Days of Arrival

Well, it took long enough but we finally got here and settled in. After catching a connection in Washington D.C. and flying 7 hours to the airport in Brussels, it's a relief to know exactly what's going on, for the most part at least.

Yesterday was a long day, as we had basically nothing once we arrived to what could nicely be called glorified dorm rooms. Sara, Lindsay and I were able to catch the metro and stop at a Carforre (somewhat like Europe's response to a WalMart). It only took us about an hour to figure out how to catch a metro (it's harder to find the locations of entrances than it seems). Luckily, my broken French in combination with some English-speaking Belgians was able to get us by and we got there just fine.

That night, it was incredibly hard to sleep, with my internal clock still being set to USA time, I woke up about four times over the course of the night. It worked out ok in the end, because at 4:30 a.m. this time, I was able to check Facebook and see that Patty, a new friend, was awake as well. I ventured down to her glorified dorm and we chatted for about 45 minutes. At 5:30 a.m. this time, I was able to Skype chat with my mom and sisters. After that, I got back to sleep for an hour and a half. 

This morning we had an orientation with Gareth Harding, our coordinator over here. We found out all of the things to expect on this trip, what we will be doing, etc. It was nice to have someone there to answer all the questions we had remaining. The best part of this orientation was the Belgian lunch we got afterwards, frites and beer. Both were delicious. After lunch we ventured over to the boys flats, which make our housing arrangement look like the slums.The afternoon was spent touring around the city center and buying a cell phone...to get in touch with the others on the trip, and to connect with others when needed.

All in all, it was a pretty great day, and I'm starting to feel adjusted to Brussels. I'm thinking I'm very much so going to enjoy this semester abroad.