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.

3-10

Blog: This week was fairly light. Our economics class was cancelled so we had only two. History was business as usual. We discussed constitutional development in the EU. The class has shifted from covering expansion to deepening the understanding of the mechanisms. The second half of our culture section is based solely on art. This week we made up the first lesson and discussed medieval manuscripts. We talked about the process of making them along with the context of their content, which was almost entirely religious. It was a rather dry class.

This weekend I stayed local. I went with my friend Ariel to Brussels on Saturday. We walked around, saw a few cathedrals, and went to the Palaise Justice which is pretty impressive. After some sightseeing we went to the Irish pub Celtica and watched some of the 6 nations rugby match between Scotland and England. Afterwards we met up with a friend and went to A la Mort Subite. It is a very historic Bruxelleois brew pub that specializes in Lambics, a type of sour wheat beer native to Belgium. The name of the place translates to Sudden Death, which came from a popular card game played there. We also ate Pain noir avec fromage blanche, a very traditional Belgian accompaniment to a Lambic. Afterwards we went to the fish market and got a tasty prix fixe. Sunday proved to be really fun as well. A friend and I were feeling a little stir crazy so we went to a pub to watch the France versus Italy rugby match. Afterwards we went to the pub in town with a pool table. We ended up striking up a conversation with the bartender and we had a lot in common and had quite a laugh. He ended up showing us around after his shift was over. It was really nice to get a taste of how Leuven locals do.

Beer Fest and school

This week was fairly uneventful. I've been trying to save money and energy for upcoming spring break. We took our last midterm on Monday. It didn't go so well but I brought it upon myself with the hectic weekend in Barcelona and returning only a couple of hours before the exam. Work went well and I decided on a topic for my research paper. I am doing a comparative study of the EU 15 and the EU 12 on how they are satisfying Kyoto protocol. Economics class was very memorable as the staunch republican of the group started parroting conservative politicians on how our economy is not going into a recession. It was fun systematically destroying his views. He really knows nothing about the economy and was quoting other people who know nothing about the economy. I got to use a lot of what I've learned in my two co-ops in financial services to show him the light. Our professor was also pretty shocked at his beliefs.

This weekend I took it easy so to speak. By American standards I stayed out pretty late but was very reserved by European nightlife standards. However Saturday was a blast. We went to a beer festival in a town outside Antwerp. I got to taste quite a few beers that I had never had before, and got to see how different beer festivals are in Belgium compared to the US. It was full of really small breweries which was nice as I got to compare notes with a few Brothers Seamus.

Barcelona and Week

So this week we took the rest of our midterms. They went pretty well. At the internship I did some research for Kyoto Protocol and some english grammar editing for my MEP. This weekend my friend Jenna and I went to visit her cousin in Barcelona. It was a blast.

When we first arrived we went out and got Paella. We then went back to her cousin's dorm to put our stuff down and get situated. Her cousin had bought a few bottles of cava, a sparkling wine native to the Catalonia region of Spain. It was very delicious. We went out with a group of Italian guys to a party after a few hours. We concluded our night with a round of churros.

The next day we saw many of the sights Barcelona has to offer. We started at the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral designed by the famous Spanish architect Gaudi. It is truely a magnificent sight. We then took a walk to the beach. We spent an hour basking in both the sun and the glory of being on a beach in February. We then made our way down La Rambla, a famous street full of performers and trinket stands, to the Cathedral de Barcelona. The cathedral was beautiful and the 6 euro admittance to see the inside was well worth every cent. We then moved on to the Picasso museum which was as breathtaking as every sight in Barcalona. Following the museum we took a stroll to see a water works light show in the The Magic Fountain of Montjuic. We then went out for a delicious meal of Tapas. Then we went back to the dorm for a much needed rest. That night we went out to an Irish pub before hitting up a club in true Spanish style, 2AM-6AM.

The next day we managed to get up pretty early considering the previous nights events. At around noon we went for breakfast and then headed to Tibidabo. The view from Tibidabo, a mountain overlooking the city, was absolutely breathtaking. At the top there is a magnificent cathedral. After a thousand pictures, we ate a light meal and headed back to town for some Gaudi architecture. With the complete abscence of straight lines Gaudi's houses are truely unique. This capped off a long weekend of sight seeing. We stopped off at a wine bar for more cava and tapas then went back to study for our midterm and get some much needed rest for our early flight home monday morning. It was certainly the most jam packed weekend I've had so far. Barcelona is a wonderful city.

So this past weekend most of the people in the program decided to stay in Leuven. We had a blast. Most of us needed it after a week of midterms. With each passing day I find it increasingly difficult to concentrate when there are so many distractions around. On Thursday we decided to go to the local Irish pub. It was a great decision as we ended up hanging out with the staff of the institute. This proved to be quite a good time. We sat there and exchanged jokes, stories of life, and laughed about general cultural differences. I got a pretty solid lesson on Irish geography too. Friday we ended up doing the same thing and a good time was had by all. On Saturday four of us went into Brussels in the afternoon to look around. We saw the mannekin-pis which is a fountain in which a little boy is urinating the stream of water. There is a back story on how he saved an important building in Brussels using the exact method depicted by the statue. After some exploring we happened upon a pub that has happy hour from 1PM to 12AM. After a few delectably discounted trapist beers we headed over to the March aux Poisson for some dinner. Deciding on a prix fixe menu proved to be very worth it. For 12 Euro I had oysters, a delicious mussels dish, a staple of Belgium, and a tasty desert. That evening after returning to Leuven, we had plans to go see a couple of really good DJ’s at the club on the outskirts of town however they were foiled by the phrase “sold out.” Little did it matter as we ended up having a blast at one of the clubs in the town square.

This week I was invited to attend a session in Strasbourg France by my MEP. The internship is really picking up and it has become very exciting to be conducting such an interesting and meaningful body of work.

Hamberg

So as I write this we are starting the second of four legs on our daunting overnight journey back to Leuven. It is now 5:30 AM Monday. I’ve been sitting in the Cologne train station for two hours. My roommate Max and I went to visit friends of his in Hamburg this weekend. A great adventure this weekend was. Even the trip home has been quite eventful as we missed our direct train to Brussels and our only options were stay and return on Tuesday or take four different trains back through the night to Brussels. I’ve never felt so exhausted in my life. The last time we slept was Saturday.

The exhaustion is but a small price to pay for the great time we had this weekend. Hamburg is by far my favorite city I’ve seen here so far. The family that we stayed with was the most hospitable on this planet. They picked us up from the station Saturday morning and immediately took us to a wonderful breakfast buffet. We then went back to their house where they had rooms waiting for us. The house is set in a quaint suburban community about 10 minutes drive from the city. With an indoor pool, sauna, foosball table, and more beer than even the most destitute of alcoholics could ever want, the amenities were far more than just accommodating.

After a nice long nap we awoke to our first of the many delectable German lagers we were to consume over the following days. Our hosts invited their daughter over for some cake and coffee. Three types of homemade pastries were served, each one just as tasty as the previous. A round of champagne was to cap off the socializing. The two sons of our hosts then took us out for dinner and a night on the town.

Our night began in the meat district where we were taken to the best schnitzel place in town. I still refuse to believe that what we had was veal as they don’t make baby cows the size of the cutlets we were served. The only thing that rivaled the hunks of meat on our plate was the size of our one liter beer mugs. The boys also thought it would be funny to order roast beef for desert so we continued to eat more beef than I’ve eaten in a very long time.

We then proceeded to the red light district. Bar after bar lined the streets. And yes just like any other red light district the prostitutes were out in full force. We started by going to a cocktail bar which was very nice. We then bar hopped from place to place staying at each establishment for no longer than one drink’s time. At about 1 AM we decided to go to a few clubs. Dancing and general hilarity ensued.

We finished the night off by getting currywurst which is basically chopped up sausage smothered in curried ketchup and hot sauce. Max was feeling brave and ordered the medium spicy one. The pain in his face was reminiscent of a child finding out Santa Claus isn’t real. One bite was fierce, I can’t imagine how torturous it was to finish the whole thing.

The following day, we were shown the other half of Hamburg. We took a ferry ride up and down the harbor of the Elbe River. We were taken to a beach bar on the river. It was actually so warm for a day in the middle of February that we laid on beach chairs and drank while we sunned ourselves. We then went to the remains of a bombed out cathedral that had fallen victim to the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. We then saw the town hall, and then went out to dinner for hexel which is basically a giant leg of pig. German portions are not to be scoffed at, as once again there was enough meat to give a man a heart attack and a one liter mug of beer to wash it down.

week 2

We have begun to settle in a little more. It's interesting to see people's personalities become a little less filtered. Classes are finally in the swing of things. Economics is interesting, it is taught by a man from Benin. I'm also taking History of the EU which seems to be more of a 'how the EU functions' class. Culture, the third class I am enrolled in, is by far and wide my favorite. The first half of the class is covering European cultural history from the middle ages to present day.

I started my internship this week. I had to interview for the position along with one of my NEU classmates. The body of work is completely new to me and it is envigorating to try something that I have little or no experience with. I was required to sit in on a committee meeting for the Nord Stream pipeline connecting Russia and Germany. It is quite a heated subject as it is suspected that the state run OAO Gazprom is using a costly inefficient method of building the pipeline as a method of political leverage against eastern Europe.

We went to the Hague this weekend. The Nederlands is a beautiful country and I can't wait to see it in the springtime. I much prefer the Hague to Amsterdam, it has a similar feel minus the trappings of a city who's main revenue is tourism. We saw the peace palace and went to the MC Escher museum, all very fascinating.

Week 1

After spending the first full week in the program many first impressions have been made. I get along with most everyone in the program which is nice. The classes seem very manageable and the faculty very friendly. The dorms are nice although I have really grown out of dorm life. Being a few years older, 3 for the most part, has been noticeable in some instances. People don't seem to think it makes a difference but after going on a few co-ops and getting a taste for the real world you grow up a little faster than your counterparts.

We went to Amsterdam this weekend, the Van Gogh Museum left a little to be desired. It it definitely worth the few hours, the exhibit on Van Gogh himself takes you through his tortured life as an artist in great detail. It's also very interesting to see how drastically different his paintings got as he progressed. The other floors were okay however it was much smaller than expected and missing a few of his masterpieces.

Other than that we didn't really do much. Walking around the Red Light District at 2 in the morning is a sight you just have to see. If you thought your town was sleazy you're in for a surprise. The main art museum was closed for renovations however I thing it should be back up soon. The Heineken factory was also closed until March. We weren't there for very long and all the rain made walking around the city a little cumbersome. I suggest taking a canal tour if the weather is nicer. The architecture pales in comparison to some of it's Flemmish counterparts like Brussels and Bruge. But the Cenraal Station is magnificent.