It's exam time.

And it's a wonderful time to be in Belgium.

Why?

See, normally, people here get dressed up. Every day. They wear sweaters and cute skirts and boots and scarves. What girls wear to school here would be considered high-class formal wear in Colorado.

They NEVER wear sweatpants. Sweatpants are for the barraquis (the equivalent of trailer trash) and other street urchins. A respectable person would not be caught DEAD in a pair of sweatpants.

Even when people come home from school/work, they stay in the same clothes until 10:30 at night when they go to bed. People do not wear t-shirts, except for sleeping. Everything is kept presentable and classy, all day long.

Except during exams.

During exams, Belgians try to make their heads explode with as much knowledge as possible from the school year. They study 10-12 hours per day, every day, only stopping for 5 or 10 minutes to eat/go to the bathroom/have a breakdown about failing all exams and doubling (failing and retaking the year) once every 5 or 6 hours. They are so focused on studying that they don't bother to get dressed in the morning, since they'll be staying home all day. They stay in pajamas all day long, and simply fall onto their beds at night. They get up the next morning and they do the same thing.

And it's wonderful.

See, I LOVE sweatpants. They are my best friends in the world. There were many days when I went to school in sweatpants (in the US. I wouldn't DARE do it in Belgium). I will happily go just about anywhere in sweatpants (there have been weeks at a time where I wear nothing but sweatpants. It's lovely), and I think nothing of it. But here in Belgium, coming down to breakfast still in sweats is considered... not very classy. It's been killing me all year to have to be presentable all the time. A few months ago, I came up with a system to get my sweatpants fix. Here's how it works:

1. Wear sweatpants to sleep, and sleep as much as possible.

2. Wake up in the morning, complete total morning routine (shower, brush teeth, pack school bag, do makeup, etc) while still wearing sweats. Put "real" clothes on at the last possible second.

3. Eat breakfast, leave house, go to school.

4. Daydream about glorious sweatpants laying across the bed, just waiting to be worn again.

5. Come home from school, walk home as quickly as possible.

(This one serves two purposes: 1. it gets me to my sweatpants faster, and 2. it prevents my host siblings from seeing if I fall down the hill again on the way back to the house. Another story for another post)

6. Grab quick snack

7. Go upstairs, release self from evil, inhibiting jeans

8. Put on glorious, loving, soft sweatpants

9. Sit up in room for about 2 hours, doing homework, etc while basking in warm glow from sweatpants

10. Take off sweatpants

11. Change back into evil monster jeans

12. Go to dinner/hang out with host family, etc

13. Hear plaintive calls from sweatpants, begging not to be left alone

14. Finish dinner/hang out with family a little more

15. Bedtime! Run upstairs and hug sweatpants before putting them back on and falling asleep enveloped by their warm embrace

It's a great plan, I know.

Except right now, I can wear sweats ALL day long, because my host sisters are doing it.

Dear Exams:

I love you.

Fondly,

Mikayla

Greece II.

Day 4.

April 13, 2011.

On the 13th, we all hauled ourselves out of bed at a rather early hour (I believe it was somewhere around 7 am). Emily, Gabby, Aditi and I all packed up the rest of our stuff and headed down to breakfast, which, if I remember correctly, consisted of bread with various toppings. After we finished eating, we loaded the suitcases into the bus, and returned to the lobby for a rather stern lecture. You see, the night before, most (if not all) of the students on the trip had decided to celebrate our first night in Greece in a rather... less than sober fashion. Rotary took about 15 minutes that morning and explained that we were, from then on, forbidden to have alcohol in our rooms, could not have any empty bottles, and would have very restricted free time from then on out. After that bit, we piled back in the bus and began the picturesque drive up the mountains to see the Météors.

What are the Météors?

They're a group of old monasteries built into the mountains near Kalambaka. During various wars and revolutions in Greece, people would come and hide out in the monasteries to avoid danger. At one point, there were 24 buildings, but now there are only 6. Monks and nuns still live there, and can be seen walking around the pathways. There are some that have not left their home for years and years, and do not even see the visitors that come by; they are always behind high, locked doors. It's a very holy place, and the churches are beautiful. The paintings are truly mind-blowing. You can see the features that most of the churches have in common: Jesus in the center of the ceiling, at the highest point, different scenes from the Bible, etc. It's quite extraordinary.

After our lovely visit with a very awesome tour guide named Georgia (she speaks 5 languages: Greek, her native language, Spanish, English, French, and German) who gave all of the tours in French (we had 2 tour groups, one French, one English. Emily, Christian and I were with the Frenchies), we hopped back in the bus to drive to Delphi! We did squeeze in a teensy bit of souvenir shopping before we got on the bus, and Em and I found some super cute pins to put on our blazers to represent GREECE. I still can't believe I was actually there!

The rest of the day consisted of driving, for the most part. Google Maps says that from Kalambaka to Delphi, it takes almost 4 and a half hours if you drive. I feel like it took longer, but hey, I could be wrong. Most of my memories of the bus blend together at this point.

Fast forward to the end of the bus ride. At this point, we arrived in Delphi, which was very cute and had those lovely little European streets that a greyhound dog can barely fit through, much less a greyhound bus. We received more than one disgruntled look from local Greeks when we had to park in the middle of the road to unload our suitcases.

After everything was out of the bus, Emilio (the bus driver, who became a sort of celebrity in the eyes of the exchange students) parked it, and the exchangers were assigned our rooms. I roomed with Emily, Gabby and Aditi again. We got our key and climbed a few flights of stairs and arrived at our door. After having stayed in a GORGEOUS hotel with a beautiful balcony, 2 queen beds and a large, functioning bathroom, we were quite excited to see what new extravagances waited for us on the other side of the door. Needless to say, we were extremely disappointed when we opened the door to find a queen bed and 2 tiny, flimsy cots that took up 86.3% of the room, a non-working tv, a balcony that had a sign on the door saying we weren't allowed to go outside (though there were some pizza boxes and soda bottles strewn around out there) and a chunk missing from the bathroom door. Why, you ask? Well, it seems that the sink was installed before the door in this bathroom, because the door wouldn't have been able to shut if the missing bit was still there. It had been modified so that the sink didn't prevent it from closing. Classy.

That night, we had chicken and fries for dinner, LIKE EVERY OTHER NIGHT ON THIS TRIP. We had some sort of Greek desert, which was oily and tasteless, and I didn't really enjoy. After that, we hung out downstairs. Jordan, Emily and I played Pitch, a card game that involves two teams of 2 people and some mind-reading. I love it. It was our go-to game the whole time we were stuck in the bus. While we played cards, Aditi wrote sentences about each of us in Hindi and we marked where we live on a US map. It was a lovely night. During the conversation, it came up that our room was not, in fact, the most ghetto fabulous room in the hotel. In Christian's, apparently, there was blood on a towel. At first, we all thought it was his blood (he had cut himself when the guys in his room decided to move the rusty cot to a different location, don't ask me why), but then he realized that he had used a different towel. Needless to say, after that, we were no longer fans of this hotel. No siree, not at all.

Day 5

April 14, 2011

The next morning, we were awake at another very early hour. We repacked the bus, etc. and got inside, waiting for the day's adventures to commence. We started driving down the mountain we'd spent the night on, and at the bottom of one of the scary switchback turns, we felt a very odd, jarring motion. We were asked to quietly and calmly leave the bus and go take some pictures of the mountainside and the views, which were beautiful, by the way. Why were we asked to get out? Well, it seems we had popped a tire on the way down the hairpin turn. Of course. I'm not kidding when I say that this bus was a monster. So, instead of rolling down down down the mountain with a flat tire, we were informed that we would have the good fortune to walk the rest of the way to the ruins in Delphi. Cool! So we all started trekkin' and actually made it there in good time, despite stopping to take pictures of the scenery.

I cannot express the way I felt when I saw the ruins at Delphi for the first time. I'm a Greek mythology buff, and after reading about the Oracle at Delphi, I couldn't wait to see it. Granted, the temples are in ruins now, and it's not exactly easy to imagine them as they once were, it's still magnificent. The precision and style are evident in every pillar, statue, stairway and wall. I don't know that I can do justice to the wonders that I saw. The Temple of Apollo is there, and is still quite inspiring. It's amazing how LARGE the temples are! We also saw a theater that was used for plays and such during the time of the Ancient Greeks. The acoustics of the theaters are stupendous. If you stand down on the stage and only raise your voice a little bit, you can be heard EVERYWHERE in the theater, even at the very top. That's saying something, believe me. We also had the time to climb up many, many stairs to see an a stadium, which was used for the Pythian Games, precursors to our modern-day Olympic Games.

One interesting thing about Delphi: It was believed (by the Greeks) to be the center of the world. There is a funny little cone-shaped stone near one of the temples, and it is called the "omphalos," which means navel, of the earth.

I have many pictures of Delphi and the awesomeness I saw there, and a few of them can be seen below. :)

Emily and I at the Météors

The Météors.

The stadium at Delphi.

The ruins of Apollo's Temple at Delphi.

I'll be gone for a while.

Tomorrow night, I leave for Greece! I'm super duper excited. I can't wait to see the beautiful beaches and embrace all of the history that it has to offer. Not to mention delicious food! I promise I'll post pictures when I get back. :)

I come back on the 20th, and then I leave less than 24 hours later to go to Paris with Amandine and Florian. :D <--- that shows about 1/23rd of my excitement. I can't WAIT. I'll finally get to see everything we learned about in French class... L'Arc de Triomphe, LA TOUR EIFFEL, Notre Dame, Moulin Rouge, Le Louvre.... I get chills just thinking about it! IAM SO EXCITED!

So yes, I shall be gone for a while. But I promise to share all of my stories and such when I get back. Until then, enjoy the wonders this world has to offer, my friends!

xo,

Mika

Sad news.

I hopped over the English Channel on Monday morning at a rather unfortunate hour (something gross like 6 am...), arrived at 7 am local time in Dover, and headed off toward Cambridge and Newmarket. The weather was AMAZING in England. Really. It was warm and SUNNY, and the air smelled like springtime, which was WONDERFUL. It's really a beautiful country, with rolling hills and tiny villages. Driving on the left side of the road is pretty fun too. :)

I know I promised pictures, but here's the thing....

I only got about 20 pictures the entire day, because we were in the car the WHOLE day. I'm not kidding. I got out three times: once to go into each of the John Deere stores we visited, and once to eat lunch and go to the bathroom. Seriously. No exploring, no visiting towns or interesting sights. So, all of my pictures were from inside the car, so they weren't that great.

Here's the other thing:

They all disappeared.

No, I'm not kidding. I uploaded all of my pictures just now, and they're mysteriously... not here. I checked my memory card, and they're not there, either. I must have accidentally deleted them. It's unfortunate, to be sure, but that's the way these things go, I guess. I wish I still had them, but at least I didn't lose a BUNCH of pictures, like the 150+ I took today in Bastogne. Ah well, life goes on. :)

So. I finally got home yesterday at about 5:30 pm. My host dad had a dinner of some sorts to go to, so he left, and my host mom and I had dinner, then I came up to my room and went to sleep. I'm lame, I know. I go to bed at about 8pm every night, but I'm TIRED people. It's exhausting to be an exchange student.

Today, I woke up at 8 am to catch a train at 9:22 so I could be in Liège to meet up with everyone else from Rotary and go to Bastogne, a city in southern Belgium. Christian, my Canadian buddy, and I sat together on the bus, which was quite pleasant. When we got to Bastogne, my favorite New Yorker, the fabulous Emily Snell was waiting for me, so I was STOKED about that. We started off having lunch (it was like 11:30 or something by that time) at some sort of petting zoo/farm thing in Bastogne. It was a pretty cool place: it's a petting zoo/farm as well as a home for people who are mentally handicapped. The residents take care of the animals and help out with general farm work, which I think is really cool. The land was very beautiful. While we were there, we saw goats, rabbits, llamas, chickens and sheep, including a lamb that was born this morning! One of the workers caught a lamb and we could pet and hold it as well, which was so cute!

Christian and a llama.

After that, we piled back in the bus and went to a museum about World War II. The guide is a member of Rotary, and he had Harry Potter glasses. SO awesome. The museum was WONDERFULLY done, and very interactive. There was a lot of information and a lot to see. There were little video screens everywhere, playing videos of people who had lived in the region during the war. They shared their memories, which were heartbreaking, more often than not. One woman told how her father had told them to go on ahead as the family was fleeing from the Germans; he would catch up with them later on his bike. He never came.

A letter written during the war. It was giving information about people selling on the black market, which was a booming business at the time.

After the museum, we went to the Mardasson Memorial, which is in honor of the Americans who fought and died in Belgium during the war. Over 70,000 American soldiers died there. Isn't that number mind-blowing? The monument is in the shape of the star, and it has every state engraved on it. You can climb up a spiral staircase to the top, and look down over the city of Bastogne, which was really cool.

Yours truly in front of the crypt. There's a memorial in there for Catholics, one for Protestants, and one for Jews. They're absolutely BEAUTIFUL mosaics.

Christian and I on top of the Mardasson Memorial.

After that, we climbed back into the bus and drove to a random building (that's not an exaggeration... none of us knew where we were) and where we were served pie, waffles, coffee, and soda by Rotary. They have a thing for giving us pie, seriously. There's almost always pie at Rotary events. I sat with Emily and Kryston (New York and Missouri), Christian (Canada), and Siddhant and Aditi (both from India). We had a very interesting conversation about geography. I learned that India has 28 states and that Canada has 10 provinces and 3 territories. Also, Aditi and Siddhant tried to name all 50 states. They got quite a few of them too, which was very impressive, I think. The first three they named? Washington, New York, and Ohio. Emily and I thought it was hilarious that Ohio was the third, out of all the states they had left to choose from...

Side note:

Some of you may know that one of my passions is education. I believe that the American education system is broken and needs to be completely reformatted. Schools should be palaces. Teachers should be paid like kings. Kids should wake up every day excited beyond all imagination because they get to go to school. Courses should be challenging. Graduation rates should be 99% across the country. All of these things are POSSIBLE. But as of right now, are any of them true? No, unfortunately. But I digress. The point of this was to explain a few differences between American schools and schools in other nations.

Did you know that in Canada, kids can (and DO) choose to take a 5th year of high school to bring up their grade average and thus give them a better chance to be accepted to college.

Siddhant and Aditi could name about 35 of the 50 American states. I couldn't name 5 cities in India. Nor did I know that India has states. I took World Geography sophomore year. I passed with an A. I took a full year of World History Sophomore year as well (1st semester Pre-AP, second semester regular). I earned an A in both of those.

Siddhant and Aditi are fluent in English, German and Marathi, as well as 2 or 3 other native tongues from India. They are here in Belgium, learning French. They are both 18 years old, and they speak 5 languages each, FLUENTLY.

At the end of this year, Siddhant is returning to India for 2 months, then moving to Germany, where he will study to be an engineer for FIVE years. He won't return home during that time. He will be going to university in GERMAN.

And to think, kids in America whine about having to take 2 credits of foreign language.

Just some food for thought.

Tomorrow, Amandine and I are going to Oostende, so I can touch the ocean. I've never touched an ocean before. Heck, I didn't even SEE the ocean until 2 weeks before my 17th birthday! I'm super excited. After that, we're going to take the train back down to Bruges and spend the day there. I'm excited! :)

Friday night, we're all meeting up in Hannut to celebrate Amandine's 18th birthday (WOO!). Then, Saturday, I'm hoping to go to Maastricht (in the Netherlands) with Christian. I love having a week off of school. :)

Biosus,

Mika

(that's what all my Belgian friends call me. I LOVE it.)

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

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.

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

I hate giving bisous.

But I love writing the word.

At the end of letters, Facebook IM conversations, phone conversations, whatever. I LOVE to say/write bisou.

Now, if only I could get out of giving them....