SPAIN!

Hello all.

Last Friday, I jetted off to Barcelona, Spain with my second host mom (Malou), my host sister (Valérie) and her boyfriend (Lionel), my host mom's nieces (Marie and Guillaumine) and two of Valérie's friends (Oliver and Laura). We arrived late Friday night (after a bus scare -- my bus was 10 minutes late and we weren't sure I'd have a way to get all the way to the house... but it was fine. :) ) and, after dropping our suitcases off at the apartment we rented, we headed out for a glass of sangria and something to eat. It was a lot of fun just sitting around with everyone, talking and relaxing. When we arrived, we saw a large protest going on at the Plaça Catalunya (this will come back into the story, promise).

The next morning, we got up at about 10, and after everyone got ready, we walked to a boardwalk-like area a few streets away and began meandering around, taking pictures and embracing the Spanish sunshine. After a little while, we came across one of those tourist buses, and decided to tour Barcelona that way. I've always laughed at those tourists in the buses, snapping pictures everywhere, etc. But the bus ride was very informative, and I saw a lot of parts of Barcelona that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. After driving around that first day, we went out to dinner at a seafood restaurant. As I'm not really one for seafood, I had pasta instead. After that, we walked around the boardwalk a bit, before heading back to the apartment. On the way there, we decided that Olivier, Lionel, Marie, Guillaumine and I were going to go out and celebrate Lionel's birthday (June 7). We went out boire un verre (have a drink) for that, and partied it up with some natives. We didn't get home until about 3, so we were wiped out the next day.

Sunday, we took the bus again and went to La Sagrada Familia, the most beautiful church I've ever seen. Pope Benedict XVI visited a few years ago (2008?) and named it a basilica. It was started by the artist Gaudi in the early 1900s, and construction has been going on ever since (over 100 years!) and it's still not finished. The interior was completed a while ago, but the towers and the exterior are still being worked on. At the end, the church will have 18 towers:

1 for every apostle (12)

1 for each Evangelist (4)

1 for the Virgin Mary

1 (the largest) for Jesus. The work that has already been done is just extraordinary. The attention to detail is staggering. There are details in places I didn't know details could be! Visiting La Sagrada Familia was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trip, because I knew I was standing in a part of history. It wasn't just some old church, it was a piece of art that has been worked on by countless men and women throughout the last century. Isn't that amazing?

After that, we continued our bus tour, but this time on a different route, and headed over to the Gaudi Park. While the word "park" usually invokes images of grass, trees, and greenery, this park was architecturally-based. It was full of colors and swirls and designs and shapes. Being in there kind of felt like being inside a kaleidoscope. We stopped and had lunch there, before going back to the apartment. That night, Lionel cooked pasta and a tomato/ham sauce, which was DEE-licious!

Monday, we all split up to do different things for the day. Lionel, Olivier and Guillaumine went to the beach and got some lovely sunburns; Malou, Laura and Valérie went shopping; and Marie and I were supposed to go to the Picasso museum, so we could at least say we did something cultural on our trip. ;P The museum was super close to our apartment, and we marched off in that direction after breakfast. We arrived a whopping 8 minutes later, only to discover that the Picasso Museum is closed on Mondays. Well then. We took some pictures of the signs that said it was closed (so we could give proof to Malou, haha) and then we jetted off to the Plaça Catalunya to pick up some gifts and to see what we could see. When we arrived, the afore-mentioned protest was still going on. We stopped and looked through some cardboard signs that had been left on the ground, and Marie took one home for a souvenir. It has a hand painted on it doing the rock symbol:

\m/

You know? With your pinky and your index finger sticking up, but your middle and ring fingers folded down? When I upload pictures to my computer, I'll put one up, okay?

After that, we hopped over to the Hard Rock Café so I could pick up a gift for Jordan. Marie bought one for her boyfriend, Hugo, as well. And we both bought bracelets for 2 euro to aid people in India. The woman working at the Hard Rock was super nice, and very interesting. She's originally from Columbia, and she had one of the most AWESOME tattoos I've come across. It's on her forearm, and it's an elephant from a Dalí painting. I don't know if you know much about Dalí, but he experimented with surrealism and such. His work is very interesting, I suggest you Google him.

After the Hard Rock, we went back to the protest and walked around some of the booths, talking to the people there, and learning about the protest. We found a guy who spoke French, so he explained it to us. That man speaks 5 languages: Spanish, Catalan (the local dialect in Barcelona), English, French, and Arabic. He was with the environmental group at the protest, who were making little ashtrays out of old soda/beer cans and giving them away for free. They made them the same way we made Christmas ornaments in RiverWatch last year. Just goes to show, the function of an item depends on how you look at it. He told us we were allowed to take one, as they were being given away for free, so we did, as a souvenir. After that we continued to walk around, and walked through an area where people were selling books as part of the protest. Next to that, there was a booth where you could get your shirt spray-painted with a message about the protest. Well, not being ones to miss out on the opportunity to get a protest shirt, Marie and I ran to H&M to get cheap tank tops to spray paint. We came back, and we found someone to explain the phrases to us in English (I then translated for Marie), as they were originally in Catalan, a language neither Marie nor I can speak. :P

Our shirts say:

HEM PERDUT LA POR

which translates to

We have lost the fear.

I like it a lot.

Note: Does anyone know the history of the Catalan language? I think it's a combination of French and Spanish, but I could be wrong. I've come to that conclusion for 3 reasons:

1. Barcelona is pretty close to the French border, so it's normal that the cultures would have inter-mixed

2. There is a ç in the word plaça, and probably other words as well. As far as I'm aware that little tail (called a cedille) is only present in the French language, and does not exist in Spanish.

3. The words "la por" mean "the fear." In French, the word fear is "la peur." Kinda similar, no?

After making our shirts, Marie and I went to one of the large fountains in the park to cool our feet off and to relax and enjoy the Spanish sunshine. While over there, we took some pictures, rocked our new shirts, had a random woman take a picture of us in the fountain, and met a group of Catalan teenagers. One of the girls in the group spoke English, and she and I talked about the protest (she told us we weren't allowed to wear protest shirts if we didn't know what they were protesting), the government, and corruption. Marie and I then explained to her that Belgium hasn't had a government in over a year (that's a record, folks). She didn't understand how that was possible, so we did our best to explain. But, in all honesty, I'm not even sure how that's possible. It's a bit of a pickle we're in, no?

After a bit, Marie and I headed back to the apartment and we met up with everyone there. Laura and Olivier were leaving that night, so we all said goodbye. That night we stayed in the apartment and ate the leftovers of Lionel's pasta, which was just as good as the first day. The next morning we were up bright and early (8 am or so...) and we packed up our things before heading out for just a little more shopping. A day or two earlier, Marie and I had found a super cool store called Happy Pills. I laughed when I saw the sign, and explained to Marie why we call anti-depressants "happy pills." We decided to go inside anyway, and it turned out to be a candy store! You choose your bottle size, and then fill it with any type of gummy candy you want. There were chili peppers that were super spicy (Marie and I found that out the hard way), giant strawberries, eyes and teeth, eggs sunny-side up (all candy, I promise!), and gummy worms!!!! We decided that these would be perfect gifts for some friends of ours, so we each made a bottle. After you fill it with candy, you can choose your "prescription." Most of these prescriptions were in Spanish or Catalan, but a few were in English. There were things like:

So the Force is with you

For days and nights without me

For all thoughts (positive or negative) about your ex

Against all stress

etc. etc. We took some extra prescription stickers just because they were so funny!

Anyway, on Tuesday we went back with Guillaumine, and she made a bottle for her boyfriend. While we were there, Marie decided to try one of the candies shaped like an eyeball. I am really freaked out by most body-shaped candy, and this was no exception. This was a BIG eyeball. Marie bit into it and there was goo inside of it!!!!! Ew. She said it was yummy, but I'll take her word for it.

We all met up at the apartment one last time, grabbed our suitcases, and off we went! We arrived back in Belgium at 5:45 or something, and I got home at about 7:30.

I must say, Spain was probably one of the (if not the) best trip I've been on so far. I really loved the atmosphere in Barcelona. The weather was beautiful (HOT!) and the sun was always shining. I would have liked to go to the beach, but unfortunately I didn't make it. I did see it, though, and it was gorgeous. Barcelona, while being a city of 3 million people, didn't feel like a big, dangerous place. Everyone was welcoming, the food was good (especially the ham. I LOVE Serrano ham), and it's a very liberal-feeling place. There were a lot of people with tatoos and piercings, a lot of different clothing styles.... It just seemed to me that even if you weren't what one considered "normal," you were still accepted and you were allowed to be yourself. I love that kind of place. Honestly, when I arrived, one of the first things I said to myself was, "Wait... Why didn't I exchange to Spain?" I really hope I'll be able to go back some day.

Joyeux anniversaire Amandine !

Today is Amandine's 18th birthday. Last night, a group of us all met up in Hannut to celebrate the last few hours of her minority, and to celebrate the fact that as of 12:01 am this morning, she can now do the following:

buy a house

go to prison

get a tattoo

vote

and technically buy alcohol in this country

Pretty awesome, no?

On Thursday, I spent the day with Amandine. We took the train from our local station all the way up to Oostende, in the very northernmost tip of Belgium. Why? So I could see the sea (I usually say ocean, but my Belgian friends frequently correct me and tell me it's the sea not the ocean, gawwwwwsh). It may surprise many of you to know that I didn't see an ocean until I was almost 17 years old; The English Channel is the first body of salt water I ever set eyes on, and I saw it 2 weeks before my 17th birthday.

Anyway, we headed up to Oostende so that I could see (and touch!) the sea. We arrived in Oostende and immediately started taking pictures. We walked around a little bit, and headed toward the beach, which was all blocked off because of construction. We eventually found a portion of the beach that people were allowed to walk down on, so we marched on toward the water. Here's something awesome about the beach: IT'S WINDY. VERY windy. But SO beautiful! It was clean and pretty and there weren't nasty seagulls everywhere, like the public beaches back home. Amandine and I walked to the water's edge and I touched salt water for the first time in my life! It was awesome, albeit FREEZING.

After that, we walked around a bit more, bought waffles, visited souvenir shops, and saw a beautiful cathedral. Amandine told me it looks like Notre Dame in Paris, which is pretty cool. I can't wait to see the actual Notre Dame!

Not long after buying waffles, we hopped back on a train to go to Bruges, which is another city in the north of Belgium. I've been there once before with Rotary, remember? Amandine had never been there before, and I didn't take nearly enough pictures the first time I went, so we decided to add that to our adventure.

Bruges is a very, very beautiful city. It's known as the Venice of the North, as it has loads of canals and waterways, just like Venice. You can take horse-drawn carriage rides around the whole city, and there are loads of chocolate shops and lace stores as well. Belgian lace is truly extraordinary.

Amandine and I walked to the Grand Place and took pictures, per the usual, and just poked around a bit before deciding to go to the Chocolate Museum. Yes, that's right, a museum based on chocolate. We were both pretty excited to go, but since we're the two most directionally-challenged people on this planet, we ended up getting lost and wandering around in circles before finding the chocolate museum about an hour later. And it was about... 100 yards from where we started. But of course, we didn't know that until later.

Anywhooo, the Chocolate Museum. SO awesome. They have a whole section on the history of chocolate: how it was discovered by the Aztecs and Mayas, then Cortez brought it back to Spain when he conquered Mexico, how Belgian chocolate companies have developed and changed how chocolate is made. There was also a demonstration about how to make pralines, given in Dutch, French, and English. At the end, we all got to sample a praline. Goodness they are DELICIOUS.

After that, Amandine and I decided to head home, as it was cold and rainy looking, and the train ride is 2 hours. Of course, we got lost again and ended up walking around in another circle before finding our way back to the train station. We got home at about 8 pm, and her parents dropped me off at my house. I had a quick dinner and hopped off to bed, thus concluding my day of Belgian Adventures.

I hope you're all having a fabulous day!

Mikayla

PS

Pictures WILL be coming, I'm just having trouble uploading them right now because the internet is spazzing out.

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

You know you're Belgian when...

your diet for the day consists of the following:

3 waffles
fries
2 Cokes
1 beer
1 chocolate cookie thing



And people wonder why exchange students gain weight...

Exams

Last week, exams started here in Belgium. They're not too different from the ones in the states, but they're not exactly the same, either.

Monday we had two exams: History and Geography. I opted out of taking Geography, as I have yet to take a test or do much of anything in that class. The history exam commenced at 8:25, which is when classes normally start, so I missed my daily dose of Père Boly. The desks were all separated in the classrooms, so kids couldn't copy each other. A teacher I've never seen before came in with an envelope that contained our exams. All of the Belgians had this special paper out, which I guess is the school's paper for when kids take their exams. I, of course, didn't have the special paper, but I didn't really care. I just used regular notebook paper, which is probably SO not Kosher...

The exam went until about 10:00, and I think I did fairly well. Not perfect, of course, but I don't think I blew it. The actual teacher came in at one point and went over all of the questions and asked if we needed clarification on anything. Overall, it was a lot like an AP exam... We had to analyze some documents, there was a bit of multiple choice, and then some essay writing. My essays weren't fabulous, but I'm all right with that.

Thursday, I had an exam in Religion, which was pretty similar. The questions were different, obviously. And there wasn't a multiple choice section. This one was only short answer, essay, and then something involving a cartoon on the back. I think we had to write what we thought would be the next appropriate thing to say in the cartoon. But I wasn't sure what the first part was saying, so I don't think I got that one right...

Again, I didn't have the special paper. Amandine offered me some of hers, but I declined. Honestly, I don't really care if I have the special paper a) because no one told me about it beforehand and b) I'd hate for Amandine (or someone else) to run out of her special paper because she gave some to me. It's not like my exams count anyway, and theirs actually do.

I got lucky and don't have exams today or tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday). I have to take English on Wednesday, Science on Thursday and Social Sciences on Friday. After that, I'm free until 2011! Belgians still have to go to school next Monday and Tuesday for exams in Greek and Latin or something like that. Yes, schools here are awesome enough to offer Greek and Latin. Anyway, I get out at noon every day after exams as well, so I'm pretty excited.

For English, Talia, Emma, Eduardo and I are supposed to go over everything the kids have done so far this year in English, kind of like a summary of sorts before the actual students take their exams. We're putting on a skit that will run through everything. Talia is the teacher, and Emma, Eduardo and I are the students. We talk about songs, greeting people, why we should learn English, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and the exchange students that came to talk at the beginning of the year, as well as a few other things. It should be fun and not too difficult, so I'm excited.

Tomorrow, Jordan and I are going to Brussels for the day to do a little Christmas shopping as well as hit up the Royal Museum of Fine Arts so I can see the painting "La Mort de Marat" by Jacques-Louis David. I've wanted to see it ever since I wrote a paper about the French Revolution sophomore year. I can't WAIT to see the real thing.



Then, we're headed to do a little Christmas shopping and to Waterloo so we can go to the British store there. I'm hoping to pick up some taco shells so I can make tacos with Arnaud in the coming weeks. I need to make Jell-O too...


Bisous,
Mikayla

Talia and I were "In an Open Relationship" on Facebook, and then she broke up with me.

Yeah, it's the start of a great weekend. :)

I have 4 days off until I have to go back to school for exams, and it's starting off with a sleepover with Talia. We made sloppy joes, corn and deviled eggs for my host family, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, and Arnaud didn't add any extra ketchup to anything.

Later tonight, we're going to dye my hair, then who knows what kind of shenanigans we'll get into.


Toodles,

Mikayla

Maastricht

This post is way way way overdue. I went to Maastricht, Netherlands on Friday, October 8, with Anne-Michèle and Mami (host grandmother). It was a Friday, and I had off of school, so we piled in the car at about 8 am and drove off. It was about an hour away by car, and the drive went by quickly.

We got to Maastricht and one of the first things I noticed was the bikes. There were bicycles EVERYWHERE. It was a noticeable difference when we crossed the border. The bikes had special lanes and traffic signals. It was amazing! There were probably more bicycles than there were cars. I love "green" countries!

We parked the car and commenced the shopping. Every Friday, there is a huge outdoor market in Maastricht. People sell fabric, batteries, lamps, dresses, purses, watches, cheese, shoulder pads, bracelets, shoes, lightbulbs, buttons, makeup, scarves, you name it. It was truly an incredible sight, with all of the booths and vendors. As the day went on, more and more people came to the market, so eventually it was a massive throng of bodies pushing and pulling to get to where they needed to go.

While Anne-Michèle and Mami were looking at some fabric, I was approached by a young man about my age. There were two other guys with him. I'd seen groups like this all day long. They were carrying clipboards and doing some sort of survey. The guy walked up to me and started speaking what I'm pretty sure was some very broken Dutch (it sounded a lot like me speaking French, so I only assumed that it was not his native language). I, of course, had no clue at all what he was saying, so I interrupted with "Desolée, mais je ne comprends pas. Je suis americaine." (Sorry, but I don't understand. I'm American.) I figured he might come from Belgium or another place that taught at least rudimentary French, but based on the blank, defeated look in his eyes, I was wrong. He gave me a pained look and asked, "Do you speak English?" My response: "Yeah."

That sure turned his frown upside down!

He said, "Oh, well this will be easy then!" He proceeded to ask me a survey of about 10 questions, along the lines of "Where do you come from?" (You're American?! Wonderful!) "Where do you live?" (You must be going to the university in Maastricht! No? You live in Belgium? Well that's exciting!) "Age of shopper." (You're not over 20? Are you sure?) It was quite fun. It turns out that the group of guys were from the international school in Maastricht. Based on the guy's accent, he was British, but I never asked.

After we finished at the market, Anne-Michèle, Mami and I went to a little tourist shop and I bought a keychain and a few post cards to remember my trip by. After that, we went to a little café for lunch. I had an iced cappuccino that was absolutely delicious. Gosh I miss Starbucks. And Dazbog. And Loveland Coffee. Sigh.

Anyway, we did a little shopping at a mall in Maastricht as well. Anne-Michèle bought me a very cute plaid shirt. Granted, it was from the guy's section, but I don't care. I like it a lot.

This is Eduardo, the AFS exchange student at my school. This is the shirt Anne-Michèle bought for me. As it turns out, we have the same one. We ended up wearing them on the same day, a complete coincidence. :)

We stopped in Zara and a few other stores before calling it a day and heading back to the land of les belges. All in all, it was a great day. I really enjoyed the market and the fresh air. It was amazing to see so many cool things for sale all in one place. I also snacked on some delicious cheese, which was super wonderful. Nothing beats Wisconsin cheddar though! :)





One thing I noticed is that I'm not posting as much about what I've been doing lately. I'll try to rectify that in the coming weeks.

Coming up:
exams and why food in Belgium doesn't make sense


Also:
Aachen, Germany, the Marche de Noel, and the Bal de la Saint Nicolas


Toodles,

Mikayla

The Big Americans.

It's a type of pizza. We eat it all the time, and I finally remembered to grab the box so I could take some pictures of it. Voilà.

There's a mouse in my house!

Or rather, in my suitcase. I've heard it in there before, and I always hoped it would just... disappear or something. No such luck. I woke up yesterday morning, and I heard it digging around in there again. I'd only been asleep for about three hours, so in my half-awake state, I grabbed the water bottle sitting next to my bed and repeatedly whacked the top of the suitcase in hopes of scaring the little critter into submission. It worked, apparently, because I managed to fall back to sleep...

When I was totally awake later on in the day, I decided that enough was enough. Mr. Squeaky needs to find a new home. So, I opened my suitcase and started removing things, one by one. Two t-shirts, a chewed hemp necklace, my packets of Ranch dressing, two (thankfully) untouched boxes of Mac n Cheese, a sportsbra sporting (pun intended) a nice new hole in the strap, and some random papers made it out, but my Reese's Cups Minis, were, unfortunately, lost to the dreaded Monster Mouse. I was afraid to pull those out in fear of what I would find, so I just zipped the suitcase shut and set it down in the hallway outside my room. There it shall stay until tomorrow, when Talia and Emma come over to get ready for Lady Gaga. Talia loves mice, apparently, and she will brave the uncharted waters of the rest of Mikayla's Suitcase-land in hopes of finding Mr. Squeaky (who is, in fact, Monster Mouse by night, much the way Superman is Clark Kent during the day) and rehoming him to the great outdoors.

I think it's a great plan.

Tonight after a yummy dinner of pork, potato chunks and green beans, courtesy of Arnaud, I was doing dishes, and mentioned the mouse in my suitcase. He said yes, he had read it on Facebook. Is it still in there? My response: ...That's really a great question... See, I may have knocked it out when I woke up yesterday morning and beat the snot out of my suitcase with a water bottle, but I think it's still alive because I'm pretty sure I heard it scratching around again this morning...

Arnaud's suggestion? Set a trap. Um... except that means it will die. As I'm sure you know, I'm not okay with the idea of anything dying, ever. I said as much, and Arnaud looked at me and said, "C'est juste une souris. C'est rien." (It's just a mouse. It's nothing). But that's the thing. It is something. It's a life. It doesn't deserve to die. His response: It's either the mouse or your Reese's Cups.

I almost thought about it.

Except the Reese's cups are already gone. So no dice. I told him the Reese's Cups are already lost, and he agreed we could set a trap with cheese. No death involved, thank goodness.

I hope Talia finds it tomorrow and we can just let it go outside, no sneak attacks with cheese involved. But we shall see....

Until next time....

RIP Reese's Cups.

London.

London London London.

That trip was seriously crazy fun. I LOVED it. While in London, I saw King Henry VIII's tomb, the interior of Windsor Castle, Queen Mary's Doll House, Buckingham Palace, countless telephone booths, drank Starbucks, and rode the London Eye.

The London Eye was probably my favorite part. We went up at night, and the entire city was lit up, everything was glowing. There were fireworks going off everywhere as well because of Guy Fawkes' Day, which made it even more magical. I wasn't originally going to ride because it was ridiculously expensive, but Jordan looked at me and said, "Mikayla... When will you have the chance to go again?" He was right. I'm SO glad I went. I have the souvenir picture of the group of us on my dresser, and every time I look at it, I smile.

Here's a recap:

I got to Namur at a disgustingly early hour on Thursday, and we all piled into the bus for the drive to Calais, France. I saw France for the first time on that trip, which was pretty cool. We got to Calais and had to go through customs, which involved filling out a little paper thing with details about how long we'd be staying in the UK and our addresses here in Belgium. It was pretty cool, and I'm happy that my passport has a new stamp. After that, we boarded the ferry for the trip across the English Channel. This was another first for me: I'd never seen the ocean before. Jordan, Emily and I went outside on the deck, and it was FREEZING, but we managed to get some good pictures.

My favorite:





After the boat ride, we drove to Canterbury Cathedral and took a tour, which was actually immensely interesting. I took loads of photos there as well. There's so much history in these places that it's almost hard to comprehend. Just imagining that popes, archbishops, and kings have done important business and altered the course of history on the exact spot you're standing on now is just... mind blowing.

After Canterbury, we drove to Picadilly Circus and were given free rein to run around and explore, as long as we were back on the bus by 10. I took off with Emily, Jordan, Sam and Caitlin, and we had a very interesting experience searching for a bathroom. Apparently the Brits don't have to pee, EVER. There were NO public bathrooms to be found. It was a major crisis, honestly. I don't know where I found the bathroom, but I know I found one eventually. Then, we went to eat at an Indian restaurant we found on a side street. The food was very good, but VERY expensive. The bill total was about 80 pounds, which translates to $130. For 5 people. Crazy, I know.

We went back to the bus after that, and finally went to the hotel. We ended up spending most of the night in Caitlin's room, playing cards and just talking.

Saturday:
Emily and I almost missed the bus because we went on a Starbucks run. SO delicious. We drove to Windsor Castle and took a tour, which was extraordinary. Jordan and I were the last ones done because we couldn't stop marveling at everything we were seeing. The views were incredible, as was the art. I've seen this picture a million times in books and online, but to actually see the real piece of art? Incredible.




After our tour, Jordan and I stopped in St. George's Chapel, which houses King Henry VIII's tomb as well as the St. George's Chapel Choir. It was finished during the reign of King Henry VIII, and was one of the most intricate, beautiful buildings I've ever had the privilege to enter. Henry even had a special room built for his first wife, Catharine of Aragon, to watch mass.

Our next stop after a quick lunch of McDonald's, believe it or not, was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. I met Leonardo DiCaprio, Indiana Jones, John Wayne and DANIEL RADCLIFFE. So many levels of awesome. I also had wax figurines of my hands made. I tried to do that thing where you make a heart with your hands, but it didn't really work... So I have two awkward looking wax hands sitting here in my room... but it was still awesome. Maybe I'll make them into book ends.


After that, we went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner. I had a veggie burger and it was delicious. We also happened to be sitting at a table surrounded by Billy Idol paraphernalia. I LOVE Billy Idol, so I was very excited about that as well.

After dinner, we went to the Phoenix Theater for a performance of the musical "Blood Brothers." I enjoy theater, but this... this was phenomenal. It's about twin brothers, separated at birth (their mother, a poor woman who already has 5 or 6 children, gives one of the boys to the rich woman whose house she cleans). The rich woman, Mrs. Lyons, states that twins separated at birth, can never know of each others' existence, or they will both immediately die. Of course, as the boys get older, they somehow find each other and become friends, much to the dismay (and terror) of their respective mothers. It's a beautiful story with amazing music to go along with it. Definitely one of my favorite experiences in London.

We returned to the hotel when the show was over, and hung out in Caitlin's room again, but that night we had a tea party. It was quite enjoyable. :)

Saturday we woke up, packed, and then commenced a walking tour of London. We saw tons of buildings including:
The Tower of London
Big Ben
London Bridge
Parliament
Buckingham Palace
The Royal Courts
Trafalgar Square
The Prime Minister's Street
St. James' Park

After our tour, we had a mad scramble to find lunch, as we had ended up in an area that contained absolutely NO restaurants whatsoever. Eventually we found a place selling fish and chips, so we munched on that outside in the park. AMAZINGLY delicious. Seriously.

While we were waiting for the rest of the kids to come back, the group I was with decided to get ice cream. We stopped at a little stand on the side of the road (it sounds sketchy, but it wasn't) and were greeted by a lovely man named Simon, who was working there. He had delicious ice cream as well. He was quite the character, and was immensely pleased when he found out we were from Belgium. He said that he only knows one phrase in Dutch: Zal je met me trouwen? which translates to: Will you marry me? Quite humorous, I will tell you.

This is Simon, the Ice Cream Man. He's holding a picture of my best friend, Hannah. I took that photo with me everywhere in London and took pictures of her with all of the landmarks and anything else I thought she'd like.

Once all of Rotary had regrouped, we divided up based on which museum we wanted to go to. Jordan, Caitlin, Sam and I chose to go to the British Museum. It was AMAZING how much history was inside that one building. I could have spent hours and hours, if not days and weeks just wandering the halls. However, we were all antsy to get out and explore the rest of London, as we had until 11 o'clock that night all to ourselves. So, needless to say, we were not in the best mindset for a museum. Some of my favorite parts:
The Rosetta Stone
The Book of the Dead
"Paula Deen. BUTTAH!"
"I really freaking HATE Rachel Ray."
"There should be way more Picasso stuff in here. Isn't this like... false advertising?"
"Dude... all of these people.... speak ENGLISH."
"Okay, so I'm thinking we're not at the maturity level we need to be at to be in here right now..."


When we were done touring the museum, we all headed across the street to Starbucks, of course, and then stopped to get "hot dogs" at the stand across the street. Why the quotation marks? Well, they tasted like funky sausage, and the box they came out of said "50% meat." I really don't want to know what the other 50% was. It was already dark outside, and the whole street was beautiful. Spending that time with my friends was definitely another one of my favorite moments on the trip. It wasn't necessarily anything extraordinary (okay... we were in London...), but a feeling of contentment just kind of washed over me during that walk. It was an indescribable experience.

We hopped on the metro after that. Next stop: King's Cross Station. Why? Platform 9 3/4. Yes, I'm serious! I had to explain my obsession to Jordan, who, as it turns out, has never read Harry Potter. >:( <---- That's my unhappy face. I do think his interest was piqued though, so hopefully he'll read them SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON. Life is not complete without Harry Potter. 'Nuff said.


We left King's Cross and hopped back on the metro to go to the London Eye, which Jordan really really wanted to ride. I ended up going as well, and it's probably number one on my Favorite Things About London list.



After the London Eye, we headed back to Picadilly Circus, and met a lovely drunk man wearing a mohawk wig on the metro. After arriving, we did a little bit of souvenir shopping, then split up for the remaining hour and a half or so. I went to a pub and hung out with Jordan and Elliot, and then we began a fruitless hunt for fish and chips. We ended up eating at a seedy little sandwich/donut shop, and watching a TV special about Susan Boyle. Actually, we almost missed the bus because we were watching the thing about her... But we made it, ça va alors. Most of the bus ride was spent sleeping, as well as the ferry. We actually missed the ferry we were supposed to take, so we parked the bus in a parking lot and just sat there for about an hour. And sleeping on the ferry was COLD. But oh well.

We made it back to Namur at about.... 8 am the next morning, and I took the train to Huy and Etienne picked me up. I slept most of the rest of the day, which was nice.



And voilà. That's the story of my trip to London. It was amazing, and it's definitely something I'll never forget. :)

Pizza

We just ate dinner, and as we were cleaning up, Anne-Michèle told Arnaud that at my house, we eat pizza for breakfast. He looked at me like I grew another head. Seriously.

Arnaud: Pizza?

Me: Yes...

Arnaud: In the morning?

Me: Yes. COLD, too. We don't heat it.

I think he's still standing in front of the fridge trying to figure out how us barbarians can walk and talk at the same time.

But I miss cold pizza.

Thanksgiving Pictures

All right world, here are the photos of the Thanksgiving Talia, Emma and I made for our host families. It was a LONG day -- we started cooking at about 1 and the party didn't finish until about midnight. Despite the enormous amount of work, everyone seemed to enjoy the food (the sweet potatoes were a big hit as well as the stuffing) and the pie was an interesting new experience for them as well. I'll post the story of the day later, as well as my stories from London. But for now, enjoy it visually. :)

Mikayla

Talia and I working on the sweet potatoes.

Of course, the vegetarian gets stuck making the chickens...

Melted butter, salt and pepper to rub on the chickens.

I don't remember what was going on at this point...

Emma's apples for her pie.

Emma, me and the bowl of stuffing.

Apple pie ready to go in the oven.

Our work space. It got a LOT messier than that.

We had leftover pumpkin pie filling, so we made little pumpkin pie cake things.

Rubbing the inside of the chickens with salt and pepper. The one I'm holding now became my chicken, the other was Talia's.

The chickens, in all of their chicken-y glory.

Pumpkin pie ready to be baked.

Stuffing the chickens. Amaury walked in while I was doing this, stared at me for about thirty seconds with eyes the size of saucers, and then ran out. He later told everyone that the stuffing was chicken excrement. Gotta love 11 year old brothers.

The chickens doing their thaaaang in the oven.

Apple pie.

Finished chickens. Mine was so beast it broke the string that was holding it together.

The finished table, right before we sat down to eat.

The dinner party.

Clockwise around the table:

Arnaud, M. Crismer (Emma's host dad), Anne-Michèle, M. De Wulf (Talia's host dad), Mme. Crismer (Emma's host mom), Etienne, Mme. De Wulf (Talia's host mom), Talia, Charles-Antoine (Talia's host brother), me

Not pictured: Amaury, Charlotte (Talia's host sister) and Emma (she was taking the picture)

Charles-Antoine, Talia, Emma, me, Arnaud

Etienne, Talia, Emma, Me, Anne-Michèle

Back row (l-r): M. De Wulf, Anne-Michèle, Mme. Crismer, Etienne, Mme. De Wulf, M. Crismer

Front row (l-r): Charlotte, Talia, Emma, me, Amaury