Fall Break Feeling Good

     This past week has been amazing! It was fall break and there was no class!!!! I haven't been in a class in over a week and it has been wonderful!  I began the break by taking a short visit to Antwerp to visit my former iFriend from the University of Arkansas, Lieselot!  It was great having her show me around her favorite places in her town.  The next day I was on a flight to Greece with three amazing ladies who are in my program here, Savannah, Katie, and Catherine!!! We spent the night in Athens and saw the Acropolis then took a ferry to Mykonos.  The ferry was not what I expected at all, they are actually really comfortable, they have couches and coffee shops on board!  We spent 2 days touring the island via ATV.  We tried local food, local drinks, and even went swimming.  After that, I embarked on another journey to a different island, Milos!  Milos was very different than Mykonos but still wonderful.  My first day in Milos, I was sung to at my table by an Argentinian man who was convinced that he was Enrique Iglesias and did magic tricks, kinda comical actually.  I again rented an ATV and saw the Island and all of the beaches.  What amazed me was how different each beach was.  My favorite was definitely Sarakiniko Beach because it was different from any other beach I have ever seen (Picture to follow!) While on the ATV, I decided to go a different way back to town and got "lost".  I was still on a road, but it was now a muddy dirt road in a mining area.  The foreman had to show me the way out of town.  Im sure I was the laughing topic at his dinner table that night.

       Both Islands had a lot of stray cats, I have come to the conclusion that I could become the crazy cat lady of the island and not look weird. I would give the cats all my leftover food and I even bought food for them.  One thing I learned is that the Greeks like to give away alcohol.  It is tradition in their culture to give something away for free.  The first night, we got free desert, the next was a free glass of wine per girl, then my favorite restaurant in Milos gave away free shots of Rika and Mataxa (Rika is nasty and makes moonshine taste like water, Mataxa is actually quite good!!).  In Athens, a group of drunk old men also bought me a beer at dinner.  I now have a love of Greek beer. 

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.l.bronson

https://twitter.com/r_bronso12     I am now back on the school grind for these final 6 weeks and seeing that my weekends are coming to an end and I have planned out my last trips.  I am looking forward to the weeks to come!

Sarakiniko beach

Go Arkansas!

Kilma Fishing Village

Swimming in October!

Savannah, Catherine, Katie and I!

Sarakiniko Beach

Old Friends New Memories

This past weekend I traveled back to the first place I ever studied abroad... Cambridge! I traveled on the train under the Euro Tunnel and that was so so so cool!! I got to have my first hostel experience (surprisingly nicer than I imagined!) and see memorable sights from last year.  I walked past that awful clock that tourist love taking pictures of! It was right below my window and everyone wanted to see it at odd times of the day! Don't ask me why, it is rather ugly! I also got to frequent my favorite bar The Eagle! My favorite bar tenders were no longer there but I met the new ones! The following morning I took the trip to London to pick up my awesome boyfriend who decided to visit me over fall break!!! I loved getting to share my study abroad experiences with him both past and present!  We got some traditional English Pub food, Beer, and got to go punting again! I must say, he is an excellent punt driver!  We then came back to Brussels and got some Frites (fries).  We got to spend some nice quality time together and just relax in Brussels before class began again.  This morning was sad, those who know me know I DO NOT handle goodbyes well, i think the customs guy got a kick out of it.  Just got to keep peculating along because next week is fall recess and GREECE!!!!  I couldnt be more excited!  These next few weeks will fly by but this experience has been amazing so far! I cant wait for the memories yet to come here in Brussels!

Halfway....It is beginning to sink in

Sorry for the delayed post here but I had some technical difficulties with my computer charger.

     That time has come where my host mother pointed out that my time here in Belgium is halfway over. At the beginning of this experience I looked at the city and all there is to do and see here saying "I don't need to see it all at once, I have 4 months..." well now I only have 2 months left and there is still so much I want to see and do.  I have begun a new list of food to try while I am here and I may be eating my weight to get it completed in just 2 months!  Guess I should get started!
     Over the past few weeks, I have gotten to experience a lot.  I traveled to the Hague and Delft, Holland and got to ride bikes through some beautiful landscape including Windmills. It was such a beautiful experience!  We visited an optical illusion museum in the Hague as well, those who know me know i'm not a fan of museums but the pictures were kinda cool. I also got to know more of the local students at my university here and celebrate the end of midterm exams with a student government party.  It was a great way for me to branch out from the study abroad group and meet new people.  I was also given an opportunity through my internship to work at a Board of Governors lunch and meet many important people in Belgium including the Prime Minister, my feet were killing me by the end of the day but I thank my pageant experience on being able to work through the pain and keep a smile on my face!
     I have also been able to babysit for a family from the British School.  They are an American family living here for work.  I am grateful for the opportunity to learn how others have learned to live in a country foreign to them getting the point of view of the kids.  It has been a blast!
     Over the weekend, my host mother took me to the Theater!  I was not all that into the play, we saw the Odyssey and it was all in French, i couldn't follow much of it but it was cool to see the interpretation of it.  I was glad to be able to do something that was important to my host mother.
     These next few weeks are looking to be busy! I am off to Cambridge this weekend to see some friends that I met there last summer while studying.  Fall Break is just around the corner and I will be spending that in Greece.  Then time to prepare for my trip to Norway with Zach, Will, and Jen!  I was hoping to see the band in concert that is famous for "What Does the Fox Say?" but the dates sadly don't match up with class schedules:( but hopefully we get to see a hockey game while we are there!  After Norway, I intend to finish up my hours at the internship so that I can focus on Finals in December.  Between there is a trip to Brugge to a Christmas Market, Thanksgiving (celebrated by the americans) and my father will be visiting Brussels.  It seems like every weekend from now until the end of my stay is booked! The time will go by fast, I enjoy life here in Brussels but I know I will be ready to be home with friends and family!
(FYI one of my future post will be in french for an assignment! sorry)

Being an American never felt so good!

Okay, whats more American than two study abroad students taking a train 40 minutes each way and a bus on top of that to go to "the American Store"?  Nothing! Saturday was an all out American day for me!  My friend Will and I went to Antwerp to go to The American Store.  This place was pure heaven.  We found Beef Jerky, Peach Tea, Corn Bread mix, and even macaroni and cheese!  Will also had to indulge in two 12 packs of mountain dew because that is not typically sold here.  The man who owns the store imports everything from New York City.  But, he never has the same things so when you go, you never know what you are gonna find.

After the exhausting trip back home with our very bulky box (i tried to be helpful and carry it but then an angry Belgian lady yelled in french at Will for making me do the work..oops) We went to a local sports bar because the Arkansas vs Texas A&M game was playing and I was determined to call the hogs!  The best accomplishment of the night was convincing the entire bar to cheer for the Razorbacks! Now there are Razorback fans from all over Europe/people who hate texas a & m.... It was a good game with a depressing ending but the team has come a long way and I am always proud to root for my hogs!!

Sunday we had a little BBQ with some girls who go to Mizzou! It was great hanging out with new people!  We all had something to talk about and it was great! And starting the fire was very interesting! We had coals and newspaper but no lighter fluid and for the record, veggie oil is not flammable, and the scotch didn't help either, but it was a fun adventure!!  

All in all, it was a nice relaxing weekend that i needed!  Now im ready to take on the week ahead!!

Getting History in Ghent

     This past week has been quite long so it seems.  I have been feeling the allergies of being in a new location once more (i can't seem to get it under control in a new place ever)! DayQuil has become my best friend! As always, i work through it with lots of coffee (one of the many fantastic things about my internship at the British School is the free coffee!!!)
     I have been working on all of my paper outlines which seem to be due at the same time.  As well as beginning my presentations for my classes.  I am with a group of 4 other students in my European Union Common Foreign and Security Policies class to create a presentation on the Middle East for this week.  All of us have background with taking classes on the History of the Middle East and we chose this region because of our previous work.  My section is on Palestine/Israel/Jordan which is an area I have studied greatly in the past 2 years.  I have a solo presentation to do today in my Contemporary Political Debates Class on Race in Politics.  It will be me for 10 minutes talking to the entire class with a powerpoint.  Next week I have to do my french presentation on an article of the french belgian culture and create an activity using the vocabulary of my choice.  I have chosen an article about food….no surprise there because I love Food!!!!  I chose to get all my presentations done by the 6th week of school so that I could spend the last half of my semester focusing on my million papers that I have due!  wish me luck in my endeavor to no go crazy by december!!!!
     Friday night, we had a Belgian food tasting! It was incredible.  I was able to mark all of the food off my bucket list from the previous article! We had "tasting" courses of a watercress soup, Pear and Cheese waffle sandwich thing, endive tart, blood sausages, mussels, mashed potatoes, bread, carbonade flamand which is beef and gravy, the belgian version of a Chicken Pot Pie (my personal favorite), and chocolate cake!  I was so full and satisfied by the end of the night! definitely my favorite experience so far!!!!
     This past saturday, the ISA group and I took a day trip to Ghent, Belgium!  We had some lovely visitors from the office in Austin, Matt and Blair, whom i have been emailing since my freshman year.  It was great to put a face with the names!  Pa, one of our lovely site staff, joined us as well.  We got to see a lot of the city by walking around on a history tour.  By the time I got home, I was well ready for bed.  I was exhausted and i am sure my attitude portrayed it.

Paris Part 2!

     Pardon the somewhat long post but a lot has gone on this past week or so!  Starting with our program trip to a chocolate factory where we got to literally play with chocolate!  It was so much fun!!  Two of us got to go behind the scenes and learn how to correctly fill the bonbons, we were even offered jobs.  Then the whole group got to make our own chocolate creations including our names or just plain pieces with fruit in them!
     This weekend, my friend Jen and I went to Paris!  I was glad I got to be with her when she experienced Paris for the first time.  Seeing the monuments again was just as awesome the second time around.  It will never get old!  And Jen loves the tv show Gossip Girl just as much as I do so we tried to go everywhere they filmed during the Paris episodes….I have never felt so special shopping when you would walk into these fancy stores and there is a door attendant. She and I both dislike museums but we felt obligated to see the Mona Lisa so we went and took selfless with her.  Paris was an exhausting city and I am definitely glad to be back in Brussels getting back to my routine.  There are fewer tourist here, which is fantastic.  I strongly dislike the attention tourist attract in places like Paris.  There were lots of "gipsy girls" around paris walking up asking if you speak english and wanting you to sign a petition for things such as helping the deaf.  It is just a ploy to distract people to try to pickpocket them.  all you learn to do is ignore them and keep walking.  what they are doing is highly illegal!  same as all the men walking around trying to seek you eiffel towers for cheap but all they do is distract you.  Its something to watch for future travels! We knew to just stay away from anyone walking up to talk to us and just keep on our merry way.
     Classes are starting to pick up pace and I've got three presentations to do in the next 3 weeks and several paper proposals to begin writing!  I am not a fan of having class one day a week for three hours but not much I can do about that except bring lots of snacks to hold me over!!
     I am loving my internship at the British School of Brussels! The people I am working with are just fantastic! They have welcomed me to their team with open arms!  And to be honest, I love spending time with the British, I am still learning english apparently! They have funny names for some things and we all get a kick out of the different words for things such as "fanny" and "hair bubble" (ponytail holder).  I am starting my own dictionary in my notebook to remember all these words.  They are not quite as weird as the French/Dutch names for metro stops tho, the french version is so beautiful such as Cimetiere d'ixelles and the dutch version is jus weird..begraafplaats van Elsene.  Not even close!!!  It brings a smile to my face every day when i pass all of these stops.  
     I can't believe i have been here for 4 weeks already!  So far, this has been my best study abroad trip. I have managed to make it over three weeks without getting food poisoning from random sushi, which is a step in the right direction!  I am surprised how normal Brussels feels to me now, but i still miss everything about home!  Next trip on my list is Ghent with the ISA program this saturday! It should me nice and low-key!

Houseboat....Amsterdam Style

     This past weekend some other girls studying abroad and I went on a trip to Amsterdam!  We found relatively inexpensive bus tickets on eurolines and a "nice" houseboat to stay in for 3 nights.  The boat was not luxurious, but it was livable.  The best part was the experience of being able to stay on a boat in the center of Amsterdam on a canal.  We walked around the town on our own and found cute cafes to have our breakfast/brunch, nice stores to get post cards in, and to the Iamsterdam monument.  We also took time out to go to the Heineken Experience which was definitely worth the 18 Euros.  We got to see how the beer was made and learn the proper way to taste beer by getting a free beer.  After the tour, you are given tokens for two additional free beers! YAY! money well spent for sure.  We also took a canal tour that showed us the Jewish Quarter and the Ann Frank House, but because of The Fault In Our Stars, the Ann Frank House is immensely popular and the line was way to long to go through the museum. 

     Amsterdam was nothing like I expected you would be walking along a nice street, and bam! red lights... I am not going to detail that portion of the experience but it is shocking how "free" it is to have window space.  

     Overall, it was a great experience to travel to the Netherlands. Something very different than Belgium. We were all sad to leave and go back to reality, but when we remembered that reality was Belgium, not going home home, we felt better.

Checking Off Items On My Bucket List

When I told people I chose to study abroad in Belgium I got a lot of puzzling looks.  Why not France, you speak French? Well, my experience in France was not the greatest and I had no intentions to study in France.  I have always thought of Belgium as a good fit for me. I have friends who live not too far from Brussels. Belgium is also a very central location for those who love to travel.  It is so easy to get a lot of places.  I have already booked my train ticket to London to visit friends in October, and this weekend, some girls from my program and I are going to Amsterdam and renting a house boat! so exciting! Plans are also in the making for Oktoberfest in Munich Germany where I will have my first experience with couch surfing!!! Aside from the great location, Brussels is also very political, and have you heard about the food?! The Huffington Post posted an article about the 13 Foods That'll Make you want to visit Belgium, and less than two weeks in, I have mastered a good chunk of that list! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/belgian-cuisine-food_n_4617498.html
1. Moules
2. Waffles
3. Frites
4. Tiny Creepy Pickled Shrimp
5. The Beer
6. Carbonnades (the beef)
and Speculoos and Chocolate!

  

waffles and frites

Day 3 in Belgium is coming to an end and so far its been amazing! My fell students are awesome! Each of us have something in common (favorite sports teams, friends from their school, majors)! Its been great embarking on this experience with such a chill group of people! Within my first hour in Belgium I met my neighbors who are kids in the program, saw my neighborhood, and had my first real waffle! This week is orientation week which means a lot of meetings.  We will have our final interviews, placement test for languages, and meetings with our advisors.  It is also a week of student government activities to get to know students from different programs. I am excited for classes to start monday and to get a set daily schedule.

Journey to the Waffles!

That time has come again that I am blogging from an airport on my way to Europe. However, this time I won't be stepping on to American soil for 4 whole months.  This journey is something that has been planed since I was in high school and the time has finally come… a semester abroad in Belgium! I would like to think I have learned something about pre-departures from past trips, but this morning I showed up to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport with two 50 pound bags packed to the limit! The biggest lesson I learned during the packing process, my shoes weigh A LOT! This may come as a shock to most people who know me but for 4 months, my shoe count during packing was only 10 pairs, and only 2 of those have heels on them!
I am going to miss a lot about home these 4 months (ice, air-conditioning, the convenience of Walmart, the University of Arkansas in the fall) but most of all my friends and family (including the furry members). As a friend put it on Sunday, There is no place like home!
Well I have one more flight to go before I arrive in Belgium.. wish me luck on being able to sleep on this flight!

Well y'all the time has come! I'm blogging from the Charlotte North Carolina airport! I'm so glad to be back state side for a month and a half to prepare for a semester abroad in Belgium! France has been a great life changing experience! I made excellent friends who really made this trip the best it could be and I'm thankful for that. I'm beyond ready to be back in Arkansas with that good ole southern hospitality! Stay tuned for blogs from Belgium!!

Well this entry is being written on my phone in a pub while I wait for my friends to arrive to watch the France World Cup game! It's been a crazy week that's for sure! I had to move host families because of different opinions on how to live life to put it short. I was not happy and has a bad taste in my mouth for France. Now I'm with a great family and I'm finally myself again! I've started to enjoy my time here and I know I will have a great last week! Tomorrow my friends and i are going to Switzerland with the school for a lake day and to the olympic musieum! It will be great! We have all enjoyed watching soccer in a country where people actually get into the game! It's been a fantastic experience!  It is hard to believe we only have 5 more days of class. It's bittersweet because I'm starting to enjoy my time here but I really miss home and the comforts of the United States! But another experience like this is close in my horizon and I can't wait! Stay tuned for pics from Switzerland! 

Michael's Misadventures!!

This is going to be really long I'm sorry but i didn't have my computer all weekend! So here we go….
      On Thursday evening after classes, Michael, Eric, and I began our adventure to Normandy for the 70th anniversary of D-Day.  We were taking the train from Besancon to Le Mans to meet our friend Ben who graciously opened his apartment to us for the weekend! We all made it to the train station just fine but thats when Michael's luck turned around and not for the best.  Us American kids are not used to train stations so we didn't know we had to go down to the basement to get from train track to train track.  We saw a crosswalk with no warning signs what so ever so we took advantage of those….Bad idea! We never would have crossed if there were warning signs but this was not marked in any way and looked just like a ramp for crossing! Then 2 maintenance men came to us and said its dangerous and you can't do that, we said okay and thought we were in the clear….NOT! 2 mall cop like dudes for the train station and 2 managers came and wanted to fine us! we eventually got out of that but learned that lesson! Then we made it to where we were catching the big train to Paris, not knowing there were 2 of them and couldn't find our seats! we got away with sitting in first class until the last 15 minutes of our trip when a mean lady came and yelled at us.  She checked our tickets and Michael did not have his youth card with him so he had to pay a fine! We eventually made it to Paris and managed to change stations via metro just fine! Then we finally made it to Ben in Le Mans!
     Friday morning bright and early before any rooster was crowing we caught our train to Caen, Normandy! We got to be on the outskirts of the speech being given by the president of France Francois Hollande.  It was great to be able to witness such a great event! I even shook a hand of a local mayor but i have no clue who it was!oops! While walking the streets of Caen, we met a 93 year old veteran named Tom Blakely of the 82nd Airbore.  He was a Paratrooper who was one of the first to land in Normandy at the age of 20!  He still to this day volunteers at the World War II Museum in New Orleans! Hopefully I get to go see him there.  Its hard to think about the fact that there are very few vets still around who took part in D-Day.  Meeting Tom was the best part of the trip!  After that, we went to a restaurant to watch the international ceremony with all the world leaders….what an experience!  We called it an early night and the next morning took a train to Bayeux to see the famous tapestry then a bus to Omaha Beach where we went to the American Museum and Cemetery on the beach.  Reading the stories of all the men who served and watching videos was very eye opening.  However, standing in the cemetery looking out to the English Channel was the most surreal part.  We were able to hike down to the beach and collect rocks from the shingle that was used as protection.  We got to look back up the hill and see the old bunkers that were still standing.  We also got to go touch the water of the English Channel.  After a long muddy hike back up the hill, we were waiting for our Bus back to Bayeux when we realized it was late because of the traffic and we would miss our train!  We found a nice man from Virginia who graciously gave us a ride to the train station in Bayeux! But in the hurry to get in his car, bad luck struck Michael once again and he lost his phone! We got back to Le Mans just fine and that was the last hick-up Michael had but we gave him a lot of grief for his experience over the weekend!
     When we got back to Besancon, my host mother was there to pick me up and take me to their Mountain house because it had gotten too hot in Besancon.  We spent the night and the family and I went over to Switzerland to see where they make Gruyere Cheese in believe it or not Gruyere, Switzerland! Then we went to a chocolate factory for the Nestle brand partner Cailler! My host dad works there so we took a tour and got to try all the different chocolates! I was in Heaven!
     It has been a long weekend and I am ready to get back into the routine of classes tomorrow morning!

Here we go!

Tomorrow I head off to Normandy for some D-Day Celebrations! I am so excited! I really love history, especially WW2 history so this is great! We have started classes at the C.L.A. after taking what seemed like a French ACT test to determine what class we need to be in.  I feel like I'm where i should be but its hard because my teacher and some of the kids don't speak english so its all french all the time and i feel like i have fried my brain by the end of the day but i think its for the best to only speak french! I love living with my host family! The food is great and we have family dinner then my host mom and I eat breakfast every morning with a big cup/bowl of coffee! its great! I have a host sister who is 20 and speaks really good english! we get along great! tonight she made a fantastic chocolate cake from scratch of a recipe she made herself! It has been nice to walk around town in between classes with the other students, especially the other Americans who are from Penn State.  We all run errands together, like today we went to get bus passes so its nice to have something in common with the kids when we are all doing stuff in the town.  This place is so charming and the buildings are beautiful and old with a lot of character! I hope it gets better from here on out with my understanding of the language but they tell me practice makes perfect.  We keep dry erase boards at the dinner table for mini french lessons every morning and evening! I feel like being with a host family really helps! I hope to be as close to them in 12 years as I am with the kids that lived with us from Germany and all the Baseball boys we hosted! I am making the best of this experience for sure!

the city river

view from a huge mountain i climbed

the boys!

bread outside the palace 

all that sparkles and shines

my idea of a museum!