Field Trip to Brugge / Being Sick

Today: I woke up around noon when Brad came into my room to check on me. I still felt pretty bad. So, Brad went to get me some Aquarius (similar to Gatorade) and he was going to look for some soup. I convinced myself to get into the shower. I felt very dizzy, but I made it. I was also informed that 4 or 5 other students were also sick. Sierra, Val, Stephanie, Adam, and Randy had all thrown up in the last 24 hours. I continued to have diarrhea this morning. I emailed our professors to let them know what was going on with all of us. They said they would come to the house and take me and others to the clinic. The main student clinic for K.U. Leuven was closed because it's Saturday but they found the one that stayed open. There was just one doctor, no nurses or receptionists or anything. We had to wait in line until it was our turn to be seen. It was very hot in the office which had about 6 foot ceilings and was located underneath an organic grocery store. Dr. Engler went into the office with me. I described my symptoms, he pushed around on my stomach, and then basically told me that it was a stomach virus that had to run its course. He said not to take any more Imodium because it prevents the virus from escaping the body. Then I made it home by about 3:00 PM. Brad got me 2 more orange Aquarius to drink. Then he heated me up a bowl of chicken broth that Lindsey had bought for Sierra but Sierra didn't want it. I ate most of that and then fell back asleep until 6:00 PM. I finished grading some papers. Then Brad came to check on me and asked if I wanted to go get some dinner. I went with Brad, Ryan, Lindsey, and Sierra to Agora for dinner. It was raining so we had to sit inside. There was a concert going on outside. I had a Sprite and a bowl of tomato soup. The others had lamb with vegetables and cheesy potatoes. I had to leave before we got our bill to come back to the house because I was having bad stomach cramps and had to go to the bathroom. Then I emailed the finalized homework grades to Dr. Engler. I cleaned up my room and unpacked from the field trip. I am not sure how long I will stay up, but I probably won't stay up long enough to start on my 4-6 page field trip report. The only people who went out of town this weekend were Kirstin went to Holland to see some family friends, and Katie and Kelsey went to Bond, Germany to meet up with some of Katie's friends.



Friday: I woke up around 7 AM for breakfast. Katie was not in our hotel room. Apparently, she had come home a couple hours after me. She said she knocked twice but I never answered. I remember waking up to a knock, opening the door and no one was there. We only had one room key and the hotel wouldn't give us another one. She ended up sleeping on the floor in Kelsey and Molly's room. I felt really bad. I went downstairs to eat breakfast from 7:30 to 8:00. I had scrambled eggs, 2 sausages, 3 glasses of apple juice, and a sandwich. Then I took a nap for thirty minutes in the room. We all met outside the hotel at 8:30 for our walking tour of Brugge that started at 9:00. We had to walk to the bus stop to meet our tour guide. He had long shaggy hair and a long beard. He looked almost like a homeless man, but he was a great tour guide. He took us all around the city in 2 hours and had a stack of post cards in his pocket that he used to supplement the tour. We saw lots of beautiful and interesting parts of Brugge. Our tour ended at 11:00 at our hotel. Then we all checked out of our rooms. Brad and I went to find a lace store. We found one store with hand-made lace, not lace from Taiwan or China! We each bought special gifts for special family members of ours. Then we went to the town square of Brugge and ate Subway. I had a 15 cm turkey and ham on wheat bread. It tastes just like it does in America. Brad really enjoyed Subway. It's amazing how great a little bit of home can make you feel! Then we walked back to the hotel. On the way back, we stopped at Hema because I wanted to buy a nailpolish. It was 3,50 euros. The cashier was a guy with sculpture nails! They looked just like my mom's fake nails with the white tips. Gross! When we got back to the hotel, we found a bench. Others slowly started trickling back. We were just sitting there when a lady walked up to us and asked us if we went to A&M. It turns out that she is a professor at A&M. She teaches Accounting 229 and her name is Mrs. Barrett. It was super cool. About 12:30 I started feeling really bad! I went inside the hotel to go to the bathroom. At 1:30 we all went back to the bus stop to get on our big tour bus to head to our last stop on the field trip - a produce auction. My stomach was hurting the entire bus ride. When we got to the produce auction place, I had to run out during the presentation about 4 or 5 times to go to the bathroom. I had bad diarrhea. Sierra also had to keep running out but she was throwing up. Both of us basically missed the entire presentation and tour of the facility. Then we had a 2 hour bus ride back to Leuven. I had diarrhea and threw up 3 times on the bus ride home. It was hell. When we got back to our bikes, I caught a ride with a professor's wife from K.U. Leuven who had gone with us on the field trip. They brough Sierra and I back to the house. Brad and Ryan brought our bikes home for us. I tried to go to sleep but had a hard time. I continued to have diarrhea throughout the evening and threw up 5 more times. Brad threw up when he was cleaning up my throw up..... wow! Brad rode his bike all over town looking for Imodium for me. We had gotten home about 7 PM and all the pharmacies shut at 6 PM. He brought me an orange and a lemon Aquarius to drink. He ended up finding Imodium for me from Nikki and Kelsey but I ended up throwing it up. Then we called my parents to let them know what was going on. They were in Dallas with my sister moving her to her new apartment. My mom started crying. We also called Brad's Aunt Kim to ask her about some medication. Brad gave me a Promethazyne (?) that's for nausea and cramping. It also causes drowsiness. It helped me sleep all night long. Thank God!



Thursday: On Thursday we left Leuven around 7:30. Our first stop was a manure composting and biogas facility. The manure composting facility smelled HORRIBLE. The ammonia levels were so high that they made everyones eyes and throats burn. Some people even had to go back to the bus and not finish the tour because of the smell. Some students think that this is what eventually led to the stomach problems. We toured the composting facility and then the biogas facility. Everyone reaked of manure when we got back on the bus to head to lunch. Everyone's shoes were also covered in manure. It smelled soooooo gross. Then we went to eat lunch at this castle place that you see below in the first picture. It was good. We all had the same thing for lunch though, it was preordered. We had spinach soup with bread and the main course was a Flemish stew of beef tips with fries and a side salad. It was very good. Then we went to our next stop. It was an Agricultural Research Center somewhat like the Luling Foundation. There, we learned about biogas through a presentation and then had a tour of a miniature biogas set-up at the center. It was very interesting and smelled much better than the first place. I graded papers during our time on the bus. Our last stop was Danis. They have 3 main processes: turning hog manure into pellet fertilizer, making hog feed, and soybean treatment. We toured the manure treatment facility. It was not in operation while we were there. It had a somewhat bad smell but nothing like the first place. It was a pretty neat facility. They did biological treatment of the manure which consisted of nitrification and denitrification in huge tanks. You can see the aerobic nitrification picture below. It looks like bubbly poop. Then we drove to Brugge and checked into our hotel Ibis. Then each of us went out to explore the town. I bought a few chocolates and then stopped to have dinner with Ryan, Adam, Brad, Val, and Austin. Brugge is a town about the size of Leuven but it is MUCH more touristy. There are tons of souvenirs, chocolate shops, and lace shops. The place we stopped for dinner was very expensive. Brad and Adam got Charolais steak and Ryan got the lobster for 49 euros, haha. I just had a glass of rose wine. Austin, Val, and I decided to go eat somewhere else. We ended up eating at a pasta and sandwich place. I had the 4 cheese penne pasta. It was super delicious. Then we met the boys back at the hotel. Val and Austin went to the music festival. I went with Brad, Adam, and Ryan to a bar behind the square for drinks. I had a couple more glasses of wine. The boys had glasses of Stella Artois and smoked some Cuban cigars. On our way back to the hotel around 11 PM, we stopped at a Night Shop for Ryan to get a bottle of wine and Adam to get an ice cream. Between the Night Shop and our hotel, we ran into Dr. Munster. Then we met Ann and Liz inside the bar of our hotel. Dr. Munster offered to buy us drinks but we passed. I ended up going to sleep right at midnight.



What an eventful weekend! I am still not feeling 100% but I pray that I continue to get better. I must have my stomach back to normal when I return to Texas on Friday evening because our first stop is going to be Mexcian food!!!!! We have our last 4-6 page field trip report due on Tuesday. Both of our finals are on Wednesday. We have room and kitchen inspections here at the student house on Thursday. Then we leave from Brussels on Friday. Maybe, if I get my report done tomorrow and the weather is nice, we can go to Brussels on Monday to see some of the sites. I would like to see where the King and Queen live. As for now, love from Leuven! I will keep myself hydrated and get back to normal. Thanks for all the good luck wishes. Now say a prayer that Brad and the rest of the house does not end up getting sick. An overseas flight while sick would not be fun! <3 Sabrina