Midpoint Week

Monday: Long day spent listening to cultural exchange presentations. We were put into groups with two or three EPHEC, a business school at Alma, students. Mine went well, and since we're not being graded, it went great. I tried to correct some grammar mistakes made by the EPHEC students just putting the French version of their paper through a translation program, but they didn't seem to get some of them. It's maple syrup, not syrup of maple. My one problem, which a lot of us have voiced, is that I felt like I was back in high school. The school has actual bells to tell people when to go to class, not a sound I'm used to anymore, they're rude to their professors, talk during presentations. Just disappointing on the whole. Then we went to French class which was a barrel of laughs, as always.
Tuesday: Internship. I...ah...checked my CSW email...and did some reading for EU Seminar 1...and watched some Daily Show clips. Yeah, not much to do. European Security seminar that evening, more Balkans. Problem is that Jamie jumps around, so I've a feeling I'll need to do some reading on the Balkan history before the test to get everything straight.
Wednesday: Actual stuff to do at the internship-researching parliamentary questions for answers. More reading for EU Seminar 1, for the test on Friday.
Thursday: Class day. Defense Economics, European Security Seminar, EU Seminar 2. Studying for the test.
Friday: EU Seminar I midterm. Wasn't terrible. The rest of the day was spent back at the house, not doing much of anything.
Saturday: Morning/most of the afternoon spent at school in the hallway to use the Internet, as it's faster here and I'll trade speed for the comfort of home. Church.

Tomorrow's activities will be included in the super long post about Fall Break, which we are currently enjoying. Oh, and I made another album on Facebook for those family members interested, i.e. Mum, as Mini Europe dominates the album. :) Well, I'm off to Italy tomorrow. Land of temperatures projected to be in the 70s, gelato, pizza, old buildings, and...other stuff.

Last Weekend Before Fall Break

Thursday: Class day, EU Seminar II, Defense Economics, EU Seminar 1. Lotsa economics and such.
Friday: Free day! I went to the Museum of Musical Instruments by the Royal Palace. It was awesome! Lots of instruments and headphones came with the ticket and played music done by the instrument in front of you. Pretty building too. Then I did assorted Brussels/EU gear shopping I'd put off. Really just got 2 t-shirts.
Saturday: Day of wandering around the Grand Place and Rue Neuve, the main shopping street, with Sara and Erofile. It was pretty fun. And educational. I helped Sara pick out an outfit for her boyfriend. We were going for the urban but not gangster look. While avoiding blue. It was pretty fun. :) For dinner I went to the Lebanese place around the corner from host family's house with Sara, Erofile, Erin, and Sarah Brown and her friend Laura. We were there for about three hours just talking and eating Mediterranean food. Yummy!
Sunday: Sara's birthday! Happy 20th! We went to Mini Europe which is like Splendid China only an EU propaganda machine and yet subtle. It has models of landmarks from every EU member country including a huge Houses of Parliament, the Grand Place, the Brandenburg Gate complete with a small Berlin wall which is being torn down (very cool). Since I took pictures of, oh, everything, expect another album on Facebook quite soon. The Laysons had a nice dinner for Sara, curry chicken which certainly cleared out my sinuses and a very good chocolate icing layer cake partially made with shredded almonds.

It was a good weekend but this week is going to be filled with research for papers and studying for the EU Seminar 1 test on Friday. But Fall Break is next week! Less than a week until I'm in Italy! Ciao!

Internship Days

Tuesday: Fought the wireless computer at work to do some research on UN conventions, finally managed it, sort of, but I played a lot of solitare waiting for it to connect. But I got to make a huge list of un convention signatories and color coded EU countries, accession countries, and EFTA countries. Sorta fun. Went to AUBC for a Jamie optional session but he didn't make it so we all just hung out for about an hour and a half and I read about 98 pages of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Odd book, but I'm sure it'd make more sense in the movie. I hope.
Wednesday: Sent out over 60 emails about Colombia to a couple Parliament committees, the Commission, and the Council. Got a nice reply from one of them! :) Called me Mrs. Koons though, but how could the MEP know I'm only 20? *shrug* Did some more UN conventin research and watched some Daily Show and Colbert Report over lunch. I was on a better computer, nicer even.

Not much else going on. Weather is still spastic, sunny and rainy, cold yet warm in the sun. Go figure. It feels a bit like fall though, which is nice. :)

Last Week and Academic Field Trip 2-Luxembourg and Maastricht

Monday: Long class day with two EU Seminar 1 lectures and a European Security thing with Jamie Shea. Oh, and French. Learned some vocabulary...and such.
Tuesday: Internship day. Wrote some summaries of reports on life in a couple countries. It's not fun to live in either Sudan or Colombia these days.
Wednesday: More internship stuff. Some research on Council press releases for countries CSW cares about. Met the bus at 7 for the trip to Luxembourg. I got there early and everything and then...I realized I forgot my camera. So, any and all pictures you see on Facebook are not mine. I'll try to credit where they're all from. So, frustration set in on the trip right at the beginning.
Thursday: Long day in Luxembourg. Went to Court of Justice for speakers. We were supposed to watch a hearing but it got cancelled on us. Anyway, it was interesting and we got stuff from them. Pamphlets and the like. Then we did a city tour led by Jerry which was pretty cool then we were let loose on our own. I really liked the Cathedral, I think it might even be my favorite so far. The city was quite small, but pretty.
Friday: Tour of the casemates, really long tunnels and such that went under the fortresses on the cliff things. Had openings for cannons and such. We then went to the European Investment Bank. Kinda dry but a very informative and sorta interesting. We then drove to Maastricht.
Saturday: Maastricht! New city, new country. First time in the Netherlands for me. We went to the caves of St. Pietersburg. Really extensive system of tunnels made by stone miners, the stone is softer underground and hardens up outside so it's good for building. It's very pure air and always 50 degrees but has no electric lighting so we used kerosene lamps. We even went through a small section for the "extreme" experience- in the dark with no light whatsoever. So we felt along the walls until we got to the guide and the lamps. I have such a new appreciation for being blind-I don't like it. We then went on a guided city tour. Saw some churches, old buildings, the building where the Maastricht Treaty was signed, linking the city to our classes. We then had free time so I walked around to find souvenirs and found some. :)
Sunday: Bus ride to Tongeren, tried to go to the history museum but it was closed due to construction. So we walked around the antiques market which is massive and sometimes has scary dead animals. But lots of chandeliers, randomly. Then on to Leuven for a Jerry tour of the university and city. Fifth oldest in Europe, you know. Catholic too. Lotsa churches and religious figures as buildings. Saint's body's there too. Damian, he worked with lepers in Hawaii and was cannonized in the 90s. Then back to Brussels. Did laundry and used host family's wireless for the first time!! So family, I can Skype from home now! Woot.
Monday: EU Seminar 2, Defense Economics, EU Seminar 2. Competition Policy, Procurement, and the Budget. Very interesting. Sure.

Glorious Weekend of Nothingness

Well....almost nothing.
Friday: Actually a bit productive but slept for oh, 10 or so hours? At least. I met with my cultural exchange group to talk about US food. Then went for confession as I missed Mass last weekend due to the trip. Then I went back to the house to relax and play the Sims and watch some downloaded TV shows.
Saturday: Went to campus to the use the Internet in the afternoon, went to Mass at a church on Rue Neuve, played Sims.
Sunday: Played Sims, oh, all day. Other random stuff of no consequence.

So really, not productive at all. It was very relaxing. I'll make up for it this next weekend because we're going to Luxembourg and Maastricht. So, short entry because nothing much happened. :)

Internship Days and Class Day

Tuesday: Did some research for CSW then went to the International Trade Committee meeting to take notes. The European Parliament has a couple really nice buildings. It was pretty cool if not the most interesting thing in the world.
Wednesday: Long day at Parliament again. Went to the Foreign Affairs committee which was more interesting than the Trade one. I got to hear/see Javier Solana address them too. :) For those of you not versed in EU stuff, he's the Secretary General of the Council and the High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, thus an important person. He was on our first test too, thus it was doubly cool.
Thursday: EU Seminar II test, ugh. I dislike economics. European Security seminar, Defense Economics seminar, nothing!

We've entered the Belgium weather phase of the semester it seems. It's cold, been kinda rainy and the high for the next six days isn't going to get above 65 degrees. And my nose is rebelling. Of course. Because it's been nice so why not hate Jennifer now. *rolls eyes* I plan to hole up for the next few days and relax. It'll be fun. =)

Very Good News

I've been accepted to King's College in London for Spring 2007!!! I've been provisionally allocated Greek Philosophy and Epistemology and Metaphysics. So, today is a good day! This was all pretty fast too, only took a couple weeks I think as the date on the acceptance letter attached to the email was September 28th. So, yay! A good day.

Academic Field Trip 1-Stasbourg and Trier

Monday: Class day as well as meeting with my group from one of the schools here on the UCL campus. Our topic is food, showing the differences between Belgium and the US. It's a cultural exchange...should be interesting, I hope.
Tuesday: No internship, everyone's traveling. First test here in Brussels...EU Seminar I, as in the three major institutions, history, and legislative procedures. As in, a lot of stuff. I think I did okay...I'll find out at the end of this next class.
Wednesday: Packing, got October's abonnement, productive for about two hours then played the Sims until I left to meet the bus. We drove to St. Avold as a halfway point to Strasbourg that night.
Thursday: Busy day. Walking tour of Strasbourg, saw the Clock do it's thing in the Cathedral, went to European Parliament, listened to Peter Stasny talk about being an MEP, hotel, dinner out in Strasbourg on our own. I had a regional thing for dinner: Choucroute Alsace (I think that's how it's spelled): basically a base of sauerkraut with five different kinds of meat on top. Quite good if a bit pricy which was alleviated by splitting it with another girl on the program. For complete explanations of the clock, a picture is needed so wait for the album on Facebook.
Friday: Another busy day. Went to the Council of Europe (the human rights organization that has 46 members and includes countries like Turkey and Russia whereas the EU does not), went into Alsace to Riquewehr to see a town with mostly a German influence over the centuries, toured the Koenigsbourg castle, back to Strasbourg. For dinner I had another regional dish: tarte flambee, basically a pizza like thing with a thin cream-ish layer, onions and bits of ham. Also quite good.
Saturday: Off to Trier. Long walking tour to see all the old Roman stuff: part of a gate, the Cathedral which has 5 different architectural styles, Constantine's (yes, that guy) throne hall (which interestingly enough is now a Protestant church), the Roman baths and the best preserved sewer system outside Rome, and the amphitheater where people died and gladiators fought. And yes, I can now say I have been bar hopping. So, it was two bars, but whatever. And I didn't drink anything, of course. But I turned it into a sociological study (nerdy, I know). Apparently going to bars means you a) drink, b) stand around, c) talk really loud to be heard, d) butt into other people's conversations, e) attempt to listen to the music, and f) either encourage or discourage advances by others. And both were smoky. Ugh. But it was social and interesting if not a really good time.
Sunday: Bad day. I made the mistake of going kayaking. Sure, it was pretty. But we must have gotten stuck on rocks at least a dozen times and turned around at least that much. And if I know next to nothing about kayaking, my partner knew even less. It hurt, it took forever, and it was not fun. And this is putting it lightly. I'm not a sporty person, a fact hammered home a lot yesterday. Needless to say, as I type, my shoulders are protesting...very loudly.
Monday: Class day. Morning trip to the Justus Lipsius building-Council of the EU building. Another speaker but we've now been to two of the three main EU instutions.

Busy week, but we've now been here a month and a day. I guess it seems that long...but this next month will pass even faster due to the trips.