On Wednesday, one of my best friends, Sarah, arrived from Dresden to stay with me for 6 days! I gave her a little tour of the city and last night we did a little outing which in the end turned out to be quite an adventure..and not a fun one at that.. In the beginning everything was fine. We met up with some other friends and then headed to this bar called The Flat, which is basically a 3 story, brick apartment building that they turned into a bar and lounge. But, all the rooms upstairs are still decorated like an apartment! Like, you walk in and its like you are standing in someone's living room, which a coach and coffee table, and then the next room has a giant king size bed, and bean bags on the floor, and then you walk into the "bathroom" with a giant tub and shower and sink with candles everywhere but people are just sitting on the chairs and beanbags talking and drinking! And there is loud house/electro music blasting throughout the place. And then the kitchen is where the bar is! It kind of feels like you are at a house party, but you don't know anyone there.. It feels a little like a frat house.. which I was trying to explain to the German au pairs I was with, but none of them knew what is was. Anyway, we walked up to the bar and I recommended that the girls try "Kriek" (the cherry flavored beer), because none of them had tried it before! A little while later, Antonia found a group of Swedish people, and immediately dove into a deep conversation with them. She then introduced them to us, and when one of the men (maybe 40 years old...what is with Antonia and old guys?? She is crazy) asked me where I was from and I said the US, he immediately started talking about the elections coming up. This was just bad because I can get very worked up when it comes to politics. He told me American politics are very important to him because they affect all of Europe and he works in politics in Sweden He also grew up in America, so has a connection with the country in that way as well. He told me he works for a right-wing company or something in Sweden but he does not agree with all of Romney's views However he doesn't like Obama's idea of distributing money equally to the population He does not think that this is what will help the US grow economically. Politics are not my favorite topic, but it was interesting to see what a European thinks of American politics. Speaking of the election, I sent in my absentee ballot yesterday!:)
Then, a crazy coincidence happened. The Swede introduced me to his friend, who I then started having the usual conversation (where I'm from, why I'm here, what I'm doing next year for school..,and then the same from his side). When I mentioned I am going to Vancouver for university next year, he asked where and I said UBC and asked if he knew of it. A big smile grew across his face and he said, "I went to UBC!" I couldn't believe it. He spent a year there as an exchange student studying humanities. He said he loved it, and when I asked about a recommendation or something I should know before I go, he said "The beach. It's a nude beach, you know!" Now, I've visited the campus and the beach...and that was definitively not a nude beach. I know the Canadians are known to be a little more "free" about themselves then Americans (this guy I was talking to even said so himself)..but a nude beach on a college campus? I find that a little hard to believe... I asked him when he graduated, and it was only back in 2008..so really it couldn't have changed that much, right?
Anyway, it was cool to meet another UBCer and get the thumbs up from him. He said I made a great choice and that the city, the campus, and teachers are phenomenal. What more could I ask for?
Anyway, after we went to the flat, it all kind of went downhill from there. We wanted to go to this supposedly good bar/club called Merano, which ironically is in one of the not-so-nice areas of Brussels. When we arrived however, all the girls were wearing tiny dresses and high heels, and we felt extremely under-dressed When we went inside, they wanted us to pay 15 euros, which was just not going to happen considering we wanted to head home in just 2 hours. Saturday (the next night) was going to be a long one, because it is Nuit Blanche, so we didn't want to stay out too late. At this point, we just wanted to get back to Bourse and take the Noctis line home (the name for the night bus line here). However we had no idea how to get back, and we couldn't take a metro because they already stopped running. So, we walked some random direction and finally came across a police station. We were so relieved to have found a place that could help us, after asking the Night Shop owners, who could barley speak French let alone English and knew nothing about where to go. I think they only know the way to their own Night Shop from their house and that's about it. Anyway we walk into the police station, and it is completely empty. Only in Belgium do the police decided when they take their breaks, and these ones decided to take one in the middle of a Friday night. Brilliant. I found a button next to the window in front of the next and pushed it. A few minutes later, a fat old women walks out. We ask her how to get to Bourse from where we are, and she is actually quite helpful. She gives us a map and shows us the way. That's one of the things Sarah pointed out about Brussels when she arrived last week--the people here are so friendly and willing to help. For example, when I picked her up at the bus station and we had to drag her suitcase down the stairs to the metro, a man immediately helped us and brought it down the stairs. Then, getting on and off the metro, another man helped us out. Sarah said that in Germany, people would never offer help like that. Only if they are asked. And I can confirm that this is true, after living in Dresden for a couple years. It's not that people are unfriendly in Germany, its just that they like to keep more to themselves and don't look for every opportunity to help someone. Another different Sarah noticed here are the people are much more loud and boisterous all the time. They are always looking for a good time, no matter the time of day. they are definitely not as serious as the Germans The men here also remind her of Italian men (I can agree with that), in that they are very flirty and always saying how beautiful a girl is. The bad thing is that they are even more aggressive .like they will actually touch you if they could. In Italy, at least the men know their limits and would never ever touch you. Here, it's doesn't seem like a big deal to them at all, to touch a girl. It's such a funny culture..it's not really French, and not Italian, definitely not Germany ...its just Belgian.
Amway, later that night Sarah and I got off a stop from the bus that I didn't know very well because it was the only one "near" (or so I thought..) to my street. We were then followed by scary, drunk Indian men, who we thought we lost after a few minutes but then when we were looking at a big map on the street, trying to figure out where we were, they jumped from behind it, scary the bejesus out of us. At that point were really, really scared. Different people kept bothering us, including a group of drunk British men trying to find the nightclub Fuse, and then proceeding to try and drag us along with them there. I need to remember not to walking around Porte de Hal on a Friday night at 2am.
Anyway, here are some pics from out lovely, completely unplanned night tour of Brussels:
Hope you and Sarah are having fun. Be sage!
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