Chez Moi: Bruxelles

Here’s my entries for yesterday and today. Sorry they’re late!

SATURDAY, MAY 14^th, 2011

So...Europe kicked my butt today.

I don’t think that words can describe how insane my day was. In fact, I’m positive that they can’t, but I’ll do my best.

It all started with a cell phone alarm and severe sleep deprivation. I set my alarm for 4:00am so that I could wake up, get organized, eat breakfast, and catch the 5:00am train to meet Mckenna at the station by 6:00am. We still had to print out our tickets at the station when we got there. Our train was scheduled to leave at 7:01am, so we couldn’t be late! I went to bed knowing I’d probably only sleep for a few hours but I had no idea I’d sleep through my alarm! I woke up at 5:55am.

I had a total adrenaline rush. I ran to my computer, typed a Facebook message to Mckenna saying that I was coming, threw on an outfit, grabbed my backpack, and literally ran out the door. No makeup, no brushed hair, nothing. 6:00am. It usually takes 10 minutes to walk to the train station, but I sprinted there in three. 6:03am. The next train left ten minutes later. 6:13am. All I could think about for the whole train was, “Please let me make it...please!!!! Mckenna can’t go to another country by herself!!!!” I don’t think I’ve prayed that hard in a long time. The RER A pulled into the “Les Halles” station and I jumped off of the train as soon as I could. 6:35am. I ran upstairs to catch Metro line 4 to “Gare du Nord” and barely made the train that was there. 6:37am. There were 5 stops between “Les Halles” and “Gare du Nord” but for some reason, the stops were super short and we made really good time. 6:45am. I ran as fast as I could to the main station area and looked frantically for a ticket line. I waited in line for 10 minutes or so and (I don’t know how) explained my situation IN FRENCH to the ticket guy. He was very nice and pointed me in the right direction to the train to Brussels. Thankfully, it was one of the closest platforms to the ticket counter! 6:58am. My car was one of the furthest from the main area, so I ran to find it. 6:59am. I got on board, saw how relieved McKenna was, and said a huge prayer of thanks that I made it. 7:00am. The train pulled out at 7:01am.

The train ride was a little over an hour, so not bad at all! We made it to Bruxelles around 8:30ish and I bought a day long metro pass. The metro system in Brussels seems a lot nicer! Probably because it’s newer than the one in Paris. We took the metro to the Grand Place and it was EMPTY! Nothing really opens until 10:00am, so Mckenna and I got some pictures of us in the Grand Place, grabbed a pastry for breakfast, and went to see Mannequin Pis. I remembered it being small and anticlimactic, but it didn’t remember it being THAT small! It was fun to see though. J

After that, we hopped on the metro again and headed to the atomium. It’s kind of like the Eiffel Tower of Brussels. TOTALLY lame on the inside but I guess we can say that we’ve been inside, right? At least there was a cool view of Brussels from the top.

Then it was off to the Musée de Beaux Arts de Belgique. We took a tram there but decided that we were hungry, so we went to find food. I realized that I was low on cash, so we stopped by a bank first. This is where problem #2 happened. I tried to withdraw some money, but my back rejected the transaction thinking I was someone else fleeing France with my card. They completely SHUT DOWN my account! I even called before I left the U.S. and told them I’d be traveling! It was SO annoying. I called my mom in a panic (not cheap to do, I know) and she and my Daddy called the bank to figure things out (at 6:00am Missouri time. Thank you fabulous parents!!!!). I had an emotional breakdown thinking that I was stuck in a foreign country with no money. Actually, I think we were all frustrated and panicking, but after two hours of talking, they opened my account for an hour so that I could withdraw money until they send me a new card. That’s right, I have NO access to my account for a stinkin’ week! Very very frustrating...

The museum was good but we were a little bit exhausted when it was all said and done. Our feet were dying! We would stop in every exhibit room and sit on the couches for a few minutes and then move on. After the museum, we went back to the Grand Place to go to a museum they have there. We were walking down the street when all of the sudden, we hear this music playing. We had no clue what was going on until this HUGE parade comes out of nowhere. That’s right; Mckenna and I got stuck in the middle of a gay pride parade in downtown Brussels. Didn’t see that one coming. We got some interesting pictures of the parade and then found the nearest side street to go back to the Grand Place. We started walking when the guy in front of us just opens his pants and pees right in front of us. Seriously, what DIDN’T happen to us today???

The museum at the Grand Place was excellent! It had a lot of interesting facts about Brussels and it had a room full of all of the costumes that they dress the mannequin pis in. SO COOL!!!! We spent a lot of time in there looking at all of the different clothes. After the museum, we went to find food. We found a friterie and ate some DELISH frites with mayonnaise (don’t hate on it until you try it!). There was a massive block party going on by the frite place to celebrate the parade, so Mckenna and I decided to find some solitude from the noise in a nearby cathedral. It was beautiful!!!! We were really enjoying the cathedral until we could hear Rhianna, Black Eyed Peas, and other crazy not so reverent music through the walls of the church. It got so bad that they closed it! One more thing to add to the list of crazy happenings in Brussels.

It was getting late, so Mckenna and I had to do one more thing: eat a Liege waffle. We found a place close by and got waffles with strawberries and cream! SO AMAZING!!!! We sat in the street and watched the people go by. There was another block party going on a few streets over, so it was interesting watching all of the drunk people in the street. One girl was dressed as a cop and went around smacking people’s butts with her baton. Watching the reactions of the people was pretty hilarious!

Our train was supposed to leave Belgium at 9:30pm, but everything (museum/attraction wise) closed down at 5:00pm. I grabbed some souvenirs for Jack/the family and we headed to the station early to see if we could get back on an earlier train. The guy at the station was really nice and put us on a 7:00pm train instead. We were SO EXHAUSTED by the end of the day that it was the best decision EVER to head home early. I got back to my house at 9:30pm and crashed. Not before talking to my family on Skype, of course.

Even though it was a crazy stressful day, it’s completely hilarious in retrospect. I really did have a lot of fun amidst the chaos of going to another country by myself for the first time. Thanks for coming with Mckenna! I’m sorry it was insane but it was a lot of fun. Thanks for being patient with the whole bank disaster too! J

SUNDAY, MAY 15^th, 2011

Today’s entry’s gonna be a short one. Sorry!

I went to a mass at Notre Dame de Paris with Toni this morning. It was SO neat!!!! It was a special Gregorian chant mass, so that was fun to listen to. The building is so beautiful! I had no idea what I was doing...I just kind of stood up and sat down when everyone else did, but it was cool to experience what church is like for other religions.

We made it back to our church in time for Sacrament meeting. The speakers had really melodious voices (and I was exhausted), so I was kind of in and out the whole time. It’s amazing how much better I understand French! I love that I’m learning so much while I’m here in Paris.

After church, we were all exhausted so everyone went home to take naps. I woke up this morning with a lot of congestion and a sore throat that got worse throughout the day, so my nap lasted for 4 hours. I hope this thing goes away soon! I don’t know what medicines help sore throats in France!

We also had dinner with our host family tonight. It. Was. Amazing!!!! Madame made tomato soup (which was fabulous for my throat), chicken, rice, green beans, fish, tuna casserole, cheese, bread, and bilberry pie. I’m stuffed to the brim now! I also explained my whole Brussels experience to my host parents IN FRENCH. Four different tenses, baby! I was shocked at how naturally it came! Definitely made my day.

Well it’s late and I have to be up early tomorrow. Yay for Disneyland Paris with Lacey and Sarah!!!! Until tomorrow!!!!