Starting Saturday night(8/7), we went to her friend's birthday party, yeah I partied with the Belgians? Very odd experience though. Of course I'm not in England anymore so English wasn't an option. Luckily in Europe, they start language classes really young, not like America where it takes us to be in high school already to start learning something different. But anyway, it was interesting feeling like the "outcast," by that I mean not being able to understand a bit of dutch. It's not like any latin based language where it's easIER to understand some words. Not here. But I got to understand the differences between American "fun" and Belgian "fun." I got to try their national dish too, which is french fries haha. But they aren't the fries we are used to. They are sooo much better. And they put sauce on the top, depending on what you like. Of course I tried some Belgian beer too, a lot better than other stuff, even though I still don't like it. :P
Sunday was nice, her mom made dinner for the family and some of her other family came over. It was a lazy/rainy day so we didn't do much. Just hung out in Belgium!
Monday we went to Bruges (they say Brugge and pronounce it Bruhhuh). It's the oldest city in Belgium and it's gorgeous! Luckily it was a really nice day, we thought it was going to rain so naturally we wore our rain boots. Most likely we both looked really dumb. Oh well. We walked around the city and saw where the nun's used to live, apparently they aren't nuns but there also isn't an english translation of what they are. So they're nuns to me. We also ate a legit Belgian waffle and coffee. The waffle was amazing! It has sugar crystal's in it to give it a crunch and taste oh so good. And I got my Belgian chocolate fix to take back to the states, if they make it of course...
Tuesday we went to Kortrijk, another old city in Belgium. One of her mom's friends showed us around and told us the history behind some of the old stuff. We went into some very, very ancient cathedrals, after awhile, they all start looking the same, with the architecture I mean. We walked around the old city, went into city hall and at the end, went to a cafe. Kim and I had hot chocolate, so so delicioussssssss! America doesn't have anything this good. That was a good day :) For dinner, we had mussels!!! It's a big thing during the summer, of course near the beaches it's cheaper, but we went into town and I had my first mussel dinner. I've tried them before but it was really delicious there! Glad I'm open minded :)
Wednesday we headed to Gent. This town is more like a college city that's known for the bars and nightlife. Kim and I just went there, had dinner and walked around the city. I love that in Europe everything is really old and the buildings aren't modern. Gent has a tram railway too that goes straight through the city, I've only seen that in San Fran, and it's still different. Later on in the evening we hung out with some of her buddies. Belgian's are really nice but man do they smoke a LOT A LOT. I don't know how they do it. For dinner was simple when we got back into Roeselare, we got frites again but this time with meat and gravy. So good.
Thursday we went to Lille, France. She only lives 30 min from there, it was awesome! We went to the Palais des Beaux Arts, the second famous museum in France, underneath the Louvre, naturally. We walked around the town, it has a lot of shopping and things. We ate a reaaaaaaaaall french crepe too, that was really delicious too. I'm not just eating all the time I swear. But overall it was a great day. Later on we hung out at her house, since it was the last night in Belgium for me. Her mom is so so nice and made us dinner most of the nights too!
Belgium was such an interesting experience but I wouldn't have been able to do it without Kim! I'm so glad I have friends in different countries because it has made my experience 20 times better than just being a traveler on my own :)
Continued on the France Blog :)
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