Last week

Sorry it has taken me so long to write anything...this week has been pretty crazy.
Last week took our first trip as a group to the Netherlands. We started in Den haag (the Hague...but den haag sounds much cooler so i will never call it the hague again). We went to the criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia which was really interesting for me because i have had to study the Balkans in so many classes. We even got to sit in on part of the joint trial against Milutinovic (former president of Serbia), Sainovic (former prime minister of FRY) and Ojdanic (cheif of staff of the army for yugoslavia). It was a defense portion, so some former army guy was trying to defend them. The craziest part was that Milutinovic kept falling asleep. Can you imagine being on trial for GENOCIDE and falling asleep? I guess it just goes to show that he doesnt really care about what he did, even now.
We also went to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and Eurojust, which is baisically like the EU's FBI. It was all interesting...i guess we had to have some sort of educational reason to go on the trip.
The next day we did a tour de Holland. We went to Delft in the morning and toured the famous pottery factory. I had wanted to get something for my mom...but little did i know i would have to drop atleast 150 euro (i.e. ALOT more USDs) to get anything. We also went to this town on the North Sea that i can never remember the name of, but is reminiscent of the word "shenanigans". It was chilly but it was still cool to go down on the beach and get in the water. We found this really cool jetty that went out pretty far and just chilled out in the middle of the ocean for a little bit. Lastly we went to Leiden which is an old college town in the Netherlands. It is also apparently where the first pilgrims lived between fleeing England and claiming America.
The next day we went to Maastricht----all these places honestly began to blur together. Every Dutch city looks the same. Cobblestones. A big church in the center square. Windmills. But there was a carnival in Maastricht! So i rode this sweet ride that was really high and flipped in every direction. Best way to see a city is definitley upside down.
That night we stayed in Aachen Germany. We were literally there for less than 12 hours, but I got to have some bratwurst and sauerkraut which was fabulous.
In the morning we did a tour of the Battle of the Bulge, we followed Pieper's trail from Germany all along the Belgian border and into Belgium. This was definitley my favorite part of the trip. We started in the Ardennes in Germany, right on the Belgian border (in fact in the woods was this concrete slab that said D[Deutschland] on one side and B [belgium] on the other). This was so haunting...walking around in the woods where dozens of people died. There was still a few remnants of the war...an old telephone line, barbed wire and some post-war memorials. All through the German countryside was remnants of the german Seigfried line---concrete teeth that were put up to stop allied tanks from getting through.
It was weird seeing such an interesting piece of history in the middle of farms. Next we stopped in Werweth, which is where a division of african american soldiers were massacred by the Germans....an event that most history books skip over. We also went to Malmedy, another site of a massacre of American soldiers. All through these towns on the border were tons of monuments to WWII...it was stranage to see American flags flying in the middle of Europe. We also went to the Henri-Chappelle American War cemetery where more than 8,000 american soldiers from WWII were buried in perfect lines with identical cross headstones. It was a really beautiful, and incredibly sad sight to see. Lastly we went to the "Remember Museum". It was a private museum owned by an older couple. The husband was a young boy during the occupation of Belgium and the germans came into his village and annexed half of it to germany. Suddenly this guy was told he was a german, had to speak german and saw alot of really gruesome things. There were American soldiers staying in his family's barn and when the battle of the bulge started they just got up and left, leaving behind tons of stuff. He kept it all, and started his museum with it and now they have an AMAZING amount of stuff from veterans and donations. it was really fantastic. They had a story for every single item. The best part about it was that these people LOVED Americans. They baisically opened the museum in honor of America and attribute the freedom Belgians enjoy today to the sacrifices we made. It was just a really good feeling to actually hear Europeans say they loved us and appreciate everything we did for them----definitley a rareity to hear pro-American things over hear these days. So it was a really wonderful feeling and filled me personally with alot of pride for my country, and everything that my dad's father and uncles fought for.

SO that was last week. This week was busy, mostly because we had a big test today that I was freaking out about all week. In about a half hour I am jet setting off to Prague. I am SO excited, mostly because that is where three of my best friends from school are studying, so I am staying with them---PLUS it is a cool city (and DIRT cheap compared to the stupid euro). I love everyone here and have made some really good friends, but it is just gonna be really nice to be with people who really know me and understand me.

Miss you all!
-Cristen

Oooh La La, Paris

This weekend was honestly the best trip I have ever taken! Thursday evening Tayler, Rachel and I left for Paris. Tayler and I were on the same train so we bought a lovely little French feast of cheese and bread for the journey. The Thayls high speed train had us there in an hour and a half, so we had the whole rest of the evening. We found out hostel really easily---we stayed in Montmatre, the famous village where artists like Degas, Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh and so many others lived. It is also where the Moulin Rouge is at which was the first thing we went to go see!

Friday morning we got up to find that the weather SUCKED. It was raining, and apparently when it rains in Paris it POURS in Paris. But we had already planned on just doing museums that day so it worked out well that we were indoors. First we went to the isle de Citie which is the oldest part of Paris, and is where Notre Dame is. We just looked at the outside before walking across the Seine to the Louvre. The museum is absolutely phenomenal. Just the building itself is so decadent and old world that there is nothing that isnt interesting to look at. We were there for 3 hours and got to see all the good stuff...Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rock. In all the time we were there though we only got to see the galleries of Italian and French painters...the museum is just SO massive that it was impossible to see any more. After some lunch we went to the Musee d'Orsay, which is the impressionism museum. The building is an old central train station so the layout of the exhibits were very strange but really neat. There was so much amazing art there...Degas, Seurat, Van Gough, Monet, Manet, Toulousse-Latrec and tons more. After the museums we really needed to head back to the hostel to dry off and rest for a while. On the way back we stopped back at Notre Dame so that we could go inside...it was absolutely overwhelming. The church was so beautiful and there was a service going on inside which just really made the experience worth while. I wish we had been able to go to the top of the tower or see the crypt but we got there JUST after they both closed :( On the way back to the hostel, we found this fresh food market in Montmatre, so we picked up a huge loaf of bread, cheese, roasted potatoes, and a small roast chicken and had a wonderful french feast in our hostel room all for like 15 euro! Deeeeeliiicious! (Below: pictures of Notre Dame, front and back and of the Louvre)




On Saturday we took the train out to Versailles. Luckily the weather was much better so we were really able to enjoy it. The palace is so decadent and beautiful. Unfortunately they were doing reconstruction on alot of the building so we were only able to see the royal apartments, but it was still really cool. We also took a tram around the gardens and out to Marie Antoinettes "Petite Trianon" which was baisically her little escape from the main palace. The grounds are so expansive and there was so much more to see, but it would have taken much more than the 1/2 day that we spent there! On our way back we stopped at the Eiffel Tower...it was so cool being underneath it! We started to wait in line to buy tickets to get to the top, but the line was so ridiculously long and we had plans for 7:00 so we had to get out of line. We went and got some crepes, mine was chocolate with bannana yummo! Then at 7 we did something we had been looking forward to the whole time...a bike tour of Paris. It was AMAZING. The first 3 hours we biked around the city like any Parisian would. I was definitley wobbly when i first got on...it has been years since i rode a bike, but it was SO MUCH FUN!!!! It is just such a different way to see a city, and you really felt like you were a part of it. We bike near Notre Dame, passed the Arc du Triumph, biked THROUGH THE LOUVRE COURTYARD (with the pyramid etc...that was my favorite part), went to "the best glacier (ice cream) in Paris", saw the Place de Concorde (where everyone was killed during the French Revolution). Plus just all the cool stuff we passed along the way. The last hour was a boat tour on the Seine with free wine. It was FREEZING, but so cool! Just another way to look at the city and all the monuments. It was the most fun I think I have ever had in a city...totally worth it. We didnt get done with the tour until after midnight so we just called it a night. (Below: Me at Versailles, a garden at Versailles, Le Petit Trianon, garden at Le Petit Trianon)




On Sunday, I was scheduled to leave at 2:30, but there was still so much more to do! So i got my ticket changed...but all that was left was first class. It only cost me ten euro (and i got a free meal and wine on the way home!). So we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to go to the top. We waited in line for a HOUR just to get our TICKET. Then it was another hour to get to the top, see the view and come back down. But it was definitley worth the wait. Not only was it a beautiful view, but i dont feel like my trip would have been complete without it. Then we went to see the Arc du Triumph. We only biked past it from far away the night before, so we went and look at it up close this time. Then we walked down the Avenue Champs d'Elysee---the fashion center of Paris. We had a lovely little lunch at a cafe...some cheese, wine and sandwiches, before doing a little bit of shopping ( i mean, come on...it's PARIS i had to do it ). After an exhausting day....i finally got the train back to Brussels. But I really sad to leave...i mean i was excited for Paris but i didnt think i would fall in love with it the way that i did. It is definitely somewhere i want to go back to because there was SO much we didnt get to do. It was overall just a really satisfying trip though...getting to see and do so much that I have wanted to do my whole life all in three days! YAY ME!

This week we take our first class trip. We leave on Wednesday and come back Sunday and are going to The Hague, Leiden, and Aachen to do some WWII tours that i am REALLY excited about. So i wont be here for a while, but send me emails etc and I promise I will get back!!! I also have alot more pictures of Paris, but my camera died half way through so i am waiting for the other girls to send me the pictures they took for me!

P.S....my parents have discovered that i actually get mail relatively quickly! So if anyone is bored.... :) :)
MISS AND LOVE YOU ALL!

Amsterdam

So this past weekend myself the girls and the boys went to Amsterdam. We took the bus there which was really cheap and easy---The Netherlands are only about 3 hrs from Belgium so it really wasnt bad at all. We got there Thursday night (no classes on Fridays) and went to our hostel....well that was an experience. I really didn't think the hostel was that bad, despite some people complaining, but the bathrooms were definitley gross. Other than that, it was cheap--and you get what you pay for lol.

Friday we did ALOT. We got up early and went to the Anne Frank house---the original house that they had the "Secret Annex" in. I expected alot more---i thought there would be the original furniture in it because it is depicted that way on all their brochures etc. But even without all that it was still very surreal and haunting...especially Anne's bedroom where there are still pictures and clippings glued all over the wall (picture on the left is the outside of the house).

Next we went to the "Heineken Experience." Since Heineken is brewed in the Netherlands they have this huge tour museum that is SO cool. It is a whole bunch of weird stuff, shows you how they brew the beer, there are these movie showings where you sit or stand and it is baisically like a ride, plus free beer lol. You can see a picture---me, Tayler and Max at this site:
http://heinekenfm.bitmove.tv/bitmove/cgi/receive.jsp?uid=090BB042D7E6C7E59105CD4D60F6D403



Saturday was equally exhausting...because we had walked for literally MILES on Friday i was really tired. We all had lunch together and then the girls and I went to the Van Gogh Museum which was awesome. It is the largest single collection of his work. I was surprised that some of the more famous pieces werent there (i.e., starry night, the screamer) but it was actually more interesting without them, becasue i saw some pieces that i never would have attributed to him otherwise.

Anyways, although the city and the canals were beautiful, come Sunday we were all sick of walking, exhausted and tired of dodging the millions of bikes that are all over the city...so we got a bus home earlier than we had planned, but everyone was so glad. Especially me, who now has a bad cold...not sure if i got it from exhaustion, the hostel, or the 2 million dirty hippies....could be all of the above.

No internship this coming week---EP is in Strausbourg. So i will just be relaxing, spending some alone time, and catching up on school work! This coming weekend i am going to Paris!!!! So excited!!!

Love you all!

Weekend in Brussels / Internship

Okay....so since i have not posted in a while I am going to do this in two parts!

The week was crazy. It was full of interviews for internships. When i first recieved the list of places i would be interviewing, I was really excited. However after going to the interviews i realized that NONE of these were what i wanted. First of all, really none of the options were ANYTHING like what I had indicated i wanted, what my resume showed i could do, or what my academic skills were geared towards. They were totally unfit for me not to mention, 4 out of 5 had NOTHING to do with the EU! I didnt come to Europe to do something i could do back home. Needless to say, as my family will surely understand, I had quite a tantrum about this....but I took it to the top. First I had quite a row with the internship coordinator and after her absolute incompetence was proven i went to our director (and professor) Jerry and complained to him about all the interviews. It may sound as though i was being too picky but remember---i get GRADED for this---so if i cant give a company what they are looking for, then they cant give me the grade I am looking for! However, in the end (and i would like to believe my complaining had something to do with it) I got the ONE internship out of the list that i did like. Surprisingly it was at first glance the one i thought i would hate. But i am very happy now. (See below for more!----i am attempted chronology here lol)


So last weekend (the 14-16) i stayed in Brussels because i wanted some time to actually enjoy the city, rather than just have it as home base on my never ending Eurotrip. SO, I accomplished NOTHING on Friday and Saturday i slept almost all day. BUT Sunday I went to the famous antiques market at the Grand Sablon with my host mother. It was awesome! I wish i could have brought mom and nanny there. There was alot of silver, but also some really original looking things. VERY expensive, obviously everything was for serious buyers but it was still cool to see and it was nice to do something with my host mother. Later, I went around the city with one of the girls which was really nice. We had lunch at the Grand Place, and then went to the Royal Park (across from the official Grand Palace) to do our reading for class which was very nice and relaxing. We tried to go to one of the large art museums, but it only had a few exhibits open on Sunday---none of which were very interesting.

This past week i started my internship with the EU REPORTER. They are an online news source and a monthly print journal about all the goings-on of the EU. If you want to check it out their website is www.eureporter.co.uk . My boss, Cillian (pronounced with a hard K sound) is Irish and is REALLY nice. He is really accessible, honest and extremely helpful in explaining to me parts of the EU that i dont understand. They dont have an official office, but we work out of the EU Parliament Building in the Press Room. It is so cool! First of all, EU institutions are so much more laid back than the U.S. Congress. When i interned on The Hill, i never saw a congressman walking through the regular hallways, but at the parliament they are everywhere! There is a bar/cafe on every floor and you can just approach them! Every day so far Cillian and I have met up with HIS boss (the publisher) Chris, to chat. Baisically we sit around sipping coffee in a parliament cafe for the first two hours chatting politics and discussing new story ideas. It is so relaxed and really nice. Chris is a 60 something English man who is absolutely off his rocker. But i love him, and he is really interested in my ideas and stuff for the paper which is really cool. He is going to be giving me alot of projects directly, which is something he has never done for an intern before, so i am really flattered that he wants to be involved in my learning experience there. I must present myself well, because on my second day Chris wanted me to go BY MYSELF to talk to a parliamentarian and forcefull convince him to write an opinion for the journal! I didnt get the chance to because the Member was in a meeting, but what a compliment!

SO. Now see above for all the new developments....

What A Week...

Sorry to everyone (or anyone) who has actually been reading this---i know it has been forever since i last left any news! This was a verrrrryyyy long week. One which included alot of fun. Our classes technically started last week, but we didnt really get into anything interesting until today (Monday). Since it is still the beginning of the program it is really intense days. Today we started school at 10 and didnt end until 7. Luckily we get lots of breaks---and i find the classes to be REALLY interesting so there is no problem keeping my focus.

During the week I visited the Royal Palace---although the king doesnt actually live there it is more his office. It was really neat and I am glad i did it because it is only open until next week. It was really beautiful---especially the ballroom, i could just imagine myself there 150 years ago! On Saturday I went to the Belgian Military Museaum which was HUGE and sooo cool. Unfortunatley nothing was in English so i dont understand alot of what i saw lol, but it was still really neat and i have lots of pictures. (See below)


On Sunday we all took a trip to Brugge----a city in Flanders (north Belgium) which dates back to the 13th century. In those days it was a bustling metropolis and was the most important seaport in Northern Europe. After their economy died, the city remained pretty preserved since there was no money to put into improving it. So there were alot of interesting things to see. It was a very religious place---there were many statues and small icons in different spots as well as many churches. One of which---Onze-Liev-Vrouw---had one of the only Micheangelo's outside of Italy, a statue of the Madonna and Child. The statue of course was beautiful but the rest of the church was amazing as well. There were also many "godhauses" that were one of the first forms of social housing. The rich would build these houses for the poor and in exchange the poor had to pray for them every day so that the rich would have a better chance of getting into heaven. They are mostly from the 15th and 16th century and are so cool looking! People actually still live in them today. The rest of the city was quaint, lots of old buildings, chocolatiers and restaraunts serving mussels (one of Belgium's specialties). It was a very exhausting day, but very worthwhile. It is also the capital of Belgian lace production---i was very tempted to buy some, but unfortunately most of what they sell are cheap China re-pros that arent worth the money. (see below pictures of Brugge)


I have been able to do alot of stuff with some of the people on the trip as well. One of the girls has a little apartment at her homestay so we have cooked dinner there a few times, and we usually go out a few times a week to restaraunts or pubs etc. It is hard to believe though that it has only been 11 days since i arrived! I already feel like it has been a month! Ughhh !! Not that i want to wish my time here away, but it is often very frustrating and exhausting here! Luckily now that it is Monday my host mother cooks for me again! The way the program works is that we get 7 breakfasts and 3 dinners per week. I take my dinners Mon-Wed and Marie-Claude is an AWESOME cook. Sometimes she just makes basics....tonight we had chicken, mashed potatoes and a tomato salad---sometimes she makes me interesting Belgian food---last week we had what is called "Oiseaux sans têtes" (or bird without head), however it is actually a large ball of sausage wrapped in veal. We had that with hot endive and cream salad and fingerling potatoes. Yum! So on the days i get to eat at home i eat very well. On the other days my friends and I either go out for dinner, or just drink a heavy Belgian beer to fill up lol.


I am still having alot of fun, but i do really miss home!!! I really miss all my family and friends, i miss driving and having a big bed. I miss winnie and our new kitchen, and i miss stupid stuff like Mac and Cheese and peanut butter (which is odd because i HATE peanut butter lol).

Keep sending me emails if you can! I LOVE THEM!!! :)

Love
Cristen

Serious Annoyance.

This has officially been an annoying and frustrating week so far.

First of all....where did fall go?? Is there no such thing in Belgium because it is COLD! There is alot of clerical work to be done, and yesterday i figured i would try to accomplish some of it. WRONG. I ended up waiting in line 3 hours for a metro pass. It was either suck it up and wait or pay 2 euro every time i ride. Annoying.
It is just very hard to get around this city. It takes alot of effort. And i am tired.

Nothing else exciting has happened. I intended on doing touristy stuff this week, but considering the amount of errands i have to do i dont see that happening. My family is turning out to be a little bit strange. This morning i woke up at 7 a.m. to them eating breakfast while listening to 'The Nutcracker'.....yeahhhh ALSO annoying.......and they tend to stomp around alot. But otherwise things are fine here.

We started going to the campus everyday which is alot bigger than AU and has a serious lack of people who speak English. Wow do i sound like an awful American. Apparently my frustration has rubbed off on this entry....so maybe i will write again in a better mood :)

La Famille Dupont

Yesterday after our orientation meeting we all took a group tour of the Grand Place (baisically the center of the city) with our professor, Jerry. It was SO interesting. It was the home of all the medieval guilds and it was really cool to hear the interpretation of all the really intricate statues and carvings on the buildings. We also saw the "Manneken Pis" or "little boy pissing" It is apparently the most famous statue in Brussels---god knows why.



In the afternoon we met our host family. I am staying with Franz and Marie Claude Dupont. They are apparently the "oldest" family in the program---meaning they have hosted students the longest. They have three children, all of which are grown and moved out. So it is just the three of us, which i am used to anyways! They live inside of Brussels, near downtown. Most of the other students live near eachother, but i am in sort of a random spot. They have a beautiful three story town home. Franz is an architect and Marie Claude is a liasion between BE and the US for a chemical company. I have my own room, with internet all the time so please email/im/skype me or whatever.

Today i got to sleep in YAY! And in the evening i went with my family to Marie Claude's annual family tennis tournament. It was strange at first since i couldnt understand anyone, but i met and Austrailian exchange student there on a rotary program who was really cool. She has been here 7 months already and is slightly younger than me. But it really inspired me to learn french because she came with no experience and is nearly fluent. I had a delicious mousse de chocolat and raw beef (not together and surprisingly tasty)

Tomorrow is my first day of class and my first exploration of PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION (dum dum dum....) ahh! I am scared but from where i am it seems pretty easy.