Trip Recap
Well we got back around 2 hours ago. I'm dead tired. Bleh. -_- Well, here's a recap of the trip.
Sunday: Got up early, we (my family and I) went to the airport, we got a bags checked in. WE had a 2 hour flight to NY where we transfered to another flight which lasted 8 hours. By the time the flight was over it was early Monday morning.
Monday: we arrived and went to my grandparents who live in Belgium (which is where we stayed), relaxed, was bored a lot.
Tuesday: relaxed some more
Wednesday: relaxed, saw my 4 cousins who came over to my grandparents house.
Thursday: went to some city (can't remember which) and walked around the center part of it. Also looked at some landmarks and stuff.
Friday: spent the day at my cousins house. Found out my 17 year old cousin Thijs, likes anime stuff. My fourteen year old cousin and I nicknamed him Kerby. VERY long inside joke between us. Laura and I had a lot of inside jokes actually XD. Also, Laura and I went Christmas shopping. I got my brother and sister the DVD Cars, my mom a photo hanger thingy, it's hard to explain ^^;, and my dad a head massager XD.
Saturday: can't remember. too tired ><;;;;
Sunday: relaxed, went to Christmas Eve party at my cousins house. My aunt Geradine cooked and it was some of the best food I've had this year. It was REALLY good. I got some Bath and Body Works, Smarties, VERY cute place mat with matching chain to go on my phone <3, a Coldplay CD. We ended up being there 'til 1:30 AM without realizing it ^^;;;;;. I watched Cars which surprisingly was actually a not too bad movie. Except for the whole disturbing idea of car love X.x All in all, my favorite day.
Monday: Christmas. I got FF12 (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO), a Nintendo DS Lite (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO), and a DS game called Lunar something (FUN GAME! WOOOOOOOOO). We also went to some city and saw my moms favorite church.
I'll do an entry on the game Lunar something later, I've got a few things on it to rant about ;D
Tuesday: We went to France! Woo! And it wasn't Paris! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We went to a city called Lille. We went with my family and my cousins to there to a big shopping mall. We went to a store called Album and it had SO MUCH MANGA/ANIME STUFF. Except it was ALL IN FRENCH. The whole store was basically English and Japanese comics/ cartoons/whatever. What made me mad was two things. One, it was ALL IN FRENCH ;_;. And two, they were actually further in some manga than we are! Like in Naruto they're on book 23. Then, we walked around in the mall some more, and then went outside and walked to a cafe where we had some drinks. I'd like to add that the cafe had been only until recently a lingerie store -cough- They still had some manequins on the top floor. And none had any clothes >.< Then we ate dinner at a place called Flunch. I'm serious. Flunch (I'm 90% that was the name of it). It was still in France, and I had fries. In FRANCE. HA. xDDD Personally, Belgian fries are REALLY good <3 If you weren't getting smoked out at every restaurant -.-
Wednesday: It was rainy. We drove for an hour to see the beach (we basically just drove by it 'cause of the weather and climate). Then we went to Brugge. We went around some of it and then headed back and went to a restaurant to celebrate my Aunt Geradine's 49th birthday.
Today: Got up at 5:30 so we could drive the 2 hour drive to Brussels. Then we reached there and got on the plane. We saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (LOVE that movie. very funny xD) and Elf. Airplane food is ok. Just don't eat it outside of planes. Saw a VERY corny video with cheezy background music about entering the US and customs and stuff. Basically the we-the-US-are-paranoid tape. We got off the plane and then went through customs. Then we got our baggage and went through border patrol X.x It was fine but I just find it pretty strange to have to go through all that.
Things to Note About Belgium:
1. It rains a lot/ is a foggy a lot
2. You barely ever see the sun. In the ten days I was there I only saw the sun twice and one of which was only for a little bit.
3. People smoke a lot. Especially in restaurants.
4. But, people are actually forced to recycle.
5. Things are generally more expensive.
6. Dutch, esp. West Flemish (the area my grandparents and cousins live), is the 2nd closest language to English.
7. Many houses in Belgium don't have central heating. They have individual gas (I think) heaters which you have to manually turn on individually.
8. Hot water (at least in my grandparents house) is something you have to manually do. If you just turn on the faucet you'll always get cold water.
9. All churches (the big ones/Cathedrals) are creepy -_-. In my opinion at least.
10.Pancakes (what we would call crepes here) in Belgium are the BEST. EVER. Esp. with brown sugar ;)
Note about my family in Belgium: I have one grandma and one grandpa who both live in Belgium. They are my dad's parents. My dad's older sister lives there and had 4 kids so I have 4 cousins ages 17 (Thijs: guy), 14(Laura: girl), 12 (Lukas: boy), and 10 (Emma: girl [turning 11 in January]).
Cities/Areas in Belgium I went too:
Gent
Brugge
Kortrijk
Lille (France)
and maybe more I can't remember ^^;;. Tired.
Belgian Christmas Note:
In Belgium, Santa/St.Nick brings your gifts on Dec. 6 and then Christmas Eve is the huge deal, not Christmas. It's more Catholic based.
Sunday: Got up early, we (my family and I) went to the airport, we got a bags checked in. WE had a 2 hour flight to NY where we transfered to another flight which lasted 8 hours. By the time the flight was over it was early Monday morning.
Monday: we arrived and went to my grandparents who live in Belgium (which is where we stayed), relaxed, was bored a lot.
Tuesday: relaxed some more
Wednesday: relaxed, saw my 4 cousins who came over to my grandparents house.
Thursday: went to some city (can't remember which) and walked around the center part of it. Also looked at some landmarks and stuff.
Friday: spent the day at my cousins house. Found out my 17 year old cousin Thijs, likes anime stuff. My fourteen year old cousin and I nicknamed him Kerby. VERY long inside joke between us. Laura and I had a lot of inside jokes actually XD. Also, Laura and I went Christmas shopping. I got my brother and sister the DVD Cars, my mom a photo hanger thingy, it's hard to explain ^^;, and my dad a head massager XD.
Saturday: can't remember. too tired ><;;;;
Sunday: relaxed, went to Christmas Eve party at my cousins house. My aunt Geradine cooked and it was some of the best food I've had this year. It was REALLY good. I got some Bath and Body Works, Smarties, VERY cute place mat with matching chain to go on my phone <3, a Coldplay CD. We ended up being there 'til 1:30 AM without realizing it ^^;;;;;. I watched Cars which surprisingly was actually a not too bad movie. Except for the whole disturbing idea of car love X.x All in all, my favorite day.
Monday: Christmas. I got FF12 (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO), a Nintendo DS Lite (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO), and a DS game called Lunar something (FUN GAME! WOOOOOOOOO). We also went to some city and saw my moms favorite church.
I'll do an entry on the game Lunar something later, I've got a few things on it to rant about ;D
Tuesday: We went to France! Woo! And it wasn't Paris! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We went to a city called Lille. We went with my family and my cousins to there to a big shopping mall. We went to a store called Album and it had SO MUCH MANGA/ANIME STUFF. Except it was ALL IN FRENCH. The whole store was basically English and Japanese comics/ cartoons/whatever. What made me mad was two things. One, it was ALL IN FRENCH ;_;. And two, they were actually further in some manga than we are! Like in Naruto they're on book 23. Then, we walked around in the mall some more, and then went outside and walked to a cafe where we had some drinks. I'd like to add that the cafe had been only until recently a lingerie store -cough- They still had some manequins on the top floor. And none had any clothes >.< Then we ate dinner at a place called Flunch. I'm serious. Flunch (I'm 90% that was the name of it). It was still in France, and I had fries. In FRANCE. HA. xDDD Personally, Belgian fries are REALLY good <3 If you weren't getting smoked out at every restaurant -.-
Wednesday: It was rainy. We drove for an hour to see the beach (we basically just drove by it 'cause of the weather and climate). Then we went to Brugge. We went around some of it and then headed back and went to a restaurant to celebrate my Aunt Geradine's 49th birthday.
Today: Got up at 5:30 so we could drive the 2 hour drive to Brussels. Then we reached there and got on the plane. We saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (LOVE that movie. very funny xD) and Elf. Airplane food is ok. Just don't eat it outside of planes. Saw a VERY corny video with cheezy background music about entering the US and customs and stuff. Basically the we-the-US-are-paranoid tape. We got off the plane and then went through customs. Then we got our baggage and went through border patrol X.x It was fine but I just find it pretty strange to have to go through all that.
Things to Note About Belgium:
1. It rains a lot/ is a foggy a lot
2. You barely ever see the sun. In the ten days I was there I only saw the sun twice and one of which was only for a little bit.
3. People smoke a lot. Especially in restaurants.
4. But, people are actually forced to recycle.
5. Things are generally more expensive.
6. Dutch, esp. West Flemish (the area my grandparents and cousins live), is the 2nd closest language to English.
7. Many houses in Belgium don't have central heating. They have individual gas (I think) heaters which you have to manually turn on individually.
8. Hot water (at least in my grandparents house) is something you have to manually do. If you just turn on the faucet you'll always get cold water.
9. All churches (the big ones/Cathedrals) are creepy -_-. In my opinion at least.
10.Pancakes (what we would call crepes here) in Belgium are the BEST. EVER. Esp. with brown sugar ;)
Note about my family in Belgium: I have one grandma and one grandpa who both live in Belgium. They are my dad's parents. My dad's older sister lives there and had 4 kids so I have 4 cousins ages 17 (Thijs: guy), 14(Laura: girl), 12 (Lukas: boy), and 10 (Emma: girl [turning 11 in January]).
Cities/Areas in Belgium I went too:
Gent
Brugge
Kortrijk
Lille (France)
and maybe more I can't remember ^^;;. Tired.
Belgian Christmas Note:
In Belgium, Santa/St.Nick brings your gifts on Dec. 6 and then Christmas Eve is the huge deal, not Christmas. It's more Catholic based.