A Day in Bruges

Saturday morning we all met at Gare du Nord in Paris for a Mystery Tour with CEA! The school took care of everything and all we had to do was show up. We got on the train and once it left the station, we found out we were going to Bruges, Belgium!

After a two hour train ride we emerged and found ourselves in a different country. It's crazy to me how easy it is to travel here. We were handed a map and told where to meet for lunch, then we got to explore!

The main things we did in Bruges were:
1) eat delicious food
2) take selfies
3) take photos of beautiful buildings

It was absolutely perfect. Bruges is beautiful. I saw the film In Bruges a couple years ago and I have always wanted to go after that. But I didn't think I'd be there so soon.

We had a great group lunch of soup, beef, baked applesauce (?), potatoes, beer, and chocolate mousse. Other things we ate throughout the day included Belgian waffles (I'll never be able to eat them in the States again), frites (which originated in Bruges!) and chocolate. What more could you really want in life?

The only downside is that right after lunch I fell on cobblestones and twisted my ankle. I did this in Berlin in 2011 too. Maybe I should avoid European cities that start with a B?

We walked around, posed for pictures, and looked in little shops. The great thing was that all the shop owners spoke English - I love French, but it was nice to not have to think about speaking for a couple hours. One tourist in a store we were in, who definitely had to have been American, heard us talking said to us, "It's nice to hear people speak English!" We were laughing all day - can I just hang out with these friends forever? The abroad life is really the best one.

At 5:30 we met at the train station for our train ride home, and we all fell asleep on the two and half our ride home. I loved Bruges and I'm excited to see more of Belgium when I go to Brussels next weekend.

PS - There are an obscene amount of photos below. I took so many that it was really hard to narrow it down. I've been uploading all my photos to my newly-created Flickr page - so check there if you want to see more!

  

 

 

Waiters in Paris Take Selfies Too

How is already February 9th? (Happy birthday, Dad!) I have been here for five weeks tomorrow. Absolutely insane.

This weekend my friend Michelle came to Paris with a bunch of her school friends because it was her 21st birthday. We went to a cafe Friday night and on Saturday we went to see St. Chapelle, a cathedral we'd learned about in our high school art history class, and a Cartier exhibit at the Grand Palais. It is a little crazy to think that I celebrated the 21st birthday of a girl I've known since I was 12 - in Paris, of all places. Study abroad is not real life but I am absolutely in love with it.

Michelle goes to school at the University of Edinburgh and her friends are from all over the place: London, Greece, Australia, the UK, etc. One of my favorite parts of my experience so far has been all the opportunities to spend time with groups of people from other countries. Whether it's the young adult group at church or dinners with new friends, I often find myself as the only American at the table and it is wonderful. Experiences like this have me more convinced each day that I want to live in Europe after I graduate.

Life here is not perfect - I have homework and awkward moments with my host mom and sometimes it rains which leaves me looking like a drowned rat when I get to class - but I am so, so thankful to be here. My friends are absolutely amazing. I was slightly worried that I wouldn't have good friends here, but my fears were completely unfounded. I am really grateful things are as good as they are.

I booked train tickets with two of my friends the other day - we will be traveling to Brussels and Amsterdam for the next two weekends! So much excitement ahead. Below are photos of my Parisian adventures with Michelle and the beautiful day in Paris. Paris, je t'aime.