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.