1- On Saturday my two roommates and I made our first trip to the Delhaze (Belgian Food Lion). It was quite an adventure to say the least. The hardest challenge was being able to decipher what all of the different types of food were because it was all in French/Dutch. In addition, as with everything in Europe, the aisle and the shopping carts were all very small so trying to navigate around provided to be much more difficult than expected. However putting our three brains together, and with the help of a couple local grocery shoppers, we were able to find pretty much everything we needed...only taking us more than an hour. We felt so accomplished once we finished our grocery shopping.
2- Our first trip to the grocery store then turned into our first home cooked meal at our hotel! Our mamas all taught us well because we have been eating very healthy and saving money by cooking our meals at home. Our first meal was pasta night and we were more than ecstatic to be able to use our kitchen. We had chef Laura working the stove with the pasta and sauce, Chopper Tricia cutting up the heads of lettuce and carrots for our salad, and DJ Danielle putting some background music on and setting the table. (Yeah I got the easy roll...) Our meal was not only delicious, but we were so happy that we had bought, prepared, and cooked it for ourselves! We even feel the need to take pictures of our table when it is set) Our second home cooked meal might have been even better though because we had chicken, baked potatoes, corn, and a starter salad. So needless to say we are getting better as the nights go on =)
First Pasta Night
Chicken with Baked Potato Night
3- On Sunday a group of about ten of us decided to take the metro to the "Park" and take our first run! We suited up for the cold with our running shoes and were off. The Park is a nice square area that has trails all around it which form about a 0.87 mile loop. We are happy to have found a nice place to exercise and look forward to when it gets nicer outside and the wind is not as brutal!
4- After our first run the group of us went to get our first Belgian Waffle! It was absolutely delicious to say the least. No other words to really describe other than this picture...
Yum.
5- As described on my travel day post we caught the metro for the first time on Friday, however as of now we have our metro cards for the next four months and we have got the system down. It is a lot different than the DC Metro because it does not have sensors on its doors and if it is shutting, you will get left on the metro! In addition it is all the honor code, so while everyone has a metro card there is only one or two stops that actually make you scan your card before going on which makes everything move faster.
6 - We have had many firsts at the local bars because we have been trying to go to different ones each night to get a better feel of the area! One interesting fact about the clubs here is that they all play American music, we love it because we are all able to sing along! The only down side is that everyone smokes cigarettes so it is very smoky all of the time.
7- On Monday we had our first classes here at the Clemson University Brussels Center. I am taking Macroeconomics, Accounting, Marketing, Management, and Law. However our four months here is split up into two sessions of two months each. Therefore this first session I have Econ and Accounting on Mon/Wed and Marketing on Tues/Thurs for 2 hours and 45 minutes each day. Management is online for the full four months so the second session I only have Law which will be Monday and Wednesday afternoon! All of the professors seem really great and understand that we are also here to travel. However it is going to be a lot of work to finish an entire semester in just two months.
8 - We also booked our first flight for a weekend excursion! A large group of us will be in Dublin, Ireland for Saint Patrick's Day and we could not be more excited! We definitely will have weekend trips before that adventure in March but the flights were booking up so fast that we wanted to get it out of the way before the cheaper flights sell out. Never been to Ireland, and can't think of a better time to go!
9- Our last first that I can think of right now was finding an American bar to watch football! Last night, or actually early this morning, a group of us went to the bar "Fat Boys" (Oh the American image) to watch the College National Championship game! While it was very early in the morning for us with the time difference it was fun to be able to watch football again.
The group walking to the American Bar
We are a package deal =)
2- Our first trip to the grocery store then turned into our first home cooked meal at our hotel! Our mamas all taught us well because we have been eating very healthy and saving money by cooking our meals at home. Our first meal was pasta night and we were more than ecstatic to be able to use our kitchen. We had chef Laura working the stove with the pasta and sauce, Chopper Tricia cutting up the heads of lettuce and carrots for our salad, and DJ Danielle putting some background music on and setting the table. (Yeah I got the easy roll...) Our meal was not only delicious, but we were so happy that we had bought, prepared, and cooked it for ourselves! We even feel the need to take pictures of our table when it is set) Our second home cooked meal might have been even better though because we had chicken, baked potatoes, corn, and a starter salad. So needless to say we are getting better as the nights go on =)
First Pasta Night
Chicken with Baked Potato Night3- On Sunday a group of about ten of us decided to take the metro to the "Park" and take our first run! We suited up for the cold with our running shoes and were off. The Park is a nice square area that has trails all around it which form about a 0.87 mile loop. We are happy to have found a nice place to exercise and look forward to when it gets nicer outside and the wind is not as brutal!
4- After our first run the group of us went to get our first Belgian Waffle! It was absolutely delicious to say the least. No other words to really describe other than this picture...
Yum.5- As described on my travel day post we caught the metro for the first time on Friday, however as of now we have our metro cards for the next four months and we have got the system down. It is a lot different than the DC Metro because it does not have sensors on its doors and if it is shutting, you will get left on the metro! In addition it is all the honor code, so while everyone has a metro card there is only one or two stops that actually make you scan your card before going on which makes everything move faster.
6 - We have had many firsts at the local bars because we have been trying to go to different ones each night to get a better feel of the area! One interesting fact about the clubs here is that they all play American music, we love it because we are all able to sing along! The only down side is that everyone smokes cigarettes so it is very smoky all of the time.
7- On Monday we had our first classes here at the Clemson University Brussels Center. I am taking Macroeconomics, Accounting, Marketing, Management, and Law. However our four months here is split up into two sessions of two months each. Therefore this first session I have Econ and Accounting on Mon/Wed and Marketing on Tues/Thurs for 2 hours and 45 minutes each day. Management is online for the full four months so the second session I only have Law which will be Monday and Wednesday afternoon! All of the professors seem really great and understand that we are also here to travel. However it is going to be a lot of work to finish an entire semester in just two months.
8 - We also booked our first flight for a weekend excursion! A large group of us will be in Dublin, Ireland for Saint Patrick's Day and we could not be more excited! We definitely will have weekend trips before that adventure in March but the flights were booking up so fast that we wanted to get it out of the way before the cheaper flights sell out. Never been to Ireland, and can't think of a better time to go!
9- Our last first that I can think of right now was finding an American bar to watch football! Last night, or actually early this morning, a group of us went to the bar "Fat Boys" (Oh the American image) to watch the College National Championship game! While it was very early in the morning for us with the time difference it was fun to be able to watch football again.
The group walking to the American Bar
We are a package deal =)
Reading your Bolg I feel like I am there - very exciting to travel but not leave home! Love you
ReplyDeleteLooks awesome Dani! Great food too :)
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