The month of February.

Another month has come and gone, and I'm sorry I've been such a crummy blogger. I'm seriously busy all the time, just living life. It's definitely true when people say that after January, exchange just FLIES by.

Instead of doing a long, rather boring post about my month, I'm going to show it to you in pictures. :)

February 2

Every year on the 2nd of February, there is a sort of celebration in Belgium and in France, I believe. Basically, everyone makes crêpes. Each person holds a coin in their hand and flips a crêpe. It's supposed to bring you good luck. I found this to be a rather enjoyable experience. It was the first time in my life that I helped make real crêpes.

And yes, that is my crêpe mid-flip. Ohhh yeahhh.

February 6

The Packers won the Super Bowl.

February 3 -- 7

Switzerland!

February 11

Guitar Hero and Mac n Cheese at Amandine's house!

This was definitely one of the most enjoyable nights I've had here in Belgium. Florian, Amandine, Florence and I went out for a drink after school and then headed to Amandine's house to hang out for the evening. I made Mac n Cheese for them, which they LOVED! I'm really glad I could share that little piece of home with them. After dinner, we played Guitar Hero and another game involving singing, then we watched funny YouTube videos (like Charlie Bit My Finger and the baby that gives people "The Look"). We also danced The Macarena, The Electric Slide, and The Soulja Boy dance. I spent the night at Amandine's house, which was super fun. We had some delicious croissants the next morning.

(that's Florian with the Mac n Cheese box. :))

February 12

After Amandine dropped me off at my house on the 12th, I ran upstairs, took a shower, grabbed some lunch, then headed back to the train station to catch a train to Brussels, then a connecting train to Waterloo. I was headed up there to spend the night with Michelle, the other exchange student here from Colorado. We'd been meaning to hang out forEVER, but never got the chance. We finally made it happen, and I'm super glad we did because it was a BLAST. We went to a movie with another American friend of Michelle's, then her host sister, Valentine, picked us up and we all went to Pizza Hut, which was so many levels of delicious I don't think I can describe it. After that, we went to McDonald's and got McFlurrys (Speculoos and caramel. YUM.). After that we drove around like crazy people, singing and laughing and having a good time. Michelle, Valentine and I all hung out a bit, and Valentine played her guitar and her ukulele, which was really awesome. She and Michelle are learning how to play Somewhere Over the Rainbow, one of the most awesome songs of all time. After that, Michelle and I talked about Colorado, home, family, and everything else before going to sleep. The next morning, we made PANCAKES. Oh my tortilla they were delicious. Michelle even had maple syrup, which made it a billion and one times better. I love pancakes. Seriously. After that, we hung out a bit more, and then I had to catch a train. We had about 15 minutes to spare though, so her host parents took us to the Butte de Lion (the hill with a lion statue on it, commemorating Napoleon's fall from power at the Battle of Waterloo), and we went inside one of the buildings to see the mural of the battle. It's a HUGE, circular mural that depicts the different troops and their placement and other important factors and elements of the battle. It was super interesting, and I wish I'd had more time to take it all in. I'm definitely going back. After that, Michelle's parents dropped me off at the Braine-L'Alleud train station and I hopped on a train to Brussels, then to Landen. Home sweet home at last. My goodness I was tired.

Oh, to explain the picture:

Michelle's house had a bidet in the bathroom! Funny little things, no? I'd never seen a bidet before, so I snapped a picture. Why not?

One other random fact:

In Michelle's house, at the top of the stairs, was a frame containing a very large, very alive-looking spider. I'm not kidding when I say that this thing was the size of a dinner plate. It's one of the scariest things I've ever seen in my life.

February 14

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was spent at school and then at home with my host mom. You should know that I'm not normally a fan of this day, especially because I come from Loveland. I mean, come on people. I woke up and forgot what the date was, so I wore a red shirt to school. When I finally realized that it was, in fact, Valentine's Day, I defaulted to my normal mental state on this "holiday": pissed off. I just really hate the artificial baloney-ness that it has become. Yes, giving people chocolate and flowers is nice, but wouldn't it be nicer if someone got you flowers on a random day, just because they felt like it? Anyway, I managed to keep my grumpiness under control for most of the day, which was good. On the bus ride home, I was cheered up by my Bus Buddy; he decided to write

LOVE YOU

ANDREI

on my arm. It was nice to be on the receiving end of a little act of kindness.

That night for dinner, my host mom made heart-shaped potatoes. So deliciously awesome. There's truly nothing like some artery-clogging fried deliciousness to bring your spirits up, and I'm not kidding. I really love those potatoes.

My host dad was still in Chile at this point, but he sent my host mom flowers just like he did for their anniversary. I just think that's so darn cute.

February 17

I finally received the box of valentines from the always awesome Mme Theisen. Inside was a bunch of valentines made by my friends in the states for the Belgians I know here. It's a way to promote international cooperation and understanding, and a darn good one, I must say. I looked through the valentines, and they are all SUPER awesome. I'm not gonna lie, I'm sad I missed out on that this year.

There was also a lovely surprise inside the box: some valentine socks and a winter hat, as well as Christmas posters from my friends back in the states. They were all messages and little things from Loveland: a copy of the Loveland Connection, the funnies from the Reporter Herald, as well as a sudoku (thanks Chichi. :)), and just an overall felling of merriment and love. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone in French IV. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you all took the time to do that. I decorated my room with your posters. :)

February 22

I just really love Eduardo.

He's one of the happiest, most loving people I've ever met. And his eyelashes are awesome. Not a joke.

Te amo amigo.

February 25

I went to Germany with my host family and their company, for the day to visit John Deere factories. I'll be honest: TRACTORS ARE THE COOLEST VEHICLES EVER.

Seriously, if I were to be a transformer, I'd be a tractor. Those things are the cat's pajamas.

This picture came about after my host dad said, "You look like an alien!" and grabbed my camera. I think I rocked the goggles/ear plug look, don't you?

After the factory visits, we went to a wine tasting, which was nice. We tried 5 different wines, and I was really proud that I was able to taste the differences between them. I'm becoming a wine connoisseur! One of the wines smelled like paint, but was actually really delicious. Crazy how those things happen.

After the wine tasting, we went to dinner, and I had some sort of steak with potatoes au gratin (yum).

For desert, I had some tiramisu, pictured here:

Delicious.

l to r: Siddhant, Emily, Sam, Kryston, Me, Jordan

The ever-lovely Miss Emily and I.

Saturday, I went to Luxembourg with Rotary. We toured a brewery and then went to lunch, which was followed by a tour of the slaughterhouse our lunch had come from. Lovely, no? We then hopped on a bus to the lovely city of Luxembourg (yes, there really is a Luxembourg, Luxembourg). I had a lovely day with my exchange buddies, and Jordan and I decided we're going to take a trip to Venice before the end of the year. I'm excited. :)

My host dad and I at the Automium. Sunday was the first time I've ever seen it.

A street performer in Brussels. This would be a much cuter picture if he hadn't made me pay him afterward. :P

There was a car show outside one of the monuments we visited.

Sunday was Mario (he works with my host dad in Chile)'s last day with us, so we all piled in the car to go to Brussels for the afternoon. We stopped at a TON of monuments, including a cathedral, the Automium, the royal palace, and the king's house. It was the first time I'd seen a lot of those monuments, which was pretty cool. It's amazing that I've been here for over 6 months, and there are things I still haven't seen or done!

After our sight-seeing, we went to a restaurant called Léon's, and we all had mussels. Mine were covered in cheese, butter, and garlic. SO DELICIOUS. Seriously, I love mussels. They're a wonderful food. We also stopped to get some ice cream at a place in St. Trond. The ice cream cones were HUGE, and they had two little waffle cakes on the sides. I had praliné ice cream, which is kind of like chocolate. I highly recommend it.

Well folks, that's pretty much it. School is going along as usual. Next week we have off for Carnaval, which shall be exciting. There will be a lot of fêtes and such, so maybe I'll do a little partying. :)

Amusez-vous bien pendant les prochaines semaines !

Bisous,

Mikayla

100th Post

This is from Talia Saville, one of my favorite people on the face of the Earth.

Thank you for making my day so much brighter. Je t'aime.

Switzerland.

Switzerland

My host sister Valérie took me to Geneva at the beginning of this month, and I must say, Switzerland is a GORGEOUS country. We arrived on Thursday night at about 9 pm, and went straight to her friend Laura's house and to sleep, as we were both exhausted. Friday, Valérie and I walked around Geneva, poking in stores and taking pictures. The entire city is surrounded by mountains, which made me a bit homesick. Although the Alps are beautiful, from what I could see, they didn't have nearly the majesty of the Rockies. I miss my mountains. Friday night, we went out to dinner with Valérie's friends, which was delicious. We had Chinese food, and it was wonderful. Note about America: America has AMAZING variety of food available. For those of you lucky enough to live there, PROFIT FROM THIS. You never realize how much you really love cashew chicken until you're sitting in a foreign country eating nothing but potatoes.

Saturday, we all piled in Laura's car and drove to Gruyère, a city in the mountains that is famous for its cheese. Let me tell you, this is DELICIOUS cheese. We toured a sort of cheese museum/factory and saw how Gruyère cheese is made and how long it takes to mature. We also walked around the village (yes, village. It was TINY, and I don't think many people live there) a bit, and it was breath-taking; the way the sunshine fell across the cobblestones and fountains was very picturesque. (Side note: The weather was AMAZING the whole weekend. The SUN was shining and there was a cool breeze hopping from here to there. SO wonderful). After our little walking tour, we decided that we were all hungry, so we went to a restaurant for lunch. Everyone was trying to get me to order the fondue because apparently it's mind-blowingly delicious there. All I really wanted was a salad, so that's what I went with. It's not that I didn't want to try the fondue... Well yeah, it is. I REALLY don't like fondue. I think it's disgusting. I always feel like I gained 438 pounds after I eat it, and all greasy and gross. To put it simply: I DO NOT LIKE FONDUE.

But that's the thing about being an exchange student: NO ONE BELIEVES YOU WHEN YOU SAY YOU DON'T LIKE SOMETHING.

You start out the polite way: No, thank you, I don't really care for fondue. I'd rather have a salad.

That is ALWAYS countered by: Well, you just haven't had it made like this before. It's not the same as what they make in America.

(That "America" is usually said in either a rather snide way, as though everything we come into contact with is of lower quality than the stuff you find in a foreign country, or with pity, as though you can't possibly know the quality of whatever it is you're being forced to try, because, after all, you've eaten only McDonald's your entire life.)

Your response: Yes, I've had fondue before, and I really just don't enjoy the texture. I don't find it to be delicious.

The other party: Well, you have to try it, at least a bite. You'll love it. I know you'll regret ordering that salad, the fondue is just SO delicious.

I have had this experience with the following:

fondue

raclettes (basically the same concept as fondue.... except you put a slice of cheese on a little tray and then melt it)

chicon (the most evil vegetable ever created. I imagine it tastes a bit like death)

beer

wine

raw lunch meat

various unidentifiable animal parts that are served for dinner (my rule for meat: if I don't recognize what it is or what body part it is, I won't eat it until I do)

yogurt

pulp in juice

The list continues, but you get my point.

Anyway. I had a salad, which was delicious, and I did try a bite of the fondue. I will admit, it was a bit better than the fondues I've had before, but regardless, I still felt greasy and sick to my stomach afterwards. For desert, we had something called "double crème" which is a really really really thick cream. Like whipping cream, but denser (not too far from being solid) and a million times fattier. Oh my goodness it was delicious. There were raspberries along with it, which was incredible. SO delicious. My mouth is watering thinking about it.

Saturday night I was exhausted, and ended up going to sleep at about 7:30. I slept until 9:30 the next morning. Yes, 14 hours. I talked to Valérie about it, and she said she did the same thing when she was on exchange. She said it's also because I've never been SO surrounded by French like that before. Yes, I speak French every day, I think in French, I read in French, etc., but I'm also surrounded by English. Lots of Belgians speak English with me for practice, I have to read English books for English class, and I talk to friends from home in English. It's difficult to balance the two worlds.

Sunday morning, Valérie and I took a walk and just chatted about all sorts of things. We also saw a garage for a boat. Yes, a garage built specifically into a house just for a boat. It was insane.

Sunday afternoon, I took a nap because I was still exhausted (crazy, I know). Later on, I went on another walk with Valérie, Laura, and Laura's boyfriend, Olivier. I had a good time, except they kept telling me to "look at the mountains, aren't they beautiful?!" or to "look, look over there, the mountains are so pretty this time of day" or "have you seen the mountains, look, they're all around us!" Needless to say, I saw the mountains. Every time they told me to look at the mountains, I'd say, "Yeah, they're just like the ones at my house." That was met with an "OH! You live near the mountains?!" Yes. I've seen them every day for three years. I think I know what they look like by now.

I'm not trying to be crabby about it, but after three hours of not really being included in the conversation, and the only acknowledgement you're given is being told to look at the mountains, it's hard not to be a little bitter.

That evening we went over to Laura's cousin's house. Laura's cousin makes wine, and I sampled the most DELICIOUS red wine I've ever tasted while I was there. I LOVED it, and I usually am not a fan of red wine at ALL.

Sunday night, Valérie and I packed up our stuff and went to sleep early, as we had to rush to catch our plane Monday morning. We nearly missed it, what with the huge check-in lines and the long line for security. We had another hang up when I forgot my passport in our big luggage bag. However, all worked out in the end and we made our flight. Oddly enough, the flight was 25 minutes to get to Switzerland, but an hour to come back. Crazy, no?

Overall, I had a great time. I really enjoyed seeing somewhere new and taking a little vacation. Switzerland was gorgeous, yes. I wish I had seen more cultural things, like museums and such, but hey, what can ya do? I'm glad I had the chance to go.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, PHOTOS!

The street in Laura's town. She lives right outside of Geneva, in Rolle.

Gruyère

Gruyère

Cheese makin' in Gruyère.

Valérie and I passed this on our walk Sunday morning.