Exams are over!!

I officially finished all of my exams yesterday.
In recap.
First was history, not too bad.
Second was geography. The first half we had to draw a map and write two essays. I didn't have enough time to finish the essays, and I didn't entirely understand the directions, but it seemed to go over fine.
Religion was third. All except for one question, it wasn't too bad.
Fourth I had math. It was fine, I think I understood all of the questions, hopefully I passed.
Fifth I had French. I had a slightly shorter exam than everyone else, but in all I feel like I did the best I possible could, and I'll be happy with the result.
Sixth I had English. We had to create a skit (we being the exchange students) talking about all of the material that had been covered over the year. This ranged from meeting new people, The Christmas Carol, and Bob Marley. My teacher was very impressed with the result.
Seventh was biology. I was very disappointed, this exam was a lot harder than I was expecting and I am not certain that I passed.
But that's life.

Last night one of the teachers at school, Madame Gallo, took me, Eduardo, Emma, and Mikayla to a one man show she had written and was starring in. It was in Brussels. We drove out there with her, hung out backstage, went to get something to eat, watched the show, and hung out afterwards. It was really fun and her show was hilarious. It really made me miss theater. And on the plus side, I understood practically everything, which was nice.

This weekend I do not have anything grand planned. Most of the Belgians are still cooped up studying, seeing as none of them finish before Monday (Flemish test).  Hopefully I'll do something fun with some other exchange students.

Next week, however, is serious party time, as everyone has finished their exams, and then it is Christmas.

And then my parents and sister come. Yay. Life is grand :)

today I appreciate: clean, white snow

Exams, Saint Nicolas, and MORE COLD

Hello, hello, hello. Bonjour. Salut. Ça va? Moi, ça va bien. Mais je suis très fatigue, et un peu malade. Mais, ne vous inquiétez pas! Comme habitude, tout va bien.

I am slowly losing my mind here, children. My family is coming soon. I will see my family in 21 days. That's nuts, isn't it?

I had two exams today. Geography and history. History was fine. I wrote an essay about why the Nazi's helped the German economy. Geography I made a map of Germany. You'd think we only study Germany, huh? Well, not the case. I also had to write an essay about the United States economy surrounding the Great Depression. There was one question between the two tests combined that was specifically applicable to Belgium. I didn't know the answer.

This weekend I celebrated Saint Nicolas. Friday after school Géraldine's scouting group went across the road to play games with the children who live in the children's home. Then Saint Nicolas came. If you're good, you get clementines and chocolates. If you're bad, a black man beats you with a stick, or something like that. Very politically correct, I know. Saturday night I spent the night at my third host family's house. Then Sunday morning I was awoken (after a solid six hours drifting in and out of consciousness) by my lovely little six year old host sister giving me a kiss and telling me there were chocolates on the stairs, and I better get up quickly! We got to open presents, play games, and eat candy. Not bad for a Sunday morning. They even served bacon and donuts for breakfast! Then I came back home (or, to my first host family's home, I suppose) and got a scarf from "Saint Nicolas" as well as more chocolate.

And trust me, all the chocolate is good for me. I have officially gained too much weight, a serious diet is commencing immediately (unfortunately for me this diet is often broken by a few pieces of chocolate, fries, or waffles) and HOPEFULLY Emma and I will be joining a gym soon. I'll keep you all posted.

I have two more exams on Thursday, and then next week the TRUE exam schedule starts. Monday is math, Tuesday is French, Wednesday is Biology, Thursday is English. Or maybe Biology and English are switched around; I can't remember. Regardless. These exams each last four hours, and then we are free to go for the day. Most likely to simply go home and study more for the upcoming exams. It's lovely. Luckily for me, I am finished Thursday, seeing as I opted out of taking Physics and Chemistry (too difficult), and the week after are all classes that I am not enrolled in.

So. In summary. I will take History (original version, the same as all the other students), Geography (part one was today, part two on Thursday), Math (the same version as everyone else, obviously), French (a simplified version), Biology (the same test as the rest of them) and then English. I am required to take two exams according to Rotary, and four exams according the school. So don't worry, I'm doing my best to go above and beyond, although opting out of Chemistry and Physics is a little weak of me.

I'm doing my best. I am sick. I have a headache and a sore throat, but nothing serious. I should get more sleep, I think. I'm always tired until I'm ready for bed, and then I can't fall asleep. And lately, even once I'm asleep, I've been waking up at least a few times each night. Sometimes to nightmares, sometimes unexplainably. Hopefully this gets better once all the stress of exams goes away (and if you couldn't pick up on the sarcasm, I'm not actually stressed about exams. Although he was actually making fun of me when he said it, I full heartedly agree with one of my friends that "participation is the goal, passing isn't quite as important".

I hope everyone is enjoying the weather. It is cold here; I don't like it. I am still wondering why I didn't decide to go to a warmer country, that way I could have taken a real vacation. Not to mention if I had the opportunity to wear something other than four sweaters, leggings under jeans, and a huge coat all of the time, I might be a little more concerned about the fat that is accumulating under all of the layers I am forced to wear due to all the cold in Belgium.

However. It is getting late (almost 9:00)! And we all know (or at least, I know) that after I "say" I am going to bed, it takes about another two hours to successfully get in bed, with the lights off, and finish texting (yes, yes, yes, my texting frenzy I was known for in the United States has not disappeared). So. I bid you all good night, hopefully I find the courage to post again soon, although don't expect any interesting news. Exams are consuming our lives. Yippie.

P.S. I just successfully tuned a guitar without a tuner. I'm pretty proud of myself. I'd like to start playing again. Give me a hobby other than french verbs, sit ups, and facebook.

today I appreciate: guitar

glowy bracelets...

So... I've been very bad about writing, again.

Saturday night was a friend's birthday party. It was really fun. We had to have an item of "flash" which would give us a free drink. Some people went all out (anyone remember Ladislas? He was decked out in an Elvis outfit), but Geraldine, Manon, and I decided to use some glow in the dark bracelets that my father so conveniently gave me before I left the states. They were perfect :)

I didn't end up leaving the party until around three in the morning. I got a solid four hours of sleep before I was woken up for the hunt on Sunday. I was a tracker. I gathered up my warmest possible clothes, a pair of boots, and a long wooden stick and joined a large group of people walking in a straight line through woods and fields and small ponds. It was thoroughly entertaining. But here is my question. Do people do things like that in the states? There were about 30 of us all together, with maybe about 10 actual hunters.

Monday and Tuesday I was off of school. Both days I ended up in Liege, Monday to see Harry Potter and Tuesday to go shopping with Emma. 

Yesterday, Wednesday, I went to Germany with Rotary for a small Christmas fair type thing. There were a bunch of little stands selling trinkets. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed spending time with the other exchange students, even though I was FREEZING!

today I appreciate: bright lights, big city

i need sleep

Still exhausted. Still utterly exhausted.

Tuesday night, I went to the Lady Gaga concert. If you have EVER had any doubts about her, you need to forget them. She was INCREDIBLE!! She sang live the entire show, she danced, she played the piano, and she gave some of the most inspiring (and hilarious) speeches I have ever heard. My favorite? "When you leave here tonight, I don't want you to leave loving ME more, I want you to leave loving yourself more". And she talked about how people make fun of her because she is weird, and she knows what it feels like to hate herself and how hard life can be. But her motto "born this way" pretty much sums it up.
I get chills just thinking about it.

Me, Mikayla, and Emma at the concert.

Lady Gaga playing a piano inside the hood of a truck.

gagagagagagagagaga.

A monster ate her heart.

One example of her lovely costume choices. there were twelve in all.

:)

So that was Tuesday. I probably only got around four hours of sleep, but being the dedicated student that I am, I woke up and went to school Wednesday. Wednesday after school I ended up spending some time running errands with Geraldine and my host mom. Then I hung went to the National Hockey game, Belgium vs. Argentina. It was really fun, and Belgium won!!! After that we got some fries and strolled around Brussels, seeing as I had never seen the Grand Place by night. Special thanks to Mr. Dessart for continually driving me around and showing me some of the amazing parts of this wonderful country!!

Thursday after school I came home and took a nap, and then one of Geraldine's friends slept over, so we all hung out. It was a little hard not being home for Thanksgiving with my family, but I managed.

Last night my second host family came over for dinner, and I had a lovely time. I can tell I am going to like living with them very much; their daughters are great and the parents are both very nice and fun.

Today I am recuperating. I'm tired and getting a little sick from my lack of sleep. BUT. The show must go on, tonight is one of my friend's eighteenth birthday parties, and tomorrow is a hunting thing with my host family. Don't ask, I have no idea. Time will tell.

today I appreciate: dreams

je suis fatiguée!!!

That means I'm tired, in French.

I'm always tired here. Everyone comments on it. And yes, part of it is my fault, I do stay out too late on the weekends and could probably go to bed earlier during the week. But even so. Speaking French all day is exhausting. No actually, it's not the speaking. It's the concentrating. When it's a small group, it's alright. But in class or at dinner, that's when it's tiring.

Friday was Mikayla's birthday. Emma made her a cake and we ate it in the morning. It was delicious.

After school I hung out in Hannut. Then Geraldine came to the cafe to celebrate her birthday, with Manon and Pauline.

Saturday Geraldine, Pauline, my host parents and I went into Namur for lunch and shopping. It was enjoyable. Saturday night I ended up going to Manon's house around 6:30 and hanging out there until going to a "balle". Geraldine had a different party to go to with people I didn't know, so I hung out with Manon for four hours and then headed to the ball. It was fun, but nothing overly exciting.

Today is Geraldine's birthday, but I think we're pretty much hanging out around the house, as she was at a party really late last night.

Overall, I am tired, but I am still enjoying my time in Belgium very thoroughly.

today I appreciate: differences

I LOVE TECHNO, operas, and COLD.

Hello WORLD. Again. It's been a long time. What new do I have to offer you?

The last time I posted was... Friday.

Saturday I stayed at home and rested. Saturday NIGHT was I LOVE TECHNO, only one of the biggest festivals in the country. And let me just tell you, it was awesome!!

I left my house around 6:30 and headed to Hannut, where I was meeting up with my friends from school to take a private coach bus to the venue, which was in the Flemish part, about two hours away.

The bus was crazy. We were blaring music and dancing and having a great time. They had free give aways, such as t-shirts and CDs, and it was a lot of fun.

When we finally arrived, it was about 10:00, raining, and cold. We quickly headed inside and the place was already PACKED with people. The set up was this: six rooms, each labeled a different color, where a different DJ would be playing for a given amount of time. In the middle was a huge room, with food, bathrooms, etc. There was also a "chill out room" where you were supposed to go if you were tired or getting dizzy. I cannot even describe how enormous this place was. Or how crazy it all was. I will never again experience anything like it, and I had a great time.

We stayed and danced all night long, not leaving until around 6:00 in the morning. Needless to say, Sunday I was exhausted. I slept for five hours after I got home, and then, upon waking up, was told by Geraldine that I would be heading to the foire in Liege- a fair. Of course, I couldn't say no.

I ended up going to that with her, Manon, Aymeric, and Aymeric's brother Rodrigue. It was really fun as well.  There were all sorts of rides that you couldn't find in the United States (the fair would be too afraid of getting sued) and it was a lovely group to be with, so I had fun.

Then school started again on Monday. Emma stayed home sick. Tuesday both Mikayla and Emma were gone, and during my four free hours I had some quality bonding time with Eduardo. Wednesday, the half day, was normal, and Wednesday night I went to the opera with Rotary.

The opera was called Boheme, and it is what Rent was based off of. You could definitely notice the similarities. It was beautiful and I had a lot of fun seeing all of my exchange student friends!!

Today was cold. Below is a picture of Eduardo. He is from Mexico, so he is obviously detesting the cold even more than I am. He was wearing three sweatshirts and a jacket. Hehehe :)

today I appreciate: english verbs

Thanksgiving!!

First of all, today is my 100th day in Belgium!!!! Crazy, right???????!!?!?!?!?!?!?

So. Yesterday Mikayla, Emma, and I held a thanksgiving for our host families.  We couldn't find turkeys, so we cooked two chickens. And they were delicious.

As probably most of you know, I don't cook. Yes, mac and cheese, no problem. Real food... bigger problem. Luckily for me, I am good at following directions. Mikayla and Emma just bossed me around all day, and luckily for me, neither of them got TOO upset with me (as far as I know).

We cooked: chicken, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, apple pie, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, biscuits and a salad. I think that's everything. In the end, we had a few small problems, such as an issue with the flour in the gravy getting baked. But everything worked out fine, and we ended up with wayyyyyy too much left over food- the Belgians DO NOT eat enough!!! 

Here are a few pictures from the day/ night:

Me rubbing salt and pepper around the inside of the chicken. I got blood all over my hands and it was pretty disgusting. So, there you go.

Me and Mikayla with our sweet potatoes. Not gonna lie, I have gotten REALLY good at peeling vegetables since I've been here. New found talent...

The lovely Americans.

Me and Charles-Antoine, my host brother :)

The dinner table. 

Us with our host families. My host dad is the man on the left, and my host mom is the woman furthest to the right (aka, second to the right). My youngest host sister is next to me, on the left.

Overall it was a great experience and I believe that everyone enjoyed the food and they were somewhat surprised that Americans were able to eat something other than hamburgers. We showed them!!! :)

today I appreciate: the rain

tick tock

Hello world. I don't have much to say tonight, I don't have much time. But it has been awhile since I last posted, so I'll just give a brief update.

Friday night I went to Aymeric's surprise birthday party. It was a lot of fun, and he was surprised, so that's good.

Saturday I went to Bruges. It was beautiful. I didn't take any pictures because I forgot my memory card (of course) but Emma took a lot of them and I'll post some another time.

Sunday we had a big family reunion with my host dad's family. It was fun and the food was really good!!

Yesterday I had to go to school.

Today, school started two hours late. I got to sleep in. I did laundry tonight. That was a big accomplishment. Speaking of which, I need to go move it into the dryer. I will do that after I finish posting this blog.

Needless to say, I don't have much to talk about.

I miss my family. I love you guys.  A special thanks to my mother and father for sending me everything I have asked for and being wonderful. Another special thanks to Grandma Joan for writing me letters. And a special thanks to Sarah for sending me amazing candy, mac and cheese, and sillybandz. And also, finally, a special thanks to anyone who is actually reading this. I hope that I don't disappoint you all by not writing very often. I'm just so busy!!

today I appreciate: my little sister

shopping, discotheque, vacance!!

Alright. Last time I posted was Monday. What has happened since then?

Tuesday I went into Brussels with Geraldine. And you may be surprised to learn that we went to A MALL. An actual indoor mall. It was lovely. All I bought was a necklace, a pair of tights, and an umbrella, but it was excellent being able to walk around inside- I felt right at home. Tuesday night I had a Rotary meeting with my host club. We ate dinner and then the students who went on exchange last year from Belgium gave their presentations about their years abroad. I'm not going to lie to you, it really made me think. One of them even made me cry. It made me realize how much I need to take advantage of every day that I am here. I need to travel, I need to see the country, I need to study French!!! But overall it was a very pleasant evening, although I did end up going home and crying, not because I was homesick, but because I'm already dreading leaving.

Wednesday I went shopping with Emma, her host mom, and her youngest third host sister. We went to an outlet mall, which Emma and I were super psyched about, thinking that we would find some great deals. Unfortunately, we forgot that we are in Europe. All of the stores were RIDICULOUSLY overpriced (I'm talking 120 euros for a shirt). But we had fun just walking around and window shopping, nonetheless. I ended up spending the night at her house, and we made mac and cheese and Hawaiian pizza, ate ice cream, watched movies, and just had a girls night.

Thursday, yesterday, I got home from Emma's in the afternoon. I spent the day at home, spending some time with my host family and catching up on some work that I needed to get done. After dinner I headed out to our local cafe, met up with Emma and her friend Courtney- Courtney is from the Ohio, like Emma, and she is in France on exchange; she came out for the weekend. They were with some of our friends from school, all of who would be accompanying me to the discotheque later that night. Emma and Courtney did not go, because they are spending all day today in Liege and didn't want to be too tired. So around 10:30 I left Emma and Courtney, and headed to the train station with two friends from school, where we met up with a bunch of other people and took the train out to Hasselt, where the discotheque is. Hasselt is in the Flemish part of Belgium, and it was quite the experience. A large majority of the people there were speaking in Flemish and that was bizarre for me. I always assumed it would be like German, which it is, but it's much less harsh. It honestly just sounds like a joke when people are speaking it; it's hilarious. At one point in the night I was standing with my friend Ladislas, and a guy came up to him and started talking in Flemish. Ladislas clearly had no idea what he was saying, but just stood there nodding and pretending that he knew exactly what was going on. Later, on the train ride back, my friend Tutu started hitting on some girls on the train, who only spoke Flemish. He is loud and crazy and was shouting across the train at them in broken Flemish mixed with French mixed with English, and for me, it was utterly hilarious. We left the discotheque at 4:30 in the morning, and I spent the next few hours at a friends house, before I returned home at 10:00. Needless to say, I'm a bit tired.

Today I am spending the day at home (hopefully sleeping a little bit!), and then tonight I have a party at a friend's house. Tomorrow I am planning on going to Bruges with Emma, Courtney, and my friend Aymeric. It should be a lovely experience, although the weather is not supposed to be all that great.

today I appreciate: having fun

Halloween Weekend

Sooo... Last time I wrote was Wednesday.

What INTERESTING has happened since WEDNESDAY?

I can't remember anything overly exciting occurring on Thursday. I had an exam in my French class with Pere Boly, speaking and reading and conversation. I think I got 16/20, 17/20, and 17/20. Not bad, not bad. Thursday night I went to my third host family's house to babysit; it was fun. I didn't get there until close to 7:30, we ate, looked at pictures on my laptop, read stories, and then pretty much they all went to bed. I then proceeded to study for the grammar part of my French test that took place on Friday.

The studying didn't pay off; I got an 8/20. I'm not overly upset about this, because the test was really hard, and he asked us a lot of grammar things that we didn't learn or that were funky exceptions, etc. And I was prepared to not do well. But, looking on the bright side, I have to take the test again at Christmas and again later in the year, and this way, there's really nowhere to go but up.

So. Friday after school. Emma came over. Later on Mikayla came over. There was a course du rock (dance class with Geraldine's group activity) Friday night, but Geraldine was not going because she had a scouts thing. Aymeric arranged it (last minute, I might add) so that I was able to go to the party after the course du rock. The plan was that I would go to the cafe with Emma and Mikayla, Aymeric's dad would pick me up and take me to Liege where I would meet up with everyone else (Aymeric was already in Liege along with the rest of the people), and then Aymeric's dad would drop me off on the way home. The only problem with the plan was that, being American, when I glanced at the text from Aymeric saying his father would pick me up at 20:30 in Hannut, my mind gathered that I was getting picked up at 10:30, not 8:30. So, needless to say, I was not in Hannut at 8:30, I was not even ready to go at 8:30. Luckily, his dad was running about half an hour late, so I made it to the cafe just as he was there to pick me up. We then had about a half an hour car ride to Liege, which at first I was slightly worried would be awkward (it was just the two of us alone in the car), but ended up being awkward pause free the entire ride.

So I eventually ended up at the party. Geraldine was not there because she had a scouts thing, but a lot of the other people I know in the group activity are also in scouts with her, so there were only about seven or eight people there I was friends with. It was fine though, that was all I needed. We danced (yes, I wore a dress, all of the boys were in suits... very classy) and just hung out the whole night. Overall, it wasn't the craziest party I've ever been to, but I had a wonderful night. I even learned to dance the waltz! The only problem was that in my rush to leave, once realizing I was being picked up at 8:30, I forgot my camera at home. Thus I have no pictures from the evening.

Saturday afternoon I went to Liege with Mikayla and Emma to go shopping. Although I didn't really find anything, I had fun, and of course, ate a delicious chocolate waffle. I got home from that and Emma and I ended up going to a horror films movie night organized by Geraldine's scouting group. The movie wasn't overly scary, but I had fun nonetheless. Then Emma slept over and we stayed up until about 4 in the morning talking; really deep stuff, it was nice to have a real conversation, it's been awhile.

Sunday I hung out around the house with Emma until about five or six. Then she left and I spent some time with Geraldine and Charlotte, and around nine my friend Maxime picked me up to take me to a party at my friend Thomas' house.

Me and Maxime.

Me and Thomas.

The party was fun. I even got to play guitar and piano. We basically just hung out the whole time, nothing overly interesting. I'll put up some pictures, only because this was the first time all weekend I remembered my camera!

Me and my good friend Benjamin. I eat lunch with him.

Maxime, me, and another friend named Mathieu.

Me and one of my favorite Belgians ever, Maxime Koch.

Martin- a boy who rides the bus with me, Me, Frederic- Maxime Koch's brother, and Lauris- another boy who rides the bus with me.

Me and my new friend Arnaud, Maxime Koch's cousin.

Frederic, Martin, me.

Me and Maxime. He's my best friend here, pretty much.

Benjamin being crazy haha.

Overall, life is good. Today is All Saint's Day, and my host mom's parents came over for lunch. They were very nice and it was enjoyable. Tomorrow I am heading into Brussels with Geraldine to go shopping. I am off of school the entire week, so hopefully some fun things happen.

P.S. Happy Halloween (late!)    :)

today I appreciate: sleep

Joyeux Anniversaire...

Today was my good friend Aymeric's birthday. Thus, after school, a bunch of us met up to celebrate. The group included: me, Emma, Geraldine, Manon, Gregoire, Kathleen, Pauline, and later Maximilien.

Everyone came to Hannut to hang out for the afternoon (remember, we get out of school at noon on Wednesdays!!). Aymeric shows up, his mother dropped him off (coincidence: they have the same birthday), and he's carrying a picnic basket. I kid you not. Inside the picnic basket is a bottle of champagne, a bottle of biere de noel, two bags of chips, and plastic champagne glasses. We headed over to a little square that I wish I had gotten a picture of. We literally ended up sitting on the steps and they started pouring champagne and beer to celebrate Aymeric's eighteenth birthday. In the middle of the town, basically, outside, in Belgium, in the cold. Emma and I found it utterly hilarious.

We then went to Mister Patate to eat. After Mister Patate we headed to a bar that I have never been to before. Not our usual cafe, Copain d'abord. At this place, on your birthday, you get a free bottle of champage. So we settled in at a table in the back, with another bottle of champage and new drinks (we are REQUIRED to buy a drink at this bar- rip off).  I had baked a cake for Aymeric (to be exact, the DELICIOUS brownies that my family is famous for in Minnesota), Emma had made him cookies, and Kathleen and Manon both had presents for him. So, we lighted the candles, sang happy birthday, and ate some cake.

After an hour or so at this bar, eating, drinking, and just hanging out, we headed over to our usual cafe, where Aymeric was given another free drink.

We hung out here for the rest of the afternoon. Overall it was very enjoyable, and I hope that in the end Aymeric had a wonderful birthday.

Me, Aymeric, Pauline.

Me, Aymeric, Emma.

If anyone has been stalking both my facebook and my blog, yes, I posted last night that I was hitting the low of the emotional roller coaster. And it was true. Last night was not the best. But today I am feeling much better. Lately I have just been getting very frustrated with French. I'm not learning nearly as much per day as I was at the beginning, and I'm ready to be able to speak well, not just throw together random words with inaccurate conjugations. I feel stupid, and it's taking it's toll on me. BUT. Don't for a second think that I'm not enjoying myself. I love Belgium, I'm very glad I'm here. Although, every morning when I head to school in the bitter cold, I wonder why I hadn't chosen a warmer country to spend a year in....... HOWEVER. Belgium is great, I'm glad I'm here!!

today I appreciate: love