About this year's first summer...
Since I've been neglecting my beloved LJ for a good part of the last few months, I thought I'd compensate by doing one big post with an overview of the most memorable things that happened to me this summer. Here we go...
Last iMBA exam
As all you students know, summer doesn't really start until exams are over... After writing our last exam, my classmates and I all went out for a drink at the bar across from my college.
Barbora, Rich & Young-Eun
Oh, those Slovaks.... :)
Later that day, I got to pick up my official Master Degree from the program I finished last year. It was good to see most of my former classmates again. It had been a while.
Thomas & Woedi
Ilse & Stoffel
Chicago & KCMO
A few days after writing my last exam, I took off to Chicago for about three weeks. Pics here.
Stroppen
A nice constant during the months of July and August were the weekly Stroppen concerts, organized by the city of Halle and always a good place to chill, talk and run into people you haven't seen in a while.
Peter & his gf Daya and yours truly
josnas & loepie
SWIFT
In July, I got a student job at SWIFT... fun people and atmosphere, an amazing park, open air swimming pool, gym, tennis courts and really laid-back work.
Gentse Feesten
A bunch of my friends and I went to the Gentse Feesten... a 10 day lasting party all over the city of Ghent.
Stropkes
and watched one of our favorite local bands play...
Skangoeroes
(Photoshop by pietje_punk )
By 5AM everyone was pretty tired (and drunk), so we got on a homebound train.
Pool party @ Elke's
Geburtstage Schweinerei
My bro David and a few of his friends threw a party at the local youth house for their birthdays. Good times.
Bathroom
In August, we redid the bathrooms and made our two bathrooms into one bigger one. It involved a lot of hard labor, and literally blood, sweat and tears, as is illustrated by the pics below.
Marktrock, Leuven
A yearly festival in the city of Leuven (Belgium's major student city).
I was joined by mygood friends and former Student Council colleagues Bart & Nicolas.
Bart & Sophie's Bachelor(ette)'s day
The day after, my brother and I drove all the way to Damme for my cousin Sophie's bachelor's day. It wasn't quite the traditional abundance of alcohol and strippers... In stead, we played a customized version of 'Peking Express' (a TV show on Belgian TV about people hitch-hiking their way from Russia to Peking).
Our second lift was on the back of a tractor, driving by the Western-Flemish countryside.
Of course the koebeesten were part of the scenery as well.
Durbuy weekend
In the second half of August, my friend Kris organized a camping trip to the Ardennes.
Obviously we drank nothing but water....
And did a fair share of bumming around, before going horseback riding in the forests, mountainbiking and kayaking down the Ourthe river. Unfortunately Kris lost the memory card that held all those pics, so you'll have to settle for the pics of ugly guys drinking beer. :)
I love this one... oh the irony. (camp survie = survival camp)
The weekend after that was Stephanie and Bart's wedding, which was beautiful and a lot of fun.
A rare pictures of the Decuypere family getting groovy...
(my other brother Steven was at home, studying for his retakes)
Last Stroppen
The last of this summer's Stroppen concerts was cancelled due to the lousy weather. Being the hardcore Stroppen fans we are, we decided to go and check it out anyway... we were the only ones there (usually there's a crowd over 1000-2000 people), so Loepie decided to break out his newly acquired juggling balls and impress us with his great balls of fire.
After watching that spectable, we heading towards the center of Halle and had a drink at one of the bars there.
Ellen
Cassi
Cruisin' with Dieter & Decker
One Sunday night in September, I joined Decker and Dieter on one of their traditional Sunday nigth cruises through the smallest and most abandoned roads they can find. We ended up in several hick towns in the middle of nowhere. As their tradition prescribes, the ride included a stop at a McDonalds restaurant to pick up munchie food. They've visited about a couple dozen McD's this way. Definitely an interesting way to get to know the country. :)
Drinks with the iMBA gang.
Going for beers with Gonzalo, David and the lovely Barbora and Young-Eun.
David is a lucky man, being engaged to this South Korean beauty. :)
Peter meets Hiksoda
Never thought I'd have the honor of seeing the fruits of my craft on the same wall as Niko's artwork. Loyal readers of my journal might recognize the picture from this photo session.
Jeugdhappening
As the tradtition prescribes, the Jeugdhappening took place on third weekend of September. This year's edition featured these fine ladies and the worst DJ I've heard in recent years.
En ook dit bronstig exemplaar.
Sara & Jeroen
Two weekends ago, I took the wedding pictures for Sara (my friend Sil's sister) and Jeroen's wedding. Had a good time, shooting over 1000+ in half a day. Here's a few of them...
So much for summer number one... In about an hour I'm leaving to have this year's second one, this time in the Southern hemisphere.