From Connecticut, to Manhattan, to Brussels

So this past week has been, well to say the least - interesting. Went to Connecticut, did the whole New England thing (which was AWESOME!). Visited Mystic Seaport with Lee. Walked aboard the oldest wooden functioning whaling ship, the Charles W. Morgan. Learned how to eat lobster (the appropriate restaurant way). Went and visited Yale in New Haven. It was almost a little depressing to walk around and seeing how beautiful their campus is in comparison to Georgia Tech.

On Friday, we went to Manhattan for the day since my flight left for Brussels that evening. Picked up sandwiches and had a picnic on a rock next to the pond in Central Park. What more could I ask for. Then we went downtown to see the construction of the Freedom Tower, walked around Battery Park and saw the Statue of Liberty. Perfect way to end the spring in the Americas before jet setting to Europa!

View from our picnic in Central Park

The flight to Brussels was good, no complications. I of course am not used to flying to Europe with such short distances (I usually leave from Atlanta so that buys me a couple more hours on the plane) but this flight was 6h 45min. That's cool and all, but I needed to finish my homework!!!! Like it was the first time I was legitimately a little upset about how short my flight was...

Anyways, made it safely in one piece to Gare Central, met up with the rest of the students and off we were to have lunch together and go home for the weekend with our families. I live in a French speaking family, which was intimidating at first, but I have yet to speak English! We went on a guided tour of Brussels yesterday so I am slowly catching on to how to get around here. It's crazy how I have very little sense of direction here, but put me in Paris and I can find my way home without a problem.

Belgian Waffles at the Cinquantenaire

Today was our first day of class (at ULB) and we went over very basic things. The history of the EU & European identity. We only have lecture this week, so it's hard to cram a semesters worth into 4 days. Today I decided to be lame after class and go running. My host brother asked me if I wanted him to show me how to get to the park... stubborn Jonna said no and went off on my own. I got lost. Go figure. I went running around in Etterbeek though, the neighborhood that I live in. There are some reaaaally nice houses!!

School is off to a good start so far! Day 1 down.