This Weekend

Last week was the first week of actual classes, and I have to say that I think this semester is going to be a little bit harder than I had initially thought. But thats probably a good thing in the long run, right?

My history class (Conflicts since 1914) is going to be the most interesting I think, but the Intercultural Communication class should be really interesting too. French will be ok, although probably the most important one that I'm taking, and Political Communication will be ok too, but it's a 3 hour long class and thats pretty much the longest one I've ever taken. Plus the professor isn't really the best, but oh well.

Even though this school (Versailus College) is an "American-style" university, and many of the professors are from America or have taught there in the past, there is something a little bit different about it that I'm going to say is more "european" in style. Mostly things are pretty much the same, though, its a paper or 2 in just about every class, along with a mid-term and a final.

Well thats about it for school.

This weekend we (about 5 of us) visited Atomiom, which I think I talked about a little in a earlier post (we had briefly visited it during the bus tour back in week one). For anyone who missed that, Atomiom is a giant replica of an iron atom that was built for the 1958 World Fair in Brussels. You can go up inside of it to a few of the spheres and look out over the city. The stairways and escalators inside are really long, narrow, and steep. Here's a couple pictures from the trip.

So there's a couple of pictures from the outside. Apparently this was never supposed to turn into a perminent thing, but after the World's Fair there was massive public support for keeping it around, so they did, and it's still here 50 years later. Kind of like the Eiffle Tower or those weird disk things in Flushing from the Paris and New York World's Fairs respectively.

So thats a couple pics from inside, one going up one of the escalators and the other one coming back down. In addition to the four spheres that you can access from the inside, you can also take an elevator straight up to the top one, which is an observation deck and restaurant. Unfortunately, even though this was one of the few non-cloudy days in the Belgian year, there still wasnt too much to look at. Atomiom is located too far away from the center of the city to see any of the downtown area really well and there just isnt too much to look at from the air in Brussels. Oh well, it was still a cool trip.

One last thing from Atomiom: at night they light the whole thing up and it looks really cool. I hope this video works because none of the pictures I took really came out too well.

On Sunday I decided to go out for a little walk around the city, which ended up taking close to three hours. I managed to find a bunch of really interesting things, some of which we had seen during orientation, but some of them were completely new. I think thats one of the best things about this city: there really isn't any single thing that everyone has seen or knows about before coming here (except maybe Grand Place), and alot of the cool stuff is kind of hidden and unknown, so you just have to run into it in order to find it. During orientation they took us around to a bunch of the sights in the city, some common and some a little more unexpected, but we were always walking around in these big groups of close to 50 people and so it was difficult to actually learn where everything was in relation to everything else. I felt like I had all these tiny little snapshots of Brussels in my head but had no idea how they all fit together. So the long walk on Sunday helped me to put alot of those peices in the proper place; I'd be walking along and I'd suddenly realize I had been here before, but then I'd go into another area I didn't recognize at all. Anyways, it was a good experience and I got some good pictures to go along with it. Here's a few of the best ones:

I’m enjoying my first weeknight in the new apartment by simply taking it easy and relaxing a little bit after a few hectic days in Brussels. Last night I was up until around four in the morning to see the end of the Giants-Packers play-off game at an American sports bar nearby, so understandably I’m a little tired tonight. I just finished off a delicious dinner of scrambled eggs and ham with some amazing bread on the side, all of which I picked up at the local grocery store this evening. As a result I’m feeling much more comfortable and confident in my ability to survive in this city for the next four months. So what if all I really know how to cook is breakfast food? There’s nothing wrong with eating breakfast for dinner a couple of nights a week, and that’s exactly what I plan to do. I bought some pancake mix and I’m sure that it will be opened before the week is finished. Also bought some canned green beans and a head of broccoli, and some pasta and tomato sauce, so I guess I’ll have a real “dinner” at some point too.

I was surprised how low a lot of the prices were at the grocery store, even when you convert from Euros to $$$ most of it wasn’t too expensive. Another nice thing is that they include the tax on the listed price of just about everything here, so when you look at a menu or a price tag, you know exactly how much you’re going to have to pay, and you don’t have to figure out how much extra will be added. Of course all that really does is keep you unaware of how much you are actually paying in taxes, but perhaps ignorance is bliss??

I’m going to finish off the night by loading some pictures online for you all to check out, I’ll leave the link to that page at the bottom of this post, so enjoy! Then I’m going to crack open the first book I bought for class today, The Great War by Ian Beckett, which is for my history class on Conflicts Since 1914. The most exciting part is that the entire first half of the class is going to be a study of World War I, which I have always found to be one of the most interesting and important events in history, but sadly is nearly ever taught with any sort of depth.

Tomorrow is my first French class since four years ago, so we’ll see how that goes. Here’s how the rest of my schedule looks:

Monday – History 11:30-1:00

Tuesday – French 11:30-1:00, Intercultural Communications 1:30-3:00, Belgian Experience 4:30-6:00

Wednesday – Belgian Experience 1:30-3:00, Political Communication 4:30-7:30

Thursday – French 11:30-1:00, Intercultural Communication 1:30-3:00, History 4:30-6:00

Friday – no classes.


A few other things:

This weekend a bunch of us visited the Comic Strip Museum and explored the city a little more. I actually took my camera this time and got some photos of some of the cool sites in Brussels. Here's a sampling:

This is the Petite Rue de Boucher (Little Street of Buchers) which is famous for all the small (and expensive) restaurants that are cramed in along it. They are really small so most of the seating is actually outside, which gives you even less room to walk. One of the cool things is that the owners of the restaurants will frequently stand outside and shout at you as you walk by, trying to get you to come in and sit down. Much like Grand Place, photos just don't do it justice, you have to really feel it.

We also visited the King's Gallery and Queen's Gallery, two large, indoor, shopping areas that were built late in the 1800s, arguably the first shopping malls in the world. Although the long corridor does have a roof, it is also open on either end, so it's not truly enclosed, but the architecture is far beyond anything you'll find in a mall these days. The stores inside are, as you might expect, pretty expensive, but some of the best chocolate shops in Brussels can be found here. We looked, but didn't taste, because the prices are a little steep for a group of students. Sorry I can't rotate the pictures....you'll just have to rotate your head instead.

Lastly, here's a couple of pictures from the Church of Saint Nicholas, just around the courner from Grand Palce. It's one of the oldest buildings within the city, although parts of it have been rebuilt over the years. I couldn't take any pictures inside, obviously, but it is so pretty and ornate. The outside isn't really anything special, but it is unique because of all the little shops built right into the walls. Apparently this is how all churches would have looked in the Middle Ages, but today most old churches have had the markets removed during renovations and restorations.

One final note, on politics:

Ron Paul finished 2nd in the Nevada primary this weekend, beating everyone except Romney!!! The Revolution might have hit a couple of little speed bumps in Michigan and New Hampshire, but we’re getting back on track in time for Super Tuesday. Also beat Guiliani in South Carolina, but he is hardly even a contender anymore. It’s going to come down to McCain, Romney, Huckabee, and Ron Paul after February 5th, and you have to like Paul’s chance to pass Huckabee eventually.

Hawaii and Florida are next!

Until next time,
E.

The First Week in Belgium

Thursday, January, 17

It took me a while to get this up and running for a wide variety of reasons (seems like all the problems keep compounding themselves as the days go on, but I guess thats how it goes sometimes) but now that I am finally here, let me explain everything in brief detail. Last week my computer's motherboard manfunctioned, which kicked off an entire array of issues that lead me to eventually replace my hard drive and have to reinstall everything that had been on there. This, of course, put me pretty far behind them it came to packing for this trip and endless hours of frustration. Luckily I managed to get it in working order again about 5 hours before my flight was supposed to leave and even a week later I still have stuff to re-load and update, but I'm getting there. The bigger issue is that since my computer was manfunctioning for the entire week before I left, i never got arround to transferring money into my checking account that I plan on using for all expenses here in Europe. I know, I could have just used another computer to do it, but I didnt, and thats all that matters. Anyway, I arrived here with about 40 dollars in my pocket (all of which has been gone since Monday) and I was not able to get online and place the money transfer order until Sunday morning. Still, I figured, I'd only have to make it until Wednesday before I'd have money available to me. Well now it is Thursday and there is still a hold on my $1,000 that the bank tells me will be in place until midnight tonight, which will actually be 6 a.m. tomorrow morning here. So here's to hoping that in a little over 12 hours I will actually be able to do things like eat a good meal, buy some of the delicious beers they have in this country, or get myself a new Metro card because I only have 1 more ride on the current one. Things have been slow in getting established here because of my lack of money. So i havent been able to buy minutes for my phone or get online at this hostel (because they charge you) and I've been getting by with light meals and no snacks (which is hard in a city full of waffle and french fry stands). Anyway, aside from all the monetary issues, Brussels has been absolutely fantastic so far. Here's the highlights of the first week:



Friday, January 11, 2008.
Left home around 2:30 in the afternoon for Newark airport. Megan and I were flying on Jet Airlines, the major international airline of India. After getting to the airport, and checking our bags (by the way, Indian people bring more suicases than anyone else), I had a light dinner with my parents and the Carolans (Megan's parents). Our flight was great! Even though we were in Economy class, we had hot towels distributed at the start of the flight and before we landed, we had 2 full meals (even though dinner was a combination of very very spicy Indian dishes), and best of all, we had private entertainment systems built into each seat. I had episodes of about 25 different TV shows, over 30 full movies, and a wide selection of basic computer games at my disposal for the entire trip. The 7 hour flight went by alot more quickly than I thought it would.

Saturday, January 12, 2008
Landed in Brussels at 9:30 local time, although that meant it felt like about 3:30 in the morning to us. We had a slight problem with luggage, apparently our stuff almost got sent the rest of the way to India with the rest of the plane, but in the end we were able to get everything and make our way towards the youth hostel where we would be staying for the week. Getting all our bags onto the Metro from the airport to downtown, and carrying everything up the steps to street level (since apparently ALL the escalators in Brussels are broken) was no fun at all, but we finally made it to the hostel and checked into our room around noon. A long nap followed, but we both got up in time to grab some food and then meet the rest of the people from our program who arrived a day early in Brussels.
CIEE organized a get-together with the two guys who are in charge of the program in Brussels, and they took us out to one of their favorite bars in the city. On the way to the bar, we visited Grand Place, which is about 10 minutes walking time from our hostel. There is really no way to describe what it looks like at night, but I'll talk more about Grand Place a little later on. At the bar, the beer menu was 3 pages long (I know Dad's jealous about that), Daniel and Michaelanglo said it was one of the most expansive selections in the city. (FYI - Belgium brews over 300 different beers). The three I tried were all excellent, but in different ways. Another interesting thing is that each beer has a different glass that it is supposed to be served in, and some of them can be pretty strange. After the bar a few of us stopped off at Frite-Land, near Grand Place, to enjoy our first tatse of authentic French Fries in Belgium.
Interesting story - apparently we call them French Fries because G.I.s that came through Belgium in WWII thought they were still in France, so when they were treated to some of the local cuisine, they called them "French fried potatoes", and that name followed them home.
But rather than simply using ketchup on their fries here, there is a list of about 10 different sauces available. Saturday night I sampled Andellouis sauce, which is basically a spiced-up combination of ketchup and mayonaisse, but since then I have discovered Samouri sauce, which is so much better although I have no idea how to describe it. The fries themselves are amazing as well - they are fried once, then left sitting out in a giant tray like you would see at McDonold's or something, but when you order them, they get dumped back in and quickly fried a second time. The results are delicious!

Sunday, January 13, 2008
Orientation officially began today around noon, although I think everything starts a little late here.

Also took 2 walking tours of the city, covering just about every square mile of the "inner city", first during the day and then at night. The inner city of Brussels is the area that used to be surrounded by the city walls (built in the 13th and 14th Centuries). After Napoleon took the city he had the walls demolished and a wide boulevard built in their place, and that road still exists today. The citiy limits have since expanded well beyond that area, but the downtown area is still defined by the "ring road" around it. All the old stuff is inside that area. On this map the inner city is the 5-sided gold area in the center, and all the red surrounding it is the city limits today.

Monday

We had orientation all morning and then a tour of the only brewery within the city of Brussels in the afternoon. It was a pretty cool place, one of the few places on the planet where open-air fermentation takes place, only possible because of the natural yeast in the air around Brussels. The type of beer they make is called Lambic, and it's a very bitter beer, tastes like apple cider that has started to go bad. As a result its not very popular anymore, but it used to be the most commonly drank beer in Belgium (centuries ago). To make it more drinkable by people today, who enjoy sweeter and softer tastes than years ago (the guy at the brewery blamed this on the influence of soda) they add fruit flavors to the Lambic, often cheery or raspberry, but it's still not the most pleasent tasting drink in the world.

Tuesday, January, 15
Finally got our first look at VUB (the school i'm going to: Versalius University Brussels) today after a 3-hour long bus tour of all the parts of the city that we hadnt already seen by foot. It included a stop at the "Atomium", a huge structure that was built north of Brussels in 1958 for the World's Fair. It's a huge replication of an Iron atom, symbolizing, I guess, the iron industry which was very important in Belgium in the years after World War II.
We made another stop at the headquarters of the EU, which is centrered just to the east of the city, a massive complex of buildings that includes the actual Parliment of Europe as well as offices for all the representatives and their staff, as well as the many beaurocrats and lobbyists that also work with and through the EU. While all this makes the region sound like Washington D.C., the most amazing thing is that there is no security around at all, and you can walk right up to the doors of the Parliment building without being stopped and strip-searched like in American cities. You can't get within 2 football fields of the White House, but here you could walk right into the lobby of the EU offices any time you'd like. In place of security, the Belgians have installed a set of "terrorist-proof" steps in front of the EU that vary in height and width and are supposedly impossible to run up or down. Appparently last year there was a movement to put up security check points with x-ray scanners and all that, and it was VOTED DOWN. I think this is why I'm liking this place already - they thought about terrorism and decided that the best way to deal with it was not to crack down on privacy and civil liberties but to use a staircase instead. Rather than using the threat of attack to scare their people into submission, Belgium thought about the situation and decided that . And, at last check, neither Belgium or America has been attacked since 9/11, so I guess their system is working just as well.

Also we finally got our housing assignments this afternoon. I'm living in a studio apartment in Ixelle, which is just to the south of the "inner city" but still north of the VUB campus. More info on housing after I move in on Thursday.

Wednesday

Another day of Orientation, but this time we spent almost the whole day at the VUB campus, getting an offical tour and learning our way around. I didn't take any pictures of the school yet, but I'm just going to say that it doesn't look like the most impressive place in the world. The dominating feature of the campus is the huge East German-looking concrete block apartment building for alot of the students who go there. It's a pretty dreary looking place, particularly in the perpetually overcast skies of Brussels. We were done with orientation by early afternoon today, which allowed for some time to explore the area around the school, so Megan and I went to find out where we are living, although I forgot to bring my camera, so I can't give you any pics of the exterior just yet. We are living about 10 minutes apart by foot, although my place is on higher ground, so I have the strategic advantage.

Thursday (today)

Moving day at last!! After a morning session at VUB that showed us around the library there (smaller than Fairfield's, but still pretty nice) we had the rest of the day free. Megan and I went back to Grand Place and visited the city museum, which is inside the House of the King (although the king never actually lived there).

Some interesting stuff about Grand Place:

It was built up slowly during the Middle Ages as the central market for the city, though it lies north of the oldest part of the original city (established by the Romans in the 4th Century).

It was completely destroyed by a bombardment and fire in the year 1695 when French armies attacked the city. However, judging from painting they have from the 1500s, it was rebuilt almost exactly how it looked before the bombing.

The most impressive building on Grand Place is the Town Hall, which was actually built in three stages, starting with the left-hand wing, then the right wing, and then the tower. Although when viewed from a distance it appears to all match, look closely and you'll see some differences in the design of the two sides.

The statue on top of the tower is 15 feet tall, that gives you an idea of how big the whole thing is.

After all that, we finally got to move in to our new homes, and I met my landlord and the other 2 tennents. I'm living in a house in Ixelle, on a small street that is only one block from Avenue de Louisa, one of the major routes (and one of the oldest) from Brussels to the city of Charleroi in the south. The bottom floor has been converted into a Health Club (but I dont get a free membership) and the next two floors are owned by my landlord, Isabelle. The fourth floor is shared by her daughter, Marie, and a Canadian guy, Chris, who is working on his master's degree here. They have separate rooms but share a bathroom, and I share the bathroom with them as well. My room is the fifth floor (more commonly called an attic), but it has plenty of room for me and even includes a little kitchen area with a sink, a stove, and a microwave. I also have a mini-fridge, so I think thats about all I'll need. I'll post some pics later.

Well thats about all for the first week in Brussels! Sorry for the extreme length of this post, I'll try to keep my future posts down to a more reasonable length.

E.