Monday
Gareth took us on a trip to Ieper (pronounced "(y)eep") to visit the In Flanders Museum. Ieper was ground zero during WWI, with 3 separate battles held outside the city. The museum covered all aspects of the war, including pre-war life in Ieper, trench warfare, the Christmas Truce, and medical care of the wounded. We also visited the largest WWI cemetery, located a few miles outside the city. It was an extremely beautiful area, and flowers lined all the graves, including those of the unknown soldiers buried next to the named ones.
Gareth was in a good mood and gave us a two-day extension on our articles, so now it was due Thursday instead of Tuesday. I had all my research done and had a little bit written, but some of the girls still needed to do interviews. I worked on it a bit more that night.
Tuesday
Tuesday was very simple. We had class about European media and then went back to work on our articles. I really wish American media was much more like European---it is much simpler, but at the same time the European journalists are not nearly as ambitious and have grayer ethics. I got my article done that night and felt immensely relieved that I would not have to stay up late the following night to finish.
Wednesday
Gareth took us to a communications company he makes videos for. The company is called Mostra, and I'm pretty sure I would like to work for this kind of company in the future. I found it ironic that a lot of the people that work there were ex-journalists. The stuff they did wasn't necessarily hard-core journalism, but it does give information to the people. I specifically want Gareth's job---he is sent out to different locations to cover a topic, and then has to connect it back to the European Union. Technically the videos are for the EU, and Gareth commented on how it can sometimes come off as EU "propaganda." None of his videos he showed us seemed that way at all though.
After class we went to the Comic Book Museum. I have never been too big of a fan of any comics, but I figured it would be interesting nonetheless since it's such a big Belgian thing. Luckily I got in cheaper than the girls since I was the only one who bothered to get an ISIC (International Student Identity Card). About time that thing was put to good use! Wouldn't be the last time either. Anyway, the museum started out as how comics were made, then jumped straight into all the different comics. None of it was in English so I cruised through it pretty fast. I spent the most time in the Tintin exhibit, though that's not saying much since it was so small. Tintin is the most famous Belgian comic. There's roughly 20 comic books about this Belgian journalist who seems to have a knack for finding trouble. I gave in and bought one (in English, of course). I'm saving it for the flight home, and for good reason: it's called Flight 714 to Sydney, and from flipping through it, looks like it's about Tintin's plane being hijacked and redirected to an island hideout. It also seemed to have some qualities of my favorite TV show, Lost.
Becky needed to finish some interviews and wasn't much more interested in comics than I was, so she left while the rest of us used the museum's library to read some of the Tintin comics. I read the first one that started his fame, where he was sent to the Soviet Union to do a report. It was very long but it held my interest, but unfortunately I didn't have time to finish it. We headed back to the apartments and called it a day.
Thursday
Today we presented our articles and Gareth graded it line by line right in front of us. he liked mine but said I attributed too much. Turns out that Europeans don't have to cite everything in an article like American journalists. Another reason why I would like to work in Europe. he also said i didn't have a definitive conclusion. I did that on purpose, actually. Most articles I've read don't have a definitive conclusion because they want the readers to see the facts and decide for themselves. Ah well. He told us that we all did a great job, but then said something that bummed us all out: "I very rarely give A's," he said. Guess summer school isn't going to boost my GPA... not that I really need it, but it would've been nice.
After class we all went to a local cafe for lunch. I got rabbit cooked in Kriek, a typical Belgian cuisine. Rabbit definitely has a different texture to it, but I highly recommend it! While we were there, a man came in to use the bathroom. What's special about him is that he was followed by three body guards---and I'm talking official guards: black suits, earpieces, grim faces, the whole shebang. No one had a clue who he was, and neither did the owner. He didn't have a group of people or any paparazzi following him either. Gareth assumed he was a business man of some kind.
Afterward the four of us headed to the Grand Place to finish up souvenir shopping. We also got pictures of the Mannequin Pis, literally "peeing boy" or something to that extent. We had found him previously while looking for Delirium but didn't get any pictures. He wasn't dressed up either---yes, they dress him up at random times for fun. I wanted to go find the female version, but of course the girls didn't want to do anything I wanted to do, plus I had no idea where it was in the area, so I decided to save it for the weekend.
Oh, right, I forgot to mention: while I was in Amsterdam, I decided not to go to Paris with the girls for our last weekend in Europe. I was fairly pissed at them for not hitting the Van Gogh Museum like they promised me (and I wasn't about to find it on my own in that crazy city), so I decided that we needed some time apart, and thankfully that paid off [foreshadowing for later in this post...]. Plus I was low on funds, and Paris isn't exactly as easy on the wallet as it is on the eyes. Plus I had already been there 4 years prior.
That night 3 of us plus my roommate Marcus went to Delirium again. I of course got my favorite, and after chatting with some other Americans there, we went to the bar across the alley. And guess what I found:
It was outside my favorite bar the whole.damn.time. But I do love my luck. By the way, the picture was taken the following day when I actually had my camera on me.Friday
Our last day of class and no exams!!! Wooo!!! We went to the EU/US information hub for class and discussed our final assignment, the big cultural differences between the US and Europe. After that the girls bid ado for Paris while I went with Gareth and the internship students to a Lebanese restaurant for lunch. Note: I'm not an entirely picky eater, but I do draw the line at Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian cuisine. Too many ingredients mixed together that I don't like, namely olives, onions, and whole peppers. They did have beef kebabs and pita bread though, so I did eat.
After that I went with the internship students around Grand Place... talk about deja vu. I certainly didn't have a problem with that though since I needed to be in the area for a number of reasons. Once they all left for Amsterdam (I would've went with them if their hotel/hostel wasn't booked up and i didn't have to find my own place far away from all of them), I went out on my mission: get pictures of Jeanneke Pis (see above); print out the receipt for the taxi that would take us to the airport; and go see Halle Gate, something I wanted to do the whole time but didn't have enough time for and wasn't on the girls' list of things to do. I got the pictures, spent an hour trying to find an Internet shop, waited 20 minutes at an internet shop for it to open up from lunch, and felt way too hot and tired to do Halle Gate. There is always tomorrow...
I rested for a bit and then went to the nearby Cafe Belga in Place Flagey for a beer and to meet up with an old friend. Jena has been in Europe since last August doing study abroad and internships. She's been all over the place: Denmark, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and the top of Norway, among others. We had a very lively chat about everything European and how much we've changed since last seeing each other. We meant to watch the movie playing there for the Brussels Film Festival, but it was Swedish with French and Flemish subtitles. Plus we couldn't hear it from where we were seated, about 50 yards away. Yeah, it was that crowded.
Saturday
I got up super early to go to Cologne, Germany. Yep, you read that right.
On Friday my roommate Marcus said he wanted to go to Germany to celebrate the Fourth of July. He planned on going to Cologne and staying until Monday night. I would be back home by then, but there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. I've never been to Germany and really wanted to hit it on this trip. I booked the same ticket out of Brussels but booked a returning ticket for the same afternoon. I wanted to make it a day trip rather than a weekend affair because I have a semi-irrational fear of missing a train and thus missing my flight the following day. Another reason why I didn't want to hit Paris all weekend.
Surprisingly, we had absolutely no problem getting to the station. In fact we were pretty early. It was good not to feel so stressed. We took the famed Thalys train (pronounced "Talis") and pulled into Cologne at 10 AM. This greeted us when we left the station:
The Cologne (Koln in German) Cathedral is one of the oldest cathedrals in Germany and took over 400 years to finish. We went in, saw the treasury of golden goods, and then climbed to the top of one of the towers. You basically had to go through Hell to get to Heaven: it's a spiral staircase of approximately 350 steps about 5 feet wide, there wasn't any fresh air until 3/4 of the way up, and is both the entrance and the exit. Plus everyone in Germany was there as well. The view was totally worth it though, even if I couldn't get a good picture through the protective wires.
We climbed back down and got a typical German lunch: Bratwurst with beer! The German beer was really good and had a bit of a wheaty taste, but not as much as the Luxembourg beer I had tried a few weeks earlier.
We hit a couple of museums, namely the Chocolate Museum (sponsored by Lindt, which handed out free chocolates that were made there in front of us) and a Gestapo prison museum. That was extremely depressing. People had written all over the prison walls, including things like those killed there, final love letters, and feelings of desperation. The lady at the front desk tried to talk us out of going in because it closed in half an hour, but we went in anyway. Then she followed us down to the prison cellar and constantly reminded us of what time it was. Europeans must hate working even more than Americans.
We had enough time to do one more thing before I had to head back to Brussels, so we went to the tower. I don't know its name. We found out it was owned by T-Mobile and has been closed for the past 12 years. Nevertheless the 2 mile walk was pleasant, and the park next to the tower was cool. Someone was barbecuing and gave me the only reminder that it was Independence Day, aside from Marcus humming American patriot tunes. We walked back to the station, Marcus picked up his luggage from a high-tech locker, and I bid him farewell. I got back safely and crashed to bed.
Sunday
I slept in for the first time in forever, and it equated to a little over 8 hours of sleep. My plan for the day was to get some groceries for dinner and then see Halle Gate. It turns out I forgot that Sunday was market day on Place Flagey and all nearby shops and stores were closed. I walked through it and got my groceries from there, which was nice other than the fact that none of the vendors spoke a lick of English. I went back to the room, ate lunch, grabbed my camera and headed for Halle Gate, which I will explain below.
Twich's Drink of the Day: Kwak
Another beer I wanted to try since I got here, Kwak is a lambic beer that is poured into the interesting-shaped glass and stand shown above. I do recommend it, but it's not as fun if it isn't poured into this type of glass (that typical Belgian restaurant served it in a regular glass). It's just interesting that way. Also, while the glass balances well without the stand while it's full of beer, it will fall over and shatter if it's empty. Trust me, I know.
Twich's Place of the Day: Halle Gate
The girls honestly had no idea what they were missing. This was the main entrance to the city of Brussels back in the 1300's. It's been used for a number of purposes, mainly as a powerful war defense (duh), a prison, and a museum since the 1700's. There's 4 floors of the museum, including one temporary exhibit on archaeology in the area. I was very frustrated though because it's not included on the English audio guide, and the exhibit was written in only French and Dutch, so I didn't get to make much use of what I knew from the archaeology class I took the previous semester. The view from the top of the tower is absolutely astounding! See for yourself:
Plus, if you have an ISIC, you only have to pay for the audio guide (2 euro). But I think he didn't make me pay otherwise because he asked me what my profession was, and when I said journalism, he said something about a press pass. I truly do love my luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment