I just added a calendar showing some of my confirmed travel dates. Check out the right side of this page.
A Night In Paris
No, I’m not talking about the bootleg film… I’m talking about the second half of this week (and actually it’s two nights). That’s right, I’m heading to Paris tomorrow night. It’s a Belgian holiday here on Thursday so I’m taking the opportunity to travel.
I’m pretty bad, in general, about planning my trips in advance — so I’ll probably pay about 80 Euros just for the one way journey. Luckily I’m staying with a friend, so the free lodging should more than make up for expensive transit.
I’m still alive
More posts, more frequently now - I promise. I now have Internet at home, so I have no excuse.
Since I last wrote, a lot has happened here. I moved into a new apartment and out of the hotel. All of my clothes are permanently suitcase-creased, but it was worth the wait. The new place is amazing! Cool architecture, furnished, and right in the center of town:
Check out the awesome view of Grand Place!:
I broke the new pad in with a little party last weekend. Naturally, I wanted to put my best foot forward, so I decided to iron my shirt before everyone showed up. As soon as I plugged the iron in, all the power went out and, to make a long story short, it took 30 minutes and a trip down to the cave of a basement to get the lights back on. Luckily, only a few guests showed up before we figured it out. I mean, I like parties with music from laptop speakers and two candles for light as much as the next guy, but that would have sucked. Why do I keep having power issues?
Most people brought some alcohol to the party - more as a gift than something to drink that night. This is pretty different from the U.S. I think I actually ended up ahead because people brought so much. So it just solidifies the obvious: Having a party is almost always a good idea.
Other recent happenings include a visit from Grant, a friend from MKE. After he broke my water heater,
we hopped on a train and went to Antwerp for the afternoon,
before heading to Essen, Belgium for his girlfriend, Femke’s, graduation party. I can speak a bit of French which gets me around fine in Brussels, but I speak zero Dutch. So, it was a cool experience to see a traditional Dutch graduation party, but there was quite the language barrier.
We finished off the packed weekend with an afternoon in Amsterdam. Not really enough time to see the city, so I’ll have to go back. It’s only about 2 hrs by train from here.
A Post — Just for You
Don’t you love checking websites daily when they only get updated every other week?? I know I do.
Seriously though, sorry for the delay between posts. I originally wanted to wait until I had good news about my apartment search here in Brussels… and I’ve had two weeks of bad news…UNTIL TODAY! I’m moving in tomorrow (I’ll actually believe it when I’m through the door). I will post some pictures of the new place soon.
Since my last post, I’ve moved to my 3rd hotel in the last month. This one is much closer to work at least which is so much better than the first.
I went to Brugge over the weekend with my friend from work, Remi, and his girlfriend Amandine. It’s a beautiful city in the North of Belgium with great architecture. Check out some pictures:
We took a canal tour which was dirt cheap at 5 Euros…compared to 60 Euros in Venice.
I did a little experimentation with motion photography while we were there as well:
Overall, great trip. Thanks Remi for the ride!
