CARNAVAL
So cool thing about Belgium, we have a lot of holidays. three weeks ago it was Carnaval, and we had a week off from school. In my last post, I mentioned how I went to Binche with my host family. I went back late that week for Mardi Gras with a group of exchange students. It's not as big as Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but there was a cool parade with a bunch of guys wearing big, feathery hats. The second half of the week, my hosts and I went on a road trip, and visited Luxembourg and Strasbourg. My favorite part was probably the day we spent in Strasbourg. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the city itself is just really cool. Nearly all of the buildings are Tudor style houses, or as they say in French, maisons à colombage, and there's a river that goes around the center of the city, creating a mini island. In Luxembourg, we spent a day visiting the city of Luxembourg, where we went ice skating, saw a lot of really old buildings, and visited this random natural history museum that we found, just to get out of the cold. We also spent a day in Beaufort (also in Luxembourg), where we went on a really nice walk in the woods, ate some really good pizza, and stayed in a pretty awesome hostel. On the way back home, we stopped at the highest point in Belgium, which measures at 694 m, or 2,277 feet. Wow, so high. However, it actually snows and sticks all the way up there, so we had a snowball fight, and of course some hot chocolate, before heading home. All in all, in was a spectacular vacation, and it was over too soon.
CABARET (and school and stuff)
This past week at school was Cabaret week, Belgium's equivalent to a school talent show. My friends had asked me to play the piano or sing, but I've been kind of busy, and before I knew it, it was two days before and I had forgotten to prepare anything. Instead, I helped out with preparations, and my friend and I were on stage crew, setting up mics and moving furniture around and such. Now, while my school here doesn't really have the facilities, technology, or funding to put on a Janice Franz caliber talent show, it was still a really great time. There was one comedy sketch done by a few teachers and it was hilarious. The theme of the Cabaret was Safari, and their sketch was a spin off of Cinderella. In this version, Prince Charming was Indiana Jones, and even better, was played by my math prof, who is one of my favorite teachers. Ever time he said his line (singular on purpose, he really only had the one) the Indiana Jones theme music would play, he would flex his muscles and say, "Je suis Indiana Jones. Je suis si fort, et tellement beau" (I am Indiana Jones. I am so strong, and very handsome). the crowd died every time. For me, it was great for two reasons, 1) my favorite teacher was being ridiculous, and 2) I actually understood all of the humor. It was definitely my favorite act. Besides the fun of the show itself, it was really great to get involved with something at school. Here in Europe they don't have school sports, or clubs, or really any extracurricular activities, so the opportunities to involve oneself are extremely limited. Being a part of a group effort like this was really cool. It helped me to get even closer with my classmates. At first, most people at school were distant, not unfriendly, but just separated, and I was pretty shy, and not confident in my language abilities, so school was kind of blah all the time. After Christmas vacation though, things have been getting steadily better. I have the ability to join in on conversations, I'm more involved in class, and people I don't know that well have started coming up to me and inviting me to sit with them, or play cards, or ask me for help on homework (once a nerd, always a nerd, even in French). Honestly, this couldn't have come at a better, or a worse, time, to be honest. In just three weeks (!!!) I'm going to Croatia on my senior class trip, and before this, I was a little nervous to spend a whole week with these people who I didn't know very well, and wasn't that close to. Now, I'm still a little nervous, but mostly excited to have an opportunity to become even better friends with an awesome group of people. On the negative side, it kinda sucks that it's happening so late as I only have months left in Belgium. At first, school was just something I had to do. It was boring, and difficult (for the first few months at least), and I only had a few people that I actually looked forward to seeing. But as I am all too quickly approaching the end of my time here, it's become something else. Yeah, it's still boring, and studying sucks, but I get to spend time, share experiences, and make memories with people whom I have really grown to love, and whom I know I'm really going to miss when the time comes for me to leave.
But that's enough of that sad stuff, so here's an update on what's coming up for me in the next month or so.
T-13 days: First day of spring! (this isn't really about me, but I'm still excited)
T-20 days: Voyage rhéto (senior trip) to Croatia
T-30 days: Rotary trip to Italy
T-approx. 45 days - Switching families, cities, and train routes
T-3 months - exams...
T-3 months, 19 days, 15 hours, 30 minutes (as of 14:45 GMT, 7/3/15) - Returning to the U.S.
There you have it! Life continues to be awesome here in Belgium, though sadly colder here than back in Wenatchee, and more awesome adventures are coming up. Thanks as always for reading, and hope to see you back here in a few weeks!
 |
| Mardi Gras in Binche |
| Luxembourg is actually Hogwarts. |
 |
| Barrel of wine made in 1472 - Strasbourg |
 |
| Belgium making up for its lack of mountains with awesome sunsets |
 |
| Me and the host sisters in Strasbourg |
 |
| Snow at Signal de Botrange - highest point in Belgium |
 |
| Glass saxophone in Dinant, Belgium birthplace of Adolphe Sax |
