Bussing it to Brussels

I am back in Freiburg!!!

Happy to be home, but I had a really good week!

So Monday morning we loaded onto the bus at 6:30am and headed off to Luxembourg.

On our way to Luxembourg we stopped at Saint Avold in France, which is the largest US military Cemetery in Europe. It was very powerful to see all the Crosses and some Stars of David. We had time for a quick walk through but I was glad I got to see that.

The European Court of Justice is headquartered in Luxembourg so we met with two clerks who talked to us about what all goes on there.

We had a little over an hour of free time in Luxembourg and most of that was devoted to finding a place to eat, so we didn't have much time to explore. Therefore, I don't have anything fabulous pictures to show of Luxembourg.

We then hopped back into the bus to go to Brussels. Total of about 7-8 hours on the bus!! I was okay most of the time, but I took my headphones out about 20 minutes too early and had to listen stupid upon stupid comments from people in the program. By the time we got to the hotel I was fuming. I needed food and a beer.

We walked around a little and ended back by our hotel and had a good pasta dinner and a good Belgian beer Leffe. Walked around a little more but called it an early night.

Town Hall during the Day.

Town Hall at night in Grand Place.

St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral

Our first full day in Brussels consisted of us meeting at the Council of the EU with a Language Coordinator. It was pretty interesting. I then had some free time so me and Sean walked around Brussels snapping photos with the intention of looking up what we were seeing later.

Our meeting room at the Council.

The Palace Gates

The Palace. Extend this picture the other way and you get the whole Palace.

There were special meetings depending on your classes. So that afternoon I had a meeting with the Representative of the Flemish Government and the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the EU. Belgium is a really weird country when it comes to government. There really isnt a central government but rather broken up into three governments. The northern half is Flemish Region and speaks Dutch. The Southern half is Walloon Region and speaks French. And Brussels is its own little section too. Plus there are communities too. Its really confusing. So the representative talked about that.

Then we had a meeting at the Security & Defence Agenda think tank. We actually were able to meet with the Director of the think tank. He was so knowledgeable as he should be, but it was really fascinating to hear the European side to security and defense. I am so used to hearing it from Dr. Williams (my fabulous retired Navy professor at Loyola). That was probably my favorite meeting of the whole trip.

That night we walked around again looking for a place to eat. Brussels was so expensive so it was difficult to find a good value dinner. We then found a Irish pub that was playing Soccer games, yes I'm saying soccer sorry. We hung out there for a couple hours maybe and then went home. But on our way home we ran into some people from our program and one of them told us where we could find Dr. Pepper. OOOOHHH MMMMMYYYY GOOOOSSSHHH!!!! I was so excited. Some of us here are addicted to it and have been missing it. So we went and bought a can. I ended up never drinking it,I'll get to that, but I was told it didn't taste the same as expected. But maybe it was good I didn't have it because I would be craving more.

Wednesday we were able to sleep in a little and had the morning free to explore. Some of us went out from the center to see the Atomium. It is the huge atom structure for iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. You can go to the top but it costs money and Brussels was already taking so much of our money anyway.

We then went searching for the Manneken Pis, which is a statue of a peeing boy. They dress it up sometimes be we were not lucky enough to see it dressed up. Honestly it was a let down.

Once we found it, it was a huge let down. Size really matters.

As we headed back to our hotel we stopped to get our first Belgian Waffles. YUMMY!! The one i wanted was 5 euro...um not gonna happen. So I went with the simple Waffle and chocolate. PERFECT!

WAFFLE!!!!

We then at a meeting at the European Commission. We met with two people who talked to us about EU enlargement and then the function of the EU. Interesting and repetitive because a lot of the stuff we talk about in class. But hey I was at the European Commission.

We asked one of our professors for a good neighborhood to find better valued food options. He worked in the EU Parliament so he had to come to Brussels often so he gave us a recommendation of a neighborhood to try. We ended up finding a Chinese and Cambodian restaurant. Good food, good price, good time. And then once again we ended the night at a bar near our hotel. It was good company and conversation.

I wasn't able to get the feel of Brussels until we went on the Metro, which I find to be really funny. I still can't make up my mind up about Brussels. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, but I would go back to give it another shot. Cause you know I have all the time and money in the world to go to all these places again.....

Thursday we met with an Information Officer from NATO. He was American so that was kinda nice. He was a really interesting talk. Actually I have to adjust my statement from earlier. This meeting and the Security & Defence Agenda meeting were my favorite.

Then had some more free time. Got lunch and food for the trip to Paris.

I had one more meeting for my EU & the Muslim World with the Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the EU. SUPER INTERESTING. It was so interesting to listen to the Rep. phrase his answers concerning controversial topics. Some people from our group were disappointed or something because they didn't like how the guy was "so Turkish." What does that even mean? Do you expect him to answer the questions as we have been told the answers are? Sometimes, Sometimes. Anyway it was a really informative meeting.

Frites break before last meeting with Jack and Mina. Jack is from Portland, Oregon and goes to school in Walla Walla, Washington. (So now I really want to go to Oregon!) Mina is from Minneapolis and goes to school at Augsburg. (So now I can bug someone else when I'm in Minnesota besides my cousin!)

After that we met the bus and left Brussels for Paris. No big deal, just another 5 hours in the bus.

Well that's a good amount for one post, so I will post about Paris later today or tomorrow.

Hope everyone is doing well and it was good to see the Horns pulled it out over Nebraska.

Huh. I am seeing Texas will be retiring Colt's jersey......That's legit. Unfortunate that he cannot add a National Championship to the list of his qualifications, but all-time winningest quarterback in NCAA history will just HAVE to do. I think I owe Colt an explanation for my behavior throughout his Texas career: "I screamed at you because I care. Very proud of your achievements and its unfortunate that you got hurt but believe it or not I stood up for you. So see, I was a true fan. So now can you introduce me to JShip?"

Cass