Bonjour!

Brussels is our new home for the month! We arrived Friday afternoon to the address we gave the taxi driver. He kind of pointed across the street and said I think that might be it. What? We both looked at each other in shock. Anna's sister studied abroad with Clemson a few years ago and they stayed in a hotel like building almost in the city center. The cab driver had just dropped us off in a suburban neighborhood. We approached the door and we were greeted by the house mom. She led us upstairs and we were still so shocked. We all have our own rooms here but it is not the hotel like feel we were expecting. We were a little disappointed at first but we are now making the best of the situation. We met the other eleven people in our group. We have a wonderful group of twelve girls and one guy, we should call him a saint for putting up with all of us. After putting our bags down, we all headed to the grocery store to get some essentials. Instead of peanut butter I got this awesome spread called Speculoos. It is Belgium's version of peanut butter. I've been making great little sandwiches with it. We also got Greek yogurt. The perfect protein packed breakfast for our long days here. Anna and I went out for dinner with the whole group and then we all headed back home.
Saturday we had a tour of Brussels at 10:00. We started to learn the tram and metro system and were feeling better about our new home once we learned how to get into the city. Our tour guide, Sasha, was amazing. He told us all kinds of cool history, where to find great chocolate, and fun things to do in the city. We even stopped at a chocolate shop on the tour for a quick sample. Yum! After the tour, we stopped at a local lunch place called EXK. They have all kinds of great soups, salads, and sandwiches. This is Brussels answer to fast food and it is sooo much better than any fast food we have in the States. We had a great little lunch and then explored the area of Grand Place some more. Neuhaus is the oldest chocolate distributor in Belgium so of course we had to try it! It was a fabulous first Belgium chocolate for me. So wonderful! I wish I could bring the whole store back! We walked around some of the city and then headed home for a little while. We are starting to settle in and it is feeling much better. For dinner Anna and I read about this little place called Saint Catherine. We found it and could not have been happier. It was a very small little restaurant brimming with locals. The chef was this adorable little old man. He cooked for one table at a time as if you were in his home for dinner. I had pork with an apple, cream, and white wine sauce. It was the best experince for our first real Belgian meal. We then headed to Delirium which is bar that claims to have more beers on tab than any bar in the world. I tried the cherry beer that Brussels is famous for. It was like drinking a cherry blow pop, way too sweet for me but glad I tried it! Then we headed home for bed.
Sunday we all slept in very late. Some of the other people were still recovering from jet lag. Anna and I were just exhausted from three weeks of non-stop travel. We headed back downtown to walk around for a little while. I had a Belgian waffle complete with strawberries and chocolate. So good! Then we went to a little shop called Mary and had another taste of great chocolate. Anna and I are determined that we will be eating chocolate, and good chocolate, everyday while we are here. It has been very cold here these last few days so we found an H&M to pick up a few more cooler weather things. We all headed back home to prepare for the week. Anna and I found a laundry place very near our tram stop so we washed all our clothes from the weeks before. It was so nice to put clean clothes onto a shelf and not into my big backpack. We also went for a little jog around the neighborhood. It was fun to see the houses all around.
Today we had our first class at 9:00. Anna and I thought the tram was only coming at 8:26 and then at 8:53. We had to be on it by 8:26 in order to make it to class on time. We walked our the door at 8:20 and it was about to leave. After a little run towards it, we saw it drive away in the distance. We were in a huge panic. Then I talked to some locals and realized that we had been looking at the wrong schedule. Another tram came in seven minutes and we made it to class still 15 minutes early. Nothing like a little cardio to get you going in the morning, now we know what schedule to look at! Our first class is about Belgium Culture. The teacher is a very European older lady. She is so knowledgeable and interesting. Even though our class is three hours long, I think it is going to be enjoyable. We had a lunch break after and Anna and I booked our flights to Dublin for the weekend. Our next class is a nutrition class. Funny to be eating chocolate, beer, and waffles and then to go to class to discuss healthy eating. Oh well, I'm a Food Science major not nutrition I keep telling myself. Many of our class days will be involving a field trip so I think both classes are going to be great!
After class ended, Anna and I made a trip to the Leonidas chocolate shop. Dark chocolate with salted caramel filling was my favorite of the day. So much chocolate everywhere. As a chocoholic, I can't imagine a place more perfect. We visited the Atomium next. It was built for the 1959 World Expo. We rode the elevator to the top and had a nice view of the city. We hopped back on the metro and went back to our school building. Instead of a closing reception we had an opening reception. We had a nice toast, some good sandwhiches, and some yummy little fruit tarts. No Dad, not Tart Lemon...but I wil be finding one soon! We wanted to find sometihng semi American to do since it is July 4th but without ribs, the lake, and fireworks we were out of luck. We went to one of the more casual pubs and tried another local beer. It was great just to be all together for a little while.
The adjustment from traveling has been a big change. I was much better after we got a schedule and a syllabus today. As Dad always says, I am turning into my mother. I love being able to plan things. We have our first excursion/field trip tomorrow and I know we are all going to really enjoy it. I could not ask for a better group of people to be sharing this experience with. We are going to have a fantastic month! Happy 4th of July to all! Eat some ribs for all of us!