How do I summarize the last 3 days? GREAT!

So! It is 9:08 am here in Belgium and I am sitting in the classroom alone because I was too lazy to check the schedule last night after a night of dancing and fun! So, this might come as a shock to most of you, but I am an hour early to school today! But let me reassure you that I thought I had overslept today and I thought I was going to be late for school- harharhar. Anyway, this is good news for my blog stalkers (kat and mom) because I have a wee bit of free time to blog! Wow! I realized this after I had already borded the metro- I considered going home but decided the 10 minute walk would be pointless. This morning Geraldine was the only one at breakfast with me, which was nice because it is really nice to talk to her about her boyfriend and other stuff she doesn't talk about in front of her parents. I told her I enjoyed talking to her and I told her if she ever wanted to come hang out with a bunch of Americans I would invite her sometime. She smiled and said that would be fun and that none of the other students had ever invited her or Alexi to hang out with the group!

I'm having a BLAST! Everything is going super, my home-stay, the group, the belgians! To catch you up, since I blogged last, I've had a grande tour of Brussels with Jerry- my favorite part was walking to the top of The Triumphal Arch! (I stupidly chose to walk to the top because Jerry said it was only four flights of stairs.. it was more! I arrived at the top panting to a group of composed students that took the elevator- but it supplied a good laugh for the others :) From there we could see most of Brussels- which helped my orientation of the city a lot! The Triumphal Arch was concieved by King Leopold II to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Belgium's independence in 1880. But it wasn't completed until 1905. On both sides of the Arch there are museums, one of old cars and the other of old planes! We went in the museum about the planes, it was very cool! It also housed a lot of old weapons- cannons, swords etc which was cool to see. There are a lot of old planes there- Its like a museum of the evolution of flight. That night I met up with my Belgian friend from AU, Paul Sturm, downtown at an Irish bar called the Old Oak which is near where he works near the fancy EU buildings downtown. (His parents are American but he grew up in Brussels, he studied at AU in DC until he graduated this spring and since he has moved back to Brussels.) It was nice to be with a bunch of English speaking kids in an English speaking bar for a change. His friends were very funny and we all played a trivia game at the bar and I was helpful with some of the American music and movie directors!

The next day we came to school (which is two metro stops away from the metro in my neighborhood - very convenient) to learn about our internships! We had individual consultations about the interviews we will be going on for our internships next week. I have five interviews and I really like the different places I'm interviewing. One is for a member of the European Parliament, another is an important consultant for the EU who consults about many things including Energy and Environmental issues. Another is called the Polar Conservation Organisation and another is the Environmental Policy center. The last one is the Royal Military Academy- doesn't sound as close to my interests but I hear it is very interesting as well! I have to do research about all of these organizations and people before the interviews so that I might impress someone and get an internship!

After that, my friends Supriya and Autumn and I decided to go exploring! It was super fun! we went downtown and sat by the fountain in the Royal Park (its near the Palace) for a while. Then we found the Botanique - a nice garden and beautiful glass building with funny statues all around. We went inside the building and I spied on cute musicians practicing and we found a schedule of a lot of indie bands- some I know like the Grizzly Bears-that are going to perform there! Then we took the tram- a train that runs in the middle of the street to the petit Sablon - which is where the "people who think they are cool" hang out. I saw many a cool person there- riding bikes and wearing Raybans. There are a lot of good cafes and antique restaurants. After walking around for a while we sat down and had a beer and talked for an hour or so. It was so fun!

That is a pretty good summary of the highlights of the last 3 days, and my computer is dying so I have to go! Peace and Love, Flo