ITALY!!! Part II

Ok so here we go, Part II of my amazing trip to Italy. Now where were we? Oh yes, Day 5...

Day 5: This was probably my favorite day of the entire trip. We started off with our breakfast, as usual, and then we were off. We had to take different buses than the other days because of the size of the roads in that part of the country. See, we were on the coast again and in the mountains, so the roads narrow and winding. So we had two different buses, one for the anglophones and one for the francophones. I took my Dramamine, and we were off. The program for the day was to see three Italian villages along the coast of Italy. The first was Sorrento. And let me tell you, the drive there was even amazing. The whole drive we were pretty much on the edge of the mountains, almost hanging off the road. And what we below us? A gorgeous blue sea that stretched out forever. And above us? A brilliant shining sun that lit up the trees and flowers that lined the mountain side. Really, it was absolutely breathtaking. And we weren't even out of the bus yet! The ride was also a little bit scary, as the driver was, of course, Italian, and tended to be a little crazy. But we had full confidence in him, and he got us through all the winds and curves of the road safely, even if at times it looked like we were going to crash into things. As we went, our Rotary man (Bernard De Boyer) gave explanations of a few things as we passed them.

Then we got into the village. Wow. I really don't have many words for the things we saw. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. A whole city built up on the side of a mountain with colorful houses and beautiful scenery everywhere. These cities are also amazing because there is barely any car action going on. So we had a few hours to just explore on our own and walk through the backstreets and discover the village. It was still early morning, but everything was open and busy. And as much as I expected it to be, it was not that touristy of a place. The best thing about it, and most of Italy, is that even though there are obviously tourists EVERYWHERE, it's not the way it is because of the business. It's just really like that. There is ivy growing up the buildings and music in the streets, fountains in the middle of pathways and little alleys that lead to who-knows-where.

So we spent a few hours taking pictures, seeing the shops, and just having fun. And I found my Italian bathing suit :) It's purple and has all kinds of stones on it that were put there by hand, in Sorrento, by a man who makes costumes for Italian theater and film! Great find! The other thing that is typical of Sorrento is an Italian lemon liquor called limoncello. And BOY is it strong! We sampled some in one of the stores (yes, at 9 30am) and yes, I gave in and bought some to take home, along with some lemon chocolates that they had as well. It was splurging day for me, don't judge.

After our time was up, we met back up with Rotary and got back in our buses to go to the next stop, Amalfi. Again, the drive was just as lovely as the things that we had seen and were about to see. I honestly have no words to describe it all. You just have to believe when I say it's gorgeous. Plus, unfortunately, photos cannot even begin to do it justice. Anyways, we drove for a while, admiring the views and having a splendid time imagining what it would be like to live there. Finally, we got to Amalfi and got out of the buses for some more exploring. This time, they gave us each ten euros and it was time to go find lunch. And of course, Savannah and I managed to find amazing little restaurant. And what did we get? I'm glad you asked. This lunch featured a wonderful bruschetta, topped with tomatoes, basil, mozzarella cheese and just the right amount of salt. Oh my goodness, I love bruschetta so much I can't handle it. We also got a really wonderful pizza that actually didn't have any sauce on it, but instead just fresh tomatoes, arugula, and parmesan cheese. It was definitely the real deal when it comes to authentic Italian pizza. And so delicious. We topped it off with a glass of red wine shared between the two of us. Talk about a lovely meal.

After lunch, we went looking around the city and found ourselves in the center at this giant church that was really quite incredible. But eventually, it got to be time to go back down to meet everyone else and our exploring had to come to a close. But we managed to go back in time to have a little time on the beach! Even though it wasn't very hot, we still took off our shoes and ran across the beach (even though the sand was rocks) and put our feet in the water. And of course, me being me, I decided it was dance picture time. So we went up on the pier and took some really beautiful pictures as I jumped around and made kind of a fool out of myself. The Rotary guys probably thought I was completely insane. But that's ok. I only fell once and it was no big deal :) Oh and Jordann lost my flip flop in the sea... But we got that back, so whatever. Anyways, the next destination was Positano, yet another lovely village, so it was back into the bus for us.

This last leg of driving was kind of difficult. The fact was that we were all tired, the scenery was quite calming, and many of us found ourselves dozing off. But we quickly woke up when we saw the city ahead of us. Here, the roads got even smaller and the turns tighter. When you see the city from a distance, it looks like it has literally just sprouted out of the ground. Everything is completely vertical... It's really incredible. This time we had to pass through a sort of tunnel to get into the city, but as soon as we did, we called it gelato time and I got some tiramisu gelato. And we went over to a little ledge to look out over the sea as we ate. And this is where things get a little bit more... Interesting.

All of the sudden, someone comes up to me, a man, with another man, middle-aged, and the one says to the other, can you take a picture with my friend please? And I looked at him, and for some reason, I just said "Ok!" really enthusiastically and took a picture with him. But the other guy was like, "No you need to get closer." "Ok now laugh." Kind of weird stuff. But don't worry, it wasn't creepy. It was actually really funny. After I was done laughing my head off, the one taking the pictures was like, "Ok who's next?" And they took pictures with three or four other exchange students that were there with us. We could tell that the one who was in the pictures was embarrassed because he was laughing just as much as we were. And I kept asking who they were and what they were doing. Eventually, we found out that they were just two random guys from the States who were in the city too and they had been eating lunch and got into a conversation about how you meet people. And they both realized that they didn't really know how to go about meeting random people. So they wondered if this tactic would work. And obviously it did! Their names were Randall (the one taking the pictures, the really funny one) and Jonathan (the embarrassed one) and they were just on vacation. They were cousins actually. Randall was from St. Louis and had never left before. Jonathan was from the Big Apple. But regardless, we talked with them and laughed with them for a while and eventually took a group shot with the 10 or so exchange students that were there. And I said that they could totally be in a reality show called "Randall and Jonathan Meet People" and it would be a huge hit. So that became the running joke for the rest of the day.

We spent the rest of it just walking around, and we honestly didn't have that much more time left after our adventure with Randall and Jonathan. But that was not the end of our experiences with people. As Savannah and Jordann and I were getting ready to go back to the bus, we passed by a fountain and we wanted to fill our water bottles. Well there was an old man standing there and he immediately engaged us in conversation. He was Italian and spoke Italian to us, and I have to say, he was missing teeth, so it was kind of hard to understand him to begin with. But I also have to say, I'm so proud of myself because I was able to follow along! He told us all about when he was younger and was in the army and about where the water came from that came out of the fountain. He even had old black and white photos on his person of him when he was in the army. It was sweet in a weird kind of nostalgic way. And again, it may sound creepy, but it really wasn't. In fact, it was cool.

Well from there it was back on the bus to go back to the hotel. Again, we fell asleep on the bus. We had some time that night and were trying to figure out how to go out, but it never ended up happening. A couple of us had walked around the city looking for something to do, but all we found was this little bar where we got a drink before dinner, but that was it. So I went to bed early. But then I heard in the room next to me someone knock on the door, clearly not an exchange student and he said with an accent, "I am the gigolo that you ordered." My eyes shot open and he went on, "I am gigolo that you ordered." Then the person in the room said, "I did not order gigolo, I ordered three women, one black." By this point I was a little freaked out. The "gigolo" said again, "No you order gigolo. I am here. Will you let me in please?" After that it was over. I don't know if it was legit or a joke, but it kinda made me feel weird... Anyway, that's when I fell asleep.

Well Day 5 was obviously huge. Again, favorite part of the trip. Part III coming soon! And stay updated for pictures as well!

ITALY!!! Part I

Ok here we go. The epic post of the best ten days EVER: Italia 2011.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? After all, it's a very good place to start.

Day 1: This was Wednesday, April 10, 2011. I was all packed up, ready to go. I had to be at the train station d'Angleur in Liège around 12 00pm, so we put all my stuff in the car (one suitcase, one bag for the bus, and my laptop bag) and my host dad drove me to the station. I was actually the first one there, and we waited around for a little bit, though it wasn't long until people started arriving in a steady stream. I said goodbye to my host dad and hello to the exchange students who I hadn't seen in a long time. Oakley was there and we stuck together for most of the trip.

When the bus arrived, there were already some people on it, as the first stop had been in Brussels. We loaded up our stuff and hopped on the big two-story bus. Jordann was already there and she had saved us seats. We were on the top floor with a bunch of other exchange students that I had never met before, but we quickly got acquainted and everything was great. we started off on our journey, and I wasn't feeling to good, but it was on and off stomachy stuff, which I'm sure was just stress, and I did not get sick, so it was all good. After just a couple hours, we stopped again to pick up the last of the kids in Luxembourg. We had a bit of time to chill and I talked with some of the people that I didn't know. Once we got back on the bus, everyone knew each other and we were blasting music and having a great time. We spent the rest of the trip making hippie daisy crowns, listening to music, playing guitar, singing, and watching movies. We spent the night on the bus too, with a couple more stops, one being Switzerland where I found the biggest Toblerone ever. And let me tell you, sleeping on that bus sucked. I've slept on other buses for big trips like that before, but this was awful.

Day 2: The next morning we had to wake up really early, on top of everything. But it was ok because we were in Italy!! We stopped and everyone changed and made themselves presentable. Next stop, Roma!!!

We stopped in a parking garage in Rome and everyone got off the bus and split into four groups: two English speaking groups and two French speaking groups. I was in the higher of the two French groups (it was the Rotary that chose the groups and it was marked on our nametag/lanyards). From there, we made our way into the city towards the Vatican. On the road that we took, there was a sort of exhibition of the Stations of the Cross in giant wooden sculptures. They were beautiful and for me, very moving since they were incredibly emotional and realistic. And they were just chillin' in a line on the side of the road on podiums. Normal. From there, we continued until we saw the castle of Saint Angelo and the Angel Bridge that is right in front of it. We took our pictures and the Rotary guys in charge of our groups told us a little bit of history that had to do with the monuments. On the bridge, there are statues of angels lining it. Fun fact #1: Each angel is holding something that had to do with the crucifixion of Jesus. Also on the bridge, people put locks around the wrought-iron bars with their name and the name of their significant other written on them. I love that :)

We then made our way to the Piazzo San Pietro (Saint Peter's Square) to meet up with everyone else, take a few pictures, and then follow the leader to the restaurant where we would eat lunch.

Ok here we go, food time. Jordann and I walked into the restaurant and realized that there really weren't any places left, so we ended up sitting at the table with the Rotary adults. Which wasn't a big deal since we had the opportunity to talk to them and, yes, suck up a little bit. And then they ordered a bottle of wine. Italian wine. And Jordann and I got to have a glass too. So let's just say, sitting at the adults' table = major win. For lunch, we had a wonderful full Italian meal, starting off with the first course of pasta. Little penne pastas in a delicious cream sauce with peas. The only problem was that I was still kind of not feeling 100%. I ate anyway and really enjoyed it, but it would have been even better if my tummy had been agreeing with me. Anyways, for the main course (no, the pasta was not the main course), we had a breaded chicken with salad and potatoes. Yum. And for dessert, a sort of puff pastry cake filled with a vanilla cream and then a lighter cream on top with a little chocolate drizzled over it. Seriously, awesome first meal in Italy.

After our lunch, we made our way back into Rome and towards the Vatican. We spent the rest of the afternoon in a guided tour of the Vatican, including the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Our guide was an Italian who spoke French, and though he spoke really well, his accent was thick and sometimes it was a little difficult to understand him. The way it worked was each of us had a little radio type device with headphones and the guide had the microphone. So we could hear everything he said, though we didn't have to be right next to him. It was a good system. But it was starting to get really hot and even though the Vatican is gorgeous, it gets to be a lot after a while. We went through different rooms that were covered in murals and paintings and they were just beautiful. But of course, I was looking forward to the Sistine Chapel. Towards the end of the visit, I found myself standing inside a giant room with ridiculously high ceilings and paintings covering the ceiling and the walls. It wasn't until I saw the famous painting of God reaching out to Adam that I realized where I was. We spent a good twenty minutes in the Sistine Chapel, trying to take it all in. But it was difficult, considering it was packed with wall-to-wall people and there is just so much to see. It really is incredible, although it was much different than I expected it to be. I expected it to be smaller, and the paintings to be less separated and more of a giant mural. But it was beautiful nonetheless and I was by no means disappointed.

After the Sistine Chapel, we continued our tour, passing through the maze of tombs of the past popes (I stopped to give a little prayer at the grave of Pope John Paul II), seeing more of the outside grounds, and finally ending up in the big Basilica. Again, it's just so much at once to take in, it's difficult to truly experience it all. But it really was gorgeous and my breath was taken away by everything that was going on around me. We also saw the Swiss guards who are dressed in loud orange and blue costumes. They were cool. We ended our tour just in front of it all and Rotary set us free for a couple hours of free time to explore Rome a bit and do a little shopping. I bought myself a pair of earrings and a few gifts for my family back home and Jordann, Savannah, Oakley, Oliver and I walked around back by the river. We met up with everyone again by the Vatican museum and all went back together to the bus to go to our first hotel, which was a really nice 4-star hotel tucked away outside of Rome, really close to the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. We didn't have time that night to go out onto it, since you're not allowed on the beaches in Italy after the sun goes down, but we were way too tired anyways.

We ate dinner at the hotel, starting again with pasta. This time it was in a red sauce with zucchini in it and the second course was fish with green beans. For dessert they put a big bowl of fruit on the table and we could have our choice (apple for me!) Afterwards, we all went up to our rooms to catch some z's. I was rooming with Jordann and Oakley and another Australian newie named Alex. She's super nice and we all got along really well. I went to bed nice and early that night, knowing that the next day was going to be just as tiring as this one had been.

Day 3: Can you believe we're only on day 3?? Well we are. Day 3 was spent, again, in Rome. We started off with a nice bus ride to the Colosseum, and we all slept. But once we got there and we saw that the sun was out, everyone had a decent amount of energy and we walked from the parking lot to the Colosseum, taking pictures like mad people and being ridiculously touristy. We spent the whole morning in our four groups with the same guide that we had had at the Vatican, though this time, no walkie-talkie devices. We went into the Colosseum and were guided around the whole thing, hearing the history of it all and imagining real gladiators fighting inside of it thousands of years ago. We also saw some graffiti carved into the walls and wondered how old that was... In the process, I also met some new people and talked to people I new but never really talked to before.

After the Colosseum, we moved on to the ruins of Ancient Rome. Here, we walked around and saw the remains of all kinds of different buildings. It's crazy to think that even after the wear and tear of thousands of years, these things still exist... And people actually lived there! It's so interesting to see. Fun fact #2: At the beginning, all of that was white. So when you came into Rome, you were walked into a white city. Nuts!

The next thing after Ancient Rome was free time. Which meant food time. Savannah and I went off after receiving our ten euros from the Rotary to try to find an authentic Italian restaurant with cheap-ish food. We found ourselves at a little restaurant with good deals and quickly realized that it was becoming an exchange student hub, which happened continuously throughout the trip. We ordered bruschetta to start off with, which is basically toasted bread covered in a tomato and basil mixture with salt and olive oil. It became my new favorite food very quickly. Then we ordered a margherita pizza and a salad to split. The best thing about Italian food is that it isn't heavy, even though you would think it is. For our salad, our dressing was just balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The pizza had a super thin and crunchy crust and you could tell that it was home-made. Just overall, it was a delicious meal and I was falling deeper and deeper in love with Italian food.

After we ate, we realized that we were going to be late to meet back up with everyone else, so we ran back to the square where we had to meet, but it turns out that we were not nearly the last ones to get there. So we snuck off for a bit to check out a really cool looking store with different shapes and colors of pasta, biscotti, and fancy spices. Who remembers the explicit chocolate from Brugge? You know, the ones that were in the shapes of a certain male appendage... Yah, well it turns out it's not just for chocolate. We found pasta in the same shape. And we laughed. Anyways, we sampled the different biscotti and finally decided on a couple to buy, along with really cool bow-tie pastas that were colored to look like the Italian flag as gifts for our host families. By this time, we had missed the group, which was no big deal because we knew exactly where they were going and we quickly caught up with them at the Pantheon.

The Pantheon is really cool because in the dome ceiling, there is a giant hole. Just in the center, just like that. And it doesn't matter what gets in. Again, there was marble and statues everywhere and that was really awesome to look at too. We took our pictures and went outside. By this time, Savannah and I had met back up with Jordann and we were about to break away from our group. You see, Jordann has a friend in Rome who was an exchange student in her town. Her name is Sabina. And as we were in Rome, she contacted her friend to see if she wanted to get together. So Jordann took Savannah and me with her and we went to meet Sabina. She is really nice and we had a great afternoon together! We started off by going to a gelato place with so many flavors, it's impossible to pick which ones you want. I finally ended up choosing one scoop chocolate and strawberry combo, one scoop wild berry. It was my first gelato ever and boy was it delicious.

Our next stop was the famous Trevi Fountain. It was really cool being shown around the city and going to the big monuments with someone who actually lives there. And of course, we followed tradition and flung coins over our shoulders into the fountain. I have the best series of photos of that :) And it means we're coming back to Rome! After the fountain, we went to the Spanish steps. We asked Sabina why they are called that, but she didn't even know. They're just in a Spanish style I guess. But it is a really beautiful view from the top. And there are painters and vendors all over selling pretty pictures and paintings of Italy. We went down the steps, took pictures and continued being the tourists that we were. But it was soon coming upon the time that we had to meet back up with Rotary, so what do we do? We make like the Italians and use the subway! Sabina showed us how it works and for one euro we were able to take the two different trains to bring us back to the Colosseum. Of course, once we were at the Colosseum, finding our group was a little difficult. We walked almost all the way around it and it turned out that we needed to be pretty much where we started... But it was no big deal because we got to meet an awesome Italian girl and see an incredible Italian city in the process. We said goodbye to her, met up with Rotary, and then the whole group walked back to the buses where we started the journey back to our hotel.

We got back and we had about 15 minutes so I ran to the beach with my friend Mallory who is also a dancer and we took a few fun dancing shots in the black sand with the dark ocean behind us. It is incredible, the Mediterranean Sea. Because the sand really is black. And it's just sand that happens to be black. It's not rocks or shells or dirt. It's sand. And it's AWESOME. So we had fun taking our pictures quickly and then we ran back to the hotel to catch dinner. That night, we started off with pasta, of course, and had a sort of pork and potatoes for the meal and finished off with more gelato. So I had two gelatos in one day... But no biggie :) After dinner, all the exchange students gathered in the courtyard of the hotel because it was the birthday of one of the guys, Jackson (who has insane orange hair, just throwing it out there). We sang Happy Birthday, the Rotary guys gave him a gift, and we shared cake and champagne in the courtyard. Afterwards, I think some people went to the pool, but my room went upstairs to shower and sleep since we had to get up early the next morning.

Day 4: We started off our next morning getting up wayy too early and packing up all our luggage. It wasn't very nice out in the morning; it was cold and windy and dreary. But we packed up the bus and drove for a while until we got to our first stop for the day: Ostia Antica, the door of Ancient Rome. It started to rain when we first got there, but it quickly cleared up and after just a half hour, the sun was shining and life was good. We started off in our four groups and we were given the option to stay with our Rotary person who would give the explanations or go off on our own. Savannah and I started off in the group but eventually broke off by ourselves to explore a little bit. Then we came upon the ancient theater. Right behind it were some steps with old broken down columns. Next thing I knew, we were ready to take dance pictures. I had been carrying around my pointe shoes like a dork for the whole trip, so I pulled them out and we took some really lovely dance photos among the ruins. It was fun, except for one instance where my skirt was literally blown all the way up... Classy. Pretty soon it was time to go meet back up with the group and we started to head back towards the entrance. But after we were about halfway there I realized that I had left my badge on a rock all the way back where we had taken pictures. So we ran back to grab it. Needless to say, we were late meeting the group, but we were not the last ones, so it was ok. We all got back in the bus for more driving towards our next stop, the Monastery of Monte Cassino.

On the way there, we stopped along the highway to grab lunch. And you know what's sad? Even in a quick roadside place on the highway, the food is better than quite a few of the sit-down restaurants that you can find in the States. Savannah and I split a three course meal, which was a delicious salad with mozzarella, risotto, and a vegetable dish in a red sauce that was as hearty as a beef stew. On the side of the road!! It was delicious, not gonna lie.

The afternoon was spent in the monastery, and I have to say, I've never been in such a beautiful, calm, peaceful place in my life. The minute you walked in you just felt... Light. And full of happiness. The monastery is situated in the mountains, above a village and from the balconies of the estate, you can see out over the most stunning landscape... It was the first time in a long time that I can truly say I felt God's presence, especially since I've been in Belgium and not going to church regularly. We did not have a guide, we just walked around quietly, taking it all in. The whole place is white, and with the sun it was just shining with beauty. Eventually we ended up in the actual church of the monastery and that was just beautiful. We ended up staying there through a prayer service that was given by the monks and that was very interesting because it was basically just them chanting prayers in Italian, which was so lovely to hear. It was really exactly what I needed. And then something wonderful happened. I found myself praying. In French. For 40 minutes. The words just coming and spilling out of me. I felt like I couldn't even pray in English because the words just weren't there. It was one of the best experiences I've had here in Europe, and probably the best spiritual experience I've had in my life. I felt so at peace.

Afterwards, we found our bus and winded our way down the mountain to the road towards Naples, where we would spend the next three nights. But that, my dears, is for another blog :)

Pictures coming later!

Easter In Belgium

OK I PROMISE TOMORROW I'LL DO THE ITALY POST. We have off of school so I have no excuse. However, today is Easter. And I'm celebrating it in Belgium, obviously.

Let me just start off by saying that after being here, I so very much more appreciate holidays in the States. Today is one of the two major holidays that we base our year off of in the States and here is seems to be barely regarded as more than just another Sunday. Let me back up a little.

Yesterday, I switched host families. It was pretty emotional for me, actually, as I had become decently attached to the other one. I had packed up my entire life, again, and it came to be about three suitcases, two big duffel bags, five boxes, four other bags, my purse, and my laptop bag. Wow! My new host mom, Marie-Noelle, came to pick me up with two of my host sisters, Manon (you all know her) and Philippine, around 2pm, just after Colette had gotten back from her meetings and we were having champagne to celebrate the time that I was at their house. Then we packed up Marie-Noelle's car but it didn't fit so Ben ended up driving me over to the new house with the rest of my stuff. I said all my goodbyes, and yes I cried a little in the car. But I got to the new house and my goodness is it a castle. Obviously I've been there before and I knew my room would be giant, but I had forgotten just how giant. I spent the rest of the day unpacking, talking with my new host family, and decorating my room with all my pictures and such. I took my time and I was kind of sad but in the end, I could see how excited my new family is to have me and I quickly realized that I'm going to have a great last part of my exchange here.

My new host family consists of my host parents, Marie-Noelle and Pierre, three sister, Philippine (the youngest), Manon (my age), and Géraldine (university) and then there is also a brother, Antoine, but I apparently won't be seeing much of him as he apparently only comes home every so often... Anyways, I got all settled in, ate dinner with them last night and then went to a horse show with Manon and Philippine and my host dad. We have a friend, Kathleen, who rides but instead of just regular horseback riding, she does a sort of Spanish style riding and this was her show. So all the girls who rode had these huge beautiful dresses that pretty much covered the horses' backs entirely and the men were dressed in Spanish-type costumes also. The show was really interesting; I had never seen anything like that before. I enjoyed myself. And anyways, I've always though horseback riding was really cool, I just never got into it myself.

After talking seeing Kathleen afterwards, Manon and I went into town to get a drink at the bar with the kids from school that I hadn't seen since before I went to Paris. It was a great night! I got to see all my friends, heard stories, told stories, and just caught up with life. And then we went back to the house and I spent my first night in my new host house.

Then this morning was Easter. We got up semi-early and got ready to go to church for 10am. But we got there and it turned out that the mass wasn't until 10 30. Needless to say, we missed out on an extra half hour of sleep... But it's no big deal, because the mass was actually nice. It had been the first time since I had been to one since Christmas, and I'm sure you all remember... That one had been potentially the most depressing mass of my life. But this one was good. The choir was energetic, I understood what the priest said, and I was able to really follow along the way I did in the States. Plus, the church was full and bright and the whole feeling was just much happier.

Other than the mass, the day was really not much different than any other... There were chocolate eggs on our plates at breakfast, but the whole idea of Easter candy was not nearly as prominent as in the States. No baskets, no Easter bunny, just a few chocolate eggs. No family get togethers either. Obviously, we all ate lunch and dinner together, but nothing out of the ordinary. This afternoon I sat out in the sun with my host sisters and ended up falling asleep out there. I woke up with a nice shorts tan. There's a lovely line across both my thighs. I watched some tv, napped, Skyped with the fam... Nothing really out of the ordinary from any other day. Tomorrow is our last day of break. I'm going to sleep in. And write my Italy blog. Promise. Until then, bonne nuit !

Switching Host Families... Again

Ok so I fail. I said I would post about Italy last night and I didn't... But I have a good excuse and if you know me well, you know what it was. Regardless, I will post about that later. Because right now, there's something more important to talk about.

In about two hours, I will be all settled in to my new host house. The third and final one in my journey of exchange. And the truth is that it freaks me out. For many reasons. For one, it means that my exchange is coming quickly to a close. I have but two and half months left in this country before I go back home to the States, to my family and friends, to my old relationships and a new beginning at school. Two, I got pretty attached to this family. They were awesome. Honestly, I had fun every day that I was here. I saw new things, met new people, experienced things that I had never had the chance to experience before. I couldn't be happier with my stay here. The only thing that sucks is that I have to leave now. But you know, I'll always have these memories. They have taken a small piece of my heart. It's theirs and they will always be there. The came into my life and left footprints. And those footprints are permanent. I will never forget them. They have become a part of my family. À la famille Letawe, je veux juste que vous sachez que je vous aime. Franchement, je vous aime et vous êtes incroyables. Merci pour tout !!

And with that, I move on to the new and last chapter of my exchange. And I'm jumping in with both feet to make sure that this last leg is a wonderful, if not better, than the last. Tata for now !

PARIS

Ok so here we go... Last Wednesday, about two weeks ago, I left for three days to go to Paris with the quatrième class at school (the sophomores). Tuesday night, I had had dance and I slept over Romane's house, since she was going also. We had to get up super early the next morning to be at school at 5 45am to get the buses. We got there with all our luggage, super tired, and met up with everyone. Of course, I knew almost nobody that was going except her and Eduardo, but Eduardo and I were on a different bus than Romane. We got all ready to go and started our nice long drive towards Paris. We stopped on the road to grab food and use the restroom, but we were soon back on the road again. Slowly we realized that we actually knew more people than we thought and we quickly began meeting new people. Before we knew it, we were in Paris and I saw the very tip of the Eiffel Tower over the roofs of other buildings. And I took a picture, of course, since it was the first view of the Eiffel Tower that I ever had in my entire life. We started off our crazy busy journey with a nice little walk through the city towards a science museum. We spent the morning there and then got a few hours in the afternoon to walk along the Champs Elysées. Eduardo and I took the opportunity to stroll down it and take in the wonderful sunlight that was beating down on us. We took lots of pictures and saw the famous stores, including Louis Vuitton and Cartier. We also went into a few shops, the cheaper ones of course, on the lookout for sunglasses for me.

At the end of the Champs Elysées, there is the Arc de Triomphe. We went and saw that also, and oh my is it huge!! I did my best, but I couldn't get it entirely into the picture frame. But we took pictures regardless and spent a good half hour just looking at it. It was six euros to go to the top, but we decided not to and instead just jumped around excitedly since we were in Paris! And of course helped other people take pictures also. It was really convenient having Eduardo there to take my pictures after I took his.

After our Arc de Triomphe adventure, we ended up running into a couple other kids that we knew and we walked a bit together, looking at Ray Ban sunglasses and going into a couple other stores like H&M. I have decided that I really want a pair of real Ray Bans. But at the end of my exchange, when I'm not broke after two weeks of traveling ;). We also got me a sandwich and went into the Disney store, only to be disappointed after finding out that it was actually just a store for babies...

We met back up with the rest of the students and made our way to our afternoon activity: La Louvre. And I must say, it is the most beautiful museum. Ever. I could spend weeks in that museum. Of course, with school we only had a couple hours, which wasn't nearly enough. But Madame Noel was our guide and she showed us around to the important things that the students needed to know about for their other classes. So we saw things like the Sphinx, the Venus sculpture, and of course the Mona Lisa. Everyone had told me not to expect much out of it and that it was small and not that awesome so I was really expecting this tiny painting, but I guess it was a good idea that everyone told me that because I still thought it was cool and really kinda creepy the way her eyes follow you... After we saw all the things that we needed to see, we had a little bit of free time to look at what we wanted. Eduardo and I walked through a couple of the Greek and Roman rooms with all the different statues. Seriously, I wish we had had a couple of days there. It was so incredible to see all the history that was in those rooms. And it's really cool and kind of weird to see the paintings and sculptures that are in all the history books and that was have studied in our classes, and then to see them in real life is kind of surreal... But I definitely loved it and would go back in a heartbeat.

After the Louvre, it was time to grab dinner and head back to the hotel. We ate in a little restaurant on a back street in Paris. We had chicken and fries and of course everyone complained about it being gross, but I thought it was fine. We had a little chocolate mousse thing for dessert also. We were all so tired though. After dinner we had a little bit of free time but then it was time to pile back on the buses and go to our hotel. On the way, all the kids started screaming and chanting, and Eduardo and I were so tired and found it pretty immature and I'm not gonna lie, we were really annoyed, especially because Madame Noel was trying to give explanations of all the things that we were passing in the process. But we ended up talking to a couple people and made a few friends. And honestly that whole phase didn't last long. Before we knew it we were being just as loud and obnoxious and them and we enjoyed ourselves! And then we saw it. The Eiffel Tower all lit up for the night. It even twinkles at one point. We stopped and got off the bus to take a couple pictures, and I was annoyed cause I couldn't seem to get a clear one. And then Eduardo and I almost missed the bus because we ventured closer to get better pictures... But we did get back on the bus and everything was ok!

Once we got to our little hotel, we were put into our rooms and I was put with a couple of girls that I didn't know at all. Of course, this didn't bother me either because at this point, being an exchange student, we are used to meeting new people and living with people we don't know. The rooms were really tiny with nothing in them except the beds and a sink and a little tiny table. There were communal bathrooms in the hallways with the toilets and showers and they were also co-ed. And kinda gross. But I don't like to complain... I washed my hair in the sink anyways.

The next morning we woke up nice and early and I attempted to shower, but the water was so hot that I couldn't put my skin under it. Somehow I managed and still got downstairs to have my free breakfast at the hotel. Nothing fancy like pancakes or anything, just some bread and jam and cereal. I had a nice conversation with a couple of Aussies though who were trying to find some cold milk for their cereal, though there was only hot milk. Then we started off for our day. We spent the morning at Versailles, which is the giant palace in Paris. It was a hot day and we had to wait outside for a while until our tickets were valid, but it was fun because we talked with the Belgians and took lots of pictures. And again, just soaking up the sun was wonderful since it doesn't seem to really exist in Belgium... Finally it was time for us to go in and we spent the morning walking through it, guided again by Madame Noel. It is so beautiful. There are rooms up on room that are painted from floor to ceiling with intricate murals and covered in gold. The sculptures and architecture are just to die for. After we went through the whole palace we got some free time on the grounds where we could just walk around. Eduardo and I walked around the entire main courtyard and took pictures, though I wish we would have had time to walk through the gardens, cause I'm sure they're gorgeous. But regardless, it was sunny and warm and the grounds are just as lovely as the palace itself.

Afterwards, we walked just a little ways from the castle to eat lunch at this little restaurant. Eduardo and I sat with a bunch of other kids outside and we had a few courses for lunch. We started off with crepes that were stuffed with a sort of cheese sauce. It was ok, but you could definitely tell that it was something boxed that they just had to reheat. The main course was a kebob of mystery meat and a potato with the same cheese sauce. Again, it was ok. We were most amused by this boy Axel and the hat that he made out of his napkin. And joking about the fact that one of the girls at the table paid three (or four I don't remember) euros for a Coke. We had chocolate eclairs for dessert also. Afterwards, we had a little bit of free time, which we spent just chilling cause we were all exhausted and it was hot. We then piled back on the buses and made our way back into the center of town to see the Grevin Wax Museum. Normally, I really don't like wax museums because I think they're creepy. But this was still cool to see. They had all kinds of figures, like George Clooney, Mika, Elton John, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Obama, etc. Eduardo and I took pictures with all of them. Which means I have a ridiculous amount of pictures with fake people... Then we had some more free time in which Eduardo and I looked for shorts for him for the voyage rhéto. We didn't find any, but he bought some sunglasses! We also had some other free time after that where we went to the Repetto store, which is the big company of dancewear in Paris. It doesn't exist outside of France at all and I just had to go there. I bought a bag for my dance things that says Repetto Paris on it! The store was absolutely gorgeous too. I would love to have the chance to go back and get my next pair of pointe shoes...

After that, it was dinner time, where we went to a buffet style restaurant, and then it was boat time. We got back on the buses and drove for a bit until we found ourselves beneath the Eiffel Tower! Again, it was lit up for night and we took pictures and video. It was the first time since we got there that all the groups were rejoined together and I saw Romane again. Then we all got on a boat for a nice little trip down the river. It was nice to just feel the wind on a nice calm boat and see the city that way. Every time we passed people sitting on the edge, they would wave to us and we would wave back. There was even one guy who made his hands in the shape of a heart and pointed at me. I of course pointed to myself asking "who, me?" and he nodded and blew me a kiss. It was cute. After the boat ride was over we went back to the hotel and settled in for a good night's sleep.

The next day was the same morning routine. We woke up and went down to the same breakfast, packed up the bus with our things and headed off towards Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. We climbed up all those steps with the people trying to sell us things left and right. There was a guy at the top playing harp music and people painting the landscape too, along with other people dressed up as statues. The whole atmosphere was really nice. We were given free time to visit the church and the other things around it. Eduardo and I went inside the church and saw that and then went back behind it to explore the little village around it. We saw some sculptures, the artists, the paintings that were everywhere. We even went all the way back down the steps to finish our souvenir shopping since everything there was cheaper. And I bought my sunglasses that I had been searching for the entire trip. And we ran back up all the steps in about 5 minutes to get to the meeting point on time. We were panting by the time we got up there, and of course nobody else was on time. But it wasn't a big deal. We amused ourselves. We then met up with everyone else and walked down into town again. We passed through the not-so-great part of town, including the celebrated Moulin Rouge. Which I thought was pretty cool. Then we met back up with the bus, went to lunch (I had Lebanese food) and after, drove some more until we reached our final big destination: Notre Dame de Paris.

Madame Noel gave us the explanations outside the church and we walked around to see the sides of it and such. It was really hot out and kind of difficult to keep the focus, but the building is just so big and beautiful, you can't help but take it all in. Then we got in the long line to go through it, but it went fairly quickly. I'm not going to lie though, the inside was much less extravagant than I imagined it to be. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful. But the other Notre Dames that I've seen just made me think there would be much more to it, especially because the outside is so intricate. Nonetheless, it was great to see. Afterwards, we had even more free time and Eduardo and I did a little shopping. We were still on the lookout for shorts for him, but no luck. However, we did find that one store that I had talked about when I went to Lille during Carnaval. Remember? I found awesome jeans there but I forgot my wallet? Well, lucky me! I found them again! And yes, I bought them. It was my last Paris purchase. Because after that we had to run back to meet the group on time. We then took a group photo and then it was back on the bus to go home. We stopped once for food, but mostly we all slept. It was a wonderful trip. We made great friends and we were singing and chanting and screaming with them by the end of it. We got back around midnight and I went home from an amazing three day trip. And I went right to bed.

Of course, after all the good, of course there must be some bad. The next day was a little hellish because I thought I had lost all 550 pictures that I had taken. I had put the memory card in my computer and downloaded all the pictures. It then asked me if I wanted to erase the card. Well I always say yes so I said yes this time too. Well then the program froze and I had to force quit. And none of my pictures were there and only a few were still on the memory card. I freaked out. I could not find these pictures or figure out how to get them back. I spent the next few hours frantically searching the internet and looking everywhere for these pictures. I even made an appointment to call Apple and figure this out. But finally I looked in a folder marked "All Images" and there they were. Among everything else. Thank God. So I was able to transfer them back into iPhoto and everything was fine. But I was having a nice little heart attack for a few hours there. And that night we had visitors who came for dinner. We had a lot of really good food and conversation, but I was so tired for the trip and I had also gotten all ready and packed to leave the next day again that I wasn't really in any of the conversation.

The next day I left for Italy. But that's for another day and another blog post. I will try to write all about that adventure tomorrow. For now, it's bedtime. Bonne nuit !

By the way, pictures will be up in a separate post I think tomorrow... I hope!

I'm Baaaack

So here I am, fresh off the bus from a crazy couple weeks traveling around Europe. And I'm exhausted. And sick. My voice is totally gone. But it was ENTIRELY worth it.

However, it's it 1am here. And I really need to sleep. So here's the deal. I will not post tonight, but instead do two posts tomorrow, one for Paris and one for Italy. Obviously the Paris one will be shorter than the Italy one. But regardless, hopefully by the end of the night tomorrow there will be two brand-spankin-new posts up for everyone to read and enjoy! Because I had an incredible couple of weeks and I sure hope that you can all enjoy my posts as much as I enjoy the things they talk about.

Right now I have a bed full of luggage awaiting me... Sounds like a run activity before sleeping... Unpacking...

Bonne nuit tout le monde !

A Calm Day Before The Storm...

Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow is Wednesday. Tomorrow I got to PARIS for three days with school. Then I get home for one day and go to ITALY for ten days with Rotary. So today, I'm just chillin', packin', and nappin' to be ready for the crazy couple of weeks ahead of me. And I have to say, I can't wait!!! The only thing is that these next weeks of spring break are going to fly by so fast, I'm not even going to have time to look at them. And then before I know it, I'll be changing host families and then I'll be down to two months left here. It's so hard to believe. It's April 6th... Already... Where the time is going, I will never know.

I'm not going to get into the big sappy exchange student post yet, but I can already see how much my life has been affected by this year. I have so much more knowledge than I did when I left, and I now have so much more that I can offer the world around me. I have met tons of people that I will never forget. Forging friendships and learning a language has bonded me to this country in a way that will never be broken. I need to stop before I get carried away and write a novel all about it all when it's not even over yet.

Also today, I talked to my counselor back home from a college planning company that we're talking to to try to figure out all this craziness about choosing my school. And I'm not much closer to arriving at my decision. I have no idea where to go. It's all such a blur and it's the last thing I want to think about. UGH COLLEGE.

Ok that is all. I have dance tonight, I'm staying at Romane's house, and then tomorrow morning, bright and early, I'm off to Paris at 5 45am!!! I'm so excited!!! I'll post when I get home. Enjoy your weeks everyone!!!!

The Best Weekend Of My Life

Well, one of the best weekends of my life. Let's start with Thursday.

Thursday, during the day, was pretty average. I went to school as usual and afterwards, Talia and Eduardo and I all went back to my house on the bus for the couple hours that we had in between school and our call for the theatre, as Thursday was opening night. We spent the time making and eating french toast and watching Lady Gaga videos. Then we packed up all our costumes and everything and were headed off to the bus to go back to school. We got there around 6pm to see almost the entire cast already made up for the show and everyone super pumped to show the audience what we've been working for! And I have to say, once again the Belgians have impressed and surprised me. All the makeup was awesome and intense and the costumes were great. A lot of people were sporting colored hair, white faces, bloody noses, and all kinds of other really cool hair and makeup. Talia and I got ourselves ready, avoiding having our makeup and hair done by the people that were there doing everyone else's. We succeeded. I then got to do what I've been waiting to do since the beginning of the year. I got to put mascara on Eduardo. You see, Eduardo has these RIDICULOUS long eyelashes. Like, twice the length of mine. And as I did his makeup, I got to put mascara on him. WIN. By this point, we still had a good 45 minutes before the show started and I spent it going around and taking pictures with everyone and just being silly and energetic. Here are a few examples:

The curtain went up at 7 30 and it was on. I had a good amount of time before my first dance, a mix of "Money Money Money" by ABBA and "Money" by Pink Floyd. So I spent it, again, being silly and dancing in random classrooms with my friends. After that first dance, things started to get a little more pressing. I had the entire half hour intermission to be ready for the next dance, "Ça M'enerve", and actually, for intermission here, we were allowed to go downstairs and socialize with the audience. Which at home, we considered "breaking curtain" and wasn't allowed. Almost directly after intermission I had my dance, and then I had to run to get ready for my next one, "Libertine". That is the one that I danced a ballet number with another girl, Julie, and we started the dance behind white panels that were lit from behind so the audience saw silhouettes for the first part of the dance. It was very unique and a lot of fun to do, but it was a bit stressful as we didn't have much time to change and get our "Chinese" faces on. We needed all white faces with red lips and black eyes. But we didn't miss a beat and had plenty of time to warm up. And the dance went splendidly! After that one, I had to run again because I had to dance my next one very soon after, "La Luxure". In that, it is just me dancing with a bunch of girls (and one male teacher) singing. The main girl, Sarah, was singing about a night of temptation and I danced the role of "the spirit of love". We play it as though she doesn't see me until the end but I'm affecting her and eventually she follows me off stage. The thing about this dance was that I didn't have any choreography. We added it in very last minute and I did the whole thing improv all three nights. But each time it went very well. After that, it's time for me to get ready for the big finale, "Bad Romance". Picture time!!

You all know, that was my pride and joy of this show. It's all my choreography and the whole cast joins in at the end. For this dance, all the dancers teased all their hair up crazy and had super heavy makeup in red and black. It was really awesome. We got out there and danced our hearts out. And then for the last refrain, everyone came out into the aisles and in front of the stage and the lights flashed on to show the entire cast dancing MY choreography, exactly how I had it in my head. It was incredible, and potentially one of the most fulfilling moments of my life. It is amazing to experience that. It's unreal. I was so happy. After the show was over, the teachers all went up on stage and gave us a little surprise! They had also choreographed a little diddy to "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas and it was so cool! We all screamed and shouted for them and it was great. Then afterwards we all ran back up the aisles and out the door to line the stairway as the teachers and audience came out. That was very interesting. We clapped and yelled and chanted until the auditorium was empty and then went to go talk to everyone who had come to see us. Finally, we didn't get out of there til about 12:30am. And Thursday night, as my host mom had come to see the show, I went home with her. Talia came with me that night and stayed the night at my house.

We got home and had a little snack and then went upstairs to tackle the task of combing out our hair and getting all that makeup off. Finally we succeeded and went to bed. Thankfully, we didn't have to go in Friday until later, so we caught the bus the next morning and went to school as usual. Everyone was all hyped up on the energy of the night before, though we were tired. One really cool thing happened at school. Talia and Mikayla and I witnessed a spider killing. On the other side of the window, a huge spider had captured some sort of poor little creature and we watched it spin it's web around the victim. I thought it was really awesome. After school, Talia went back home with me and we lathered, rinsed, and repeated almost exactly how we had done the night before. Again, the show went great and we went home late. Friday, I didn't get to sleep until about 2am. And the next morning I had my dance class. There were three of us there that are also doing the theatre and we were so dead. But we went through the class, and difficult as it was. I then walked home since it was absolutely gorgeous out, and napped. I then got up and did it all over again. Except Saturday night had a little bit of a different atmosphere since it was the last show. Everyone was a little sad, even though we were all still super psyched at the same time. The show went wonderfully as usual, and afterwards we gave our thank yous to the teachers and Madame Vanesse made a little speech as well. I couldn't believe how fast it went and afterwards everyone was a little down that it was over. But that didn't last long because after the audience had emptied out, we all headed over to a bar in Hannut to have the Belgian version of a cast party! And that, my friends, was a blast.

Here's the thing. The teachers smoke with the students here. Which I found super bizarre, because obviously in the States, 1, it's illegal before you're 18, and 2, you never want your teachers to see you doing "bad" things. But that wasn't even half as weird as it was when the teachers showed up to the bar to drink and party with us. Obviously, I'm in Belgium, so all the exchange students drink at least a little bit. So there I am, with a beer in my hand, and the director of the school passes by me, smiles and winks and me, and I just felt like I needed to turn around and hide from her because I didn't want her to see me drinking. But it's accepted here. So much that the teachers do it too! So there we all are, dancing and having a grand old time. With our teachers. I can't even describe how odd it was. But it was awesome too. I was dancing and socializing, and being that girl that everyone is friends with. I was having so much fun. And it was only getting better and better. It was a wonderful night. And then Madame Gallo, oh how I love her, pulled me aside and said to me, in English,

"I just want to tell you how great you are. It is great to have exchange students like you."

And that just made my life. It was incredible to hear that, especially from her. This weekend was so magnificent. I love Hannut and I love my friends and I love theatre and I love BELGIUM!!

I didn't leave the bar til about 5 15am. My friend dropped me off at home and I still had to comb out my hair and take off my makeup. So it was almost six before I got to bed. But I was asleep before I hit the pillow. And didn't wake up Sunday until about 2 30pm. Sunday was great. It was my host brother, Olivier's, birthday. So we had two awesome cakes. One that had layers of yellow cake and chocolate mousse covered in a chocolate gnash with dried fruit on top. Ohhhhhh amazing. And the other was a cream pie with strawberries and whipped cream on top. I love Belgian bakery. I spent the day with the host fam, including little Léo who now knows exactly who I am and said my name over and over again yesterday. He is so cute. As tired as I was last night, I still didn't get to bed very early...

This morning I got up late and went to school as usual. And everyone was DEAD. We were all so tired. And we had gym. And we rode bikes. And it was cold and there was wind. And I have realized how out of shape I am. We rode 12 kilometers. Which is about 7 miles. Ok, yes it's kind of a lot. But I was in PAIN afterwards. I felt like I couldn't really fill my lungs all the way. But in about a half hour I was back to normal and I just realized that I really need to start running again or something because that should not have been that hard. And granted, I'm exhausted. But still... Also, we have started our classes with Père Boly again. One hour a week. *sigh*

So that was my AMAZING weekend. Thank you, Belgium, for this wonderful experience. I hope you enjoyed reading about it because I LOVED living it!!

Excuses... Again...

So this weekend was the theatre. Which is why I haven't posted. And I really need to sleep tonight so I'm not going to post yet. All you need to know right now is that I had one of the best, most memorable weekends of my life.

That is all.

For now.

:)