Later that Night...

LATER THAT NIGHT:

Kathy and the other few au pairs we met up with and the obnoxious American group all had to go home around midnight, but I stayed out and met up with another new au pair that I had never met before—Vero (short for Veronica). She is from Austria and turned out to be very nice. We started walking down the street to Bourse, the popular bar/nightclub street for younger people, talking about our experiences so far when suddenly a tall, quite tan and good looking guy came up to asked and asked is we knew where Madame Mustache is. Of course, we had no idea what he was talking about and said no. But as he was walking away, I suddenly had an idea. I called after him, asking if he new of a good place to get a drink or a good nightclub. He told us he was on his way to a good club (Madame Mustache) to meet some friends and told us we are welcome to come along. So, we walked together, looking for the club and talking. He introduced himself as Bahlill, and told us about how he is a film producer living in Antwerp and making independent films. One of his films was actually just selected for the International Student Film & Video Festival of Beijing Film Academy. He was born in Brussels to a Finnish mom and an Arabic dad, so he speaks French fluently, as well as well as Finnish and English! His friends who we were on our way to meet up with are actors in his films and actually went to school with this famous Belgian producer who now runs this show on HBO! SO crazy. He also told us that Antwerp is like the “Hollywood” of Belgian, and that's why he moved there. He hopes to one day actually make it in the real Hollywood. He is trying to change the European (and American) view of Arabs as stupid and bad people by being successful in the film industry. I say go him.

So, we made it finally to Madame Mustache, which was exactly what the same sounds like..a tarrow card, hipster club with mirrors all over the walls, orange glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and black and white pictures of an old fashioned women with a curled mustache (like it was drawn on to her upper lip) smoking a long cigarette with the some curls taking the shape of skulls. I received this matchbox when I gave my coat to the closet man:

We met his friends there, who introduced themselves as “Now-fell” and “You-ness” (spelled as Nawfel and Junes I believe). Nawfel was shorter but had a very attractive, angular, square face and thick-rimmed black Ray-Bands and one of those short top hats that are in style right now (not sure of the exact name for them), and Junes was taller with dark hair and also an attractive but longer face. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures (which is really surprising, because I always take pictures.. but that must mean I was just having too good of a time).

So, we talked for a while about what they do and where they live. Nawfel lives in Brussels and Junes lives in Antwerp. Nawfel and Junes are not only actors, but also professional dances and teach classes a couple times a week! And boy were they good dances. We got onto the crowded dance floor, which was quite big, but it was still difficult to move with all the people there. The music was kind of old school stuff, like Michael Jackson, which was actually kind of refreshing for once after attending numerous high school dances and house parties with the regular pop/hip hop grinding kind of music. This kind of old- school music was the kind the guys could actually dance to. It's hard to describe their dancing technique, but all I can say is the music really moved them. They new what they were doing... Just think about Channing Tatum in Magic Mike dancing, then you kinda get the picture (except, not so sexily and on the floor, more reserved hehe). We danced for a while and then went over to the bar. Bahlill bought me a drink, which was very nice of him because they can be really expensive. And it was the first time a guy has ever bought me a drink at the bar!! And this was a 25 year old guy:)

Of course, all three of them smoke because that’s what every young person in France/Belgium does to pass the time. I guess they don't care about dying 30 years younger from lung cancer.. Anyway, while we were sitting in the room and I was trying not to breathe too deeply, Nawfel and Junes started to beat-box. And quite well, I might add. One started a beat and the other just started coming up with rhyming lines on the spot. And not only in English, but also Flemish and French. He could easily switch between the languages when he couldn't find a rhyme in one. That is talent right there. Beat-boxing in one language is already extremely difficult, and beat-boxing in three??

At this point in the night (well, I guess I should say morning, it was around 3:30 am), I was just tired from dancing and that strong Belgian beer. I felt like I had been out forever, but the funny thing was, the club was just starting to get even more packed! Later on I learned that here in Brussels, most "night-owls" don't really go out to the clubs until 3am or so..  Then they stay out until 8! It's just crazy.. Anyway, Vero and I found our way home and all was fine.

Well, more exciting things to talk about, including the “eat! Brussels” festival on Saturday and “Dimanche sans voiture” (Sunday without cars!). Can you imagine, an entire big city with no cars in sight? Well, it was pretty awesome.

First Night Out

This past Friday was my first night out in Brussels. And boy was it a pretty crazy first night. If every weekend in Brussels is like this for the next ten months, I'm going to be coming home with some pretty insane stories. Let me tell you about this unforgettable night:

 First, I met up with one of my new au pair friends, Kathy. She is Canadian and super nice. And boy is she happy to be Canadian. Every time she introduces herself, she makes sure that the person knows she is Canadian and NOT American because, apparently, Europeans do not like Americans very much.. So far I haven’t had an issue with someone not liking me, but maybe that is because I am not the normal loud, obnoxious, un-cultural American that they have stereotyped us to be. However, I did meet one of those types that night...I will get to it:) Anyway, I met Kathy at Place Poelaert next to the giant Palais de Justice.

Palais de Justice

It was around 9pm, so the sun was down but the palais was lit up and looked beautiful. WE walked in the entry way to see the giant statues and Roman columns, which are even more impressive in the faded light.

We then walked over to the giant balcony nearby that looks out over the other side of the city. The view is so different at night. You can see the Atomium perfectly in the distance, all lit up, the silver spheres twinkling like those silver jewelry beads studded with crystals.

After taking in the view, we made the long walk down the cobble stone streets (in our heels..talk about blisters) to the Grand Place. As we started looking for a good bar, a young guy suddenly appears in front of us. With a giant smile, he asks, “Are you guys American?” “Yes,” I reply. “I thought so! I could detect your accent!!,” he says. I tell him I'm from New York, while Kathy shakes her head violently, telling him she is Canadian. (Can it really make that much of a difference? I guess to her it does...) The guy, who introduces himself as Patrick from Indiana, proceeds to introduce his other friends, including Zoe, a young blonde women from Seattle. They are all doing a 2 week study abroad trip together in Lille, France, and came to Brussels just for the weekend. He then says, “Shouldn't I say something like, “Enchanté, Mademoiselle” and then do that kiss thing?” He doesn't wait for my anser, and leans in to do the “air kisses.” Obviously, this guy doesn't know what the heck he's doing, because you only do that with people you already know pretty well.. But he does it anyway, talking about how he is “trying to learn french.” Later, I realized he is trying, but failing, as I will explain later. At this point, I really thought this guy was drunk, but as I learned, he is apparently this strange all the time. Anyway, being the friendly, outgoing Americans they are, they invite us to join them in a bar. We wander around and finally settle on getting something to eat first. We go to a fry place (Brussels is famous for its pommes frites and all the toppings). Kathy and I share a box of le special de la maison—fries with mayo, ketchup and onions. So bad for you but sooo good. Patrick orders a giant sandwich with some humongous Belgian sausage and fries inside the baguette (also a specialty here..talk about carbs). Anyway, if I haven’t made it clear enough, Pat is a picture perfect, obnoxious American tourist who says he is trying to learn French but really doesn't care enough to actually learn it. When the waiter brought him his food, he immediately said “bonjour” (instead of merci..I mean really? And this kid was definitely not joking around this time, because he honestly looked embarrassed when everyone started laughing, even the waiter). Later he asks me, “What's “You're welcome” again? Something like derehhh?” “You mean de rien?”, I reply. “Oh yeah, that!” Later, we found the famous old bar, La Mort Subite, (Sudden Death), which is one of the most famous bars in Brussels and serves almost every type of Belgian beer you can imagine. It is in an old stone building with high ceilings and decorated walls from the 1800s. People sit at long wooden tables to drink, a Belgian tradition. Unfortunately, it was all old people so we decided to go to another outdoor bar right in the Grand Place. I ordered my first Belgian beer ever (actually, it was the first time in my life that I actually ordered any kind of beer at a restaurant..). It was called Kreik and is a very sweet beer with a cherry flavor added. It tasted more like cherry soda than beer, but that was okay with me. Coming from the US, it's amazing to me how laid back they are here about drinking. Bars, restaurants and stores hardly ever check your license.

As we enjoyed our beers, I described to everyone what each of the beautiful old stone buildings with statues lining the doors and roofs, were used for in the 1700s. There is one building for the boulangerie (bakery), one for the candle maker, the fish monger (which has ocean related statues carved into the arches) and the butcher, which has the biggest, most grand building with a golden wagon on top.

Picture from the city tour with my dad, but it shows off the buildings I was talking about called Guildhalls. The one on the far right was the boulangerie, the one next to it was the candle maker, and the one next to that was the fish monger's. Not sure about the other ones...

The building with the horse was for the butcher. Today, all the buildings are now bars or hotels.

One of the largest buildings in the Grand Place,this is the  Town Hall of Brussels.

While we are on the topic of the Grand Place, I have an interesting fact that I would like to share about it. Every 2 years in August, the entire Grand Place is covered with an enormous "flower carpet" made of begonias. The carpet is a 1,800 sq. meters and stays there for a few days, attracting a ton of tourists. Here's a pic: 

Anyway, back to my first night:

We enjoyed our beers and talked about what we are all doing in Brussels and our future plans. Patrick introduced himself to another American couple who sat down next to us (they seemed a little annoyed that he was interrupting their date..). I apologized to them about bothering them.. Patrick was starting to get on my nerves. In just the one hour that we were together that night, I had a number of extremely awkward moments with him.

1. He thought the bandeau under my shirt was my bra hanging out and decided to tell me about it.

2. I went to the bathroom in one of the bars where you have to walk through the tiny urinal room to get to the tiny bathroom stall. As I opened the door to go out of the stall, there was Patrick peeing in the urinal..whoops. He yelled at me and I immediately turned away. We laughed about it later but really??

3. When he left to go back t his hotel, he tried to give me an air kiss again, when I thought he was just going in for a hug, and that just turned out to be really bad.

As we said goodbye, he reminded me to “be careful” and make sure no one bothers me at night. I reassured him I'll be fine (he is definitely not the first person to tell me to be careful). The irony of it all is that what he was worried about is exactly what happened just a little while later that night.....

LATER THAT NIGHT... (In next post)

Belgian Sickness Food

First, let me just say that I had an extremely eventful past weekend and have SO much to talk about. I am currently typing up a long entry about my first night out (Friday), which was simply unforgettable and makes me think, If every night out in Brussels this year will be like that, I will living one hell of a crazy life. It may not have turned out in the end to be exactly what I wanted. But during the night..it was so much fun!

So anyway, when I have finished with part 1 of this weekend, I will be sure to post it ASAP.

For now, I just come home from the cinema with Esra, a German au pair. We saw Magic Mike (hehe). One thing that I find very interesting here is that all the movies are always shown in their original languages, and then have French and Finnish subtitles if the movie is in English. So, this was nice because I could still understand what was going on, but also practice my french by quickly reading the subtitles. A fun and good exercise, not like my brain is really craving much more strenuous activity at the moment. every time I walk into a store and need to ask someone something, I think in English then the German translation promptly pops into my head because that is what I am most used to speaking (I speak it with the family at home most of the time), but the I realize people speak French here, not German, and I then struggle to translate the whole thing into French (which usually comes out wrong but oh well, I'm learning). Then, the person usually responds in English because they're realized my French is bad and their English is better. Great. That's the one problem here. I can hardly ever practice my French because everyone is so damn good at speaking English. Brussels is just too international and educated:P 

Anyway, look at this building I saw on my way to the cinema:

That is Brussels architecture for you. An old, beautiful building built in the 1700s, and then some ugly, modern LED sign on top of it.. They even made an official word in the "architectural dictionary" for this type of building, called Brusselism. 

Anyway, this is what I really wanted to post about. I came home from the cinema feeling extremely tired and with a scratchy throat. So, I prepared myself a little meal of Belgian "sickness food." 

Here, you can see a giant mug of chemomielle, vanilla, honey tea (in a Milka mug of course!), crackers with Speculoos spread (a tartiner in french, this is like my new favorite thing. Its basically these popular cookies they make here called Speculoos ground up into a paste. Speculoos taste kind of like gingerbread a little, but not so gingery and more sweet and buttery. The spread may be even better than peanut butter..and that's saying a lot coming from me!!), and some dark chocolate (made right here in Brussels of course!), and finally zinc tablets (yum:P) to fight that cold!!

Here is a close up of the Speculoos spread:)

While we are on the topic of food, here is what I had for dessert yesterday! The white thing is a petit suisse, and is basically really think creamy unsweetened yogurt/cream. I sprinkled sugar on it because it's a little to sour for my taste. But it really brings me back to when I was little and my family went to France and I had these every morning with sugar:) I was so excited when I found them here! They boys, especially Jonas, also love them. The chocolate is a truffle with mousse made here in Belgium as well:)

 Here is the sandwich I ate yesterday. Was called Italia de l'ete (Italy summer), it had fresh parma ham, mozzarella  roasted veggies, fresh tomatoes and arugula. So good!:)


One also really random thing. While I was working on my blog at the kitchen table yesterday, Jonas saw the picture of the Mannekin Pis and said "I was listening to the radio today and someone asked which hand the Mannekin Pis holds his...." Pause. I laughed and checked..  Then he said, " Dass ist eine witzige Frage!!" (That is a funny question!). Yes, yes it is. 

He holds it with his left hand, in case you really wanted to know. guess the Mannekin is one of the minorities of the world and is left-handed. Go check the front page of my blog if you don't believe me:)

So, I am going to bed. Tomorrow hopefully I will post part 1 of this past weekend, including my first night out and "the day of no cars" in Brussels:)

Exploring the City

I thought you may be interested in seeing some pictures from the city center, which I took while doing a little tour on my own.

The Palais de Justice

gift from the family to me (from a popular chocolate shop in Brussels)

Yummy Ramadan cookies

Cute hat shop in city center! All handmade

One of the few last remaining pieces of the first wall to surround Brussels. There is a giant bowling place to its right and a glass office building to its left. That's Brussels architecture for ya.

Opera house

Cool modern paint-splattered ceiling in opera house

View from large terrace. You can see the Atomium if you look really close in the distance to the right of the church..

Large church at Place de Sablon

Small park/gardens and fountain at Place de Sablon

Close up of church entrance

Brussels Beer Weekends at the Grand Place. 70,000 people attended, 70% foreigners:)

Grand Place

Park near Palais Royale with different funky/modern sculptures of Belgian food/drink. (Beer in this picture, also had pommes frites, chocolate...)

Palais Royale at sunset

Stained glass in Sablon church

The infamous Manneken Pis, who is always dressed up in some kind of costume relating to an event or festival going on anywhere in the world. He currently has over 800 costumes. Here is is dressed up for something in Mexico...

A Real Steaming Pot of Culture

Imagine a long bench at a tram stop. Now, imagine a bunch of people on it. But instead of imagining a bunch of the same looking nationality, imagine a couple Asian men, a young adolescent Belgian boy, an old African American man, a blonde Swedish little girl, a young British man in a suit, an old French man in a ripped T-shirt, an Indian family.. You are now imagining a bench at a Brussels tram stop. Yes, it is that international.:)

DANCE:

These past 10 days I've been here, I've been trying out some dance classes around the city.. And I must say, they have been quite an experience. I have never done anything like them before, and I've been dancing since I was 6 years old. The first class I went to was called "Movement Contemporaire" and was basically a roomful of women in their 30's jumping around and rolling on the floor. But, it really was fun. The teacher, a very young man named Etienne, was very good and very professional. The minute the class started, we were all immediately throwing our legs in the air and doing turns, arms out and then rolling on the ground. I actually really liked this kind of dance because it gives your body much more freedom to just feel the music. Yes, there are steps, but they are not so specific and with perfect posture like ballet or jazz. And the movements are big unlike that of hip-hop, which I have always had trouble with because the movements are so small and fast. The music was also very different. it  is like Indian-electro music.. I never knew you could combine those two, but somehow it works and is actually lots of amusing to dance to.

The next class I did was simply Jazz, but it was much more structured. We learned specific steps, like in ballet, with posture and all. 

Finally, the other day, I tried one more class called Contemporary dance, which was similar to the first class I took but instead of it being a giant class-full of middle-aged women, there were just four of us, and a very strange mix it was: one older British guy in his 50's, one 30 year old blonde Belgian women, and one maybe mid-50's old French women, and then me..an 18 year old American. The teacher, an older Belgian women with a strange sea-weed looking earring hanging from one ear, was very friendly (unlike the first two class's teachers). She asked me what I was doing in Belgium and why I chose Brussels. I told her about how I wanted to learn French and German and figure out what I want to study at university. She seemed pretty impressed that I's do this on my own, calling me adventurous and a “pioneer” of my generation...I think she was overdoing it a little, but I took the compliment. She then preceded to talk about Brussels and how “there are worse places in the world to live”....I wonder what that’s supposed to mean..

I was reminded yesterday at my first French lesson that it was 9/11...how embarrassing.. She asked me what they do in New York on this day to remember, and honestly I have no idea..but I was not going to tell her that so I made up something about a parade (not a happy one of course!), lots of flowers and the president giving a speech.. And that was really the limit my French would allow me to say anyway.

So, you are probably curious about the boys.. I went to pick them up at the bus stop yesterday for the first time. I had to bring Felix with me in the stroller, and while I was waiting for the bus, some crazy old man kept asking me something about the baby that I didn't understand. Finally I just told him it wasn't my baby and that seemed to satisfy him and he walked away. I got the bad feeling that he was reprimanding me for having a baby at such a young age..or maybe I'm just paranoid about people thinking that.

Anyway, when the boys got off the bus, they ran over and gave me a big hug and I asked them how their day went. They love to talk about what they learning and Jonas especially loved to use his new English phrases that he's learned. Like “I was freezy!” (he means freezing, of course) and “I love it!” (what he says to basically anything edible). We had an American dinner of hamburgers, corn and watermelon one night when my dad was visiting, and he said it about everything! I have a great picture which I will post.

Also, Jonas loves to read the English books I gave him. Well, he likes to look at the pictures and then have me translate the English into German (sometimes he can even translate it himself!) Yesterday we read through a book I got him about how maple syrup is made in Vermont (Ahornsirup in German).

The also love to ask me about my flight here and what kind of plane it was. And Niki, who is obsessed with sharks for some reason, has asked me about ten times if I saw a shark or an orca from the window of the plane when we flew over the ocean.. Goodness.

Jonas and his first real American hamburger! "I love it!!" :)

Felix loves his new teddy from Vermont!

Les Gaufres et Garcons

Well, I'm here. I have to apologize for not posting until now, but I have a good reason! I didn't have my laptop with me until yesterday, when my father stopped by for a visit. He was in Germany for work and decided to stop by, check out my family and all.. It was nice to see him, but I have to say that when he left it was a little hard. For some reason, I cried a little more than I did when I first left New York. Maybe it was because I don't know when I'll see him or the rest of the family again.. BUT, I'm strong, independent and I can do this:) I may be a little homesick..but nothing too bad and I keep thinking about how good of an experience this is for me.

So now, enough of the blather and more about Brussels! There is so much to tell, I don't know where to start! Let's start with the family. As I think I mentioned before, they are German but have been living in Brussels for 10 years. So, both parents are fluent in English, German and French. They both work for the EU and usually speak English there because of all the nationalities. That's one surprising thing I found out about Brussels. there are so many different cultures and people from all over the world. When you go on the tram or metro (yes, we have both here), you will not only hear French and Flemish (the two official language of Brussels, although French is more popular in the city and Flemish more as you get to the outskirts), but also German, English, Spanish, Italian, Indian, many different African languages and so on. No wonder Brussels is known as the "capital of the EU."  I am so surprised at how many Africans there are here. I did not expect this because in Eastern Germany, where are used to live (in a small but very beautiful city called Dresden), you never saw any Africans. Sylvia, my host mother, said that many of them are form the Congo, since this used to be a colony of Belgium. Apparently, Brussels has the world's largest population of people from the Congo in the world, other than in the Congo, that is.

So, the boys. Jonas (7), Niki (5) and Felix (almost 1). They are quite energetic but very mature for their ages, which makes it easier for me. That is not to say my job is easy...it is really extremely difficult. More so because of Felix and the fact that I have never taken care of a baby before.. I already had my first diaper changing lesson AND changed one on my own! Its really not as hard as it looks. Although I must say it can be pretty bad.. 

On my first day in Belgium (last Wednesday aug. 29th), the family had just picked me up from the airport (they were there when I walked out to the lobby, little Niki waving a mini American flag..just what I wanted, to shout out to everyone in the airport that I'm american :/) and they would not, under any circumstances let me take a nap. I was dead tired because I hadn't slept a wink on the plane, due to the fact that I was squished in the middle aisle between two adolescent boys, one of which at one point decided my shoulder was more comfortable than his head rest and slept in that position for 3 hours, me being too polite to wake him. So, to keep me awake, the family took me on a mini tour around Brussels. Me as a zombie, Niki and Jonas as two non-stop wind-up toys, and Sylvia pushing Felix around in a carriage, picking up his dropped toys every few meters. 

As we sat down at a cafe for the daily "coffee and cake", Sylvia screamed out and I looked over...Felix had a major accident and there was baby poo-poo all over her pants. Great. Sylvia went right into action, she took out baby wipes and began to wipe it off, then set out a baby changing mat right in the middle of the outdoor cafe, with people eating and drinking all around us. She took off his smelly diaper, changed him and set him back in the carriage. No one even stared. I couldn't believe she did that in the middle of the cafe. Now, I am good about learning new things and adapting..but in that situation..I'm not so sure.

Anyway, here is a picture of the boys. Of couse, eating waffles because they are the Belgian specialty! 

 The waffles here are very different from those in the US. They are much more dense and made with lots of yeast. Most of them have sugar backed into them or a syrupy sugar on the outside. If you want to not look like a tourist, you just order a plain "naturale" waffle, no whipped cream or chocolate syrup. They apparently invented that for the tourists.

Here is another picture of me with the boys. Niki is the one in red and Jonas is in the stripes.

 Jonas and Felix (isn't he adorable??)

Today I brought Felix to the creche (nursery) with Sylvia. Today actually marks the first day of my real job, since Sylvia starts work today. So, this morning she showed me how to put on the baby carrier (the one you see mothers using to hold their babies in front of them on their chest, kangeroo style). I carried him in that thing for just 5 minutes and it felt like I was carryin rocks! He is so heavy.. I think we looked pretty strange tho, walking to the creche together.. me, a young girl..too young to have a baby, carrying this baby in a pouch on my chest, and Sylvia walking next to me. People were staring pretty obviously at us..they are not afraid of staring here. Its hard to get used to after the U.S. where EVERYONE is so concerned with privacy. Here, you can get naked in the public saunas and no one blinks an eye..

FOOD:

Belgians really know what good food tastes like. That's why they are so famous for their waffles and chocolate!! (and beer of course, I keep forgetting I am legally allowed to drink it here). Waking around the city, you will pass many, many chocolate shops and little factories. We stopped by a little one together and when you walk in, the smell of chocolate immediately overwhelms you. in the front of the shop, there was a small class of young people, maybe college age, to older people in their 60's all standing around clean metal tables lifting globs of fresh chocolate out of a big bowl with small scoopers, placing a scoop on a pan and covering each one with a different topping..from coconut shavings to sesame seeds. Walking in a little further, you find yourself in front of a big, semi-circular bar with all kinds of chocolates displayed. The lady there offered us little cups of fresh hot chocolate. Behind us, there are hundreds of little bins with small chunks of chocolate of all flavors: thyme, nutmeg, lavender, pepper, cinnamon, mint... You could just grab a chunk and taste it. That's what I love about all the chocolate shops here. You can be sure that they will either have sample or offer you some from a giant plate of choices. And the chocolate is really, really good. It's true:)

Chocolate shop

Chocolate hippos!

 Last weekend we went out to a "Schloss" (castle). This picture was taken in the giant green field in front. Sylvia is my host mom on the left.

Jonas and I played soccer (he thinks I am quite good for a beginner...I think its just because I can run faster than him:)
Jonas, let me just say, is the sweetest 7 year old I have ever met. He hardly ever complains, always asks if he can help me with anything (cleaning my room, setting the table..), and he loves to correct my German and is always happy to translate a word for me if I don't understand or at least try to explain it to me. He also loves learning English, and is already quite good at it. They start teaching the kids early here. We already had lots of laughs looking through the Richard Scarry book I brought him "Cars, Trucks and Things That Go" (he  laughed so hard at the idea of a "cheese car" or "pencil car" with mice in it) and "The Cat In The Hat." He also loves to hold my hand when we walk down the street and kiss it:) so cute!

The Nerves Kick In

From the title of this post, you probably could have guessed that those nerves I've been wondering about..yeah well, they've suddenly decided to pay me a visit. They started creeping up on me when I stepped into the Belgian Consulate in good ol' NYC. For some reason, applying for the visa made this whole experience suddenly seem so much more real. Before, it was just something I could dream about and look forward to. I never really thought how I would actually feel when everything started snowballing towards departure day. Thankfully, the ladies at the consulate were very friendly and got my visa sent to me very quickly. Tomorrow morning, I leave for JFK airport.

I feel like the hardest part of this entire trip is the magic act of fitting a year's worth of clothing, shoes for all seasons, ski gear, coats, hats, gloves, books, laptop, gifts galore (aka Legos for the boys), toiletries, into 2 suitcases, while still making sure they each stay below 23 kilos. That may sound like a lot of weight, but let me tell you right now...it fills up in a snap. Especially for me, who, I must admit, am a total fashion obsessed crazy person. I literally have to have matching shoes for every outfit for every season, from short sleeve shirts, tank and tube tops, to long sleeve shirts, sweaters, skirts, jeans, jackets, shoes... It's a little insane, I realize that, but at the same time, it is SO DIFFICULT to decide what to bring and what not to bring. "Will I really wear this a lot? Or only once the whole year? Maybe I should bring it just in case?" These are the kind of questions that have been running through my brain the past 3 days of packing and repacking. It is now 12:06 AM (meaning I must depart for the airport in 10 hours) and both my suitcases are 5 kilos over the allowed weight. And I still haven't even put in my toiletry bag yet, which probably weighs 1 kilo in itself (I have a lengthily bathroom regime). 

Well, I think I'll just deal with it in the morning. I am exhausted. I spent 3 hours laying in bed last night worrying about getting lost in the airport, forming random German and French phrases in my head and then double checking them on the online dictionary on my phone. I was literally having conversations with myself..practicing what I will say to my family when I meet them in person for the first time. 

My neighbor gave me some good advice today. She said that tonight, when I lie in bed and the nerves start kicking in again, that I should just think about all the other times in my life I have been nervous like this (i.e. first day of middle school, auditions for the school musical, piano recital, prom, driver's test, SATS, graduation...) and how those all turned out just fine. So, this experience is just like one of those, except perhaps a little bit longer lasting. I can handle it. I may cry tomorrow when I leave my family. But, I am coming into the home of a very welcoming, kind new family. I've handled everything else just fine. And apparently, as I've heard from a friend who spent a year abroad in Switzerland last year, I will cry when I leave this home, but I will also cry when I leave my home in Europe. Whatya know.

On one last note, I've said about 30 goodbyes to friends and family in the past 2 weeks. That is something that really makes you depressed, but also gives you a big push into the the real world. I must say though, the last few days with some of my closest friends (who are now all having their first weeks of classes in college) have been quite memorable. 

A few nights ago, for example, me and my two good friends Meghan and Stephanie sat in a tiny plastic cave in the elementary school playground at 11pm, going from funny story telling and jokes, to our hopes and dreams, to our fears and nerves. The three of us, plus Deanna, call ourselves the "cave men." Long story, but it mostly has to do with our favorite hang out being this cave on the playground. Don't ask why... just except it. It makes everything much easier. All I can say is, new and exciting ideas have taken place in and around the cave, including our idea to sing and dance to the song "Valerie" at our school talent show, as well as come up with our "cave chant", which we have become famous for performing at various high school parties. On our last day at the cave, we were surprised to find a bunch of sunflowers growing on the playground. We picked some and called it a sign for good luck as we each go our separate ways. I've also spent a good amount of time with Nabila, who I only became really close with this year, but it now feels like we've known each other forever. We formed a kind of bucket-list for the summer, and we got a number of things checked off... For example, camping for 3 days in the Adirondacks (and we really fulfilled that one...even had an encounter with a bear!!).
The last few days I have also spent with my best friend Manda, whom I have known since I was 9 years old. We spent one entire night laying on the hood of her car, reading through our old friendship book form 4th grade which consists of funny, interestingly sexual sounding stories we made up (which of course, were not supposed to be sexual at all, they just sound that way to us now because, as you may very well know, our minds tend to become quite dirty around the ages of 17-20ish, and we like to think things sound dirty, when, they really do not), as well as our hair and our dogs hair (strange, I know). We also took a barefoot walk around the neighborhood at 2am, with my cats following us the entire way. Today, before she left, we had a Frank Sinatra dance party in my room, and then heard the ice cream truck outside and ran downstairs to dance in my driveway to the insanely electronic version of the chicken dance or something. The ice cream man found it quite entertaining and tried to dance along with us while driving. Seemed a little dangerous to me, but what do I know. 


Well, I'm bantering on now. This is the sign that I am exhausted. Goodnight!