Living Arrangements and Other Odds and Ends

             I'm supposed to be studying for my first test, which doesn't explain why I am uploading pictures of my apartment. As you can probably guess, that is my bedroom. Through the curtains is Hilary's bedroom (my roommate), and then the kitchen and bathroom. It gets a little chilly because of the tile floor, but all in all it is pretty cozy. Anyway, this is where I'm living for the next 3 months (I bet you are all jealous that I get to hang out in such fancy digs)! 

             

If you noticed the changes on the blog, I decided some house keeping was in order, plus I was a little bored of the old pattern and needed to waste some of my free time. This weekend I'm headed off to Leuven, Antwerp and Ghent. I'm obviously brining diamonds back from Antwerp, so if you are in the market let me know. Hopefully this weekend I can set up a web album so you can look at my pretty pictures if you are so inclined. 

Next week is quite busy. We have classes on Monday, and then I'll be at the RMA (which I love!) on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then on Wednesday we are headed off on a mini European tour to Luxembourg, Trier and some of the battlefields. We'll be stopping in at the European Court of Justice and the European Investment Bank as well. 

I hope everyone is well. I'd love to get some updates (*nudge nudge*) as I'm feeling a little isolated here in chilly Belgium. I hope you are all keeping warm in DC. Sarah and Lisa, I hope you are enjoying/excited about the sunshine in the Southern hemisphere - I am quite jealous. Best to all and lots of love!!!

The One Where Liz is an Intern

The program I am on in Brussels has three main features. 1) Academics - where Dr. Jerry Sheridan, of tour guide fame, teaches us everything we ever needed to know about the EU. 2) Lots of traveling - where Jerry takes us out of the class room and shows us all the things we have been learning about (like the European Parliament and NATO). He also takes us to some pretty sweet places that aren't exactly kosher (don't tell Mom that I'm going to the Balkans in April). And 3) an Internship - where we go out and learn all about being real people. 

My internship is at the Ecole Royale Militaire (or Royal Military Academy). I am working with the World Politics/Conflict Studies department, and my job consists of researching defense education in Europe. This is a pretty sweet deal all around, since I'm considering going into defense/security studies. Also, the RMA is about 10 minutes from my house and the campus is really beautiful. There should be more updates on this soon, as tomorrow is my first day of work! I just wanted to let you know what I'm up to, especially since I've been a little lax about keeping up with the blogging. Hopefully that will change as I start to really settle down in Brussels, but with all the traveling and studying ;) going on, I'm still a little busy!

Beautiful Bruges

Since Belgium is a very small country, we get to travel around to all the different cities. First up was Bruges. Bruges used to be a bustling port city, until all the rivers silted up and boats couldn't get there anymore. However, it is probably one of the most beautiful cities (towns?) I have ever been in. Lots of cute little canals, which you can apparently tour by boat a la Venice, and beautiful scenery. Jerry, our program director and professor extraordinaire, led out little tour group around and told us lots of fascinating stories about the place. 

Apparently Bruges was the site of a very famous battle between the French and the Flemish, in which a small army of Flemish peasants killed a whole bunch of French knights. The date of this battle is still the national day of Flanders and there is a giant statue of the leaders of the rebellion in the town square. No wonder there is linguistic conflict in Belgium, eh? Anyway, there is a plethora of beautiful buildings around Bruges, all with their own unique history. We saw one of the only Michelangelo statues outside Italy, of Mary and Jesus as a boy. There is also apparently a piece of cloth that has the blood of Christ on it, which dates from the Crusades. So, long story short, we learned a lot about history and saw a very beautiful city.

Now on to the really important stuff, what we ate! I had my first belgian waffle in Bruges and it completely lived up to my expectations - fresh strawberries and creme and pure deliciousness. After we had lunch we had to work off all of the calories so we climbed the bell tower. We timed our ascent just right, so we reached the top just as the bells started to ring. It was quite loud! After that we decided that the traditional fare of Frites (fries) was in order. My friend Trent and I were adventurous and had ours with mayonnaise (which is traditional), and I have to say that it was actually quite tasty. It was also warm, which was nice because the temperature outside was frigid. And we capped our little trip off with a nice Belgian beer, brewed in Bruges. The beer was good, but we were really confused because they only had bottled beer and we thought that in a brewery they would have at least one beer on tap! 

I might end up back in Bruges in the next couple of years, because the College of Europe is located there. The College of Europe is like the Harvard of the European Union, so if I can swing it maybe I'll head back this way for grad school! Not a bad place to spend a year studying, at any rate.