I'm Alive !

Welkom! 

That means Welcome in Dutch. 

I still have no concept of the fact that I'm here, but the adrenaline is running strong. I'll take it from the top. I did the whole packing thing mostly on Friday and Saturday. Mostly Saturday. I went back and forth the entire time between being so proud of myself and hating myself for how much stuff I had. 

I would like to split my packing life into three sections for you. 

1. Things I needed to bring

- sour gummy worms

- intern gear

- rain gear

- my Senate shot glass 

- adapters

- 12 pairs of shoes apparently 

- my mini German beer mug on a necklace #Oktoberfest

2. Things I wish I could bring

- caution tape

- my bed

- my pillows

- my bed

- my bed

- my bed

- my bed

- money 

- my Philadelphia Union gnome

3. Things I really don't need to bring or even own

- my senior prom bouquet

- my camouflage "American Rider" vest

So in the end, I fit everything into 2 suitcases and a carryon. And a backpack. At least I thought I did until I got to the airport and put these things on the weigh station. First Bag: I'm not even telling you. Sorry. Second Bag: Also overweight. After proclaiming that my scales at home were wrong, I shimmied over to the side and started taking stuff out of my suitcase. In these circumstances, some things may have been better to get rid of than others. For example, instead of bringing my hairdryer and curling iron, WHICH DON'T EVEN WORK, I should have brought the Sperry's that I hastily got rid of on the airport floor. I actually sat on the floor of the Philadelphia Airport taking turns weighing things on the suitcase scale to decide which sweaters were not going to get passport stamps. I also tied my sneakers to my backpack- which made me look super athletic. Didn't hate it. May or may not have said to Sarah in the customs line a little loudly, "A I'M GOING TO EUROPE TO TRAIN FOR THE OLYMPICS!" Maybe I'll uphold that and use it to make new friends. But like not too good of friends because then I think they'd figure out that I'm definitely never going to be in the Olympics for anything. 

Ze Aeroplane

Walk on with a big smile on my face, roller carryon in tow, ready to sit in my seat and enjoy the ride in. I had selected my window seat when I bought the ticket, and my mom told me that morning that she didn't think anyone was sitting next to me. Well, someone was sitting next to me. And she asked if I wanted to switch seats with her so she could sit next to her husband. In the center seat of the center row. I said no thanks. I don't know how she thought that I would be willing to do that for a 7+ hour flight. Like if it was her and her three year old child, yes- I would have made the switch. But homegirl is like 3 times my age wanting me to surrender a window seat......... 

Well the person who actually had the middle seat found it similarly undesirable and opted to sit next to me instead. So I'm sitting next to a young ginger man now, and I attempt to make conversation. He was from Belgium and not very chatty, as it is. He sat perfectly still the entire flight. I'm was adjusting, jumping around, not eating my green beans - in short just a small child on a plane. I thought I was so old navigating the airport by myself. Nothing really messes that up like eating a whole bag of sour gummy worms instead of a human meal. We navigated the airport and getting home better than I thought we would be able to. With the exception of my 2 suitcases trying to push me down the escalator to my sudden death. I prevailed though. We met two other people from our program at the airport, waiting for the train. We recognized them as being from our program when we saw a girl go to sit down on a luggage rack and then topple over onto the floor. Shout out. On the train from Brussels to Leuven, I was alarmed by how similar it looked to home- I expected different trees. You know when you go somewhere tropical you know you're there because of the palm trees? I wanted the same thing. There should be a Europe tree. The 4 of us fit our hmm maybe 10 bags into a taxi with a driver who didn't speak English. But here we are! 

I now live in a little European attic with slanted ceilings and sky windows. These sky windows come in especially handy because I don't have WiFi in my room, so that's how I'm checking the weather! Hint: it's usually raining. We've gone out both nights we've been here so far. We live within walking distance of Oude Markt, which is the longest strand of bars in Europe. Without even knowing the name of the bar, the first one we went to was called T' Begin. As the Stella brewery is within smelling distance, I ordered a Stella as my first abroad beer. I also stole a coaster. We went to 2 other bars on the first night and set a goal of going to all of them throughout the semester. The students don't get here until Sunday, so we're expecting it will only get more fun. I mean, there are 1 Euro Waffle Shots, so I don't know how anything could go wrong on this. 

I got my internship assignment yesterday! At dinner, I announced that I wanted an ex- USSR country, mostly because  I support the proliferation of Cold War Jokes. In a display of my psychic powers, I have... LATVIA! With a Christian Democrat! Who calls Philly his second home! Boss status.

Classes are 2.5 hours long, but made bearable by a 20 minute coffee break. Yeah. Don't hate that. 

Our meals are prepared by chefs and have been amazing so far. We sorted out the gluten thing. One down side of the meals - set times. And there haven't really been GF desserts, which I mean I guess maybe it's a good thing, if you think about it like that. 

I haven't had waffles, french fries, or chocolate yet.. I'll get there I promise! 

Today we toured the Stella Artois Brewery - the largest brewery in the world. We got to wear neon Stella vests the whole time, so I was in heaven with that. I stole a coaster.