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.
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