Another month, gone.

So, my updates have been... sporadic, at best this past month. With school, a new family, and just life in general taking their respective courses, I haven't had much time to write. Add that to the fact that the internet at my new house is as moody as all get out. Anyway. Let us begin.

On Tuesday, the 25th, I had to give a speech to Rotary, which included a powerpoint about Loveland and my life in the states. I basically made a slideshow of photos of me and various things/people: horses, my friends, school, my two super awesome French teachers, my family, etc. At the end, I devoted two slides to Loveland: one to the amazing amount of art we have in our little town, and another to the massive event that is Valentine's Day. I think most of the Rotary people enjoyed it, and I was definitely proud of myself for doing it all in French. The biggest gaffe I made was when I forgot how to say "nine" in French. I couldn't remember if it is "neuf" or "nein." It's neuf.

Wednesday I went to Liège to buy a dress for a Rotary dinner (that was Saturday, we'll get there...). I ended up meeting up with Talia, Eduardo, Emma, and Aymeric (a Belgian) for a while, before breaking off to go find my dress. I don't know what it was about Wednesday, but I was incredibly homesick and miserable. The rest of the group and I ended up finding each other again, and Talia really helped me come out of my funk, which was great. We all went to Pizza Hut afterward, and had some delicious pizza, which was amazingly like pizza from back in the states. I'm ashamed to say that I have lost the ability to eat pizza with my hands. :( I'll have to practice when I get home.

I ended up buying a different dress from the one I originally planned. It's much cuter though, and it was on sale. Cue happy Mikayla. :)

Thursday was all set up to be a normal day, but I got lucky and two of my professors weren't at school. What does that mean? Well, in the states, we have substitute teachers. They don't do that here in Belgium. If a teacher is sick and not coming to school, class is simply cancelled. So, since my two teachers weren't there, I finished school at 10 am. I had finished at that time on Wednesday as well, which means I had two days of relaxation, honestly.

Friday, I went to Brussels with my host mom's neice, Marie. We went to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts (yes, the same one I went to with Jordan) and toured the Modern Art exhibit. It was a lot of fun just talking to someone new. Marie doesn't speak English, so I spoke in French with her all day long. It was good practice. :) We also walked around the Grand Place in Brussels a little bit, and I saw the Manneken Pis again. Did you know that there's a Jannekin Pis, too? The Manneken Pis is a boy, the Jannekin Pis is a girl.

Friday night was Marie's surprise birthday party. That's the whole reason we went to the museum -- to get her out of the house so she wouldn't be able to find out about her surprise party. Everyone did a really good job of keeping it from her, because she was SHOCKED when we got there. There were all sorts of cute decorations and pictures of Marie from throughout her life, and really great deserts. A Silly String fight was involved in there somewhere as well, which was quite entertaining. The adults really got into it.

Saturday, I had the Rotary party. It was a soirée for the president of our Rotary club, to celebrate his 6 month anniversary as president. There was all sorts of delicious food (I tried caviar and lamb for the first time), a special beer type drink, and alcohol soaked crêpes (not so yummy). After the five hour dinner (yes, it was quite the formal affair), the waiters moved the tables and there was a dance floor. I would have loved to dance, but most unfortunately, Miss Talia wasn't willing to accompany me. I left the soirée at about 1 am, and came home and crashed.

Sunday morning, Valérie woke me up and told me that I had to get out of bed and go on a walk with her, my host mom, and one of their friends. As much as I would have loved to have stayed in my bed and slept, Valérie was insistent, and so I had to get up, get dressed, and get my game face on. We ended up walking for about 2.5 miles, and it was fairly pleasant, albeit REALLY cold. Dang winter. After that, I came home and watched Sex and the City for the first time. Valérie has the first season on DVD, and she loaned it to me. In all honesty, I don't know why people get so worked up about this show. It's stupid. The West Wing was much better (I finished it, by the way).

Today, I went to school and fell back into the routine of the Monday usual. I was supposed to be going to a concert tonight (Angels and Airwaves) with Jordan, but most unfortunately, that didn't work out. :(

However, this lovely band shall be the song of the day. Enjoy. :)

New Project

I'm going to try something. I want to take a picture every day. Just a random picture. I'm h0ping that this will help me to remember to take my camera with me wherever I go, and to provide a new perspective on my exchange. I find myself letting the days slip by in a blur of schoolwork, bus rides, Skype, and sleep. I have only 169 days left in this amazing place, and I don't want to miss a minute of it.

On another note, I have passed a lovely weekend with Miss Talia Saville, who is the star of the above photo. Saturday we went shopping in Liège and then we spent the night at my house, sewing a dress and eating copious amounts of ice cream.

Buerre de cacahuètes.

That's how you say peanut butter in French.

Nothing exceptionally special has happened these past few days. I wake up, I go to school, I come home (on the BUS!) and then I do homework and whatever else. I'm supposed to be doing something for math that involves spreadsheets that I simply do NOT understand. I'm working on it when I finish this post.

I'm still in LOVE with Regina Spektor. Honestly, her music is great. Listen if you haven't yet.

Friday, I continue my presentation about the United States in English class. I already talked about Colorado, and everyone laughed when I said I come from Loveland, the Land of Love. They all seemed pretty excited about getting the Loveland Valentines from my French class back home though, so that's good.

I do believe that's all, folks. I'm looking forward to some Skype time with Miss Danika, and then I'll be hitting the hay. I'm SO tired lately. Thank you, dreary Belgian weather.

I rode the bus all by myself today.

I'm extremely proud.

I know it doesn't sound like a huge deal, but I've always been extremely worried about things like that. I start to panic, thinking I'm going to miss my stop, or for some reason I'm on the wrong bus, or that I'll get off too early and have to walk, and since I don't really know the roads to my new house, who KNOWS where that could lead...

But I rode the bus all by myself today, and it was fine. Nothing bad happened. I hopped on, rode home, and hopped off. Easy peasey lemon squeezy.

MASSIVE thanks to Eduardo and Talia for waiting for the bus with me, just to make sure I got on the right one. :)

I rode the bus all by myself today.

Massive Update.

28 December 2010

Emma and I went to Talia's host family's house to meet Talia's real family, who came to Europe for a week to see Talia and to go skiing. It was a lot of fun speaking English and translating. During the meal, I ended up at the end of the table with all of the adults while Talia and Emma were with the people our age. My brain got quite the workout translating between French and English.

I would like to throw out a huge THANK YOU to Talia's family for bringing me Chex Mix and Goldfish.

I went home with Emma and spent the night at her house, and we watched How I Met Your Mother, a truly awesome TV show. It's similar to Friends, but they're not quite exactly the same.

29 December 2010

Emma and I went to my house and hung out for the day, before heading to Hannut to meet up with Talia and her family. We went to Mr. Patate, a restaurant in Hannut, then went with Talia and her sister, Abbey, to the café and hung out with the Belgians there. It wasn't the most enjoyable thing I've ever experienced, but it was nice getting to know Abbey.

30 December 2010

Emma, Bella (my oldie, an Australian), Gaby (from Mexico) and I all went to Maastricht. There was all sorts of confusion and craziness with trains though, so we didn't get there until late afternoon, and Emma and I could only stay for about 2 hours. It was nice just getting out and seeing something different, and listening to Dutch. It's SO beautiful, I just don't understand why Belgians don't like it. The huge sales were going on in the Netherlands, so we went to H&M and a few other stores, and I ended up finding a really great pair of jeans that, of course, decided not to be on sale. *sigh* Oh well, I really like them.

31 December 2010

Arnaud and I went to his friend's house to celebrate the new year with a dinner and small party. There were only seven of us, but it was still a lot of fun. We had raclettes for dinner (AGAIN), and I had the pleasure of watching JB eat a plate of melted cheese. That's it, nothing else. Just melted cheese. Truly disgusting, in all honesty.

The group I was with are all very good friends, and so they had their Christmas gift exchange that night as well. I was pleasantly surprised when Arnaud gave me two packages. One of them was a black tote bag that has 5 slots on the front to put pictures in. Arnaud printed out some pictures and put them in as well. On the top row, there's a picture of Jordan and I on the ferry to London as well as a picture of me and the wax figure of Daniel Radcliffe (I posted both of them in my blog about London), a photo of me, Talia and Emma at Lady Gaga, and two photos of him and I: the one from the Fête de Wallonie (the first picture we ever took) and one from Christmas.

The second gift was two half-dome snow globes with magnets on the back. Inside of those are pictures as well: Arnaud and I at karaoké, and one of us and the entire group of his friends from that night.

They're two of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received. Merci mon frère.

Snow globe.

Arnaud, me, Sedef

Sedef and the bag Arnaud gave me.

Jb and I.

The group.

Me, Arnaud, Sedef, Romain, Rodolphe, Jb.

Photo taken by Charlotte.

3 January 2011

I went shopping with Anne-Michèle and Amaury in Liège for the sales, and we spent the day there. Anne-Michèle had to run back to a certain store, so Amaury and I hung out at the Fnac, which is like a Barnes and Noble, and we played with the cameras there. It was quite fun.

I was supposed to change host families that day, but we pushed it back a day so my new host mom could get some things finished before I came. Arnaud, Amaury, Etienne and I went bowling, and Arnaud won.

4 January 2011

I switched host families. It was, quite honestly, a normal day. I woke up, ate breakfast, etc. I went into Liège again to meet up with Evan, a friend from the states. He was kind enough to bring some gifts over from the states for me, which was AWESOME. We went out to lunch with a Belgian friend of his, Raphael, who was actually an exchange student to Loveland a few years back. Craziness.

I came home, packed up my final things, said goodbye to Arnaud, and we were off. Etienne, Amaury, and Anne-Michèle drove me to my new home. We were a little worried that we wouldn't be able to fit all of my stuff into the car (scary, I know). I ended up having 2 suitcases, a duffel bag thing, a laptop bag, 2 other bags, and 4 or 5 boxes. I don't know HOW I accumulated all of that crap in such a short time.

After being dropped off, I had dinner with my new host mom, her daughter, Valérie, and Valérie's boyfriend, Lionel. It was a lovely evening.

5 January 2011

I went to Bruges with Rotary. It's a beautiful city, truly, and everyone there speaks Dutch, which was wonderful. I do love that language. I wish I had seen more of the city though. I'm thinking I'll go back in the near future.

Most unfortunately I don't have any pictures, because I had accidentally left my purse in the back seat of Etienne's car when I was dropped off the night before. My camera was dead, too, so I was up a creek without a paddle regardless.

The rest of the week I spent just relaxing and not doing too much. I slept a lot, talked with friends and family in Colorado, and just enjoyed the last few days of break

10 January 2011

I went back to school. Yay. It was the start of a truly horrible week. Everyone's bound to have one of those sometime, right?

I don't want to focus on all of the icky things that happened, as I've already written about them, and honestly, that's not what my exchange is about. Bad things happen, yes, but they're not the main focus of my life.

13 January 2011

I spent the night at Talia's new host house, and it was great to have someone to talk to about everything and just be American for an evening.

14 January 2011

Talia's host mom drove us to Collège St. Quirin in Huy, where we spent the day speaking English to a group of 5th years. It's amazing how good their English is, and some of them have only been studying it for 3 years! At the end of the day, we sang karaoké, including Lady Gaga (wooo!), Queen, and John Lennon. It was a great day. :)

15 January 2011

I went with Valérie and my host mom to Liège, and I met up with Jordan, Caitlin and Sam. We hung out for the afternoon, and Jordan and I saw a movie, "Another Year." It's a British film, and while I usually enjoy most things British, this movie was not one of them. It sucked, plain and simple. There was NO plot. NONE. A total waste of over 2 hours, but I was with a friend, so it was all good.

Oh, and the Packers won that night. :)

Song of the Day:

On the Radio

by Regina Spektor

This is the worst week I've had in a LONG while.

Nothing is going right. I miss my first family, I keep getting cut off trying to talk to my best friends, I fell down the stairs, got yelled at by Père Boly, was late to French class, and my dissertation wasn't worthy of grading, apparently. Although, my professor did manage to write "inutile" (useless) at the top.

I think this is what homesickness feels like. I want nothing more than to go home right now and be with my mom and my dog and cry and be miserable in my room.

But I can't do that. I'm a grown up now, and as scary as that may be, my mommy won't always be there to comfort me. It's time to learn to self-soothe and put on my big girl pants and look the world in the eye.

Huge thanks to Miss Talia Saville for supporting me and being on my side.

5 things I'm thankful for.

1. Discovering new music. Listen to Regina Spektor. Really.

2. My best friends.

3. A new coat of nail polish.

4. Grocery shopping.

5. My mom.

Song of the Day:

Fidelity

by Regina Spektor

Sorry it's not the real video; embedding was disabled on that one. :/

I fell down the stairs today.

Its been that kind of week.

I know I haven't posted in FOREVER, but I'll get around to it, I promise. I'll probably do it Friday, okay?

In French, the word for bruise is "bleu." As in blue. As in, when you hurt yourself and you want to show someone your really awesome bruise (like the one blooming across my bum right now, thank you, stairs), you say something like, "Regardes mon bleu ! Il est enorme !" (Look at my blue! He's huge!). Not the same effect.

Song of the day.

Enivrez-Vous by Charles Baudelaire

Enivrez-Vous

Il faut être toujours ivre.
Tout est là:
c'est l'unique question.
Pour ne pas sentir
l'horrible fardeau du Temps
qui brise vos épaules
et vous penche vers la terre,
il faut vous enivrer sans trêve.
Mais de quoi?
De vin, de poésie, ou de vertu, à votre guise.
Mais enivrez-vous.
Et si quelquefois,
sur les marches d'un palais,
sur l'herbe verte d'un fossé,
dans la solitude morne de votre chambre,
vous vous réveillez,
l'ivresse déjà diminuée ou disparue,
demandez au vent,
à la vague,
à l'étoile,
à l'oiseau,
à l'horloge,
à tout ce qui fuit,
à tout ce qui gémit,
à tout ce qui roule,
à tout ce qui chante,
à tout ce qui parle,
demandez quelle heure il est;
et le vent,
la vague,
l'étoile,
l'oiseau,
l'horloge,
vous répondront:
"Il est l'heure de s'enivrer!
Pour n'être pas les esclaves martyrisés du Temps,
enivrez-vous;
enivrez-vous sans cesse!

De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, à votre guise.

Now for the English speakers :)

Get Drunk

Always be drunk.
That's it!
The great imperative!
In order not to feel
Time's horrid fardel
bruise your shoulders,
grinding you into the earth,
get drunk and stay that way.
On what?
On wine, poetry, virtue, whatever.
But get drunk.
And if you sometimes happen to wake up
on the porches of a palace,
in the green grass of a ditch,
in the dismal loneliness
of your own room,
your drunkenness gone or disappearing,
ask the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock,
ask everything that flees,
everything that groans
or rolls
or sings,
everything that speaks,
ask what time it is;
and the wind,
the wave,
the star,
the bird,
the clock
will answer you:
"Time to get drunk!
Don't be martyred slaves of Time,
Get drunk!
Stay drunk!
On wine, virtue, poetry, whatever!"

Today I realized that the world doesn't scare me anymore.

I change host families tomorrow

I thought I was prepared for this, but I'm really not. There isn't a way to practice, to get ready. There isn't a do-over. I lived with five incredible people for 4.5 months, and tomorrow I have to leave them.

I know it's part of the exchange process, and I knew it wouldn't be easy. But I wasn't prepared for the feeling. I thought it was hard to leave my mom at DIA; I was crying then. That's nothing compared to what I feel right now. It's like a stake was driven through my heart.

I know that sounds over dramatic. It was only 4.5 months, right? Wrong. This family took me in and shared their lives. They helped me try new things, they taught me the French language, they were there for me when Mike and then Eyesick passed away. They are my family now.

I can only hope that this was as positive an experience for them as it was for me. Words will never be able to convey my gratitude.

Je vous aime, Etienne, Anne-Michèle, Nouche, Adrien, Alix et Amaury. Merci pour tout. Vous me manquez déjà. Je ne vous oublierai jamais.

Song of the Day:

Never Say Never

by The Fray

Ne pleure pas parce que c'est fini, souris parce que c'est arrive.

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.