Ghent

Donc.
Hi, it’s been a while.

Last weekend…no wait.
Back up.
Last Thursday night I was invited out with my Belgian friends. So I did some fast walking-home from my viola lesson to eat a meal of oven pasta (sooo, so good. I love pasta) and leave with my friend Anais to Waterloo. There we met up with several other friends and just…hung out. It was great. I was actual a part of the conversation, make jokes, being friendly. One of the girls in my class told me very seriously that she would cry when I left. We went to a sports bar, where they had American football playing on some of the tvs. MIAMI DOLPHINS! I laughed pretty hard at that. No one was paying attention to the American football, it was really just there to be…well…American.
I slept over Anais’s house. Her family is from Spain, so every conversation is an odd mix of Spanish and French, and some random dashes of English. But we ate a biiiig breakfast the next morning, of ham and eggs and bread. I love big breakfasts.
I was home for about forty five minutes before I had to leave to catch another train. (We had Friday off for Armistice day). I took the train from Braine l’Alleud to Marchienne au Point to Thulin. Because. It. Was. Sarah’s. BIRTHDAY! Her host mom had decided to throw a surprise party for her, so me and Chantal snuck on over to her house, where there was a lot of cake and joy. Next, Chantal, Sarah and I went to a party. Supposedly it was a school party, but they were selling hard liquor and beer. So Belgian schools are a little different. Plus anyone can show up to these parties, so I saw kids from 15 years old to adults pushing 40. We had a great time dancing, though.
The next morning, we got up and went to Brussels for the day. We met up with some southerners and toured the city a bit, doing some shopping and eating and whatnot. An overall great day.
THIS weekend, I met up with Sarah and we explored Ghent! I’ve sort of gotten into the habit of wandering until what I want to find finds ME. Which actually worked spectacularly well this weekend! We found the center, and were able to look at some really awesome Flemish architecture and little interesting shops. Beware, because in Europe restraints aren’t automatically open all the time. They’re open for lunch and dinner. NOT IN BETWEEN. Oh, sure, the bars stay open, but good luck getting food at two in the afternoon. We eventually found a really delicious place called Puur. I had pesto tortellini.
While waiting for the train home in Brussels, I walked around a bit. The Christmas tree is now up in Brussels.
I teared up with happiness. How sad is that? I was SO excited. They even have a huge nativity scene with a fake barn probably bigger than any barn in Jesus’s time.
Sarah spent the night and we watched Pocahontas. The next day we had lunch with my family. AND PLAYED FRISBEE. So much Frisbee. I was very content.
I have to convince Brayan to take me more often because I do love Frisbee so very much.

Sorry, it’s not a lot! But I love you all!