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.