Visiting S.H.A.P.E. and Finishing My Research Paper

6/26

Today, instead of going to class as usual our group went to S.H.A.P.E. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) which is the central command of the NATO military forces. We all got on a bus (there were about 20 of us) and we had a 1 hour ride to the city of Mons in Belgium. Colonel Laura Potter showed us around part of the office building and also gave a presentation about the things that S.H.A.P.E. does. I thought it was very interesting to hear about all of the things that they do to communicate between countries and also to help other countries communicate with each other. Once we were done with our tour we went to a restaurant that was located close to the headquarters. When I was at the restaurant a waiter spilled soup on the side of my pants; it wasn’t too bad but it got cold after a while. We had another one hour bus ride back to the college and me and Paige walked home right after. I spent some time finishing up my research paper because it’s due tomorrow and I also made a presentation to go along with it to show the class. The rest of the night I spent relaxing and I was happy that my big assignment was finally finished. I had been working on it for the past few weeks and it was about 9 pages long. I went to bed soon after that.

This medal shows all of the flags of the countries that S.H.A.P.E. works with

Colonel Potter talking with our group

Going to Bruges

6/25

Today Paige and I took a day trip to Bruges which is a small city in Belgium that’s about an hour away by train. The city has a lot of older buildings and there are many places that are nature-oriented. Bruges is much different than Brussels or Antwerp and it was great to be able to see the historical structures and the many churches that were in the city. We got to see the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (the Church of Our Lady), the Minnewater, the Markt (market area), the Stadhuis (town hall) and many other things. We did a lot of walking in the city and my legs hurt pretty bad afterwards. It was great being able to see the older buildings and the many walking areas that were available. Me and Paige spent the majority of the day there before getting on a train to go back to Brussels. It was a very nice day trip and I love being able to go to different cities within Belgium because they’re very different.

The Dutch spelling of the city's name



Bruges used to be surrounded by a wall and this is the last part of it that's left



A house near the Minnewater



The streets of Bruges with the tower of St. Salvator's Kathedraal in the distance



Me in front of the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (the Church of Our Lady)

The Provinciaal Hof which houses the local government offices

The Stadhuis (town hall)

A Very Relaxed Day

6/24

Today was a very lazy day for everyone in the house. Rasma was planning to take me and Paige to the botanical garden in a city close to ours but it was raining very hard outside so we stayed indoors. I got a nice day that was all relaxing with a little bit of work on my research paper. It was the first day that I had where I was around the house the whole time. It wasn’t too exciting of a day but I really enjoyed myself and I know it will probably be the only day like that that I have.

Going to Antwerp for a Day

6/23

Today Paige and I went to Antwerp which is a smaller city in Belgium about an hour train ride from Brussels. We didn’t leave too early in the morning so we were able to pack lunches for ourselves. The train station has trips to Antwerp 5 times every hour so it was easy to buy a ticket for the train on a very relaxed schedule. The train ride wasn’t too bad and we arrived and Antwerp Centraal in the early afternoon. We spent the majority of the first few hours shopping for clothes and souvenirs. Antwerp is known for fashion so it’s a great place to buy all different kinds of clothing. I bought myself a nice jacket that is warm and also deflects water. It was on sale which made me very happy because I was needing a jacket for when I go to my internship. After a few hours of shopping we were able to go to the different sites around the city. In the main area of the city called Grote Markt there was an Indian market and festival happening at the same time. It was fun to walk around and see all of the different things; there was a large mixture of things that were being sold from India as well as other Asian countries. The majority of the city was small enough that we could visit almost every place that there was to see in a few hours. My legs hurt a lot after walking for so long but we were able to sit down and let our legs relax while we ate some dinner. Paige and I shared a pizza at a small Italian restaurant. After dinner we walked near the Albert Canal and we got to see the port that was there. We headed back towards the train station soon after because it was early in the evening and we didn’t want to get back too late. We walked through a lot of the side streets instead of on the main road and we got to see some fun shops and paintings. The ride back was nice; I was letting my legs relax after so much walking. We got home around 9PM and I stayed up for a little while later just watching tv before going to bed. I really loved getting to visit Antwerp for both the shopping and the sight seeing. 

The outside of the train station

The city of Antwerp

The Cathedral of Our Lady

Antwerp City Hall

Me in front of the Brabo Fountain

The Carolus Borromeus Church

Het Steen, a medieval fortress located in the old city center. It's also one of Europe's biggest ports

The walkway along the Albert Canal

Going to Work, Touring a Mosque and Spending Time With Friends

6/22

I had a regular day at work making phone calls for hours. I left a little early to meet with my school group in the city to go through the Center for Islamic Culture. I had a difficult time finding it and it started raining while I was trying to get there. Luckily I ran into some people that I knew from class so we were at least able to search for it together. It was a very interesting place and I wish I had been able to see the whole tour. After we were done we all walked through Jubel Park looking around while the film crew got more footage of us. It had stopped raining which made it easier to walk around. We got to walk near the Triumphal Arch in Jubel Park. There was a group of people who were eating at something called Dining in the Sky where you’re suspended above the ground while you eat. I wasn’t able to get any good pictures of the park because they were in the center of the arches. After we got done with filming Paige and I went back to the house to make some dinner. We had pasta with tomato sauce and garlic rolls. The rest of the group was planning to go out to eat but we usually choose to eat at home because it’s so much cheaper. We did meet up with everyone else after dinner to go out and walk around in the area nearby. We eventually ended up at a small café where the soccer game was playing. I usually don’t go out with everyone during the week but it was very close to where the house was so I could walk back home afterwards. I had a good time and we spent a few hours visiting different places and cafes. I stayed out until about midnight and then Paige and I went back home to go to bed.

The Center for Islamic Culture



The Triumphal Arch with people suspended in front of it





The other side of Jubel Park

Film Crew Visits Me at My Internship

6/21

I woke up on time and went to work this morning. Recently I haven’t felt too rushed to get to work and I’ve gotten into a routine of when I need to leave from the house and from work. The WKU film crew visited me at the hotel while I was working. I wasn’t doing any interesting work so they only stayed to film for about 20 or 30 minutes. The majority of my time was spent making phone calls to other companies in Europe so they got some exciting footage of me dialing a phone and talking. I spent about 5 hours on the phone doing that type of work, I had a few other tasks to do on the computer but the main thing today was phone calls. It was pretty cold outside and the rain came through at random times so it wasn’t a good day to do anything after work. I went home and had some time to relax. Rasma’s son Marcus was back home and we all got to eat dinner together. We ate raclette which is a form of cheese that’s heated and we put it on grilled potatoes; along with that we had some asparagus and roasted garlic mushrooms. I enjoy having dinners with everyone and we watched the 3^rd Home Alone movie afterwards. It was a good day today. It seems like I relax a lot but the majority of my time is spent working on something either for my internship or class. I still feel like I get enough traveling in and that I’m able to accomplish what I need to get done.

Making raclette

WKU Film Crew at Our College and Homestay

6/20

Today I woke up and got ready for class as usual. A film crew from WKU was coming to the college where we take classes. They want to make a short promotional film about the experience. Before class they interviewed me and a few other people both from WKU and from other schools. Then they were filming during our class to see the discussions that we have and how a regular class looks. It was a little weird having the cameras there for a while. After class a group of us went over to the main campus of the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (the larger campus) so that the film crew could get footage of us on that campus and also sitting and “socializing”. Once they recorded everything that they wanted on campus, the film crew came back to my homestay house to film us having dinner together with our host mom. This is the first time that WKU has been able to get footage of a homestay. I got to talk with the film crew, their names are Cheryl, Joshua and David, off camera too and I found out that they’ve only had the chance to go to England and Mexico to film and they weren’t able to get any video of a homestay so they were really happy that they could see a real one for the first time. They didn’t stay for the whole meal but they did get some good video of the house both inside and outside. Me, Rasma, Paige and Tyler enjoyed the rest of our meal together; we had stuffed garlic mushrooms, sausages, potatoes and green beans. The rest of the night I spent relaxing and watching some tv with Tyler before going to bed.

More Class Time

6/19

Today I got to sleep in a little bit before getting up for class. I made sure to pack my lunch and some snacks so that I would stay awake in class. I haven’t fallen asleep in class yet but I get restless after sitting for a couple of hours. In class we talked about how the media in different countries perceives news coverage of international issues. During my lunch break I walked around the area near the school with Paige. We got to see a few small shops that we hadn’t seen before and we visited them before going back to class again. After class was done I walked back home with Paige and we both spent more time working on our research papers. The homework for my class takes almost the same amount of time as being in class for 2 days a week. I try not to procrastinate too much with my homework so that’s how a lot of my nights are spent. After working for a few hours with a couple of breaks I gave myself some time to relax before going to bed. 

Working After a Few Hours of Sleep

6/18

I woke up on time for my internship despite only sleeping in my room for 4 hours. I got up and left for my 1 hour commute to work. I wasn’t too tired and I spent the majority of my day updating information on other travel sites. My job was to change the names of the rooms that were offered at our hotel. I went to about 30 different sites to update the information which took alot longer than I thought it would because there were so many different logins that I had to use and I had to make sure all of the sites could be translated to English for me. The rest of my time at work was spent calling more companies to get email addresses for our emailing list. Usually all of the tasks that I’m given take at least a few hours so my projects are spread out over days or they are constantly changing like hotel rates or contact information. After work I went home and balanced my time between school work and relaxing. I ate pizza for dinner and watch some tv after working on my paper for a few hours. I don’t usually mind having a pattern in my days because I’m able to get all of my work done and also do a little bit of traveling on the weekends. 

A Day Trip to Canterbury

6/17

This morning we all woke up at 6AM to go for a day trip to Canterbury in the UK. I packed a lunch and plenty of snacks for the day and me, Rasma, Paige and Tyler left at 6:45. We drove for 2 hours to the port in Dunkerque, France. We went through security for both France and UK security officers. The car was able to go on the ferry that we took, the ride was about 2 hours long and they had a nice café on board. As we approached the mainland we could see the White Cliffs of Dover. Once the boat stopped we were able to get in the car and drive out of the boat and into Dover. The drive to the city of Canterbury was only about 15 minutes long and we were able to see nice houses and large areas of land as we drove over many hills. I was scared while in the car because we were driving on the opposite side of the street and there were alot of roundabouts in the road. We got to Canterbury safely and started by going to a small shopping area. We went to T.K. Maxx (yes it’s the same as T.J. Maxx), a sports store and a Pound store (where everything is 1 British Pound).Afterwards we drove to another shopping area that also had a Pound store and some secondhand stores. I got some snacks from the Pound store that were really cheap and we had fun walking around near the rest of the stores. The majority of the stores close around 4 in the afternoon so we had to get all of our shopping done in a few hours. Once it was past 4PM, we took our time walking around the city and we found the Canterbury Cathedral where we were able to walk through and tour it ourselves. I got some great pictures of the inside and the outside. After spending about an hour getting pictures, we left and walked around in a different part of the city. We found a nice local place to eat; we were able to sit down and relax for a while which was really nice after so much walking. Our sightseeing continued until about 8PM where we started our trip back to the port. We did have a little time to take some photos near the White Cliffs of Dover. Then we got on our boat to take us back to Brussels. After that we still had another 2 hour drive in the car; I slept on both the boat and the car ride because I had my internship the next morning. I went directly to bed as soon as we got home which was at 3AM.

St. Augustine's Abbey

Outside of the Canterbury Cathedral

Me on a different side of the Canterbury Cathedral

Me with the Dover Castle in the background

Me by the White Cliffs of Dover

A Free Day in Grand Place

6/16

Today I had some time to relax and do homework. I slept in until about 9 in the morning and then I began working on my research paper for class. I’m still in the process of gathering all of the sources that I need. Then I took a break and went with Tyler to Grand Place in the city to shop for souvenirs. I ended up finding some good things that I wanted to bring back home with me. We spent about 3 hours walking down any streets that interested us. It was nice to not have a strict schedule for at least a day but of course I returned home and continued working on my paper. I was able to get a good portion of reading done and still have some time to relax before having to go to bed. My days seem to become very similar with such a rigid schedule and my free days are spent mostly with homework and traveling within the small area of Brussels. I won’t be able to travel as much as I had hoped but this has still been a great trip and I’ve gotten a lot of good experience from both work and school.

Just Another Day at Work

6/15

I got up this morning and ate some breakfast before going to work. The commute to work doesn't tire me out as much anymore even though it's still about an hour long. I spent my time at work today printing of customer surveys, updating the database and editing other documents. Editing things on a computer always takes longer than I think it will. I've learned how to type on a French keyboard pretty well now. It was pretty difficult for me at first but now I've gotten used to it. After work, I went back home and I had my usual routine of eating dinner with everyone and then reading my textbook before going to bed. I like to have my more relaxing days too especially after working alot. It was more of a lazy night for me after I got home from work. That's the only way that I can get my reading and other work done.

Learning to Dial a Phone at Work

6/14

Today I got up and left early for work. I'm trying to make sure I have all of the hours I need for my internship. I have to get about 150 hours in 6 weeks so I work 7-8 hours 3 days a week which isn't too bad for me. The only difficulty is balancing between that and what need to get done for class. I've started writing a research paper for my class. I've chosen to write about how the education systems in Holland and Germany correlate with the progress of integration of immigrants in these countries. I think it's an interesting topic and right now I'm just trying to get through all of the reading and research. At work I had more computer-type things that I had to do. I was also given the task of calling other companies that we know of to get email addresses so that we can send them promotions. Luckily, the majority of people I talked to spoke English. I've now learned how to dial a phone; it's different than the U.S. because each country has a country code that must be dialed along with the phone number. This job has helped me learn how things work with phones and addresses which I didn't think would be a difficult thing to learn but it's taken me some time. After work, I went back home and had dinner with Paige and Rasma. Tyler was asleep in his room. Rasma got home from Latvia today so we're back to our usual dinner routine. Then me, Rasma and Paige went into the city for a while. There's a particular area that gets very busy with people at night time because everyone gets off of work. There was also a few soccer games on too so everyone was gathered around the bars with t.v.'s. We spent a little time in that area to see what it's like at night. We met up with a girl that had stayed with Rasma previously and we were able to meet some of her friends who were training at the EU. We eventually went back home and I spent the rest of the night reading my textbook before going to bed.

A Rainy Day in Brussels

6 /13

I’ve been waking up pretty early in the mornings now every day. Paige removed the blind covering the window above my bed so now the sun wakes me up at about 7:15 in the morning. After I ate breakfast and packed my lunch I left with Paige to go to school early so that we could go to the computer lab before class. It was raining pretty bad outside so we got on a bus about half way through our walk. There were cars driving fast and splashing water onto the sidewalk. We finally got to school and we weren’t too wet. I was able to print out the mid-term essays that I had written and then I went to class for a couple of hours. I stayed indoors and ate the packed lunch I had because of the bad weather. After another couple of hours of class I had a meeting with my internship advisor at the college. Afterwards I went to a café with some of thepeople from my class. It was nice to relax there with them, there was a soccer game that was going to be starting soon when we were there but me and Paige had to leave a little early because we had another dinner to get to. The walk back home took about 30 or 40 minutes because we were in the main part of the campus. We got back a little later than we thought we would but we were only about 10 minutes late to dinner with another one of Rasma's friends Amanda. We had a very nice dinner with her and she had a student from Italy staying with her too so it was fun being able to talk about what it's like staying in Belgium. Afterwards I went back to the house to do more of my reading. I got to bed at a good time so that I could get a good night's sleep before work in the morning.

Studying Hard for Class and Meeting Another New Family

6/12

Today I woke up pretty early before I had to be at class so I read some of my textbook and a part of an article after eating breakfast. It was nice to not have to rush to school. I had class as during the morning and afternoon as usual and I had packed a lunch from home. I’m realizing that I’m saving a lot of money by doing that. It’s been pretty cold and rainy outside for about a week now so I end up doing most things indoors. The first week that I had here was the nicest weather so far and I’m hoping that it will get better. After class, Paige and I walked home and relaxed for a little while before getting ready to go to another family’s house for dinner. Tonight we ate with Clare and Jonathan and their 3 sons. It was great to meet even more people and talk about different things like school and politics. We ate lasagna which was very good and had strawberries and pineapple with ice cream for dessert. We’ve been fed very well while Rasma’s been gone and it’s also very fun to socialize with other people. We walked back home afterwards and I spent the rest of the night reading articles for my class and finishing up an essay I was writing before finally going to bed.

Another Day at Work and Meeting a New Family

6/11

Today I woke up and went to my internship. I spent a lot of my time editing some of the website advertisements that the hotel had for the next month and then I wrote a few general information letters to customers that are attached to emails. My supervisor said that I should write the English customer letters because I’m so good at writing in English which made me happy that I was at least good at one language. Everything in the company is done in French, I really only make English signs and letters for a small segment of customers. I usually work about 7-8 hours each day for 3 days each week. I’ve finally gotten into a routine for what days I work and what days I’m in school. It’s been difficult trying to manage my time well when there’s so many things that I would like to do but I have school work that always has to be done. I’ve been in the process of writing my mid-term paper for my Islam and Politics class and so far I’ve spent about 4 or 5 hours researching and writing it. Soon I have to start writing a research paper that will be due in a couple of weeks. There are a lot of assignments in this 6 week time period so I’m constantly working on that. After I left work I went home to relax for a little while. Me and my roommates had a dinner date with Rasma’s friend. While Rasma is out of town for the week she arranged for 3 of her friends and their families to host us for dinner on 3 different nights this week. Today we met Terese and Jeroen who were both very nice and interesting to talk to. They had 2 kids that joined us for dinner but spent the majority of their time watching soccer on tv. It was great getting to know another family who has lived in Brussels for a while and we had a very good dinner. We didn’t stay too late at their house because they had to put their kids to bed. It worked out well because I was able to get back home and read some more of my textbook before going to bed.

Returning to Brussels

6/10

Today I woke up around 8:30 and I went down to eat the same kind of breakfast as the day before. I made sure that all of my stuff was packed and I put it all in a locker at the hostel so that I could check out and come back to get it later. I wanted to walk around the city a little bit more before we had to leave. I walked through some of the stores in town and looked at the canals. Not a lot of things were open early on Sunday so I spent most of my time outside. I went back to the hostel so that we could all leave as a group to get on the train. We weren’t sure of the train schedule but we had been told that the trains run to Brussels about once every hour. We got to the train station just in time for one that was leaving. I slept for most of the trip but about half way through we were told that we had to get off. My group was broken into pairs and some of us were in separate train cars. They dropped us off at a station called Rosendahl in Holland. I was with Tyler, and we immediately went to the service desk to find the next train ride. We only had to wait about an hour which wasn’t too bad. We got on and continued our trip towards Brussels and ended up running into the rest of our group at a later stop in Antwerp. After all of the train issues and traveling through the public transport system I finally got home around 5 in the evening. It was good to finally be able to relax and put my bags down. I spent the rest of the night writing a paper and reading articles for class before finally going to bed.

Only One Full Day in Amsterdam

6/09

Despite going to bed so late the night before I woke up around 9:30 which surprised me. I went to eat the breakfast at the hostel which I remembered so much from staying in the same place 2 years ago. The breakfast usually consists of sandwich meat, cheese, fruit, hard boiled eggs, bread and a lot of different spreads to put on it. I stayed safe and made a nutella sandwich and had a clementine. I spent the majority of my day walking around to different stores with Tyler. We were both looking for souvenirs and we also had some good food. I love eating fries in Holland; they’re served in a cone to go so you can keep walking while you eat. I loved to be able to see the same parts of the city and ride the tram. I also realized that there was a big culture difference between Belgium and Holland. Practically everyone in Amsterdam spoke English which I haven’t been used to for the past couple of weeks. Brussels is very French so I’ve learned a few phrases to get around but it was not what I expected. I had a great day just being in Amsterdam again and I wish that I could stay longer.

Fries in a cone and a great counter top

Our hostel

I love the scenery

Going to Amsterdam for the Weekend

6/08

We all woke up this morning around 4:30AM. It was still really dark and really cold outside. I made sure that all of my stuff was packed and I made myself a packed lunch for the train. At 5:15 a taxi arrived which I was very happy about because I was unsure if the woman on the phone understood me about the taxi. We loaded all of our stuff in and made it to the train station a half hour early and met up with the WKU students and got on the train. It was about a 3 hour trip on the train which wasn’t too bad. We arrived at Central Station in Amsterdam and got our tram passes for around the city. We had to quickly travel to a different part of the city to meet with Mr. Achmed Baadoud the city councilman of Amsterdam Nieuw-West. He oversees that area of Amsterdam which is a large mixture of both Dutch and foreign people. There is a Muslim community within this district and Mr. Baadoud described many of the challenges that they face which were discussed in our Islam in Politics class such as the language barriers and the educational system. It was great to be able to hear about things that were from our class and how accurate they were to real situations. Afterwards, we all went to the Blue Mosque and met Mr. Abdulhafiz Acherrat who is the Assitant Director. He gave us a tour of the mosque and also told us about the general practices of the people who attend. I got to see where the people of the church pray daily and that they have special places for programs for men, women and children. I was impressed with how open Mr. Acherrat was and that we were able to walk through practically the entire mosque. Once we were done we went to get some lunch and ate at a Surinamese restaurant which was a type of food that I had never tried before. Then we went to check into our hostel, it’s the same hostel that I stayed in 2 years ago when I studied in Holland. It was really fun to be able to visit again and I remembered my way around the city. We only have the weekend in Holland so I made sure to go into the city as soon as I could. I just enjoy walking around the streets and seeing the canals which is what I spent most of my time doing. I had a good night being back and I stayed out with my friends until about 1AM before going to bed.


Outside of the Amsterdam Nieuw-West

Our group with Mr. Achmed Baadoud

Outside of the Blue Mosque

Mr. Acherrat showing us the wood that most

students practice writing the Qur'an on

Our group with Mr. Abdulhafiz Acherrat

More Homework and Regular Work

6/07

Luckily I woke up on time this morning. My day goes a lot easier when I get up with enough time to eat and get to my internship. My workday was pretty good. I spent time creating letters for the customers and also making new documents to track the spending of the hotel. Then I spent a few hours putting together some backpacks as gifts to give to new prospective customers. I filled 150 of them in about 3 hours. Once I got off of work, I went to the grocery store before going home. I usually like to go to a grocery store a few times a week to get whatever food I need. I spent the majority of the night working on my mid-term exam. I’ve learned from this class that I’m definitely not a political science person. The plan for Me, Paige, and Tyler was to leave tomorrow morning around 7:30AM on a train for Amsterdam with the group from Western Kentucky. Our time was changed from 7:30 to 6AM so we had to go to bed as soon as we could. We looked at the public transportation system and the buses don’t start running until 5:30 in the morning which wouldn’t give us enough time to make it there. So I called a taxi service around midnight to set up an appointment for someone to pick us up in the morning. The woman spoke mostly French so I was really hoping that she got the right time and address written down.

A More Relaxing Day and A Movie

6/06

This morning I got to sleep in a little bit again. The days that I have class are much easier for me because I don’t have to get to the college until 11 in the morning. Paige and I rode the bus to school because it was raining outside. We’ve both been packing fruit and sandwiches for lunch to save money. In between my 4 hours of class I got a lunch break to eat my packed lunch. After class we both walked back home. Sometimes we go into the city if it’s not raining but when it does rain there’s not much to do. It’s a good balance of days when the weather is nice and when it’s not. When I spend more time at home I do my homework. We made some pizza in the oven early in the evening. Tyler, Paige and I were all able to relax for a little while before going to a local movie theater that Rasma had suggested we go to. She said it was a very local experience. The movie that was showing was called Drive and it was in English with French and Dutch subtitles. The funniest part to us though was that at the beginning they did an introduction and some sort of “getting to know the audience” talk which was all in French so we were just sitting quietly for 10 minutes not wanting him to look at us. The movie was pretty good and it was a nice time to relax. I hadn’t been to a movie theater in more than a year so it was fun. Afterwards, we went back to the house and went to bed. I’ve got my internship in the morning so I can’t stay up super late.

Another Day of Class With A Little Fun Afterwards

6/05

I got to sleep in a little bit today before getting ready for class. Paige and I walked to school and got there early so we wouldn’t have to rush to class. We’re finally getting to the point in class where we talk about each individual country in Europe and how Muslim people are affected both socially and politically. It is a very interesting class and I’m learning a lot of things. Each student was assigned a country to read about. I was assigned the chapter on Germany and I’ve been reading the textbook and also a few articles that pertain to the topic. After class, Paige and I took a bus into a part of the city that we had been to before to look at the shops. We had a little bit of time before we were supposed to be back home for dinner. We both had a good time walking around and just having some free time. At home, we had dinner which was salmon and vegetable quiche and some grilled potatoes. I spent the rest of the night updating my blog on the computer and reading my textbook before going to bed.

A Cold Day Working

6/04

I was happy that I showered the night before because I didn’t have to rush in the morning. I ate a nutella sandwich for breakfast and left for work. When it’s not busy with traffic I can get to the hotel in only 40 minutes. I ended up getting there a little bit early which I liked. However, because this isn’t a regular job I just have to wait until my supervisor gives me things to work on so I usually have a lot of waiting time. This morning I was able to eat breakfast at the hotel; I was told that I can usually do that after all of the hotel guests leave because they don’t want to waste the food. I ate some croissants and bacon and then returned back to work. Today I spent a lot of time editing photos for the new television menu that they will be putting on the new tv’s that will arrive later this year. I also spent part of my time making a notification for the workers in the kitchen but it had to be in French so it took me a few times to get all of the spelling right. I worked about 7 and a half hours today and then traveled back home. It was pretty cold outside and it was raining so I decided to take an extra bus so I wouldn’t have to walk far. On my bus ride back I noticed that there are a lot of businesses and shops of the same kind that are close to each other. They put all of the bakeries, grocery stores and restaurants with the same kinds of food within the same area of the others. I finally got back home and was able to warm up and relax before dinner. We had hamburger and potatoes tonight. The food is always very good especially after working. Rasma will be leaving for about a week so she took us to the grocery store so that we would be able to get some extra food for ourselves. She drove us there which was really nice because usually we have to carry everything back with us that we buy. When we got back home I spent the rest of the night reading my textbook for class and then I finally went to bed.

Spending Time in a Different Part of the City

6/03

I got to sleep in today which was very nice. It was another free day for me. Paige, Tyler and I went down into a different part of town that’s known for retro furniture and antique shops. We were planning to go to a flea market that was supposed to be there but by the time we got there it was closing up. While we were walking around we saw a place called Place de la Chapelle which was a large church. It was very beautiful and I wished that I would have been able to go through it. It was fairly cold and rainy all day so we had our fun going to the different shops but then headed back to the main part of town that we had been to before. We tried to stay mainly indoors because of the weather. We stopped at a café to eat, I had packed myself an apple for lunch. Then after another tram ride and a bus ride we got home and made some pasta for dinner. We had picked up some noodles from the corner store near the house before getting home. Our dinner was very good and we had some time to relax afterwards. Rasma’s son likes to watch the Home Alone movies so we’ve seen those a few times now. So we all sat and did some computer work while we watched Home Alone 2. I made sure to shower tonight to make sure that I would at least look decent for my internship in case I didn’t wake up in time again. I had another great time today being able to walk around the city more and I hope to be able to do more soon.



A few photos of Place de la Chapelle



Finally a Day Off

6/02

I finally had a day to relax. Weekends are now the only free days that I have just like when I’m in school. So today I decided to go around the main part of the city. I purchased an unlimited transit pass for a month so I’m taking advantage of that. I went into the city by taking a bus and then a tram that took me directly there. I had a great time being able to walk around and look at the different shops. I was able to take my time rather than having to rush through everything like I have before. My main purpose was to see what souvenirs were available in the city. I got to walk through the Brussels Town Hall (or at least the historical one). While I was there I had some fries, which is another thing that Belgium is known for besides chocolate, beer and waffles. I got back in the early evening and I spent some time reading my textbook. I like to have my evenings free for relaxing, not really reading but I do that anyways. Later on, me and Tyler ran to the corner store to get a couple of snacks. I got some Lays chips that were flavored like barbecue ham. They were really good. Then we stayed up watching a movie before going to bed.

The outside of Brussels' Town Hall

The Inside of Brussels' Town Hall

Me in front of Grand Place during a busy time

The great barbecue ham Lays chips

Learning to Manage My Time

6/01

I woke up a little late today but I was able to get dressed and make it down to my internship by 9AM. The trip that I take to get to the hotel is now about 50 minutes. That’s the shortest amount of time that I can get it down to. Today I worked on copying packets for advertisements, working more on designing the customer survey, and inputting contact information into a database. I worked for about 7 hours today and then left to go back home. The time that there is a lot of traffic is the same as it is in the U.S. so I have to avoid leaving close to 5 because the transit system is even slower. Once I got back home I had a little time to relax before starting my homework. I got to meet Rasma’s 8 year old son Marcus today which was really nice. He loves to play video games and watch movies. Tyler and I stayed home with him while his mom went out. We spent time watching both Home Alone movies. In between I was able to do some of my reading for class. I had a good time being able to relax too and watch a couple of movies. I like how relaxed everything is both with work and with the home life. I have enjoyed everything so far.