Parlez vous Francais?

I am back safe and sound in the good old UK and boy am I glad to be back! I had an amazing weekend in Brussels, but there's something about getting back to a place where you know how to use the metro system that makes you feel like never leaving again.

Our weekend started on Friday with a 7AM tube/train/metro ride. I traveled with two other people and we met up with others from our program once we got there. One of the defining moments of the trip was as we pulled into the station in Brussels. My friend Logan looked at me and asked "Do you speak any French?" I said "No, do you?" He responded "nope!" And so the fun began.

After a tricky navigation of the Brussels tram system, we arrived at our hostel. This was my first hostel experience and it was quite positive. The room was just as good as a hotel and probably a bad "first hostel" because it was so nice. (I now have very high expectations for every hostel after this one).The first day was spent walking around the city. The weather was FREEZING and I did not do a very good job at packing for cold weather so there was a good deal of shivering going on. We all did a brewery tour which turned out to be very interesting. I learned all about how beer is made. I also had my first authentic Belgian Waffle which was of course, out of this world. Friday night was spent out on the town where as I recall, we sang "Varsity" at a Belgian bar. (One of our traditional UW-Madison fight songs). The natives LOVED us.

The group went to Brugge on Saturday. It is a nice town about an hour outside of Brussels. We spent the day walking around the town eating and exploring. I liked Brugge better than Brussels because it seemed cleaner and less busy. The architecture was all stunning.

Sunday and Monday consisted of walking around. I became progressively exhausted by Saturday night and was forced to nap a couple of times. Going to bed at 4AM and getting up at 9 three nights in a row doesn't work. Lesson learned. By Sunday, we all walked around like zombies. Either way, that did not prevent us from staying up to watch the Superbowl live! I will never forget the experience of sitting in a hotel room in Belgium watching the Steelers win the superbowl.

Overall, Brussels was fun but I will probably not go back for a while. I learned that I prefer the culture in London to Brussels so much more. I enjoyed the company and bonding experience with my group above everything. The next stop for me will be Zurich in a couple weeks. I need to start practicing my German!

My week is filled with reading, tests and a paper. It will be a nice week to go to bed early and catch up on sleep. I wasn't lying when I said signs of sickness are coming. In my flat, there are two cases of pink-eye, one of the flu, and multiple kids are showing signs of bad coughs. With that, i'm off to buy some hand sanitizer.
-M