If We Ever Make It Home: Fun in the [no] Sun

Wow! What an eventful weekend! Thursday night I ended up going asleep early after I finished grading all of the homework assignments. I was super tired. However, I woke up when my dear friend Brad had an accident down the stairs. He slipped on the first stair on his way down from his floor to the floor I live on. He was holding two full glasses of coke which busted and went everywhere. He also cut his foot. I sure am glad he was sober because it could have been much worse. I am so glad he is ok! I was also woke up at 3 AM by Katie's alarm. She set it for 3 AM because the group that was going to Rome, including her, had to leave in a taxi around 4 AM to get to the Brussels airport. Their flight left at 6:45 AM. However, she wasn't in the room when her alarm started going off at 3 AM. I think she was out having fun with Kelsey all night long.

Friday morning I slept in until about 10:00. Then I went upstairs to see if Brad, Liz, and Ann were ready to go to the market in Leuven. We left about 30 minutes later. Our first stop was the K.U. Leuven gift shop. I bought a white K.U. Leuven t-shirt for myself. We also all got free clipboards. Then we headed towards the university library for the market. The market turned out to be just a huge flea market. There was clothes, jewelry, underwear, cheese, produce, meat, waffles, and lots of other stuff. We stopped at a chocolate shop near the market where I bought the BEST white chocolate square I have ever had. They are filled with rice crispies and hazelnut creme! MMMM. Ann got lots of gifts for her friends back home at the chocolate shop. On our way to the next store, I saw a sign that said cookie dough ice cream. It was a small Ben and Jerry's cookie dough, but I bought one for Brad and myself. I couldn't pass that up. The ice cream shops here don't have cookie dough or cake batter ice cream - my two favorites! Then we headed to the "I Love Leuven" souvenir store. I bought about 6 postcards and a shot glass that says Leuven on it. Liz bought an awesome paper fan with lace on it. Then we came back home for lunch. I graded one last paper and ate an orange for lunch. This is also when we found out that the entire group that was supposed to be going to Rome did not make it to Rome. Apparently, their tickets were booked for August instead of July. However, Kelsey and Katie decided to buy new tickets and went instead. Molly, Chris, Stephanie, and Jaime came back to Leuven. Jaime left for Paris Friday morning with the Paris group - Ryan, Adam, Sierra, Lindsey, and Randy. Then Brad and I rode our bikes to the botanical gardens in Leuven. They are beautiful! We had a really great time there. There were chickens, bees, all types of fruit trees, a pond with fish, and lots and lots of plants. Then we rode our bikes to Velo and got our tires aired up. When we got back to the house I crashed and took a long nap. Around 5:00 PM, I convinced Brad to go shopping with me down the Dieststraat since all the stores close around 6:00 PM. We went to Buffalo where I bought my silver t-strap Birkenstocks. They were still on sale too because it was still July. We also went to H&M where I bought 2 tops. Then we went to Leonidas and we bought some chocolate to take to our family. Brad got two assorted boxes. I bet they are going to be delicious. Then we ran into Stephanie and Molly. I took them back to Buffalo so Stephanie could get her Birkenstocks. She got the lime green ones. Then we headed back to the house. Before we got there we ran into Liz and Ann. They were headed to supper at a Mexican restaurant near our house. We decided to run home, drop off our bags, change clothes, and then join them. I had a margarita and the Pollo tacos. It was very good for Belgium. I had one taco with chicken and one taco with a beef mixture in it. It also came with a serving of beans, a heap of spicy mashed potatoes, and a salad. Lots of food! Molly, Nikki, Stephanie, Jake, Brad, Liz, Ann, Derek, Kirstin, and myself were all there. We all thought there were concerts on Friday night in Leuven since the stage was still set up but apparently the last one was last Friday. We were bummed. So, we went back to the student house, had a few drinks and then us girls had a "girls night" at the Oude Market. We went to one bar and we each had a shot of something with gold flakes in it. It tasted like cinnamon. Then we went to Louvain Louvain, a coctail bar. I had a Mango Daquiri, but it was gross. And it cost me 7,50 euros!! Ann had a pina colada and a banana colada and loved them. I think I just chose the wrong drink. Later we went inside the bar and danced for about an hour. They played lots of great American music, even Usher! We had a great time. Earlier that night, Ann, Liz, Derek, Brad and I had all decided to join Nikki, Kirstin, and Jake, and now Molly and Stephanie in Calais, France for Saturday and Sunday.

Yesterday morning we left the student house around 8:00 AM. We took a train to Gent and then to Lille Flandres. Then we had to walk to Lille Europe and then we took a train to the first stop in Calais. When we got off, it was after 2:00 PM and it was dark and raining. We were all wearing our swimsuits. We were planning to go to the beach! The weather was a bummer. We walked into the train station and realized that we needed to go to the Calais Ville station. So we rode another train 10 minutes to the station in the town. We think the first Calais station was a prison stop, but we are not sure. We finally made it to the right train station and only walked one or two blocks to our hotel - the Metropole Hotel. It was very nice. We had one room with 2 twin beds that Liz and Derek stayed in, one room with 3 twin beds that Brad, Ann, and I stayed in, and then a large room with 2 queen beds that Jake, Stephanie, Molly, Kirstin, and Nikki stayed in. That way, we had a boy in all 3 rooms. After we got settled in, the rain had begun to stop but it was still freezing cold outside. We walked a couple blocks to the Hovercraft restaurant. I had the Alfredo pasta with tap water. It was really good and had chunks of turkey in it. The other students had omlettes or cheeseburgers. Then we walked to the beach. Only Liz was brave enough to trip and fall into the water (she wasn't wearing her swimsuit)! We only stayed for a little while because it was cloudy and cold. But, around 5 PM when we headed back to the hotel the sun started coming out. We stopped at a souvenir shop and then made it back to the room. Again, we all crashed and took naps. We all met up on the bottom floor in the big room and were watching TV in English - there were lots of English stations since Calais, France is just on the other side of the North Sea from England. There are ferries that take vehicles across. I think it's only about 25 km from Calais to England. Then, a group decided to go get dinner. I wasn't very hungry but told Brad that I just wanted one slice of cheese pizza. It was a disaster. They came back with 3 Dixie pizzas. Brad, Jake, and Derek had ordered the Dixie. It was a pizza with slices of hot dog (it said "sausage"), mushrooms, and a raw egg cracked over the top of it. Disgusting, right? I ended up eating 3 slices of Kirstin's cheese pizza, thank God she came to the rescue! The boys didn't feel so good this morning after eating that nasty pizza.

This morning we had to check out by 11 AM. Then we headed towards the beach. We ate at a restaurant close to to the beach. I had a ham and cheese omlette. It came with fries and a salad for about 7,50 euros. It was delicious! Then we walked to the beach and stayed there until about 3 PM. I actually took my clothes off today and layed out on my towel in my bikini for a while. It was partly cloudy and the sun peaked in and out of the clouds randomly. It was still cold but this time Kirstin and Jake both went into the water. There were a lot more people on the beach today. We got back to the train station super early. So we ate sandwiches at the restaurant connected to the Calais Ville train station. I had a ham and cheese sandwich for 3,80 euros. It was good but the bread was thick. Then we rode 3 trains back to Leuven. On our way back to the student house from the train station we ran into a mass of people. There were concerts going on tonight. Except no one ever told us that they were on Sunday night this weekend instead of Monday. Oh well! I made it back and then went right to the shower. I had sand in my nose, ears, hair, and everywhere else! But, at the end of my shower, the shower head accidently fell (it is one of those that has a hose that you can take down). It broke into lots of pieces. I had to go get Brad from upstairs to fix it! Oops. I'm glad he could fix it for me. Then I uploaded pictures from this weekend to Facebook. The boys went out to get more food but I am stuffed from all the great food that we ate this weekend. I think I am going to go to bed soon.

Tomorrow morning I am going to write my 4-6 page report over the field trip that we went on Thursday. I hope I finish within a couple hours. Because, I would like to go shopping again. I am still looking for the perfect gift for my sister. I think I found it but it is 60 euros! So maybe I will keep looking. I would like to also go to the M Museum in Leuven tomorrow but it is closed on Monday so we will have to go another day. Maybe I will wash a load of clothes so I can get rid of all the sand. The girls talked about going to Pizza Hut for the lunch buffet tomorrow. I hope we make it. They even have a salad bar and Pepsi! So that has been my weekend so far. I haven't talked to my mom on Skype in about 4 days. I'm not sure when I will talk to her again because she went to Dallas with my sister to help her move some of her stuff to her new apartment in Uptown. Maybe she took her laptop; I'm not sure yet. I have no way to get a hold of her right at this moment. I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. I only have 12 more days in Europe before I come home to Texas and eat REAL Mexican food and barbeque! Peace and Love from Leuven ~ BRE

The Flea Market