European Weekends

I’ve been working at my internship for almost 3 weeks now, and soon it will all be over. The other American students are leaving on Friday to start their journeys back stateside, and I still have two more weeks! At lunch today people were discussing their weekend plans. One person is going camping in Luxembourg, another is thinking of a spontaneous trip to London. I was just sitting there thinking to myself that I have to come up with something as well! “Staying home in Brussels” did not sound cool at all.

Right now the most realistic plan is (a) stay home in Brussels anyways, (b) go to Leuven, (c) go to Antwerp, or (d) go to Amsterdam. Realistically, I’ll probably end up doing a, b, or c. As much as I would love to go to Amsterdam, I’m starting to be on a little tighter budget now and that would be the most expensive train ticket to buy.

Tonight I am heading to Chatelain Market with the other Georgia Tech girls. It’s really popular, every Wednesday, year round. It will be nice to go walk around, grab a beer, and just hang out. The weather is actually nice today too. (I was able to eat lunch outside today!)

Here's to:

• learning Flemish.
• drinking beer.
• working in Europe.
• lunches at IKEA with the roommate.
• le meilleur crew de danse des etats unis.
• shake ton booty on MTV.
• 9 PM movies on the Dutch channels because they don't dub.
• cursing the Internet multiple times an hour. 
• Carrefour runs for baguettes and cheese.

I have 21 days to go. While I'm really happy to be here and will be sad when it comes time to leave, I am also excited about going home and seeing my friends. This is definitely the longest I have ever been away. 

Time to Switch Gears

The study abroad is over. At least the 'study' part. Our simulation was on Friday, good bye dinner later that night and then we all started packing our bags in Krakow and saying our goodbyes. I didn't think I would be sad, since I wasn't leaving Europe, but some of the people I was with would.

"I'm stuck in Europe for 6 more weeks," I would say. Kind of jealous that people got to go home and see their friends. (I would say family too, but I'm off to Finland tomorrow to see my parents for a week.) But I committed to an internship, and committed to 13 weeks in Europe when I bought my flights. It's crazy how 13 weeks isn't that long, but I'm barely halfway done and I feel like I've been here for a good bit.

Arriving 'home' in Brussels today felt nice. It was really nice to see familiar places and go home- to my own room. It felt like I was just on vacation for a few weeks and it was just time to come home.

Anyways, the rest of the summer is just going to be "Time to Switch Gears." I'm going home to Finland and unwind from the site visits and hotel living, see my Finnish family and friends and then come back and be serious for some work. I graduate within a year, and I have an awesome internship where I will be making some awesome connections. Maybe grad school in Europe is starting to look a little more realistic day by day after all. Or perhaps even a real grown up job.

Travel break from Brussels

It's almost Sunday, which means it's almost time to leave Brussels. While other students in the group are sad about leaving our "home" I'm kind of "ehh" about it since I know I will be back for work. I am however EXTREMELY excited about Paris. But before I start ranting about how excited I am for Paris, I'll recap my past month in Brussels.

 I have seen a lot.

Parc de Cinquantenaire

Université Libre de Bruxelles

African Museum - which I found fascinating

Grand Place - which I will return to in August for the flower carpet!!!

My new place of employment! The reason for my return!

A real Belgian BBQ. 

I also go to visit the Atomium and Mini Europe, live with a real Belgian family, in a real Belgian neighborhood. At the end of the day, Brussels isn't Paris, but it's not bad either.

I got to visit the Netherlands for the first time as well (outside of the airport) by going to The Hague, so now I can legitimately knock that country off of my list. I learned to use the Brussels metro, bus AND tram, which is more than what I can say for Paris from last year.

Now we move into the phase of the trip where we aren't living in families anymore, but collectively in one hotel. So here's to my last weekend in Brussels, and to an exciting adventure in Paris. This is the part of the trip I have been waiting for!!!!!

But before all of that excitement happens, we get to visit Bruges and Ghent. It's supposed to rain, but my host mom just told me at dinner that when move back in July, she will take me there and we can go to her mom's house for dinner. I'm a tad bit excited for that as well.

Memorial Day in Brussels

Last week was our program's first week in Brussels. Monday started us off with a tour of the city, which did nothing but confuse me. Tuesday through Friday we had class at a local university - Universite Libre de Bruxelles. The weather was beautiful so we were able to eat lunch on the lawn every day amongst the other students. Also I think that was the most intense week of class in terms of the amount of information that I've had in a while. There will be a lot of re-reading things on Wikipedia to make sure I got it all before various site visits.

The weekend was spent in Brussels venturing around. Yesterday was a holiday in Belgium (as well as conveniently Memorial Day) so we did a girl's day and went rowing in a pond in Park Woluwe!

Park Woluwe & Memorial Day

There is also nothing funnier than watching two girls who don't know how to row, attempt to do so!

"How does this work...."

I also did my souvenir shopping for Brussels yesterday. Got a sticker for my Nalgene and a badge for my backpack!! (Big spender over here) We also went to the market and one of the girls found the CUTEST ring stand. So obviously I bought one of those too.

I kind of wish they had it in silver, but it was too cute to pass up!

This past weekend was fun though. One of our host brother's was in town from France so we went to a BBQ at his friend's house in Northern Brussels and then went out downtown with them on Sunday night (holiday Monday, so downtown was packed). I was too intimidated by everyone's French that I chickened out and spoke English with them.

The weather has been so nice here, but I am about ready for it to get colder again. I did NOT bring summer clothes to Europe. Not a single pair of shorts, and after this past week I kind of regret that decision. Although the weather really does need to start to cool down. The portion of our trip that requires us to be in suits has started. Either the weather has to cooperate or we are about to be really gross and sweaty in our nicest clothes.

I thought one of the biggest adjustments would be living in a family again. I haven't lived at home since I left for college before I turned 18! And last summer's study abroad we weren't living in families so we could come home at 2 AM if we please. My biggest adjustment has been to come home for dinner every night (but with the price of food here, I am more than happy to do so). Our host parents are currently in France until next Sunday so it's just me, the roomie and their 24 year old son. Between the 3 of us we have very minimal cooking skills, although I'm tempted to take over that department. I'm just happy enough to be getting free coffee in the mornings before heading out.

Also bought tickets to Croatia last night. Random, I know.

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.

Already planning the return

"Everyday is a Journey, and the Journey itself is Home."

Been back in the good old USA for a couple months now, and I sat still just long enough to figure out where I'm going next...

Summer 2012

Brussels, Belgium

+

Paris, France

+

Berlin, Germany

+

Krakow, Poland

=

European Union Studies 

I can't wait! I've only been to Paris out of those places, so I will actually be able to experience new places (and even knock off two countries on my world map). I've only flown through Belgium, which I guess you can count those, but I have never been to Poland.

♥ Jonna