Joyeux Noël!

So for the third year in a row I spent Christmas in a different country. 2007- China, 2008- USA, 2009- Belgium. And oh what fun it was! Experiencing the different Christmas's around the world is truly an amazing gift that no store could ever provide. Belgian's celebrate Christmas on the night of the 24th. My host family and I ate dinner at my host aunt's house with the whole family. I got to enjoy Christmas dinner with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, sister, and parents. Although they aren't my "blood relatives" I can honestly say that to me, they are my family. I am so blessed to not only have a wonderful family waiting for me back home, but now I have an entirely new family in Belgium. I know that this will not be my last Christmas spent here. We ended up staying up, eating and drinking until four in the morning and even my 80 year old grandparents were as lively as the rest of us! Then for Christmas day, we ate Racklette (a melted cheese dish) and played Trivial Pursuit.

My family was too generous and Santa brought me a Swiss Watch (something I have wanted for forever). My real grandparents were too nice and instead of a traditional Christmas gift, they donated money in my name to a young girl living in Kenya in order for her to graduate nursing school. With my real sister Kayla living in Kenya, she too gave gifts of never-ending-love to her new friends in Kenya. Please, if you love Christmas spirit as much as me, go visit her blog, www.kaylainkenya.blogspot.com

There is a time for traveling.....and it is now

Too much to say......I'll try to sum it up.

School:
Finished school last week. I took a few exams and actually passed three of my classes. I passed gym, english, and french. For my french final I was assigned a book to read (in french!). Its called "Novecento: Pianist" and it is about an Italian man who lived on a boat his entire life and played amazing music. I was surprised that I actually understood the book and although I had to look up soooo many of the words, I really learned a lot. Then I had an oral exam with my french teacher and I passed! After the exams all of the kids from school go out and celebrate. It was really fun to be able to hang out with my friends from school outside of class. Most Belgians are very focused on passing class, and it was great to see them all loosen up and relax once finals were over.

Brugge:
Last week my host parents took me and my friend Audrey (Canadian) to Brugge for the day. The two hour car ride to the coast was nice and smooth because the Flemish region of Belgium is completely flat. This is very different from my city which has mountains throughout the city. We visited the beach and I got to walk on sand that literally was so soft, it felt like snow. After the becah we went to Brugge and got to take a fun and exciting boat ride through the canals of the city. The entire city of Brugge is built ontop of rivers that wind their way through houses, cafes, and shops. We also got to look at a bar that has over 6000 different varieties of beer available. Now that is a lot of beer! In Brugge they speak Dutch (or Nederlandes) and it was interesting to hear a language that I really did not understand. We ate delicious food and drank some good beer. My host parents really are the best.

Birthdays:
My friend Ana Cristina turned 18 this week and threw a birthday party at her house. Ana is from Mexico and she lives really close to my host house. We ate typical Liege food and sang karaoke. It is really fun to hang out with other exchange students and also a great way to practice our french. Most of the exchange students speak english as their second language; however, a few of them don't speak english at all. So now that we all speak at least a little french, we can speak together in french. It is also just fun to speak in french with other exchange students because we all have patience with each other and can often times help one another learn and improve.

Paris:
This weekend I was given the opportunity to go to Paris with my french school, Jon Fosse. About 50 of us took a bus and made the four hour trip to one of the greatest cities on earth. I went with one of my best friends, Pichii (Mexican) because we are both in the french class. He and I did not know what to expect because we did not know any one else on the trip; but, it turns out that making new friends from all over the world is something that us exchange students do quite well. We hung out with Indians, Turks, Bulgarians, and Belgians, too. We spoke french the entire weekend with our new friends. Although it was -7 degrees Celcius (about 20 degrees F), I loved every minute of the cold. With the snow falling, everything in the city was even more magical. Standing under the Eiffel Tower with the snow falling on my face is something that very few people get to experience. While in Paris we visited Montmarte (one of the best panoramic views of the city), the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and we even stood outside the Moulin Rouge. I cannot even begin to describe how unforgettable the trip was. I got to see the Mona Lisa. I walked through Paris's outdoor Christmas festival. I stood under the Eiffel Tower while it was being lit up by a twenty minute light show. People always say that Paris is the most Romantic cities in the world, and I know that I fell in love- with Paris.

St. Nicolas

This weekend was by far one of the best weekends I have spent in my lovely new home, Liege. If you are reading this right now, I must warn you I plan on going into specific details just so I will be able to remember all of this when I read it later.

Friday-
One of the biggest advantages of being an exchange student is that I do not have to take all of my end of the year exams. So luckily for me I did not have to go to school Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday. I'm only taking three exams (English, French, and Social Sciences). So Friday night I go out with some friends to the square. It is one of the best places in all of Europe to hang out with friends and have a good time. It was surprisingly empty for it being a Friday night and I was originally a little bummed out because it was not crowded like usual. Come to find out, people were just waiting until Sunday to head down town. All in all, Friday was a normal night on the town for me; but, I did get to talk to some new people and hang out with my host brother, Ben.

Saturday-
We celebrated my host mom's birthday Saturday by going to an awesome restaurant called LA CHARBONNADE. The way it works is that you order a protein and they serve it to you raw on a plate. Then they bring out hot coals and you grill your meat right at your own table. So not only was it delicious but it was also a little "hole in the wall" kind of secret place only Belgians know about. I gave Christine a cute little black hat for her birthday and I think she really liked it.

Sunday-
By far the best day of my weekend and maybe my whole month. The feast of St. Nicolas is celebrated in Liege as not only a day for giving friends and family lots of yummy chocolate, its also an excuse for university students to harass local citizens. Every year students wear and decorate white lab coats and wear them throughout the week. These white coats may seem silly. but are very useful for an outer layer of clothing protection against unwanted materials. The tradition of St. Nicolas is that every year students wearing these coats are able to ask people throughout the city to give them a little money, only a euro or less for the most part. If the students ask and do not get any money from the selfish citizen, they are not only allowed but also encouraged to throw flour on said person. This results in both the student either earning money or feeling extremely justified. The money that the students earn is used to buy beer for that night. Since I am technically still in high school in Belgium, I was not really supposed to be at the St. Nicolas celebrations; however, exchange students can get away with things that Belgians can't. So my awesome host sister Virginie gave me the needed white lab coat, I decorated it and had my friends write fun messages on it, and off I went to have one of the best nights ever. I did not feel right asking people for money since technically I shouldn't have been there in the first place, so I just went to have fun. I ended up meeting some of my Belgian friends and I also got the chance to make some new friends too. There were so many people in the square that at one point I did not have my feet on the ground, but was still standing. A few of the highlights of the night included: meeting a random Belgian girl in the bathroom, dancing on a table with my friend Ana, meeting some really cool Belgian guys who were easily the tallest people I have ever been around, chilling with Canadians who were backpacking through Europe, being told I was a good dancer by a Latina in a Cuban bar, not being robbed, thrown up on, or peed on, and only spending five euros all night. To say the least, St. Nicolas will be forever in my memory.

Sorry if you read that whole thing. It was very detailed and I only wish I could more adequately describe how truly awesome it was. Pictures to follow soon.

Germany and Ely

So sorry it has taken me this long to update my blog. A lot has happened in the past few weeks and I have just been too busy to write it all down. So here goes.....

I went to Germany for the first time this past Wednesday. It was a Rotary activity and we took the train and a bus, but it was close and easy. We got to go shopping at the Marche de Noel, which is an outdoor Christmas festival. We drank hot, spiced wine and enjoyed the fun atmosphere of Christmas in Germany. I went to the city of Aachen. All the kids that went with us wore these goofy santa hats, but luckily it was easy to find each other in the huge crowds of people.

Thursday my friend Ely left for Mexico. She has wanted to leave for awhile, so she was happy. I got to spend a lot of time with her at French school and I know that class will not be as much fun without her. I have really started to hang out with mostly Latinos and Belgians. Its strange, but I just seem to fit in with them....so they are the people I hang out with the most. Ely lives in Mexico City and I know I will visit her at some point in my life. She really is an amazing person and I am sad she is gone.

This past week my host mom, Christine, turned 50 years old. As a surprise for her birthday, my host dad, Philippe, took her to Venice, Italy for two days. Talk about a great birthday present! Tonight we are going out to one of the best restaurants in Liege. It is a little place were you BBQ your food at your own table. I expect it will be good.

This week end is the festival of St. Nicolas. It is a two day feast that takes place on the 6th and 7th of December. St. Nicolas brings children presents and candy. Luckily for me, as a student I get to participate in the more fun activities. Basically students get to hang out in the square all night and into the morning, and the next day throw flour at younger students. I beleive this will be one holiday that I will bring back to the states.