So, in studying abroad I've learned a lot about the history of Christianity. Between the end of the Bible and the time when Christianity would reach America there are over 1000 years, a lot happened in those years, and a lot of it took place in Europe.
I visited a Church, built in the times of the Roman Empire, and it is still standing today! But there was something about this church that I found disturbing... The center of the church had this room, or area, that was stunningly decorated and beautiful, but the average person was not allowed to go inside. That area, the middle of the church, was reserved for the Bishop and other important people. That struck me as very very odd...there is no heiarchy in Christianity...when Jesus died, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies (the place where only the priests could go) was torn, meaning everybody had direct access to God. There should not be a place where only the ''really good'' Christians should be able to go.
But it isn't just that. Christianity has a rough history. There are the Crusades, but the Bible says to love our enemies, to love sinners, not kill them. There was a time in the history of the Church where priests were selling forgiveness??? Grace is free, always, otherwise it isn't grace. It says that so many times in the Bible. And then there were all those Catholic/Protestant wars...could people be any more stupid? Half the prisoners who died in the Tower of London were there because they believed in the ''true Christianity'' whether it was Catholicism or Protestantism. The Bible clearly says that we should not fight over little differences like that, for some people it is ok to eat unclean food, not for others, so love eachother, be understanding and try not to lead your Christian brothers and sisters into temptation.
But I've figured it out. I know why Christianity got so off track = illiteracy. The people couldn't read for themselves what the Bible said, they had to trust the religious leaders to tell them. It's like playing telephone for hundreds of years, the story is bound to change. If the people could have read God's Word for themselves, maybe they would have seen what was going on, maybe history would have been different.
So that brings us to today...when we are literate, educated, and probably each own a Bible, or two, or three, I think I have five or six actually.
But how much do we read them? We are so privelaged to be able to study God's Word for ourselves...we are so blessed...
So that is the challenge: Let's prevent history from repeating itself by knowing what we believe and why we believe it. Let's commit to read, whether it be everyday or every week. The horrors that the church has commit in Europe are unbelievable, and should never happen again, this is serious business, let's get serious about our faith!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
I Just Had To Smile :) Blog 20
France and America are not the same, haha. I mean, I've known that for a long time but when you live somewhere for long enough everything starts to feel normal, then all the sudden something weird happens and you remember that you are living in FRANCE!
So today I went to church and was so excited because I understood the WHOLE sermon, yay! Then afterwards, the pastor ended by saying "bonne aperitif" which is like saying "enjoy your appetizers..." Which confused me a little bit, but as always, I just went with it. The aperitif in France comes before meals and is usually finger food and a drink...so when people started walking around with trays of finger foods and drinks I understood. The church was having a little bit of fellowship time, and taking the first course of the traditional French meal, then everyone could go home and eat lunch. So I grabbed a plastic cup of white grape juice and an egg and ham finger sandwich. But as I took a sip, I quickly realized it wasn't white grape juice, lol!
And there we have it. Someone had handed me a glass of alcohol, in CHURCH! Haha, at first I was shocked, then I decided it was extremely amusing. My church back home doesn't even serve wine for communion, and the thought of handing out wine or champagne or whatever it was, in the church, just to drink, was just beyond my imagination! And that is how I know I'm living in Europe. Wow. Life is just different over here I guess. It's all how you view things I suppose.
So then we all returned home, and I looked in the kitchen and there was a pumpkin pie! And a huge thing of corn, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and a big cooked bird (a chicken, there aren't turkeys in France til christmas time.) The sights and smells were extremely familiar, and it felt a lot like, THANKSGIVING! Yeah, my awesome host mom had made thanksgiving dinner for me :) I feel so special :) So we ate, and I prayed for the meal, and I was in the process of thanking God life, family, food, and for protecting the early colonists and such, and blessing America, and I realized I should probably pray for France too haha. So I added a blessing for the Europeans :) I shared with my host family a lot of my traditions for Thanksgiving and over all, it was a GREAT meal :) A nice mix of French (we started with pate) and American culture :)
So I grinned a lot today, just thought I'd share it all with you :)
So today I went to church and was so excited because I understood the WHOLE sermon, yay! Then afterwards, the pastor ended by saying "bonne aperitif" which is like saying "enjoy your appetizers..." Which confused me a little bit, but as always, I just went with it. The aperitif in France comes before meals and is usually finger food and a drink...so when people started walking around with trays of finger foods and drinks I understood. The church was having a little bit of fellowship time, and taking the first course of the traditional French meal, then everyone could go home and eat lunch. So I grabbed a plastic cup of white grape juice and an egg and ham finger sandwich. But as I took a sip, I quickly realized it wasn't white grape juice, lol!
And there we have it. Someone had handed me a glass of alcohol, in CHURCH! Haha, at first I was shocked, then I decided it was extremely amusing. My church back home doesn't even serve wine for communion, and the thought of handing out wine or champagne or whatever it was, in the church, just to drink, was just beyond my imagination! And that is how I know I'm living in Europe. Wow. Life is just different over here I guess. It's all how you view things I suppose.
So then we all returned home, and I looked in the kitchen and there was a pumpkin pie! And a huge thing of corn, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and a big cooked bird (a chicken, there aren't turkeys in France til christmas time.) The sights and smells were extremely familiar, and it felt a lot like, THANKSGIVING! Yeah, my awesome host mom had made thanksgiving dinner for me :) I feel so special :) So we ate, and I prayed for the meal, and I was in the process of thanking God life, family, food, and for protecting the early colonists and such, and blessing America, and I realized I should probably pray for France too haha. So I added a blessing for the Europeans :) I shared with my host family a lot of my traditions for Thanksgiving and over all, it was a GREAT meal :) A nice mix of French (we started with pate) and American culture :)
So I grinned a lot today, just thought I'd share it all with you :)
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Lost, unLucky, but still Lovely, London Part III (Normandy). Blog 19
We had one day left, and had the brilliant idea to visit the Beaches of Normandy on our way back to Pau. We took a bus to the harbor, spent every last pound we had on a taxi (that we didn't know we needed) to get to the ferry (because the harbor is like 5 miles long.) We slept on the ferry, as it floated across the English Channel for 9 hours, it was a rough night, but we managed.
Sunday morning, we got off the ferry and took a shuttle to the train station, where I attempted to find a bus to Omaha Beach. Which we then discovered was almost 3 hours away. Wow. So, we took the next train and we were there by 2 o clock (which wasn't exactly how we had planned to spend our day.) Then we found out that the buses don't run Sunday, so we payed an outrageous fee to take a taxi to the site.
However, once we arrived (and left our suitcases behind the front desk) we had a profound couple of hours. We were visiting an American commemoration museum, paid our respects at the American Cemetery and walked along the beaches that our soldiers once fought to take, to regain France from Hitler. It was powerful, really hard to take in. The memorial was so beautiful, it was hard to picture such tragedy in the same place. But I am so proud of our Armed Forces, for not only defending freedom in America, but all over the globe.
We were quickly zapped our of our reflective state when we discovered the museum closed at 5 and it was 5 and we were on the beach, a 20 minute walk from the museum, and our suitcases were inside. I called the museum and they said that everyone leaves at 5 there was nothing they could do, but they would inform the security guards. That was a moment of panic, sheer panic. Everything we had was in those bags, our train tickets, our clothes, everything. We ran back. We abandoned the path and cut our own way through the uphill undergrowth, getting very muddy along the way. I felt sick at the top from the pace we had been travelling but we got there in under 10 minutes. The museum was already closed, but we knocked on the glass and got the attention of the security guards, who were very kind and gave us back our bags.
And after this, we slept the whole night on the train, arriving at 6:14am and going to class. No wonder I'm sick.
So what have I learned from all this?
1) London is kinda hard to navigate, it's easy to get lost
2) Visiting a "region" like Normandy is SO different from visiting a big city like London or Rome
3) We could have been better prepared for parts of this trip
4) I'm still young, there are a lot of times that I really don't know what on earth I'm doing, I can admit that
5) I am not the person I was when I came here
Standing out on the street, with my suitcase and nowhere to sleep was a weird feeling. But it wasn't a panicked feeling. There was no adrenaline rush, there were no tears. I wasn't breathing heavily and my mind wasn't racing. I was calm, and tired. I understood that we were in a rough situation, but worse things could have happened. We weren't in danger, just out of our comfort zone. Lindsey felt the same way, somehow, we weren't anxious. It's not like we sat around and accepted our fate, we DID something about it, but it was almost if we finally understood (after 19 years of life) that worrying will not change anything.
I've always known that God is in control of my life, and my future. I trust Him, but I have always had a problem with worrying. I prayed that God would use this trip to force me out of my bubble, and lean on Him completely. This entire experience I have been edging towards that, slowly handing my burdens and problems over to Jesus, surrendering. It may be a constant struggle for me, in my life, but I now know what it is like to be in a situation and have no control, but to not be afraid. If I could live my life like that, always, that would be awesome.
Sunday morning, we got off the ferry and took a shuttle to the train station, where I attempted to find a bus to Omaha Beach. Which we then discovered was almost 3 hours away. Wow. So, we took the next train and we were there by 2 o clock (which wasn't exactly how we had planned to spend our day.) Then we found out that the buses don't run Sunday, so we payed an outrageous fee to take a taxi to the site.
However, once we arrived (and left our suitcases behind the front desk) we had a profound couple of hours. We were visiting an American commemoration museum, paid our respects at the American Cemetery and walked along the beaches that our soldiers once fought to take, to regain France from Hitler. It was powerful, really hard to take in. The memorial was so beautiful, it was hard to picture such tragedy in the same place. But I am so proud of our Armed Forces, for not only defending freedom in America, but all over the globe.
We were quickly zapped our of our reflective state when we discovered the museum closed at 5 and it was 5 and we were on the beach, a 20 minute walk from the museum, and our suitcases were inside. I called the museum and they said that everyone leaves at 5 there was nothing they could do, but they would inform the security guards. That was a moment of panic, sheer panic. Everything we had was in those bags, our train tickets, our clothes, everything. We ran back. We abandoned the path and cut our own way through the uphill undergrowth, getting very muddy along the way. I felt sick at the top from the pace we had been travelling but we got there in under 10 minutes. The museum was already closed, but we knocked on the glass and got the attention of the security guards, who were very kind and gave us back our bags.
And after this, we slept the whole night on the train, arriving at 6:14am and going to class. No wonder I'm sick.
So what have I learned from all this?
1) London is kinda hard to navigate, it's easy to get lost
2) Visiting a "region" like Normandy is SO different from visiting a big city like London or Rome
3) We could have been better prepared for parts of this trip
4) I'm still young, there are a lot of times that I really don't know what on earth I'm doing, I can admit that
5) I am not the person I was when I came here
Standing out on the street, with my suitcase and nowhere to sleep was a weird feeling. But it wasn't a panicked feeling. There was no adrenaline rush, there were no tears. I wasn't breathing heavily and my mind wasn't racing. I was calm, and tired. I understood that we were in a rough situation, but worse things could have happened. We weren't in danger, just out of our comfort zone. Lindsey felt the same way, somehow, we weren't anxious. It's not like we sat around and accepted our fate, we DID something about it, but it was almost if we finally understood (after 19 years of life) that worrying will not change anything.
I've always known that God is in control of my life, and my future. I trust Him, but I have always had a problem with worrying. I prayed that God would use this trip to force me out of my bubble, and lean on Him completely. This entire experience I have been edging towards that, slowly handing my burdens and problems over to Jesus, surrendering. It may be a constant struggle for me, in my life, but I now know what it is like to be in a situation and have no control, but to not be afraid. If I could live my life like that, always, that would be awesome.
Lost, unLucky, but still Lovely, London Part II. Blog 18
We got back to our hostel to find another person sleeping in Lindsey's bed. The three of us went downstairs to the pub (because all London hostels are over top of pubs) to clear things up with the concierge/bar tender. There was a booking problem. Part our fault, part his fault, and he called the manager.
That is how we found ourselves at midnight, standing on the street (well, sidewalk actually) in London, with our bags, nowhere to sleep, because there was no place for us in the inn.
The hostel owner had pointed us in the direction of another hostel, and we started walking. We arrived and asked if they had any open beds. The owner looked at a list and frowned, "We do, but it's not the best situation" He proceeded to explain that there were 2 free beds, in a room with 7 guys. So in a matter of 30 minutes we had gone from being Mary and Joseph to Snow White...considering living with 7 men, because we had nowhere else to go. We were going to do it. It was 12:30 and we were exhausted from a LONG day of touring. But just as we were about to agree something changed, and all the sudden there was no room for us at this hostel either. Thankfully, this hostel owner was much nicer than the last, and he called another hostel for us. And within the next half an hour we were riding one of the famous London Double Decker Buses to a hostel ironically called "Surprise." Yep. But at least we had somewhere to spend the night, and by 1:30 we were checked in and in bed.
The next day we toured the Tower of London, with is really cool. A castle, a prison, the home of the biggest diamond in the world and a few ravens, it was truly amazing. We walked back across London Bridge, which thankfully didn't fall down...and we toured Shakespeare's Globe Theater, which was indescribably awesome. Thank you to all my English teachers for helping me learn to love Shakespeare. And then we checked out the Andy Warhol exhibit at a nearby art museum, thank you to my elementary art teacher for telling me who Andy Warhol is :) And that finished our time in London...
But ah, the troubles were not over yet....
That is how we found ourselves at midnight, standing on the street (well, sidewalk actually) in London, with our bags, nowhere to sleep, because there was no place for us in the inn.
The hostel owner had pointed us in the direction of another hostel, and we started walking. We arrived and asked if they had any open beds. The owner looked at a list and frowned, "We do, but it's not the best situation" He proceeded to explain that there were 2 free beds, in a room with 7 guys. So in a matter of 30 minutes we had gone from being Mary and Joseph to Snow White...considering living with 7 men, because we had nowhere else to go. We were going to do it. It was 12:30 and we were exhausted from a LONG day of touring. But just as we were about to agree something changed, and all the sudden there was no room for us at this hostel either. Thankfully, this hostel owner was much nicer than the last, and he called another hostel for us. And within the next half an hour we were riding one of the famous London Double Decker Buses to a hostel ironically called "Surprise." Yep. But at least we had somewhere to spend the night, and by 1:30 we were checked in and in bed.
The next day we toured the Tower of London, with is really cool. A castle, a prison, the home of the biggest diamond in the world and a few ravens, it was truly amazing. We walked back across London Bridge, which thankfully didn't fall down...and we toured Shakespeare's Globe Theater, which was indescribably awesome. Thank you to all my English teachers for helping me learn to love Shakespeare. And then we checked out the Andy Warhol exhibit at a nearby art museum, thank you to my elementary art teacher for telling me who Andy Warhol is :) And that finished our time in London...
But ah, the troubles were not over yet....
Lost, unLucky, but still Lovely, London. Blog 17
It's been a week since I was in London, and I think I'm finally ready to write about it. Just kidding, it wasn't awful, Lindsey and I had a wonderful time, there were just a few bumps along the way. And I'm still getting over the cold that I seemed to have gotten as a punishment for all the school I skipped.
Lindsey and I arrived in London in the late afternoon on Thursday, November 11th, Armistice Day. Our last trip together had been in Rome, which was a total success, and we were anticipating a similar experience. As we got off the bus, to begin the search for our hostel, it was already dark, even though it was only 4:30! We then realized that daylight savings time would really rob us of several valuable touring hours.
Anyways, we found our hostel, and hit the streets! London was decked out for Christmas and SO beautiful with all the lights. We walked through the shopping district and through Piccadilly Circus (the Times Square of London) on our way to find the World Premier of HP 7! We got a little turned around because we obviously don't know how to read a map, so we finally asked for directions. A Londoner pointed us up the street we had just come from...ok...so we walked down that street and asked another person, who preceded to point us in the direction where we had been...Another person pointed us back the opposite way. At this point, we thought we would never get there, but FINALLY we got directions from someone who actually knew what they were talking about. As we walked we began to hear a sound that can only come from fans who have been waiting a decade for a very special film...it was loud and it was packed! We couldn't actually see any of the stars, but we listened to the interviews through the speakers and watched the actors and actresses enter on the red carpet on a giant screen. It was pretty sweet, it was just a bummer we couldn't actually see the movie :( After that we decided to complete our movie night with a visit to King's Cross, which actually isn't nearly as cool as it looks in the movie. But we took our pictures at Platform 9 3/4 and I ate a Pasty for the first time in my life, and it was delicious.
Day 2, sight seeing! We headed up to the London Eye, the biggest Ferris Wheel in the world! It didn't open until 10 though, we had 1 hour to spare...so we decided to walk over to the Covent Gardens, which didn't look far on the map. We never actually found them, we looked all over the place, I'm convinced that there aren't actually any gardens there, they are fake, it is all a ruse. So, after spinning around the London Eye we jumped into a free tour group led by a man who intends to become the next King of England! He says he is going to marry Princess Beatrice, who is 4th in line for the throne...It was really a wonderful tour and we learned all about the way London, and England too, works, with its history, and its monarchy, and its part in Europe. Afterwards I had a traditional English lunch/dinner of sausages and potatoes in a bread dish, SO GOOD, and perfect for filling up your stomach and keeping you warm outside in the cold London winter.
We ran over to the British Museum, but didn't walk around for long. I know it is awful, but I've seen so many museums...you can really only see so many statues of naked greek men before they all start to look the same. So we left and stopped at starbucks (I know, so American, but it's been months and I had a serious craving) and then we were almost late (because every time we tried to go anywhere we got lost) to see THE LION KING on London Broadway! It was pure art, that is the only way to describe it. They flawlessly weave traditional african culture into a moving story line, with old songs and new songs. The costumes aren't realistic, but they are so beautiful and they fit the story wonderfully. The sets were magnificent and I loved the show.
After that fantastic show, that's when it all went downhill.
Lindsey and I arrived in London in the late afternoon on Thursday, November 11th, Armistice Day. Our last trip together had been in Rome, which was a total success, and we were anticipating a similar experience. As we got off the bus, to begin the search for our hostel, it was already dark, even though it was only 4:30! We then realized that daylight savings time would really rob us of several valuable touring hours.
Anyways, we found our hostel, and hit the streets! London was decked out for Christmas and SO beautiful with all the lights. We walked through the shopping district and through Piccadilly Circus (the Times Square of London) on our way to find the World Premier of HP 7! We got a little turned around because we obviously don't know how to read a map, so we finally asked for directions. A Londoner pointed us up the street we had just come from...ok...so we walked down that street and asked another person, who preceded to point us in the direction where we had been...Another person pointed us back the opposite way. At this point, we thought we would never get there, but FINALLY we got directions from someone who actually knew what they were talking about. As we walked we began to hear a sound that can only come from fans who have been waiting a decade for a very special film...it was loud and it was packed! We couldn't actually see any of the stars, but we listened to the interviews through the speakers and watched the actors and actresses enter on the red carpet on a giant screen. It was pretty sweet, it was just a bummer we couldn't actually see the movie :( After that we decided to complete our movie night with a visit to King's Cross, which actually isn't nearly as cool as it looks in the movie. But we took our pictures at Platform 9 3/4 and I ate a Pasty for the first time in my life, and it was delicious.
Day 2, sight seeing! We headed up to the London Eye, the biggest Ferris Wheel in the world! It didn't open until 10 though, we had 1 hour to spare...so we decided to walk over to the Covent Gardens, which didn't look far on the map. We never actually found them, we looked all over the place, I'm convinced that there aren't actually any gardens there, they are fake, it is all a ruse. So, after spinning around the London Eye we jumped into a free tour group led by a man who intends to become the next King of England! He says he is going to marry Princess Beatrice, who is 4th in line for the throne...It was really a wonderful tour and we learned all about the way London, and England too, works, with its history, and its monarchy, and its part in Europe. Afterwards I had a traditional English lunch/dinner of sausages and potatoes in a bread dish, SO GOOD, and perfect for filling up your stomach and keeping you warm outside in the cold London winter.
We ran over to the British Museum, but didn't walk around for long. I know it is awful, but I've seen so many museums...you can really only see so many statues of naked greek men before they all start to look the same. So we left and stopped at starbucks (I know, so American, but it's been months and I had a serious craving) and then we were almost late (because every time we tried to go anywhere we got lost) to see THE LION KING on London Broadway! It was pure art, that is the only way to describe it. They flawlessly weave traditional african culture into a moving story line, with old songs and new songs. The costumes aren't realistic, but they are so beautiful and they fit the story wonderfully. The sets were magnificent and I loved the show.
After that fantastic show, that's when it all went downhill.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Had to loosen my belt, because of Belgian Waffles, Blog 16
So I just spent an awesome weekend with Emma Clark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is so awesome. And she is living in Belgium this year, which gave me the opportunity to see ANOTHER part of Europe and visit one of friends at the same time!
Anyways, we spent the weekend exploring Belgium, chilling with Belgians, commenting on the Belgian accent (hein?) SHOPPING, and talking NON STOP in English and in French, and in Franglish/Franglais...oh and eating...and eating some more...and some more after that....and now I officially can't wear my belt on the same loop as last week.
Exploring Belgium: We hung around in Emma's tiny little town, with some of her insane Belgian buddies, we shopped in Liege and enjoyed the street fair, and went to Brugge, which was just awesome in every way.
Belgian Accent: I didn't notice too much difference, except in words like soeur and heure. Plus, they have a few different words for things like Diner is Supper in Belgium. AND they add ''hein'' after like every words, thus my analogy: Americans:Canadians = French:Belgians yep, analogies, when was the last time you saw one of those, eh?
SHOPPING!!! We just completely totally took advantage of the fact that shopping in Europe is just SO fun! We tried on outfits that were very European, very American and very bizarre...and had mini photo shoots in the dressing rooms of the stores haha, not actually intending to buy any of it. Europpean fashion is a little different than the US, this year, super furry vests are def in style, and it is quite fashionable to walk around in booty shorts, with fun tights and boots with a cute top for this season. I really like European fashion, but the Belgians will drop hundreds of dollars to look American...i tried on a very very American looking pair of jeans; with a silkscreen tshirt and a hoodie, total? 220 euros, that is over 300 dollars. wow.
Food!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 Belgian waffles (2 chocolate stuffed, one with powdered sugar, and the queen of all waffles: dipped in chocolate, covered in chocolate and vanilla whipped cream, with more chocolate drizzled on top and covered in freshly cut strawberries. and when i bought it, they packaged it in a cute little blue box for me, it was the Tiffanys of waffle companies)
2 Frites! Belgian fries are just awesome, there is no other way to describe them
An assortment of other food including (but not limited to) Really greasy sandwich, lots of breads, spreads, cheeses, chocolates, Speculos cookies, crepes, soups and spaghetti!
We actually sort of accidentally wandered into a culinary show thing, and ate samples from over 100 stands until we had stomach aches! And we found it all because I had to go to the bathroom...
Overall, it was a fantastic weekend, we had SO MUCH FUN, and so much to talk about all the time. It was great being with somebody who I have known for a long time, who totally understands everything that I'm dealing with here.
That being said, our programs are extremely different, she is in a high school program, I am in a college program. I was actually a little nervous to visit because I was afraid I would be frustrated with my program, and regret not going in high school. But, I have learned, that both programs have pros and cons, Emma has more immersion than I do, but I am allowed to travel and she isn't. She gets to be here for a year, I get to be home for Christmas and I can still graduate on time. There are just way too many pros and cons for both programs to possibly decide which is better...but I am content with my choice. This type of study abroad worked the best with my life, it was the best choice for me :)
AND I HAD SUCH AN AWESOME TIME WITH EMMA THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, we spent the weekend exploring Belgium, chilling with Belgians, commenting on the Belgian accent (hein?) SHOPPING, and talking NON STOP in English and in French, and in Franglish/Franglais...oh and eating...and eating some more...and some more after that....and now I officially can't wear my belt on the same loop as last week.
Exploring Belgium: We hung around in Emma's tiny little town, with some of her insane Belgian buddies, we shopped in Liege and enjoyed the street fair, and went to Brugge, which was just awesome in every way.
Belgian Accent: I didn't notice too much difference, except in words like soeur and heure. Plus, they have a few different words for things like Diner is Supper in Belgium. AND they add ''hein'' after like every words, thus my analogy: Americans:Canadians = French:Belgians yep, analogies, when was the last time you saw one of those, eh?
SHOPPING!!! We just completely totally took advantage of the fact that shopping in Europe is just SO fun! We tried on outfits that were very European, very American and very bizarre...and had mini photo shoots in the dressing rooms of the stores haha, not actually intending to buy any of it. Europpean fashion is a little different than the US, this year, super furry vests are def in style, and it is quite fashionable to walk around in booty shorts, with fun tights and boots with a cute top for this season. I really like European fashion, but the Belgians will drop hundreds of dollars to look American...i tried on a very very American looking pair of jeans; with a silkscreen tshirt and a hoodie, total? 220 euros, that is over 300 dollars. wow.
Food!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 Belgian waffles (2 chocolate stuffed, one with powdered sugar, and the queen of all waffles: dipped in chocolate, covered in chocolate and vanilla whipped cream, with more chocolate drizzled on top and covered in freshly cut strawberries. and when i bought it, they packaged it in a cute little blue box for me, it was the Tiffanys of waffle companies)
2 Frites! Belgian fries are just awesome, there is no other way to describe them
An assortment of other food including (but not limited to) Really greasy sandwich, lots of breads, spreads, cheeses, chocolates, Speculos cookies, crepes, soups and spaghetti!
We actually sort of accidentally wandered into a culinary show thing, and ate samples from over 100 stands until we had stomach aches! And we found it all because I had to go to the bathroom...
Overall, it was a fantastic weekend, we had SO MUCH FUN, and so much to talk about all the time. It was great being with somebody who I have known for a long time, who totally understands everything that I'm dealing with here.
That being said, our programs are extremely different, she is in a high school program, I am in a college program. I was actually a little nervous to visit because I was afraid I would be frustrated with my program, and regret not going in high school. But, I have learned, that both programs have pros and cons, Emma has more immersion than I do, but I am allowed to travel and she isn't. She gets to be here for a year, I get to be home for Christmas and I can still graduate on time. There are just way too many pros and cons for both programs to possibly decide which is better...but I am content with my choice. This type of study abroad worked the best with my life, it was the best choice for me :)
AND I HAD SUCH AN AWESOME TIME WITH EMMA THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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