Catch-up

It seems my posts are becoming fewer and farther between. I don't know why I keep letting myself go for an entire month without a single update, especially when I have in no way run out of things to talk about. I guess I'm just tired (this whole being an exchange student thing is EXHAUSTING), or maybe I have a re-occuring case of writers block. I don't know. I have plenty of excuses, but the bottom line is I need to capture these memories bouncing around inside my skull and transform them into words before I loose them all and spend the rest of my life regretting my silence.

I told myself I would never do this, but since this Blog is as much for memory-keepings sake as it is for keeping you up to date, its time for us to play a little game of catch-me-up.

Since I spoke to you last, I have had about a kajillion adventures. (And yes, kajillion is a word. Trust me.) Every day has something new and exciting to offer, which makes choosing stories to tell you practically impossible. . . but the one experience I just haven't been able to get out of my mind is the night I saw Anna Vinnitkaya in concert. (Apparently she is a really famous pianist, but I had never heard of her before that night. Then again, I'm not exactly up to date on who is who in the world of classical music. . .)

It was my very first full fledged classical concert. Before that night, the closest thing I had ever seen to a classical concert was the San Juan High Band, which isn't exactly what you would call professional. Not that you guys in the Band aren't great and all, but this was the REAL DEAL. I had to wear a fancy dress and everything.

I have to admit, when Marc and Mamma-D told me they had reserved a place for me at this shin-dig, I wasn't exactly thrilled. I mean, I love music as much as the next person, but this just did not sound appealing. By the end of the night, however, I had a complete change of heart. This is going to sound silly (and you are allowed to laugh), but the sounds spilling from that stage made me feel like Cinderella at the Prince's Ball. All I wanted to do was find the nearest guy who could pass for Prince Charming and dance with him until the clock stroke 12'. I was so in love with the music she played, I went looking for her after the concert and had her sign my ticket. =]

The next week, Marc told me he bought tickets to another event. This time it was a Modern Dance performance. Now I had heard a thing or two about Modern Dancing before, and none of it was very positive. . . But the Vinnitkaya concert had been so insanely incredible that I decided to trust Marc and just go for it.

Turns out that was a BAD decision. The "performance" started at 7:00, and after waiting for about an hour and a half for the thing to start, I realized that the people limping around the stage and yelling random jibberish were the "dancers" and the awkward jerking spasms they were making with thier limbs was the "dance".  . . .

I couldn't make myself take any pictures. It was too appaling. Ugh, I don't even wanna talk about it. Lets move on before my gag reflex kicks in.



As completely horrific as that weekend was, the next one made up for with its insane beautey. I spent all day Friday and part of the day Saturday hiking through the woods of Luxembourg. (Which, by the way, is a itsy bitsy little country in between Belgium and Germany. That means my total of foreign-countries-visited is now at the magical number of three.)

When I say hiking, I really mean walking. I suppose when you are from Utah, and you just so happen to be the Grandchild of Winston Hurst, you have a very specific image in mind of what a "hike" is. Although the scenery was beaufiful and the distance covered fairly substantial, that little excersion simply did not earn the title of "hike". It was still nice to get away fromt the city life for a while and breathe a little fresh air again.

It only got better from there. The next weekend was my favorite day of the entire year. It's the day when I get to stuff my face with all kinds of delicious foods, and nobody else cares because they are all doing it too. I'm talking, of course, about THANKSGIVING!!!

Now, I know what you are thinking. . . Its something along the lines of

"Wait a minute, Thanksgiving is an American holiday. Isn't she in Belgium?"

 The answer, my friends, is yes. Thanksgiving IS an American holiday, and I AM in Belgium living with a Belgian culturaled family. . . But Turkey Day is just such a happy day, I couldn't help myself. I cheated. I got together with my American pals and had myself a Thanksgiving Dinner.

 I regret nothing.

See that girl next to me with the beautiful smile? Her name is Brooklynn Rasmussen. She is one of my favorite people in the entire universe. She is pretty much amazing. End of story. (Oh, and the girl behind the camera is pretty awesome too. You can't see her, but she is Beautiful. Her name is Alexa)  =]

And of course it wouldn't be the Holidays without a little display of clumbsyness on my part. Apparently plastic forks cannot handle very large amounts of force at one time. . . I learned that the hard way. And somehow fork-snapping-in-two equals stuffing-all-over-lap. Don't ask me how, but its true.

And so . . . yeah. That is pretty much my November in a nut-shell. A very small nutshell crammed full of all kinds of happiness, but a nutshell none the less. =]

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Paris; Take 2

What did I do this weekend? Oh, it was a real snoozer. Hardly worth mentioning, really. I only spent the greater part of it exploring the sights and streets of Paris, France. You know, just another typical weekend I will probably have forgotten this time next month. ;]

This is me and Mamma-D (maman d'accueil = host mom) at the very tippy top of the Eiffel Tower. . .

And this is the reason we can't tear ourselves away from the edge. You can't really tell from the pictures, but the view was INCREDIBE.

 Then we payed another visit to the insanely beautiful Notre Dame. . . 

. . . and this time we actually got to go inside.

Next we stopped by Pompidu Center to see Stravinskys sculptures. They were. . . odd.

Okay, I know I don't look like the happiest camper in this photo. . . I was just a little confusled by the sculptures I guess. I really was having a good time, I promise. =]

 So anyway, on the first Sunday of every month all the Museums of Paris are completely free, so my host parents thought it would be a good time to take me to see Le Louvre. . . What they didn't count on was every other tourist in the City having the exact same thought. The line was insanely long, it seemed like it strectched on forever. Unfortunately we did not have that kind of time, so I still have not been inside the museum. However. . .

I DID get the classic tourist photo standing outside next to the pyramids. =]

Like I said, just another typical weekend in the life of an Exchange Student. =]

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Autumn

I thought I was in love with this place before, but that was just puppy love compared to what I feel now. Green is great, but look at those Autumn colors! Oh, I love it here. =]

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J'adore Bruxelles

Okay, I've said it before, but I just HAVE to say it again. I <3 Belgium. This place is absolutely perfect. Every time I think I've been ogled for the last time, I discover something new that leaves me falling in love with this place all over again.

Take last week for example. My friends (who, by the way, are freaking AWESOME) were showing me around the city. Even though I had seen most of it before, I could hardly tear my eyes away from the scene surrounding me. I was snapping pictures like crazy, and I felt like such a tourist. But honestly, how can you NOT take pictures when you are surrounded by all this?

Yes, that is a little boy taking a pee (more commonly known as Mennekin Pis). Don't ask.

Random little side story: So apparently the dude that designed this building (oodles of years ago), after seeing that the final product was not exactly what he wanted it to be, decided that life was simply no longer worth living. He climbed up to the very tippy top of the tower and threw himself out the window. I don't know about you, but I think the building looks super-dee-duper. If I was the one who had designed it, I would be all kinds of proud of myself. . . not suicidal. To each his own, I guess.


Remember those Freaking-Awsome friends I told you about? Well here are a few shots of them =]

Anne-Sophie eating her waffle. I love her. I really do. =]

Celine, Maiva, and me =]

This is Aymeric, but that is WAY too hard to say so I call him Ricky. =]

Two of my very most favorite people in the world. Anne-Sophie and Laura. Aren't they just beautiful?

So pretty much, despite being constantly confused and never understanding what anyone is saying, I am LOVING my european adventure. <3

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The Little Things

So I've been sitting here for about ten minutes trying to find the words to explain to you how completely epic my latest adventures have been, but I couldn't. Then I realized I was going about it all wrong. I was looking for one single event of epicocity to completely dazzle you with its epicness, when its really the little things that are making my life so great. So this post is dedicated to the little things.

Like. . .

Sleeping in THREE times in one week. (Thats not even including the weekend. Yeah, be jealous). Normally I have to drag myself out of bed before the sun has even bothered to show her face to be able to get to school on time. However, this week my school had this random little field trip thing they called "Speak Academy". Basically they went to another school for a day, then a few days later the same school came to us and they all just played around.

The problem was, everyone was required to speak Dutch for the entire day. Seeing as how I can hardly keep up with the ordinary every day French, I wasn't even going to attempt a day of Dutch. SO I slept until noon and enjoyed a relaxing day of solitude.

It was exactly what I needed. I didn't realize how completely worn out I was. This whole learning French thing is exhausting! I am in a constant state of confusion. I try to focus on understanding, but it seems like the more I consentrate, the more I get lost in the rhythm of the language. (French is a beautiful language, its really hard NOT to me hypnotized when you are surrounded by such a pretty thing.)

And. . .

Cool guy pens that make me giggle with joy every time I have an excuse to use one. They don't use ballpoint pens here. They have these awesome "plume" pens with thier cool little tip that make the things you write all flowy and cool looking. =]

And. . .

My awesome bike with its cute little basket that makes me feel like a character from a Mother Goose rhyme, which I rode to the Market to buy. . .

the most sinfully delicious thing man has ever created. This bread is to DIE for. So good. (Oh, and did I mention I ordered it all by myself? In FRENCH. That, my friend, is what we call happiness.)

And. . .

Lamp posts. I have discovered I have a little bit of an obsession for these things. Don't ask me why, I don't have the answer. I just love them. I think its because I have a little bit too much of my Dad in me. I like to imagine that they are some kind of mystical link to another dimension and that I can somehow harness their epic powers of awesomeness.

But the biggest little-thing of them all that makes my life here absolutely wonderful are my epically awesome friends. . . who take me to epically awesome things.

. . . like concerts with a random  Spanish band that I am absolutely in love with. Smokin hot man + dreamy voice + exotic songs that I don't understand but can't help but freak out over = awesome band. I loved them so much, I was actually dancing. . . In PUBLIC. Yeah, it was great.

Okay, so maybe that last one wasn't exactly "little", but it definitely deserved to be mentioned. Add all these things together and you've got yourself one epic Student Exchange. =]

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