Reflection

It is so incredibly difficult to sum up the entire trip and its impact in a few paragraphs. I learned so much about Western Europe and more specifically Belgium. The art and food of Belgium are the first things that stick out in retrospect. Belgium is a wonderful country with a rich and overlooked history of painting. I never knew that the advent of oil painting came about with Jan Van Eyck and Dirk Bouts in the 15th century. I had no idea how highly regarded Peter Reubens was as a Baroque master. I loved learning about Magritte's troubles with the French surrealists. The Gothic style of architecture that is so prevalent in Belgian towns really captivated me too. Prior to my trip I had never seen anything like it. It has made me jaded towards all other styles of architecture. Most notably this week when I was walking around Manhattan I couldn't help but feel that all the buildings were really boring looking. Another big difference I've noticed is the lightning fast service you come to appreciate in US restaurants. Over the past few months I've come to prefer the more relaxed style of dining in Europe. I'm sure there are many other subtleties I will come to notice over the next few weeks. The whole experience was life changing. The amount of traveling and new places and cultures I got to experience over the past few months is bordering the absurd. I would strongly urge any person to do as many study abroad programs as possible. I think back to what was at the time a pretty frustrating experience and laugh. By missing our train in Hamburg and having to take 4 trains throughout the night to get back, we inadvertently got to see the Cathedral of Cologne. My grandfather was from Cologne and had painted the cathedral a few times. The whole thing looked so familiar at the time and I couldn't figure out why until my mother explained that I saw a painting of it my entire childhood. Anyway it is little adventures like that, that you don't get to experience unless you put yourself in strange situations. I will never forget or regret my time spent abroad.

Trip back

So this is it. I am sitting in London Heathrow waiting for my plane home. This last week was really strange. The whole trip felt so surreal that reality didn't sink in until the last night. Everything was so alien to me when I first arrived into Leuven. It was my first time in western Europe, I had absolutely no academic background in any of the classes taken, and no impressions of the people and now it is coming to an end. This week I said my good byes at work. We finally had the ice hockey exhibition. On tuesday I had to stay until 8:00 but it was worth it because I got to meet Yari Kuri, and touch the Stanley Cup. Thursday we took our last final and had a banquet dinner to celebrate our time there. On Friday I flew to London and spent the weekend there before departing today. London is absolutely beautiful. It is one of my favorite cities I have visited. It has a certain New York City hustle and bustle vibe with a European twist. Since I was really only there for one full day I didn't get to see much. I went to London Tower, the Tate Modern Museum, saw Westminster Abby, a few Cathedrals, and Buckingham Palace. Today before leaving we went to regency park too. On Friday night we ate some of the best Indian food I've ever had. It was a great way to spend my last weekend in Europe.

Parents

This week started off with my History final exam. It went pretty well. I had quite a lot to say. Work was really slow this week. On Tuesday I went to a Budgetary committee meeting and on Wednesday I organized boxes and attended another meeting finalizing the ice hokey exhibition plans. After work on Wednesday I went out to dinner with my parents who were in Brussels visiting. Since we had off Thursday I went out on Wednesday night and had a blast. Thursday I met up with my parents and we went out to a Thai place. It was some of the best Thai I have ever had, and it is some of my favorite cuisine so I really enjoyed the meal. Friday my parents came to Leuven and I showed them around. Saturday we went to Brugge together. What a town. It is like someone froze time 600 years ago. We took a canal tour and a horse drawn carriage tour. We went to a gallery that had a Dali exhibit which was fascinating. There were no finished works it was all sculptures and sketches. There were many things I have never seen from my favorite artist. After that the week was all down hill. On saturday night on my way home from the bar, I stopped to talk to these two guys. They approached me speaking Spanish and since I love practicing mi Espanol so I was all for talking to them. However this proved to be disastrous. I'm not 100% sure but I had my wallet 5 minutes before talking to them and didn't 5 minutes after talking to them. So all signs point to them pickpocketing me. I had a large amount of money in the wallet and I am in a little bit of a jam now that I have no way of getting any of my credit cards sent here on time. To top it all off I left my passport at my parents hotel and had to go to Brussels to pick it up today. When it rains it pours.

4/6/08

This week was spend primarily preparing for my economics final and finishing up my paper. I finished the first draft of my paper on Monday so I could put it aside for a few days before doing the final edit. Work on Tuesday and Wednesday was very busy. I am helping my MEP prepare for the international ice hockey exhibit they are hosting in the parliament. I also put the finishing touches on the article I wrote for him. Tuesday and Wednesday night were spent studying studying and studying some more. The econ exam went really well. I wont know the results for a while but I am pretty confident of my performance. Friday I edited my paper and turned it in during the evening. Then Saturday and Sunday I studied for my History final on Monday. Friday night was really fun. We went to the staff house and had drinks with the employees of the institution. Other than studying and Friday night yet another uneventful weekend.

3/31/08

So this was a short week due to the fact that I extended my spring break until Tuesday. Wednesday was picking up the pieces at work again, and Thursday was the last day of classes for me. The whole weekend was spent writing my Economics paper that is due next Friday so I could spend the week studying for the final exam which is next Thursday. I went out Thursday night and hung out with my friend Bart who is a local bartender. Overall it was a pretty boring week, but this is the last three weeks of my college career and I want to finish it with good grades. One strange thing has been the realignment of friendships since the return of the break. Many people who never got along are hanging out a lot more than they used to and old friends are not getting along anymore. I guess that's what happens when everyone accepts people for who they are and gets to know each other better.

Spring Break Week

Wow. What a week. Well it was more like 10 days but, who’s counting? My break started with my girlfriend arriving in Brussels on Saturday afternoon. After meeting at the airport I showed her around Leuven on the way back to the room. Since she was exhausted from her travels we took a nap upon arriving at the institute. We then went to the local Irish pub so I could introduce her to the staff at the school and watch a six nations rugby match. Afterwards we went over to one of the Flemish pubs so she could get a taste of Belgian culture. We ended up meeting some very interesting locals and had a good laugh or two over a few beers. We then went back and rested for a while before diner. We went out to one of the nicer local brasseries to get some quality Belgian mussels. That night we went out for a little while but not too late as Janine was tired from her travels.

The next day we slept in and then ventured over to Brussels so she could see some of the city before we departed for Paris. We walked around Brussels for a while but it was raining very hard and we both ended up drenched to the bone.

Our limited time in Paris of only one full day severely restricted our ability to see much of the wonderful city. We really spent the whole time walking around, snapping pictures, and seeing as many sights as we could cram in one day. We saw the outside of the Louvre and Notre Dame. We walked through the gardens and went to the Palaise de Invalides. Afterwards we went to the top of the Eiffel so we could see as much of the city as possible. It was a real shame that we didn’t get to see the top two things on my list, the Musse D’Orsay and Sacre Couer. They will have to wait for another time. That night we ate a restaurant that I spent quite some time picking out. It was by far and wide the absolute best meal I’ve ever had. I can’t begin to describe the quality of the food we ate.

Between getting caught in the rain in Brussels and the walking around in the wind and cold in Paris, I became very ill the next morning. This was a giant nussance as we had to travel to Amsterdam that day. It was a miserable day, but we were going to see a music festival of American bands playing there. Some friends from the States had traveled to see this event so I got to see a few people whom I hadn’t in a while.

Amsterdam was nice. It was my second time there in only a few short months and I don’t care much for the city. It is ridiculously touristy and aside from the well known trappings there isn’t much to do there. In addition the nightlife is almost nonexistent. The clubs and bars close when most European establishments open. In addition I still felt terrible so we spent a lot of time resting in the hotel which was fine by me because my girlfriend is much more beautiful than the city of Amsterdam.

After a few days in Amsterdam we flew to Copenhagen. We were there for 5 days so we decided that forking over a few extra dollars for an apartment instead of a hotel would be worth it. We ended up saving money in the long run as we cooked dinner two of the nights and ate all of our lunches and breakfasts in the apartment. It was well worth it. The place was centrally located and perfectly tailored to our needs. We spent time visiting Janine’s family in and around the city. She was born and raised there before moving to the States in middle school. It was nice to have a pseudo local to show me how Danes do Denmark. We saw her grandfather, aunt, cousins, and uncle who all had delicious food for us. Danish open-faced sandwiches may be the best tasting thing on bread ever made. We spent a while walking around Christainia which is basically an extreme version of a hippy commune. We went to the Geology museum, she showed me a great view of the city from the top of the “Round Tower,” and we walked around the trendy shopping and bar districts at night.

Strasbourg week

Strasbourg: This week I went to Strasbourg with my MEP. It was very interesting. First of all it was my first experience traveling by myself in a foreign country. Since my French is pretty rusty it provided me with some difficulties. Since the trip was primarily business, I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to explore much of the city. The parliament complex was quite beautiful though. I got to take some great pictures both in and around the buildings. The workload was very light as my MEP indicated that the trip was primarily a chance to see the plenary sessions themselves.

Other than that I spent most of the week preparing for spring break and the arrival of my girlfriend. I have a lot of traveling on my plate over the next week so I have been frantically trying to get ready and avoid neglecting my studies at the same time. Speaking of, we received our midterm grades for all of our classes. They were a bit disappointing. I spent less than my usual preparation time so the grades received were expected.