Thursday, May 31, 2012

First Day of My Intership


5/31
I had about 4 or 5 hours of sleep from getting in late last night but I woke up around 6AM and began getting ready. I left the house around 7:30AM and it took me an hour and a half to make it to the hotel where I would be interning. I’m trying to find the best way to get there but I did arrive on time. My day began by meeting my supervisor Mr. Scheers who works in the sales department at the hotel. I did small task for the first day such as laminating menus, creating excel spreadsheets and making a customer survey for the guests. I worked about 8 hours and then began my trip home. It took me at least an hour to get back and afterwards I was very tired from traveling so much. I sat down in the main part of the house and began working on my computer and reading my textbook for class. Shortly afterwards dinner was ready. Rasma had cooked a stir fry with rice, chicken, cashews, carrots, and a few other vegetables. After dinner I continued reading my book until I felt like I couldn’t read any more. Night time is the time for all of us to be able to talk. That’s what we do pretty much every night and we have a good time together talking about what we did and still getting to know more about each other. I didn’t stay up as late as the previous night because of how tired I was feeling so I went to bed around a normal time so that I could wake up ready for my internship the next day.

The hotel that I'm interning at


My desk at work


My shirt pin that I have to wear

Getting Used to the City


5/30

I feel like I’ve finally gotten into a little bit of a routine now that I’m here. There’s definitely a lot of walking. All three of us walked again to the school. It’s not a boring walk but my legs are finally starting to hurt. I had about 4 hours of classes today; luckily our teacher gives us a few breaks in between so we don’t fall asleep. It’s interesting to see how little I know about Middle Eastern studies. Everyone in the class has been assigned a particular portion of the class readings that we must present to the class. I chose to do Islam in Germany and I’ll be giving my presentation sometime next week. Once class was over I walked with Paige to go to the grocery store that’s near our house. It took a while to find it and then we couldn’t read any of the French signs in the store so we had to search for all of the things we were looking for. Overall the trip took about an hour. I was feeling pretty tired at this point and we both returned to the house. The people that I came with from Western Kentucky were planning on meeting in the main part of the city for dinner and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go. But finally my stubbornness was changed because Dr. Kiasatpour (the professor that came on the trip with us) said he was trying to get everyone together to celebrate my birthday which was the day before. So I got on the closest bus to go into the city. It took me a while to locate my group because it was a busy time of day for traffic and people. I ended up having to borrow cell phones from two people to figure where my group was, but it was a great chance for me to practice the one French phrase that I memorized which was asking if someone knew how to speak English. Eventually we found each other and we walked through the streets looking for a good place to eat dinner. I had found out that it was also my friend Asia’s birthday the next week so we were celebrating those together. We had a very good dinner, I had Spaghetti Bolognese. It was a very good night and I got to spend time with all of the people from the WKU group as well as a few other study abroad students. I eventually got home late at night and went right to sleep so that I could wake up for my internship the next day.

In the Royal Quarter area of town


The beautiful garden at the Royal Quarter

Orientation at Vesalius College


5/29

Today I got up and showered before eating breakfast. I’ve been sleeping very well at Rasma’s house. For breakfast I had a sandwich with nutella. Then Paige, Tyler and I left to go to orientation at Vesalius College. The walk to campus is about 25 minutes and it’s a great way to see the different parts of Brussels. The orientation and tour of campus didn’t take very long and we were able to eat at the cafeteria for lunch. I have enjoyed the food so far, there are a lot of different types of food served throughout the city. After lunch I had a separate orientation with the other students who are planning to start their internships soon. Mine will begin on the 31st and I am very excited. I just have to figure out the transit system to find the best way to get to the Gresham Belson Hotel. After my internship orientation I had my first class session in the Political Science course that I’m taking. I can tell it will be a very interesting and informative class. Then Paige and I walked back to the house to get our ID cards and passports so that we could buy transit passes. While we were at the house we talked with Rasma and she said she would accompany us to the metro station where we needed to buy passes which was very helpful because during the trip I realized I wouldn’t have known which stops to get off at. After getting our cards that would allow us to use all of the public transportation, we returned home. We were all able to relax for a little while after a long day and then Rasma began preparing dinner. I ate many of the same side dishes along with some turkey and we had pineapple for dessert. Tonight was a good night to catch up on all of my computer stuff and also unpack my bags in my room. I went to bed at a good time after being able to relax.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Arriving in Belgium & Getting To Know My Host Family


5/28

The flight from New York to Brussels took about 8 hours. Luckily I slept most of the time. Once the plane landed our group got off and we went to pick up our luggage. From there we took group taxis that brought us to our separate locations. I am the only student from WKU staying with Rasma, our home stay mom. There are two other students from the U.S. staying here too named Tyler and Paige. After I got settled into my room we all sat down and talked together. Afterwards, Rasma took us around Brussels in her car. We got to visit the Atomium which was a large monument in Brussels that’s more than 300 feet tall and is an iron crystal cell that is magnified 165 billion times. (I put a link at the end of the page explaining the history of the Atomium). We also visited Grand Place and walked around the city to see what different things were available to do. I had a great time getting to see many different places in Brussels and spending time with my new home stay family. Once we got back to the house Tyler and Rasma began preparing dinner. We ate pasta with sun dried tomatoes, chicken kabobs wrapped in bacon, chickpeas with apricots and chicken with Tandoori spices. Afterwards, we all sat and talked for a few hours and also discussed possible places to visit. Tomorrow is my orientation and my first day of class.

Leaving for Belgium

5/27

I arrived at the airport at 11am this morning. I met all of the people who were traveling from Western Kentucky University. There are 5 of us flying with our professor. After going through security we all waited at the gate for our flight for about an hour because it was delayed. This gave us time to get to know each other better. Everyone in the group is interested in traveling to other parts of Europe. I’ve been trying to determine which other countries I would like to visit while in Belgium. We eventually boarded our first flight to New York and then transferred to another one that would take us to Brussels.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Getting Ready To Leave

I'll be leaving tomorrow to begin my trip to Brussels, Belgium. I've been packing everything that I need for the past month so I definitely feel like I'm ready. I plan to update my blog as often as possible. While in Europe I will also be visiting Amsterdam as well as other countries that are close to the borders of Belgium. The only obstacle I see now is surviving the 10 hour plane ride to Brussels.