Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Maedaaaa, happy birthday to me! Yesterday (August 30th) I celebrated my 21st birthday half on a plane, half in Belgium, completely zombie-like jet lagged. The plane ride was looonnnggggg, and we arrived in Brussels at 7:15 am. That's only 1:15 am back home, so it was really weird to be think about the fact that our day was just getting started. It passed as a blur of loud-speaking Dutch and bikes whizzing by. I swear, by the end of the week I'm going to get nailed by a biker. There are bells for a reason folks!!
We're still wondering around the city, getting used to things and checking out our surroundings. Yesterday we got registered at the University and got our official KU Leuven ID card. I look real cute, don't worry. Today we ventured to the grocery store, where I bought a gigantic loaf of bread. For some reason, people don't eat around here?? We didn't get a chance to eat lunch in between our two tours, and we don't have dinner arrangements. That's okay. I can easily live off bread.
I met my roommate Virginia yesterday. She scared the crap out of me by popping out from behind the door, but her overly-enthusiastic attitude and puppy-dog eyes totally make up for it. Plus, she got me a little plant as a birthday present. How cute! I haven't attempted Spanish with her yet, (to be honest, I'm a little nervous!) but I plan on trying whenever I see her next.
I've been in Belgium for a little over 24 hours, and I've learned a few things:
1. Belgium loves deposits. (Bike deposit, key deposit, grocery cart rental deposit)
2. Bikes take priority over everything. If you're in the way, move. Use your spidy-senses to tell that there is a bike coming. You should always just know.
3. Wi-fi is an unknown concept here.
4. Dutch is hard. And some of the words are totally made-up.
and finally 5. Leuven is absolutely wonderful! The buildings and architecture are out of this world beautiful, and all of the people I've met are really nice. Things are like home but different, enough to feel comfortable, but different enough for me to realize I'm in a different country. I really love it here, and I'm excited to get to know the city more, and be able to, one day, call it home.
