"I can smell the calories" - My Adventures in Belguim (and the week before)

Sorry this post is super delayed but I am officially the busiest person in the world. I think I am about 2 weeks behind so I will try to cover everything, at least briefly. Last week (October 9-16) my family came to London! It was so much fun even though it did make me more homesick. But the week was awesome, it consisted of toursity attractions and the most delicious food I have had in awhile. While they were here we went to the Tower of London. Here's us outside the tour across from the bridge.

 

The day they left (Saturday morning) I headed out on my second IES sponsored weekend trip, this one to Iepers Belgium.  We left much to early in the morning and spent way to many hours on a coach bus and then on a ferry the size of your average cruise ship. The ferry had multiple restaurants and coach buses were parked on the bottom level. But around 3 in the afternoon we finally got to Ieper. It was beautiful town full of really cute architecture. All of the buildings looked like these ones.

We got there and spent the afternoon in a really interesting museum about World War I. We went to the Menin Gate that evening and attended a poignant memorial ceremony that occurs every night there. I definitely learned more about the war than I ever knew. Poppy's are an important symbol of remembrance and these beautiful wreaths were all over the town and the gate.

 

After all the tours and depressing (but interesting) history lessons we went to a bar.This bar is famous for its political incorrectness. It is called the 12 Apostles and features religious symbols in a tacky and ridiculous way. But this is where I had my first taste of Belgian beer (and probably my last, much too strong for me, I couldn't even finish it.

Rachel and I with our beers

After beer we made at mad dash for waffles after finding out the entire town closes on Sunday morning and none of the waffle places would be open until after we left for the day. We weren't going to leave Belgium without waffles so we ran to a restaurant at around 930 at night and made it minutes before they closed. The waffles were totally worth the running, they are covered with powdered sugar and smothered in chocolate.

The girls and our waffles

We also managed to find some time to buy entirely too much Belgian chocolate. I am obsessed with this picture of me and all of chocolate.

 

The next morning the girls and I explored the town before embarking on more depressing tours. All of the buildings looked like this, in fact this amazing building housed a simple museum. 

We spent the day touring cemeteries and war sights (trenches etc.) I know beautiful is a strange world to describe a cemetery but that is exactly what they are. It was a bright sunny day and there was something incredible about all these gravesites that were covered in flowers (like the one below). 

Our cheerful stop of the day, between the cemeteries and the executioners pole was the Talbot house. It was a place were men went for relation and fun during the war. I loved the signs/rules of the house...this was one of my favorite signs.

All in all the trip was a success, full of friends, delicious food and some actual learning. I was unsure about the trip at first, Belgium wasn't exactly on my travel list but I am very, very glad I went. 
This week (post-Belgium) has been extremely chaotic. I went to 3 shows this week, a real forum theatre performance at a homeless shelter. For Beloit people, it was essentially real theatre of the oppressed and it definitely reinforced my interest in pursuing that type of theatre. I also saw a new musical (done by theatre students about my age) called Parade and I am not usually a musical person but I was truly moved by this show.  And finally I saw Hamlet at the National Theatre, 4 hours of Hamlet is a bit much for me but it was definitely a well done production. I also went to Stratford yesterday (Shakespeare's home) and was extremely disappointed. First of all it felt like an amusement park/tourist trap and it proved that no one has any real knowledge of Shakespeare's life. We were shown many corny videos and told everything was possibly Shakespeare's. But as part of my theatre education I am glad I went anyway.
And next week is midterms so this blog entry was essentially a study break. After midterms we leave for our midterm break trip to Scotland on Thurs.
The adventures continue!

Let the Traveling Begin

This past weekend I embarked on what is to be the first of many, many weekend trips. This one was a good way to start because IES (my study abroad program) sponsored it meaning I didn't have to worry about planning or travel details. And it meant all of my friends, or at least the vast majority of them, were going as well.The trip began at 5:50 am on Friday when we embarked on a tube adventure in which I rode the tube for over a hour to get to Heathrow airport. I will spare you all the details but needless to say exhaustion was a definite theme of this adventure. That day we arrived at the Hostel in which 10 girls were in one room, which was probably one of the most fun sleepovers I have had since I left elementary school. But the first day was spent on a unfortunately boring tour of Ireland. It was supposed to be a 2 hour walking tour but it was really a 2 1/2 hour standing tour, were we would stop at one building and then get a history of Ireland for about 20 mins. Basically it was not enough seeing at too much listening on too little sleep. But the city was pretty beautiful......
That night we had a group dinner at a Italian restaurant and then explored the Irish nightlife.Rachel, Anne, Jenna and I found this really fun bar with a super cool bartender, met real Irishmen and listened to Irish musicans cover American music. Once the band stopped we quickly became the only ones dancing to the not particularly good music playing over the sound system. We then continued exploring and found....A 80s bar...that advertised free jello shots with drinks and no cover charge (my new favorite place.) And played only 80s music...needless to say the dancing continued but we quickly realized how exhausted we were and planned to come back the next day with all the girls.

View of Dublin, I love cities on the water.

Anne, Jenna and Rachel at the Irish bar (with the fun band).

Day 2 began much too early with the strangest breakfast experience I have ever had. Apparently at hostels breakfast is coffee and tea and toast. And when I say toast I mean they literally provide loafs and loafs and loafs of bread and many toasters. Watching everyone line up and freakout about bread was one of the strangest, most entertaining experiences of my life. But not a very satisfying breakfast but whatever.. We went to the writers museum that morning, I don't feel like I know enough about Irish Lit to fully appreciate it but I'm glad I went. And then that afternoon, after pub lunch 2 (of 3), we went to the countryside. I was sort of ambivalent on Ireland until that point (lame I know but besides the night life Dublin is a bit under-whelming...at least the parts I saw). But Sandycove, the area of the countryside where James Joyce's tower was, is the beautiful place I have ever been in my life. It was exactly the way I imagined it, neither photos nor descriptions can do it justice. But it was a beachfront town, complete with rocky cliffs. And then the girls and I went to another bakery, so good, I swear I'm going to gain the study abroad 15, the food is so good (so much pastry). The girls and I are planning a bakery-crawl, like a bar-crawl but for deliciousness. But anyway that night we went to another Italian restaurant for dinner and then we went out. The 80s bar was even more fun, so much dancing and Rachel did my hair and make-up, something that needs to happen everytime we go out..so much fun.

All of us at Sandy Cove.

  

Jumping Picture! Surprisingly successful!

But needless to say the going out and lack of sleep made Sunday morning rough. But all we did was go to the Guinness Factory, on Sunday morning (so much drinking so early, the bar was crowded). It was cool to see but I am lame and not really a beer person so I tried my free sample sip but cashed my free drink in for a diet coke (fail I know.) But after a final pub lunch we headed back. It's funny how quickly a place can feel like home, after only a month this has become my home.

Sorry there aren't more pictures, I am exhausted and they take way too long to load (our internet sucks). But they are all on facebook, so check them out there.

So this week is super busy, realizing I finally have to do school work...ugh. But my family is coming on Saturday, so excited and Becky's birthday was tonight so some more going out will have to happen between now and then. Also going to see 2 more shows this week (already saw one dance performance). Really even on the worst days, tube stop canceled, broken purse, rain, broken umbrella and more, I can't help but be amazed that this is my life.