When all is said and done.....

As I sit here on my last night (completely exhausted, but trying to stay up so that I sleep for most of my long flight tomorrow), I have plenty of time to think and reminisce about everything I have learned and experienced since coming to Leuven over three and a half weeks ago.

We've all heard the joke about "going to Europe to find yourself"... I myself have humorously referred to that line many times. But after only being in Europe for over three and a half weeks I can now personally vouge for that saying. These past few weeks have been exhausting, starting when my flight was canceled on May 17 due to the volcano in Iceland. I've been going 110mph since that day and have truly had a life changing experience while being here on my own. Up until now, I have only traveled with family, close friends, and people that I feel MORE than comfortable around. My time in Europe pushed me outside of my comfort zone.... so often I was overwhelmed with a million different emotions, homesickness, and anxiety, but I survived. Over the past few weeks I have grown in ways I didn't realize I still needed to grow and learned more about the person I have become. I have been pushed and challenged in so many ways while being in Europe, whether this be through interactions with people much different from me, my course work, being alone in a foreign country, the list could go on..... but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Here I am on the last night, getting ready to come home in the morning. Three and a half weeks have flown by.... I have seen things I have only dreamed about, met people who I will never forget, and have had experiences that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I couldn't possibly be more blessed. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I did all I could to make the very most of it.

And now, I return home with so many memories, countless stories, a billion pictures, and a carry on bag full of souvenirs. I can't wait to show you my pictures and tell you about my experiences while being in Europe.... I won't know where to start! I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to be able to do this. I know that everything that I learned throughout these past few weeks are lessons I will take with me forever.





"You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it---I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of... And if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again" --the curious case of benjamin button--

Last Day in Leuven :(

The last day is finally here and it will definitely be one of the busiest. I started my day early, wanting to go through my notes one last time before my oral final exam at 10:45. I'm not exactly sure how an oral exam is going to work, I'm just used to multiple choice, true and false, and the occasional essay exam. But, if you are going to do the whole European study abroad experience, you might as well finish it all off with a typical European style final. The up-side to this format though is I'll be done in fifteen minutes, leaving me all afternoon to get stuff done and enjoy my last day in Leuven.

After my exam, the day will be filled with last-minute shopping, souvenir buying, and enjoying the sunshine in the Oude Markt. ---I haven't talked much about the Oude Markt but it is definitely my favorite part of Leuven. It is this whole area in town where the streets are lined with bars and cafes and tons of outdoor seating. The Oude Markt is unlike anything I've ever seen and you'll find people sitting outside and enjoying a drink or meal at all hours of the day and night. I will definitely miss it when I'm back in the States.

We also have our closing, goodbye dinner tonight. As always, when the entire group gets together things will surely get interesting. It will be weird to have to say goodbye to all of these wonderful people that I've seen day in and day out for 3.5 weeks. Being in a foreign country and out of our comfort zone reallly brought us together as a group--it also probably helped that we see each other 24/7 haha, but nonetheless we have all grown together as a group and formed a special "Leuven bond".

.....Then there's the issue of packing, which fortunately for me I finished most of it yesterday! Now all that's left is packing up a few more things I left out and I'm good to go! Just cross your fingers my suitcase is under 50 pounds ;) However, I am looking forward to dropping off my gigantic suitcase in Brussels and not having to deal with it again until I get to Chicago. And by "ME" dealing with it... I mean KENNY haha. ;) (Though it definitely is entertaining to watch me try to manage my huge suitcase along with 2 very full carry-on bags)



I'll be beginning my long journey home at 7:30 tomorrow morning! It will be a long day of traveling with a flight from Brussels to Amsterdam around 11:30.... then the "SHORT" NINE hour flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis.... before finally making it into O'Hare around 8:30pm tomorrow night! Everyone pleeeease pray for smooth, safe traveling - no VOLCANIC delays - and any other unforeseen obstacles that would make my journey home chaotic! See you all so soon!

Tot Zien!

((a picture of the oude markt))

TOP TEN

Top Ten Lessons Learned From My European Adventures:

10. Never decide at the last minute to use CHEAP, DISPOSABLE razors..... I have the battle wounds to prove it. Why again did I think my normal razor was so heavy and would add soooo much extra weight to my suitcase?!

9. Though they may look like MONOPOLY money.... Euros are 100% real money and should not be spent as if it is fake..... and watch out for the exchange rates.

8. Always figure out how to use public transportation if you are going to be somewhere for an extended period of time.... whether it be the metro in paris, the tube in london, or a bike from the 70s in Leuven. It makes your life 100X easier.

7. Panos = love. Panos was one of the first restaurants we found in Leuven and it was definitely our subway/jimmy johns replacement. We have frequented many Panos while traveling through Belgium. (It's a nice change from the double fried french fries and everything else fried and covered in thick sauce)

6. Don't forget your passport when trying to go register with the city of Leuven. They don't care if you have your driver's license, a credit card, debit card, a COPY of your passport, and 10 other forms of identification. THEY WANT YOUR PASSPORT.

5. Check your flight status before you leave in the morning --- who knows when some Iceland Volcano will decide to disrupt your travel plans.

4. Leave plenty of time when traveling on the high speed train to London. Unlike when going to Paris, you have to check in, go through security as if you were in an airport, fill out paperwork, and then get harassed for 10 minutes by the border control about your travel plans. (apparently I look suspicious). Oh and you should also check your train tickets when you get them just to make sure the date is correct on them. If you don't you are in for a terrible surprise when the date on the ticket is for YESTERDAY and you then must run through the station and pray that the guy at the ticket counter is nice enough to fix it for you. So save yourself the hassle and just check the date.

3. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, ask old grumpy belgian men if they serve "just" french fries in their 100000 year old restaurant. They will proceed to yell at you for 5 minutes and lecture you about the difference between a restaurant and a "frituur".

2. Learn the first time not to blow up your electrical appliances. After blowing up a converter, blow dryer, and straightener within the first 3 hours of being in Belgium I think I FINALLY learned my lesson. Be careful and aware of the electrical voltage differences!


.....and finally the number 1 thing I learned in Europe.....

1. Everyone knows you are American from a mile away. Whether this be due to how we dress (apparently shorts aren't common in Belgium), how we talk (English isn't the language of the world?! who knew), or the fact that we are obnoxiously LOUD... they always see us coming. Embrace it. But then be prepared for the rude and irritating gestures and remarks as you walk by. European guys think its ok to be creepy and make inappropriate comments every time they see you. We haven't exactly figured out why they think this is actually going to get them anywhere with us.

Blackhawks!!!!!!!!!

As many of you know last night was game six of the Stanley Cup finals.... the Blackhawks went into the game leading the series 3-2 over Philadelphia, so if they won this game it would all be over and the Hawks would be the Stanley Cup Champs! I was devastated that I was going to miss the game and all the celebrating and festivities that go along with it but I made the best of the situation and managed to find that I could still listen to the game thanks to the radio broadcast on the internet. Not exactly an ideal way to experience your team winning the Cup, but sometimes you just gotta take what you can get.

.....another important consideration to keep in mind: the SEVEN hour time difference. Which means that at approximately 2:30am my time the game was just starting. Long story short... three hours later around 5:30, the sun was starting to rise, the birds were chirping, I had to leave for class in 4 hours.... aaaaand the Stanley Cup found a new home in Chicago. I was filled with mixed emotions. Of course I was beyond excited and happy that they won, but it was still sad that I wasn't back in the States to REALLY experience this. This moment is something I had been hoping and wishing for all season. (Thank goodness for DVR. I'll be able to watch the final minutes of OT and my beloved Blackhawks receiving the Cup).

My 2009-2010 season came to a close with a total of 2 games with Kenny, a game with Kate, and a playoff adventure to Nashville with Kenny to see game 3. (So I guess it is pretty cool that Kenny and I can say we went to a play off game the year they won the Cup---I'm sure we'll be talking about it forever haha).


So even though I am an OCEAN away - on a different CONTINENT - dealing with a SEVEN hour time difference - and going on way too little sleep today... I would have NEVER missed this moment for anything. The Chicago Blackhawks are the 2010 Stanley Cup Champs.... and as the guy on the radio said "Blackhawks' fans worldwide let's celebrate!"




So just how was I feeling today?! I was actually feeling okay when my alarm went off much too soon at 9am this morning. However, by the time 2pm rolled around I was starting to fade fast. But now after a nice nap, I'm ready to finish up my time here in Belgium. Tomorrow is my last day here and it will be filled with a final exam, last minute shopping, spending time with my friends, and a closing dinner which I'm sure will be filled with heartfelt goodbyes and many laughs. This has been a great experience and I've made memories that will last forever. But I also can't wait to get back home (but I'm sure that feeling won't last long once I actually do get back and have to go to summer school haha)

See you all very very soon!

Tot Zien.

Class Poem :)

The other day in class we had a really boring guest speaker. None of us could focus or pay attention to what he was saying. It didn't help that it was pretty difficult to understand his English.... and nobody could read his chicken-scratch all over the chalk board. We all found different ways to preoccupy ourselves during the 2 hour lecture.... my roommate Anastasia decided to get creative and wrote a poem about our class. I thought it was pretty great and wanted to share it with you guys! You may not understand all of the inside jokes right now, but I'm sure that once I get home and tell you all of my stories and put names with faces it will make a lot more sense. But still, it's funny... so enjoy and be so proud of us highly intelligent U of I students in Europe. haha.

Roses are red violets are blue,
Belgian guys are kind of hot
and Luxembourg soldiers too.

I love this damn country of beer, waffles, and frietes,
but Pizza Sole Mio's chicken kebab is all I want to eat.
The Oude Markt rocks because the bars never close,
we get lots of attention, we're American, everybody knows.

Swice is the best he's just like a dad,
he really cares about us
and tells me which beers are bad.

Stella & Duvel, Hoegaarden, La Chouffe,
give Sarah some Kriek and she'll be raising the roof.

We all love each other
I'll always stick by your side,
even with issues like leaving Corrina behind.
We all help each other
like Tiffany's first flight,
but she hit the ground running and even went out in her pjs at night.

Liz, Sandy, Emily Katie, like to party on too,
we had the best night in Ghent,
we are the Double Duvel Crew.
We started with hot shirtless soldiers and a game of swinging hammers with might,
but it ended in snake dances, a proposal, and a fight.

Aggie's our grad student and we all love her a bunch,
she bought us a meter of Stellas and we may have had too much.

Ugh, I forgot we're still here for school,
Hannah let's get going on our project,
but stop at the bars first for fuel.

After that Kaitlyn, let's get a mojito or two,
that was the best drunken taco dinner,
sorry I got pepper juice on you.

The only boy in the group I call him "Saint Ryan",
he claimed to be the navigator, but lost the position because he was lyin'.

We have one more week being all together,
I love all these people
and it couldn't be better.

*I love my group! I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to go to Europe with!*

tutt--tutt. looks like rainnnn.

good morning!

unfortunately I woke up to rain today. not a great way to start off one my last days in Leuven. we were hoping to go on a bike ride later after class.... boo. but at least this way I will be forced to HOPEFULLY get my last paper done.

*T-minus 3 days!!!*

Lions & Tigers & Bears... oh my!

Groeten!

I am just a few short days from being HOME!!! But that doesn't mean that my remaining days here in Belgium are going to be relaxing and uneventful! I have a week full of last minute traveling, souvenir buying, finishing (and starting) homework, studying for my final, and last but certainly not least, packing.

....it all started today with my last traveling adventure: the Antwerp Zoo.



After class, Anastasia, Sarah, and I used our last train passes and made the short trip back to Antwerp. If you all remember, we went there a couple weeks ago, but only to shop, so this time our travel plans were dedicated to getting to the zoo!

Luckily for us the weather wasn't too awful and we only had to deal with some rain showers on and off. When we got to the zoo we weren't entirely sure what to expect, but we all hoped it would be your typical zoo. Fortunately that is exactly what we got. It was a small, ordinary zoo filled with lions, tigers, a million different types of birds, monkey, chimps, a reptile house, aquarium, zebras, penguins, the list could go on forever. But all in all, we had another great day.

Once we got back we headed for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants here in Leuven (Di Rector) and put off coming back to the Irish College for as long as possible---we had homework to do, of course. But as you can see, I am currently procrastinating as I write this post. Oops. However, I think I would much rather work on papers than start my next impossible task..... fitting everything back into my suitcase. Yikes. I am definitely not looking forward to that.

T-minus 4 days! Can't wait to see you all.
Tootsies!!!

Traveling is all very well and good, as long as you know there's a person or place you can call HOME.

--Jodi Picoult--

L O N D O N

Groeten!

It's hard to believe another weekend is here and gone. London was amazing! I had no idea I would enjoy it as much as I did. The time I got to spend there was definitely not enough, so hopefully one day I will make my way back to London.

It ended up just being Sarah (my roommate) and I that made the trip to London, but we had a great time! We left around 1pm on Friday, right after class. Starting from the time we stepped foot into the Brussels train station until getting on the train to come back home from London it was an eventful experience (to say the least).

Friday:
We had taken the train to Paris the weekend before and didn't have to go through any sort of security to leave the country, so we just assumed we wouldn't have to go through security to get to London either..... we were wrong. Luckily we were early getting to the station because we had to go through customs, be harassed by the border patrol about why we were going to London, why we were in Belgium, etc, etc, and then rush through the station to make it on the train literally two minutes before it left. What a great start to our trip! Once we got to London things started to smooth themselves out and we immediately felt much more at home.... gotta love the English language. It was such a relief to be able to figure out our way around an unfamiliar city just by reading the signs or asking for help. We got ourselves Tube passes (the underground metro) and found our way to the hotel. After getting settled in we set out and began our London adventures... which started with a Thames River tour. The tour didn't last long and once we reached the end point we explored a little and took entirely tooooo many pictures by the Tower of London.... oops. We ended our night with a late dinner at a local British pub near the hotel, where I had a London specialty... Fish and Chips.

Saturday:
We started off bright and early for our "Big Bus Tour" (one of those stereotypical double-decker red buses you think of when you picture London). We took the bus all over the city, getting on and off as we wanted to explore on our own (and again, have way too many photo shoots). In the course of just a few hours we managed to see every tourist spot you could imagine...... Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Gardens, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, the list goes on and on. It was an exhausting day to say the least.

The highlight of the day (and visit) was definitely going to see "Grease" at the Piccadilly Theater. The show was great and we couldn't have asked for better seats. The one down side was the lack of A/C though. Temperatures usually don't get into the 80s too often in London, and while we were there it was definitely warm.... so it was quite uncomfortable in the crowded theater --- but we survived and I loved the musical.

Sunday (Today):
We again had to get up way too earl.y in order to catch our train back to Brussels (where we met up with our class for a day trip). But of course, things just couldn't go 100% as planned. Fortunately for us, we planned ahead this time and left even more time for security at the station (even though it wasn't even any where close what we had to go through to get into London). However, when we got into the check-in desk, the attendant realized my ticket said it was for YESTERDAY! I couldn't believe it! Somehow, the company we bought it from had screwed up the date when they printed it off --- all of the other information was correct just not the date. We had to sprint across the station to find the ticket office... and then explain what happened. We were so lucky this happened in London, we all spoke English and it made things go a lot easier. Luckily, everything worked out and the guy at the ticket office was super helpful and nice and fixed it all. We ran back across the station and managed to somehow make it through security lines, grab a quick latte, and get on the train with a few minutes to spare. PHEW! What a morning (and to think, this was all before 9am!!!).

Needless to say, we made it to Brussels safe and sound and met up with the group for another wonderful day trip! (even though it did rain on and off all day!)

I can't believe that I am starting my last week here in Belgium! It has all went so fast (especially these last 10 days or so, starting with a trip to Paris - then Gent - and finally London and Brussels --- it's been a blur!) This week will be spent mostly in Leuven, catching up on homework, starting to pack and finishing up and last minute things we want to do here.



Tootsies,
Kait

Adventures in Gent

On Monday through Wednesday evening we took a class trip to another Belgian city, Gent. From the time we left Leuven on the train.... to returning home it was quite an experience. We should have known that when we missed the first train to get to Gent it was going to be an interesting three days, but we really had no idea what we were in store for.....

After just barely missing the first train out of Leuven, we finally got to Gent late in the afternoon. The entire class was exhausted to say the least. We had all gotten back late Sunday night from our long weekend trips and were definitely not ready to set off on another three day adventure. But here we were in Gent... ready or not. When we got to Gent we were welcomed with a cold, dreary day (definitely didn't help the whole exhausted thing)... and after figuring out the tram situation, made it to our hostel. This was my first hostel experience and I can now say after having actually stayed in a hostel in Europe that I will stick to my hotels from now on. I know the hostel could have been much, much, MUCH worse... but I wasn't exactly happy with the living situations, the weird handprints on the walls, the sketchy blankets, and the nasty bathrooms that you had to hold the button down on the shower in order to keep it on (not exactly a great place to stay). And then there were our creepy neighbors to top it all off. I was definitely happy to get back to the Irish College in Leuven.

Once getting settled into our new "home" for the next few days we headed back out and found a little restaurant for dinner. This restaurant seemed to have been around for decades and the old owner guy and I were not exactly friends. I apparently made the mistake of asking for "just" french fries (since I had eaten only a couple hours before) and offended him to the extent that he felt the need to yell at me for five minutes about how "you must go to a different place if you want JUST french fries! You can't have JUST french fries IN MY restaurant. blah blah blah". Oops. But really, he was just a grumpy old man. (Oh and this was after he made the oh-so-cheerful statement of how he better explain the menu to us because WE do not understand HIS language, but HE understands OURS.) It was quite the dinner to kick off our 3 day stay in Gent and not exactly the greatest first impression......

Day two in Gent started with class.... and surprisingly the lecture was even fairly interesting. We were lucky enough to have a guest speaker from the university in Gent (Bart Van de Putte) and he lectured on the social history of Gent and the welfare state there in comparison with other European countries and the US. After class we took a tour of the city (and still weren't all THAT impressed with the city.... but this could have something to do with the sleeping situation the night before and the cold, miserable weather). Once we were through with the tour we split off into groups and headed out on own ways.... we went shopping (which helped put us in a better mood of course) and on a tour of the castle that is in Gent (I took pictures and videos---don't worry). The highlight of the entire visit to Gent was dinner on the 2nd night---which was in a Turkish neighborhood. I had never had Turkish food before so I was excited to try something new. It was absolutely wonderful and the best meal we've had since being in Belgium (at least I thought anyways).

Finally day 3 got here and we were more than ready to head back to Leuven. We had class again in the morning with another lecture from Bart Van de Putte. This time we heard more about the immigration patterns into Gent (which again, I was surprised was a fairly interesting topic). After class we had a couple hours of free time to explore the rest of the city. The sun FINALLY decided to come out and we had a MUCH better time walking around Gent and it actually is a really pretty city, full of life and things to do (a complete 360 turn-around from what we thought of it just a day or two before).

Our experience in Gent ended with a group visit to a local mosque. I had never been in a mosque before so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. It was definitely different than a "normal" church that I am used to being in but it was a great way to tie together everything we had learned in the past few days in class.


The trip to Gent started off really rough and none of us were 100% certain that we would actually make it to Wednesday, but now that it's all said and done and I've showered and got a good night's sleep I can easily say it wasn't THAT awful! I'm heading off to London for the weekend tomorrow and won't be back until late Sunday at some point. I'm sure I will come back with many more stories and pictures for all of you! It's hard to believe that I am a little over a week away from being home. It's crazy how fast this has all went!!!! But I can't wait to see you all and tell you more about my adventures!


Tootsies!


--the picture is of me in the castle!!--

ZZZzzzz...

I made it back from a long threeeee days in Gent. It was definitely quite the experience. I think all this traveling is starting to catch up with me though.... I am exhausted!

I'll update you with all the details of Gent tomorrow!


Tootsies!