Ok...
So it is my personal mission to have more people come back to livejournal, even if it is just to read my blog. I've decided that since the video blog hasn't worked out we'll just have to make due with this one. But since I've been crazy busy, I haven't really had much time to make that announcement.
I am in Belgium on an exchange. But, if you're actually reading this blog, you probably already know that. I will try to keep this up, but I get really busy here sometimes, so there may be gaps.
Let's have an overview of my first couple of weeks, with a little help from emails I've written to people...
-20 hours of travel time. That kinda really sucked... also, I got no sleep on the plane, and no sleep the night before. I was running on like 4 hours of sleep for two days. It was pretty bad...
-Especially when the airline lost one of my bags and I had to file a claim. It was found by the next day and delivered to my house, but it still sucked. Especially since I was tired, stressed, cranky and nervous.
-Wandered around Namur with host mom and sister. Was amazed. It's way beautiful.
-Was falling asleep on the way home, but still had to eat dinner.
-Crashed around 7:30 and didn't wake up until like 11:30 the next morning.
-The next few days I didn't do a whole lot, went to the city quite a bit, registered for classes, ect.
-Met Malcolm, who is my oldie. He's pretty cool, when he's not being a dick. But maybe he's so mean because his clothes aren't soft?... haha
-Met Faith, and wandered around some village in the Luxembourg province that was like an outdoor museum or something. It was ok.
-Language lessons kind suck, because they aren't teaching me anything I can use now, plus I've learned most of it.
-Went to Brussels with Malcolm and met up with some of the other oldies. It was way way fun.
-Visited the Senate and the royal Palace in Brussels with Rotary on Wednesday. It was interesting, and man were there a lot of us! 200 inbounders at least.
Now time for some copy and pasting!
From an email I sent Cody in my first week:
Interesting facts about my life here:
1. As you may remember, my host father (Bruno) is a farmer. Well, when Stephanie (host sister in New Zealand) said farmer, she meant farmer lol. My host parents actually have their own pear orchard. How insane is that. And it's huge! The other day Veronique and I went and gave refreshments to the people working out there. Apparently it's the middle of a harvest (so my host dad is going to be stressed the next few days). NUTS.
2. Sometimes I feel a bit like a little kid that they keep organizing play dates and sleep overs for. No, seriously. They were like "here is the girl that's going to be living with us after you from America, you should email her and figure out a time to get together in the city. She is living with your next host family, so you can talk" only in broken English with lots of hand motions lol. Oh and I'm going to meet Malcolm today haha. Like I'm going to his house and I might stay the night there? I'm not really sure if that's actually going to happen or not, but that's what it sounded like when they told me last night.
3. I had my first adventure with European public transportation yesterday. We went to my school to register me (or something) and we took the bus because that's how I'll get to and from school everyday. It was interesting and not bad at all. But finding my way around the city is going to be interesting. Luckily I got a map at the tourisme place yesterday and Veronique marked where my school is, so it shouldn't be too bad.
4. Everyone in my family eats way more than me. lol Sometimes I feel like they are looking at my plate and thinking that I a) think I'm fat and am trying to lose weight or b) don't like the food, neither of which are true at all! lol The food that my h. mom cooks is awesome, but I don't eat all that much. lol. But, not only do they eat more than I do, but they eat WAY faster. I seriously dont' know how they do it. I'm eating less, and not talking, and they are eating at least 1.5 times as much as I am and are talking the entire time, but somehow get done like 5 minutes before I do. Plus I get served first. It's all very strange. Maybe they have larger mouths than I do? Or don't chew their food? Anyway when they are all done the all kinda look at me while I try to finish the last ten bites of food as fast as possible. lol. And then... they offer me more food. hahaha. But they are just trying to be nice.
5. Their toilet is separate from the bathroom. I've heard of it, but it's taking some getting used to, because I keep having to use the toilet and then go to the shower part to wash my hands. I guess it kinda make sense because someone can use the bathroom while someone is showering, but it's all still strange nonetheless.
6. I really need to work on my French, but apparently my accent is very good (almost perfect on some words!) so said everyone who listened to my quiz in the living room (including my host sister's boyfriend whom I had just met! Embarrassing!)
7. Whenever you greet someone new (that's not an authority figure I guess because this was not the case with the principal of my school) you kiss the cheek of that person... well more like the air beside it, but it's still strange, but kinda cute.
Well that's all I have for now. I'll write more later.
-Katy
I am in Belgium on an exchange. But, if you're actually reading this blog, you probably already know that. I will try to keep this up, but I get really busy here sometimes, so there may be gaps.
Let's have an overview of my first couple of weeks, with a little help from emails I've written to people...
-20 hours of travel time. That kinda really sucked... also, I got no sleep on the plane, and no sleep the night before. I was running on like 4 hours of sleep for two days. It was pretty bad...
-Especially when the airline lost one of my bags and I had to file a claim. It was found by the next day and delivered to my house, but it still sucked. Especially since I was tired, stressed, cranky and nervous.
-Wandered around Namur with host mom and sister. Was amazed. It's way beautiful.
-Was falling asleep on the way home, but still had to eat dinner.
-Crashed around 7:30 and didn't wake up until like 11:30 the next morning.
-The next few days I didn't do a whole lot, went to the city quite a bit, registered for classes, ect.
-Met Malcolm, who is my oldie. He's pretty cool, when he's not being a dick. But maybe he's so mean because his clothes aren't soft?... haha
-Met Faith, and wandered around some village in the Luxembourg province that was like an outdoor museum or something. It was ok.
-Language lessons kind suck, because they aren't teaching me anything I can use now, plus I've learned most of it.
-Went to Brussels with Malcolm and met up with some of the other oldies. It was way way fun.
-Visited the Senate and the royal Palace in Brussels with Rotary on Wednesday. It was interesting, and man were there a lot of us! 200 inbounders at least.
Now time for some copy and pasting!
From an email I sent Cody in my first week:
Interesting facts about my life here:
1. As you may remember, my host father (Bruno) is a farmer. Well, when Stephanie (host sister in New Zealand) said farmer, she meant farmer lol. My host parents actually have their own pear orchard. How insane is that. And it's huge! The other day Veronique and I went and gave refreshments to the people working out there. Apparently it's the middle of a harvest (so my host dad is going to be stressed the next few days). NUTS.
2. Sometimes I feel a bit like a little kid that they keep organizing play dates and sleep overs for. No, seriously. They were like "here is the girl that's going to be living with us after you from America, you should email her and figure out a time to get together in the city. She is living with your next host family, so you can talk" only in broken English with lots of hand motions lol. Oh and I'm going to meet Malcolm today haha. Like I'm going to his house and I might stay the night there? I'm not really sure if that's actually going to happen or not, but that's what it sounded like when they told me last night.
3. I had my first adventure with European public transportation yesterday. We went to my school to register me (or something) and we took the bus because that's how I'll get to and from school everyday. It was interesting and not bad at all. But finding my way around the city is going to be interesting. Luckily I got a map at the tourisme place yesterday and Veronique marked where my school is, so it shouldn't be too bad.
4. Everyone in my family eats way more than me. lol Sometimes I feel like they are looking at my plate and thinking that I a) think I'm fat and am trying to lose weight or b) don't like the food, neither of which are true at all! lol The food that my h. mom cooks is awesome, but I don't eat all that much. lol. But, not only do they eat more than I do, but they eat WAY faster. I seriously dont' know how they do it. I'm eating less, and not talking, and they are eating at least 1.5 times as much as I am and are talking the entire time, but somehow get done like 5 minutes before I do. Plus I get served first. It's all very strange. Maybe they have larger mouths than I do? Or don't chew their food? Anyway when they are all done the all kinda look at me while I try to finish the last ten bites of food as fast as possible. lol. And then... they offer me more food. hahaha. But they are just trying to be nice.
5. Their toilet is separate from the bathroom. I've heard of it, but it's taking some getting used to, because I keep having to use the toilet and then go to the shower part to wash my hands. I guess it kinda make sense because someone can use the bathroom while someone is showering, but it's all still strange nonetheless.
6. I really need to work on my French, but apparently my accent is very good (almost perfect on some words!) so said everyone who listened to my quiz in the living room (including my host sister's boyfriend whom I had just met! Embarrassing!)
7. Whenever you greet someone new (that's not an authority figure I guess because this was not the case with the principal of my school) you kiss the cheek of that person... well more like the air beside it, but it's still strange, but kinda cute.
Well that's all I have for now. I'll write more later.
-Katy