours compared to all of the miserable hours I spent on buses in Costa Rica! Once we arrived, we had briefings at the EU Parliament and then across town at EU Council. I basically learned that the EU wastes a TON of money on translators every year and that the European nations are a bunch of wimps that will never act quickly on a problem. They did let us see the Parliament room and play in one of the Council rooms, though, which was awesome.

EU Parliament

EU Council

After a long day of meetings, our tour guides did what any good tour guides would do ... take us to the bar for our first Belgian beers! They were delicious by the way ... and paid for by school! I knew that tuition money was going to a good place ;)

Beers at Dinner

Drinking

Friday morning we were up at a much more normal time (thank God). We went to an art museum. Our professor's wife is an art historian, so she showed us the highlights before we headed over to NATO. Crucial facts about NATO - 1. They love rules. 2. They love security. I'd show you some pictures from there, except someone tried to take a picture outside the gates, and they got yelled at. Then they confiscated all our electronics before they actually let us inside. Our first briefing was actually worthwhile. The second was a wasted 2 hours of my life that I will never get back.

About half of our group headed back to the Netherlands after the school part was over ... something about needing to get some school work done? Those of us who stayed (i.e. made the right decision) had a great time. Plus, it was awesome not to have all 13 of us together in one spot for once! Friday night was our first crack at Belgian Waffles (soooooooo good!). Mine had chocolate sauce and ice cream on it!

Waffle w/ Ice Cream

Chowing Down

Later, a few of us went to a bar called Delirium. They hold the Guinness record for most beers on tap ... I think it's 2004 beers? Important fact to note **Belgian beers are more alcoholic than American beers** The least I can say is that we had a fun night!

Beers at Delirium

Saturday morning we headed to Brugge, a small town about an hour away. If you've ever seen the movie "In Brugge" you'll understand why it was a must see. If you haven't seen it, watch it (just know that it's a dark comedy). We went on a canal tour, hung out in some churches, saw a relic, hung out in some bars, bought some chocolate, etc. By the time we got back to Brussels it was time to taste some more Belgian beers. Once again, delicious (you may be seeing a theme).

Church in Brugge 2

Erin and I by the Canal

Brugge Town Square

Wall of Beers

Sunday morning is what some might like to call "painful." However, we couldn't leave Belgium w/o one last waffle. So we made the trek down to the central part of town and got this one.

Final Waffle

I think I gained like 2000000 pounds in Belgium. I'm not allowed to go back ... ever.

Our trip back to the Netherlands was reminiscent of the Costa Rica days. We got on our first train (train 1), and after about 10 minutes they told us we would be delayed due to a technical problem. About 10 minutes later they announced that the breaks on that train didn't work and that we should get on the train on the other side of the platform. So we did (train 2). About 20 minutes in to the ride, they announced that if you were going to The Hague or Amsterdam that you should get off at the next stop and proceed to another train. So we did (train 3). As we pulled away, they announced that at the next stop everyone should get off the train and onto a bus because they were doing maintenance on the tracks. So we did (bus 1). We had a nice tour of the Belgian/Netherlands border and were on the bus for about 45 minutes. It pulled up at a train station and we all got off the bus. They gave us no directions, so we headed inside and tried to figure out how to get home from there. After a lot of confusion we finally found a train that went directly to Leiden instead of having to transfer trains again. So after 4 trains and a bus ride we finally made it back to Leiden (about 2 hours later than planned).

This week has basically been trying to catch up on sleep and school work from the chaotic/fun weekend, but it was well worth it!

I'm sure you're tired of reading, but just a few more thing to add:
- One of the girls in our group has decided to drop out of the program. So now we are down to 12 ... Crazy!
- Thanks to everyone at KEG for the notes!!! They certainly made me smile after a terrible midterm on Tuesday! You guys are the best!
- They don't like mullets in Belgium as much as they do in the Netherlands. So, no new pictures on the mullet front, but there are a lot of the rest of the trip

Have a good weekend!
Becca