Leuven It Up

After three weekends in a row devoted to long hard days touring Europe and a Thursday bout with double midterms, I decided to treat myself (and my wallet) to a weekend spent at home sweet home. 

The weekend started, as any good weekend should, on Thursday night (right after our second midterm) in my American flag sweater. We quickly found promo girls giving out free hot pink and lime green shots and settled in for the night. We had fun dancing and playing the who-will-I-marry-based-on-twisting-an-apple-stem game with the random apples outside the bar (????). 

The next morning, we got up early enough to eat breakfast and then went back up to our room and slept until noon. This probably sounds lazy and like we were wasting precious abroad time, but it was heavenly. When we're away on the weekends, our general schedule is out till like 3 and then up at 8. With that, classes, and interning, this was the most I've slept since we got here. Once we were ready to join civilization, Christina, Sarah, and I decided to meander around Leuven. First stop: art supplies for Christina, who has been killing it over here with her sketches, which I of course appreciate because the annex always needs some color and life. Which leads me to our next stop, a florist where I had no choice but to buy a mini potted plant of gorgeous orange flowers, now sitting atop my desk smiling at me while the grey walls blend in with the grey rain fogging our sky lights. We also found candy (sour gummy feet) and the most awesome thrift store I've ever been it. I bought a winter jacket (which came at the perfect time because it is getting COLD in Leuven). I also found a dress that I immediately fell in love with, labeling it the Gatsby dress. It happened to me my size, so I decided to try it on for shits and gigs. And then it was perfect. It looked perfect and felt perfect and now it's mine, so if anyone has been having a hankering for a formal party where I can wear a vintage dress- I'll be back December 7th. Oh and I got a black sequin blazer. Practicality at its finest over here. 

On the way home we stopped for chocolate, because come on, we live in Belgium! We had dinner and then made our way back out, now into the rain, to watched the Belgium Red Devils play soccer in Oude Markt. The Markt was filled with chairs, all facing the bars, with outdoor TVs showing the game. As soon as Kaitlynn, Sarah, and I walked into the bar, a girl beckoned us over to paint the Belgian flag on our faces. Once we blended in, we cheered along with the other fans as Belgium won the game and qualified for the World Cup for the first time in years. After this, we went to a bar that I only know as "fox bar" based on the stuffed fox in the window. There, Sarah tried a beer universally regarded as the best beer in the world. Kaitlynn and I were a little less willing to drop the cash for it, but wanting to be as adventurous as Sarah, had the bartender pick out our beers for us. 

The night then took us to Stapleton's, an Irish pub where we watched the Ireland v. Germany game. What we thought would be a quiet night of soccer escalated quickly as we went to a club where we happened upon a large crowd of men in costumes. For instance, one guy I was talking to was wearing tight tight pants, a floral blazer, a fro, and roller blades. I think he was short and trying to get some height... But that's just my hypothesis. We ended up going from club to club. Here's the kicker: I was wearing rain boots, cuffed- light washed jeans, a white t shirt and grey cardigan aka I looked like a schmuck. Once I had come to terms with how inappropriately addressed I was for the setting, I had an absolute blast. 

The next day, us four CUA girls decided to take on our own little city of Brussels! Somehow going to Brussels is always a stress inducing venture for us. We've figured out how to navigate in Amsterdam, Dublin, and even Dusseldorf, but Brussels remains elusive. We managed to get to the Atomium, the first stop on our to-see list. Going to the Atomium was miserable. I seriously do not recommend doing the tour AT ALL. It's really cool from the outside- basically a combination of the Epcot ball and the Bean in Chicago, but the tour is a few shoddy exhibits about technological advances since the 1950s (ok.. I'm living that...). After going through three of the balls, we had to go back downstairs to get to the top ball. We were herded into the elevator like it was a competition to see how many fully grown adults could fit. Then the genius elevator girl instructed everyone to look up at the elevator (in French), and I was blessed with the shiny bald head of a small man nearly resting on my chest. Claustrophobic. When we piled out of the elevator, it was only into a bigger crowd of people. The tourist sites herald the gorgeous panoramic views from the top of the Atomium. LIES! Let me just tell you. The walls were lined with grey, industrial metal with a few dirty windows opening up to an epic view of massive parking lots and solar panel topped buildings............. This may have been bearable if instead of getting to walk around and check things out, you get off the elevator and right into the line to go back down and you remain in that queue for the duration of your "viewing pleasures". 

Yelp and Trip Advisor reviews to follow.

The Atomium
See, it's pretty enough from the outside that you don't have to go in!

Angsty and bitter about that solid waste of 8 euro, we went to Mini- Europe, where dispute the blatant European Union propaganda, we had a lot of fun- getting excited about places we've seen, will soon see, and have connections to through our friends or offices. Sometimes mini things are cute. Sometimes they're creepy. These definitely aired on the creepy side. It was a nice day so like it could slide, but if it was a creepy cloudy day I definitely would have been freaked out. 

Outside Mini Leuven, represented by Town Hall

Our next stop was Mannekken Pis, Brussels' most famous statue. 

Mannekken Pis (yes he's peeing). This was originally an important
source of drinking water in 15th century Brussels. 

Today we hit our first mass in English. The homily was great, not to mention the much appreciated fact that I understood what he was saying! And he was a Franciscan! The collegiate choir was lively and engaging. We were excited to meet other international Catholics over coffee after mass. It was a very centering way to end the weekend.

I'm glad we were able to hit all the top tourist destinations in our own city. It seems like your own city often falls through the cracks. I know that it took me growing up to realize how lucky I was to live near Philly, and going to school in DC has shown me that you can always be a tourist and that it's important to live life like a tourist: curious, excited, and ready to make the most out of every experience. 

The Dubliners

The most challenging part of my life right now is trying to get to the next level on the game on my flip phone. I'm going to go ahead and say I'm doing something right. 

Last weekend I flew to Ireland where I cried over Degas, was silenced by Yeats, and granted "gab" from Blarney.

We booked this trip back in August, thinking we were expert planners. We were going to fly out of Brussels- Charleroi after a day of interning in Brussels. The sheer genius and practicality unraveled very quickly when we found out:

1. Brussels- Charleroi is an hour outside Brussels by train 

2. We don't intern on Thursdays 

3. We have a night class on Thursday night 

We expertly combatted this by missing 1.5 / 2 of our classes on Thursday and sprinting/ panting/ speeding/ crying/ sweating/ cursing our way onto the plane- getting to the airport as boarding started. Luckily Ryanair was pretty quick to get through. I did however spot some security glitches. For instances, how are you going to take your sweet old time patting me down (so violating) and then not make me take off my shoes or take my liquids out of my carry on? Well, we got there so OVER IT. 

Hungry, tired, and needing to rally we decided to grab dinner before making our way to Trinity College, where we would be staying for the weekend. (Shout out to Kaitlynn's friend Liam!) We picked a random restaurant that looked like it had good food, vibes, and prices. Guess who we saw there???? THE STATUE OF LIBERTY! DRESSED IN AN AMERICAN FLAG! #doingitwrong 

After dinner, we went to Trinity, where we settled into our room- a single. One bed. I want to say dimensions around 8'x10'. We changed and went right out. Once in the bar, we found a table in a corner where we could chill after our exhausting travel day and have a few drinks. The pub got more and more crowded as we sat there drinking our Bulmers (Irish Cider). At one point, a guy at the table behind us fell back into me, laughing too hard at a video on Barstool. He felt bad and got us all drinks. From that point on, we somehow gathered a merry band of American misfits in Ireland.

We touristed HARD on Friday, first (after coffee) hitting the National Gallery of Ireland which stumbles on of my favorite Degas paintings. There were tears.

Two Dancer in their Dressing Room -Edgar Degas

We also went to the National Library, National History Museum, St. Stephen's Green, and St. Patrick's Cathedral before collapsing into our barstools and ending our day of adventures with our new favorite Cider: Bulmers. Please let me find you again in the States! 

Friday night, we hit Porterhouse, a notable Dublin bar where we found 2 for 1 Daiquiris and Chicken wings that we promptly devoured, having not eaten since our Burrito Bowls at lunch #doingitwrong. On our quest for another bar, we were lured out of the rain by the warm and familiar sounds of Sweet Home Alabama, which was ironic as we soon realized we were the only Americans in the bar. We danced the night away, requesting Roar and We Can't Stop "for the Americans." We got some weird looks as we belted out our pop anthems. 

The next morning, we were up at out of the room by 8:00 to make our PADDY WAGON TOUR to the Blarney Castle, with stops in Cork and Cobh!!! 

Not only where we thrilled about our blatantly tourist adventure into the Irish country side, but we also got to see two of our CUA friends, Maggie and Lauren, who are currently studying abroad in Dublin. Glad to see someone we knew outside our 25 person program, we gabbed our way to Blarney, comparing our internships, classes, and bar stories. In Cobh we fell in love with a Cathedral and the sun drenched coast. After a rushed lunch, in which we were forced to grab our "chips" and run, we got back in the bus and were soon at the Blarney Castle. Jovial from the sun and being outside city limits, we took goofy pictures and ran around the castle like children. We also got to kiss the Blarney Stone! I tried to take my dearest roommate Christina for a little walk in the poison garden, so I could get the annex to myself, but she was onto me. 

After our excursion, we made the three hour trip back to Dublin, only to find that the beef stew dinner we had been promising ourselves since our arrival in Dublin was just out of reach. We ended up at an Italian place #doingitwrong. Or maybe we were doing it right because I had the most insanely delicious meal I've had since I got to this continent. I had grilled mussels and a tomato stuffed with ricotta cheese, eggplant, and heaven dust. Oh and french fries. I can't not, ya know?

The highlight of dinner however was meeting the only other patrons dining at 23:30: a table of about 35 men. They decided to include us in their little awards ceremony. For these awards, the six of us girls had to reach into a bag and pull out a wrapped gift with a label that we read out. Now these labels weren't Tom, Mark, Vladimir, etc. Rather, they were titles of awards, like "Fastest Hands" and "Best Package" and "Worst Line Judge." We had so much fun picking out the winners and being a part of their tradition that year. The shutdown jokes flowed freely from those darling Irish men, but we ended the night with an epically gratifying USA chant. Chanting USA in an Italian restaurant in Dublin. What?

It was a really really great weekend.

High: Blarney Castle with Maggie and Lauren
Low: Sleeping on the floor like a broken animal
Souvenir: A book called Remembered Kisses of Irish love poems paired with
love paintings by Irish artists (everything I love: books, love, poems, art) (I just need to read it while eating French Fries and drinking coffee in a garden) (while wearing stripes and pearls)


Oh and here's the kicked: I didn't have classes on Monday or work Tuesday and Thursday. Muahaha! My own little mini Fall break!

Inexplicably Content

I could not be more content than I am right now. First of all, I got out of work early. Secondly, it is absolutely beautiful outside. Even standing for the entire 40 minute commute didn't phase me. Though it did make me feel more than entitled to a stop at Neuhaus on the way home for a chocolate fix. 

Today at work, I went in, chatted for a bit, then made my way to a two and half hour meeting with the Foreign Affairs Committee. For the most part, I've been focusing on the relationship between the EU and the Eastern Partnership, which includes Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, and Belarus. This assignment has been particularly interesting due to the recent resurgence of Russian influence, as revealed through initiating trade war with Ukraine as they near signing a DCFTA (Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement) with the EU and Armenia's choice to  sign on with the Russian Customs Union rather than a trade agreement with the EU. After this meeting, I had a lovely lunch, chatted with one of the guys in my office for a solid hour and a half about life, travel and religion. I then went to another meeting- this one about EU relations with Georgia. After this meeting, I ran back upstairs. I think the office is catching onto my infatuation with Russia because at this point, they sent me to a meeting called The Moscow Bubble and said I could stay for however long I wanted to and leave right after. After the struggle of finding the room, I get in and there are no seats left- meaning no headsets left- meaning I'm literally a useless human being. I stood awkwardly at the door for about 15 minutes, saying nothing. I decided to use this slightly embarrassing turn of events to make a friend, who laughed with me about how I was standing there with a legal pad, pensively staring at the speakers and not understanding a word. I oft find that it's significantly more acceptable to be awkward if you invite others to laugh with you about it. So was the case. Anyhow, I didn't last too long in the meeting, and snuck out to make my way back to Leuven, where, as you know, I celebrated my happiness with chocolate. 

This weekend, I celebrated my German heritage in Dusseldorf. Oh you never heard of it? Me either until I needed a cheap way to get to Germany and pretend I was participating in Oktoberfest. 

In one tourist guide, I read that the best way to act like a local was not too talk and laugh loudly, which is common for Americans. I've kept this in mind, but I sure as hell have not kept it in practice. That being said, everyone sitting in the sketchy Eurolines basement waiting area knows way too much about the lives of us CUA girls. We finally got to Dusseldorf, after a delayed bus. We left the bus and looked around, dropped in the middle of no where with only the vaguest sense of what we were even doing there. One look at the people around the bus stop completely mollified my nerves. There, standing at every bus stop were men in leiderhosen. Hello, Germany, you beautiful country! We had a small mishap in finding our hostel. Long story short: we thought the hostel we booked was a scam and we were going to have to sleep in the streets of Dusseldorf. Well we found the hostel, punched in a weird code on a weird box to get our keys, and climbed 800 flights of spiral stairs to get to our rooms- 23 and 24. You would think with such low numbers you wouldn't have dropped 23 or 24 pounds getting up the stairs, but whatever. LBS, right?!?! (JK, I'm actually switching to weighing myself in kilos... such a confidence boost!!!!) We had planned on going out that night, but it was about 1:00 at this point, so we decided to call it a night and wake up early in the morning to Dussel away.

Priority 1 in the morning was getting a Welcome Card- for 12 euro each we had transportation as well as museum and shop discounts. This turned out to be completely useless as NEVER ONCE DID ANYONE CHECK TO SEE IF WE HAD PAID TO USE THE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. It's ok though, I guess subsidies paid for it. That's what ridiculous marginal taxes are for, right? Freeloading tourists? #Republican. I digress, we also were unable to use the card for discounts at the souvenir shop because we tried to go on a Sunday- rookie mistake. It's Europe! People don't work on Sundays, silly! #Republican. 

The next stop on our adventure was OBVIOUSLY coffee, for which we decided to make our way to Aldstrass, the old town. Aldstrass was beautiful. Tall stone and brick buildings, with large red flags offset the clear blue skies. The city was still waking up, and just a few others wondered around. We gravitated towards the Rhine River, where we were taken aback by its beauty and the history. Giddily, we wandered around until we found the perfect cafe- One with a good street view, per request of Christina. This quest led us to a perfectly quaint outdoor market. As we sat down for coffee, we looked around at the others joining us on this delightful morning. Couples, families, and friends sat around us. Then we made the astute observation that they were all drinking beer. Sorry, what? We had just ordered our four macchiatos, feeling like huge rejects because we still needed our caffeine injections, and had not yet moved onto the alcohol portion of the day (though we weren't as far from that as we thought). We drank coffee, made a plan, and then walked around the market. I almost wept with joy. If there's anything I hold sacred in the world its food and flowers. This market had both! In epic proportions! Christina walked over at one point with a bag of figs, so naturally I beelined to the cheese counter and bought the strongest goat cheese they had for a midday snack later on. 

After exploring the market and tempting our senses with the kaleidoscope of flowers, cheese, candy, sausages, and pastries, we headed onto to our first scheduled item: A tour of the Rhine Tower. 

We practically skipped to the Rhine Tower, we were so happy and so in love with Dusseldorf. Behold this walk as the time where DUSSELDORF THE MUSICAL was born. We went to the tower, and took the elevator up 167 floors (almost as high up as our room in the hostel). The tower had a panoramic view of the Rhine, circling and rotating like a clock. From the tower, we could see all of the city we had already fallen so in love with. As we circled the tower, we saw the industrial plants, the harbors and marinas, the farms with grazing sheep, homes stacked high and grouped, sweet cobblestone streets, and parks with little dots, no doubt lovers, walking hand in hand in the morning sun. We also saw a bar. And so moved by the wonders of Dusseldorf, we treated ourself to a bottle of champagne. We went back to the "Pimp Room" (trademark Sarah) to enjoy our Porseco and the view. 

A little bit tipsy, we continued our musical/ day with a walk to the art museum. We stopped outside and had a snack aka Christina and I feasted like queens on our figs and goat cheese. Am I the happiest girl in the world? I've often thought so, and I've never been contradicted, so..? The art museum was pretty cool, but I really didn't like the layout. That sounds so snobby, but seriously, if a museum is poorly laid out, it's so much more difficult to enjoy! A little tired and a little weirded out by too much modern art, we decided something more lighthearted was in order. We went to the shopping street, mostly too see a "mossy bridge" we fixated on in our guidebook. We took some pictures and marveled at some fancy cars, and then decided to find dinner. One condition: Sausage. 

We found the sausage. In fact, I almost ordered potato soup with sausage and then for my entree sausage and potatoes, without even realizing that is was LITERALLY THE SAME THING only in reverse order. I would like to give Christina a shout out for eloquently pointing out the absurdity of such a selection and stopping me from ordering it. After an amazing dinner and an even better dessert, we went back to the hostel, got ready, drank mini wine bottles, and went back out. Now, Aldstrass claims to have the longest bar in Europe. That sounds cool, right? Here's the thing.. Leuven also makes that claim so..... I'm gonna let you finish Dusseldorf, but Leuven definitely wins. For the record. 

Anyway, we went to our first bar, based solely on the large male population that had congregated outside it. We got out drinks and stood at one of the high tops outside. Our first visitors were a man and woman. The man looked so intently at Kaitlynn that the woman freaked out, they had a screaming match in German that we really got the general gist of, and then they left. Left so quickly in fact, that they left a beer there. A treat for us? Sure, thanks sir! This was only the first free drink of our night, as the awkward couple (if they're still a couple) was replaced by a group of German boys. 

Now I know a few words in German. I know that Morgen means Morgan. (and let me tell you, there is nothing I love more than hearing and seeing my name all over the place). I know that Schatz is a term of endearment. And I know how to count up to three, which are the only numbers you really need to know because you drink on three, Eins, zwei, Drei g'suffa!) So when the four of them counted themselves and then us four girls, I could tell what was up. We spent the rest of the night half talking and half laughing at our inability to talk to each other. They bought us drinks all night though, which really really helped with staying on budget. They laughed at my name and then took great joy in telling me that Schatz mean treasure, or my dear. You can tell me that anytime German men. 

The next morning, we went to church. The church was small but elaborate and majestic, and even though we didn't understand mass, there's something so heartwarming about knowing that all over the world, Catholics gather with one heart to celebrate the Eucharist. Appreciative and renewed, we continued our day... with STARBUCKS! Talk about appreciative and renewed- I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season!! Guten Morgen indeed! We then went to a palace, where we goofed off, taking weird pictures for a while, letting off some energy before we were cooped up on the bus back to Belgium, where we would have to face studying for our midterm the next day. Yeah. 

The days fly by here. Class, intern, intern, class, travel & repeat. It's exhausting, but so much fun. I couldn't ask for a better experience. It's already been three weeks!