Yesterday was my last day of Belgian school.

Talia, Emma and I presented an oral exam together in Social Sciences, which we passed with flying colors (45/60, a GREAT score by Belgian terms). It was a pretty simple exam, but it was nice to finish on a good note like that. It's weird to think that I'll never have a class there again; that it's all over.

After we finished our exam, our super awesome teacher, Madame Gallo, drove me to my second host family's house so I could pick up a package from my mom. I ate lunch with my family and caught up with them, and then my host mom drove me home.

I spent the rest of the day bumming around, talking to my host sisters and to friends back in the States. It's nice to finally be on summer vacation!

Countdown: 29 days left in Belgium!

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.

Twilight.

I'm having a movie night with Pauline and Quentin, my host brother and sister. We're going to watch Twilight 3. I like to think of it as family bonding time. Who would have thought that a crappy series like that could bring us all together? :)

Chez Golard.

Je suis bien arrivée chez ma troisième famille, les Golard. J'ai fini mes valises aujourd'hui, et j'ai jeté beaucoup d'affaires. Je suis fière de moi. :)

Vers 19h35, Malou et moi sont parties venir ici. Nous sommes arrivées, et nous avons bu un verre avec ma nouvelle maman d'accueil, Fabienne, et ma nouvelle soeur, Pauline. Puis, Malou est partie, et voilà ! Le dernier stade de mon échange commence. Il me reste un peu plus que deux mois ici, et je vais profiter !

Les blogs sur la Grèce et Paris viennent bientôt, je vous promets. :)

Bisous,

Mikayla

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 fell down the stairs today.

Its been that kind of week.

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

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

I change host families tomorrow

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

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

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

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

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

Song of the Day:

Never Say Never

by The Fray

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

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

Update.

Rotary was a fabulous affair, as usual. Bella (Australia) did her final presentation (she's leaving January 14th [insert sad face here]), and despite the sadness that accompanies that sort of thing, it was truly a beautiful presentation. I'm glad I got such a rockin' oldie.

Wednesday I did some more nothing, I believe, which was a lot of fun. I watched the West Wing (sooo close to finishing season 6!) and just enjoyed my break from life. Vacations are wonderful. People should take them more often.

Yesterday I hung out at home and enjoyed my vacation some more, and watched more West Wing. I actually had an "Aha!" moment while I was watching, and I'll share it with you:

For those who don't know, I'm going to CSU next year, and I'm going to major in Political Science and minor in French. I love love LOVE politics, government, and everything else that goes along with it. Watching campaigns for office is really exciting, in my opinion. I'm one of those rare people that doesn't get sick of the campaign adds on tv. I like hearing what both sides have to say, and I like having opinions and fighting for them. I got to shake President Obama's hand when he gave a speech at CSU during his campaign. That was one of the coldest (and most AWESOME) days of my life.

Anyway, back to my story. I was watching an episode of the West Wing (Season 6, Episode 17: A Good Day). In it, the Speaker of the House cancels a vote on stem-cell research. He wants to wait until the Democrats are out of town so that he can get the outcome he wants on the vote. The episode revolves around the attempt to foil the Speaker's plans. It turns out that some of the main characters manage to help hide a group of about 15 Congresspeople in the Vice President's office over night, so when the Speaker calls the vote the next morning (thinking most Dems are out of town), they can vote and defeat the Speaker's evil plot.

Yes, I know that it's illogical. Yes, I know that 15 Congresspeople probably wouldn't hide out in an office all night long. Yes, I know it's a tv show. But that doesn't change my reaction to it.

I got tingles in my toes.

I was so interested in how the politics of the situation were set up and how the members of Congress were going to vote that I didn't even stop to care if it was illogical or not. It really reinforced for me how much I LOVE politics. I just love how people can come together (or separate) on issues. I love listening to both sides make their point. I love campaigns, elections, voting, and political efficacy (that one's for you, Mr. Felton). I love politics.

Wednesday night (okay, I did do something on Wednesday...), I was chatting with Aymeric, a Belgian friend of Talia's, on Facebook. He asked me how I feel about America and being American, and we discussed some issues that are very important to me, like the environment and education. Education is number one on my priorities list, yes, even higher than environment. We can't possibly think we can help the environment if we can't even spell the word. But I digress. Aymeric and I also talked about Belgium and the lack of government here. Yes, that's right folks. Belgium does not have a government at this point in time. Its been about 6 months without one. If I'm not mistaken, it's the second time in the past few years that Belgium has not had a government. Yes, there is a king, but he doesn't have the power that belonged to kings of years past. Donc (therefore), Belgium is kind of in a rough place right now. It was really enlightening to be able to talk to someone who's my age and who can explain how this came about here in Belgium. I've heard rumblings about it my whole time here, but any time I asked someone about it, they'd just say "Les politiques... trop compliqués." (Politics... very complicated). I'm glad I now have a little bit of a grasp of what's going on here.

Moving on to the rest of my Thursday...

Last night, Etienne, Anne-Michèle, Amaury and I went to my second host family's house for dinner. I met my second host dad for the first time and I think we'll get along swimmingly. He speaks 7 languages. SEVEN. That's crazy. And my host sister in that family speaks 6. I'm insanely jealous. I don't know how they do it... I can barely handle 1 1/2!

Tonight is a Christmas dinner, which should be fun. Adrien, my host brother who's currently studying in England, is supposed to be coming back, but we don't know if his train was cancelled because of all of the snow. I won't lie, at this point, there is a LOT of snow out there. My snowwoman is kind of... misshapen right now because of all of the snow that has landed on her in the past 2 days. I'd love to take pictures, but my camera is still dead. Insane, I know. I'll get batteries asap.

Merry Winter Solstice to you all!

Bisou,

Mikayla

Recap.

Tuesday:
I had off of school again, so Jordan and I went to Brussels. We took a little walking tour of the city and I saw the Mannequin Pis for the first time. What is the Mannequin Pis, you ask? Voilà:



He was dressed up when we saw him. Apparently, whenever foreign dignitaries are visiting Belgium, he is dressed up in the clothes of that dignitary/nation. Pretty cool, huh? Unfortunately, when I saw him, he wasn't "pis-ing", so I'll have to go back another time to get another picture with him.

Just a heads up: My camera is out of batteries. Again. Because it sucks through them like nobody's business. So I didn't get any pictures of Brussels. Jordan took a few though, so I'll steal them from him. :)

After the Mannequin Pis, we stopped in a tourist office and got a map of the city to help us find the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. It took quite a while to make it to where we needed to go, as Jordan and I don't have the best map skills in the world. I will say though, that whenever I say "It'll be fine!" it always turns out that way. :) I used that phrase a LOT on Tuesday...

We finally made it to the museum, and got our tickets. I'm free to go in because I'm under 18, so you can bet that I'll be going back a LOT. We both got the little audio guide thingies, and started wandering around to see what we could see. It was a lot of fun just poking through old pictures and learning random facts about history. We finally saw "La Mort de Marat" and I was stunned, to put it mildly. It's a rather large painting, and just as cool in real life as it is in textbooks. The history behind it is amazing as well. I still can't believe I got to see it. It's a piece of revolutionary history, sitting right there at the end of a hallway. Mind blowing.

After Jordan and I finished the Ancient Art section of the museum, we headed to the gift shop and to find some food. We both got post cards and promised we'd come back to see the modern art collection. Gosh I LOVE art museums!

We found a fry shop not far from the Brussels Central station, so we munched on fries before our train came. We jumped on the train, and about 20 minutes later we were in the charming village of Waterloo, Belgium. Yes, like Napoleon. We started walking away from the train station just as it started to get dark, thinking that the town was rather small, as I remember it being. Well, I was wrong, the town was not small. We walked. And walked. And walked. And walked. Finally, we stopped in a butcher shop and asked the lady working for directions. She told us we were on the right track (there's my phrase again: It'll be fine!) and not too far away. We kept walking. And walking. And walking. Jordan started complaining. And we kept walking. And walking. And walking. Jordan told me I'm crazy and he'll never go on any adventures with me again. And we were walking. And walking. And walking. Finally, we found a tourist information place, and we stopped inside to ask how close the British Store was. It was, quite seriously, right down the street. RIGHT down the street. Maybe 100 yards beyond where we were. Jordan stopped complaining as soon as we found out how close we were, and began to worship me for my excellent directional skills. As we walked up the street to the British store, we saw (drumroll please)...

A sports bar.


A real, true-blue, American sports bar. Complete with Miami Dolphins helmet on their awning.

Jordan was nearly ready to cry with happiness at the sight, and we agreed to stop back there after we went to the British store.

At the British store, I bought bagels, taco shells, and baking soda. Yes, a couple of must-have items there, lemme tell ya. The bagels and taco shells were for Arnaud. I'm continuing his education in the realm of American food, and so far, I don't think he's overly impressed. Hopefully the tacos will change his mind.

Anyway, we poked around the British store for a while, me in the food sections and Jordan looking at books and movies. I must say, the British store was an AMAZING discovery. Seriously.

After the British store, we stopped in the sports bar and just talked for about an hour. We watched football a little bit (Atlanta v. Someone, neither one of us really cared) and just talked about life and whatever came to mind. It was my favorite part of the day, even better than seeing "La Mort de Marat." It was great to just hang out with a friend.

After our drinks, we headed back to the train station. It was only about 6 pm, but it was very, very dark outside. We finally made it to the train station with about 20 minutes to spare, but unfortunately, our train was late. The schedule crossed over with another train, and we ended up on the wrong train. Oh yay. Luckily, the train stopped in a few small stations in Brussels where we could catch a connecting train to the big stations, but it was still pretty freaky. I hate not knowing where I'm going.

We finally made it back to Brussels Central, and we found a train to take us back to Liège that stopped in Waremme. You've all seen what I ate that day, and lemme tell ya, I was not feeling too great by that point. Regardless, it was a pleasant train ride, an excellent ending to an excellent day.


Wednesday:
English exam. Eduardo, Talia, Emma and I had to find a way to present everything the kids have worked on in English this year. We decided on a skit, and, in all honesty, only got it done in the 2 hours right before the exam. However, we did really, REALLY well. The teacher absolutely LOVED it. She just kept saying "Extraordinary. It was extraordinary!" over and over. She also told Madame Vanesse, the directrice of our school and the person in charge of the exchange students, how much she loved it. We were pretty pleased with ourselves.

Thursday:
Science exam. It wasn't perfect by any means, but I think I did really well. The genetics part was good, and I think I did a decent job on the nuclear physics. The teacher was very impressed when he saw that I was already on the parts about the articles. That was definitely a challenge, as I don't read very quickly in French yet. So, I read the questions and tried to scan the articles for keywords. I know I didn't get all of the information I needed, and I'm pretty sure a good portion of my answers aren't 100% correct, but I don't care. I'm just glad I got it done, and I think I did a fair job of it.

Thursday night, Madame Gallo, a teacher at my school, brought all of us exchange students along to Brussels to see her one woman show, Mes Nuits Sans Robert (My Nights Without Robert). What Robert is she speaking of? Redford, of course! The whole show is based upon a woman, Louise, who works for a film company. She's normally just an office worker, but the woman who is supposed to be giving this film presentation is giving birth, so the job falls to Louise. Of course, all sorts of things go wrong (she doesn't have the right pictures, she doesn't follow the script, etc) and unfortunately, the lights guy she practiced with is replaced by a man name Pierre, who she apparently has a HUGE crush on. The whole thing is HILARIOUS. Madame Gallo is an incredible entertainer. We laughed the whole time. She danced with a giant pillow thing, put on giant underwear (over her clothes) like Bridget Jones, and dumped a jug of water over her head. It was hysterical. Her number one celebrity love is Robert Redford, so she talks about him the whole time. She even chooses a man from the audience to have the "arms of Robert!" and makes him hold them up for the entire crowd. She spends a decent portion of the show talking about those arms, and asks the mans wife "Do you just... touch those arms every single night? ... NO?! WHY NOT?! They're the ARMS of ROBERT!" It was hilarious.

We didn't get home until about midnight, but the car ride back was great. We talked to Madame Gallo about everything and anything: being exchange students, missing home, school, learning French, her stories from being an exchange student (she was in Oregon for a year when she was 18), and whatever else. It was really great.

Eduardo, Talia and Emma spent the night here, and Etienne drove Eduardo, Emma and I to school the next morning, as we all had exams. Talia didn't so she stayed at my house until her host mom picked her up.

Friday:
Emma and I had our exam for Sciences Sociales, which is taught by Madame Gallo. We did the exam together, and I'm pretty sure we did a pretty good job on it. I was pleased, at any rate. I managed to write an entire essay in French, and I think it was pretty grammatically correct. I was proud. :)

After the exam, I was free! I'm now on Winter Break, and I don't have to go back to school until 2011! How awesome is that?

Anne-Michèle picked me up and we did a little shopping before returning home. I chilled out and watched The West Wing and read "Orgueil et Préjugés". It was a glorious day.

Saturday:
I just hung out and relaxed, enjoying my new freedom. Saturday night, I talked to a bunch of my family members, which was really cool. I miss you all! After that, I went with Etienne to a nearby town to a small Christmas party for the CPAS (like a Social Services Center... Etienne's the president in our town). I met a woman from Bosnia-Herzegovina there, and her two kids, Yasmina and Mustafa. They were the CUTEST little kids ever, and SO polite. The family ended up coming with Etienne and I to the next phase of the night, a Ventriloquist/Magician show for younger kids (Amaury's age and below) here in Les Waleffes. The show was really cute, and everyone laughed the whole time. At one point, the magician, Etienne (no, not my host dad) demonstrated how to do one of his magic tricks. After he was done, he called out into the crowd "Did everyone understand?!" Everyone yelled "Oui!" But of course, he said, "Oh no, she didn't understand, did you, Madame?" Who was he looking at? You guessed it. Me. I tried to say that yes, yes I understood, but as part of the show, Etienne had to say no, no I didn't. He finally caught on that I'm foreign, and said, "Oh, are you English?" I said "No, I'm American." His response? "I LOVE Americans!" (in English). Then, he moved on and asked another woman if she had understood his magic trick. I don't know why, I must have a really open, inviting face or something, but everyone here LOVES to call on me for things like that. People in train stations always ask me for directions, on the streets they ask me how to get to the train stations, etc. It's frustrating. But good that people think I'm native, right?

After the show, Amaury and I walked home and chatted about whatever. He teased me because the magician had called on me, and said "Well, you have an accent." I asked if my accent is really strong, and he said, "You know a lot of words." Oh Amaury, so polite. I'll take that as a yes. :) But I'm okay with it. Just something to practice.

Sunday:
We went to lunch at Mami's and I had a lot of fun. I talked more than I ever have before, and I really enjoyed it. During lunch, Anne-Michèle said something that I thought was interesting. We had just told the story of the magician calling on me at the show on Saturday night, and how I told him I'm American. She said to me, "No, not really. You're not American. You're not like the stereotypical American." I asked what I am then, if I'm not American. She said, "I don't know." And I said, "Okay, I'll be Belgian." I like that idea.

Monday:
(Today)
I'm watching copious amounts of "The West Wing" (I'm just starting season 6. Only 2 more to go!) and enjoying my vacation. I'm thinking of making a snowman later. Why not? I haven't made one in YEARS, and I'm not sure I remember how, but it'll be fun, I think. Maybe I'll convince Arnaud to take a break from studying and come help. We shall see.



Love,

Mikayla






The rest of this post will be a quick catch-up of things I've forgotten to post about.

1. Saturday, the 11th, I spent the night at my second host family's house. I got to see my room and hang out with my next host mom, which was loads of fun. I really enjoyed getting to know her better and I can't wait to live there.
2. I will post about Aachen as soon as I can, hopefully tomorrow. All of my posts are going to be a bit out of whack, because I don't always post the big ones right as they happen. I'll put the dates of when I did these things at the top so we can try to keep them in order.

That's all, I do believe...