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!!--
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