Shelby's Year in Belgium

Sunday, June 12, 2016

April, May, & June

Ive been in Belgium for over 300 days. Its crazy to think that 300 days ago I left everything I knew, my family, my friends, my life to come explore a new country, make new friends and create a new life. My time in Belgium was exactly how I wanted it to be. I remember my french teacher telling me how the first few months will be the worst but for me its the last few months. The conflict of leaving this little wonderful life I made in just 10 short months to go back to my life I lived for 17 years. Some days I want to go to the airport and hop on a plane right then and other days I wanna call and cancel my flight and never go home. Its that internal struggle that's truly the sucky part about exchange. that and the goodbyes and the exchange weight haha! I really cant explain how I feel about it. Its very bittersweet. A month ago I was so excited to go home and start a new routine, but now that its coming I sit here thinking how did it all go by so fast? Fortunately I have a few more weeks (eek I cant even say a month anymore!!) to enjoy Belgium. There are plenty of things I have yet to see so as soon as I finish my exams I plan to cram them in.
I have done a lot since my last post so here's a couple things ive done!
I participated on our Rotary trip to Italy, changed host families, visited the Atomium, went out with exchange students, went to the Rotary Gala, went to a karaoke night with my Belgian friend, did 3 huge end of the year projects, and completed a week of reception (explained later). I also got to experience DouDou, visit the Abbaye de Villers, gave a Rotary Presentation, visited some Belgian cities, went to Zoo in Antwerp, explored a castle, went to a food truck festival, and danced the night away at a Belgian prom! I also visited Keukenhof in Holland to see the tulips and said some goodbyes to some of my exchange friends.

One of my last outings with my 2^nd host family was going into the Atomium. It was something I had on my Belgian Bucket List and they were happy to help me check it off. We went straight up to the third floor where we could see ALL of Brussels. It was so cool! We took the fastest elevator in Europe too. Then we took the stairs and escaloators to see the expo and museum. It’s a very neat monument. I almost like it more than the Eiffel tower, almost ;). We also visited Mini-Europe which is literally all these European momnuments but in tiny form! It was pretty cool, I literally was around the world in 80 seconds (okay maybe like an hour). I was so glad to check these things off my bucket list with great company.

Next thing I did was ITALY. Oh my gosh this trip was definitely a highlight of my year. We were almost 100 exchange students in 2 bus for a trip to Italy for 11 days. We visited all over Italy: Rome, Vatican City, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Pompeii, Capri and the Almafi Coast in the South. The weather was warm, the sites were beautiful and the group was like a family. We saw so much but some of my favorite places would be the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Burano, Murano, Venice, Sistine Chapelle in Vatican City, Pompeii, and the Almafi Coast. Burano and Murano are little islands that are apart of Venice. Burano is full of colorful buildings and famous for lace while Murano is famous for their glass work. We got to see a man blow some glass pieces. It was very cool! Pompeii was really warm but I really liked it because I could really feel the history there. We also had a nice guide who gave us some great tips. The Trevi Fountain was amazing and bigger and bluer than I imagined. I got to toss a coin in and make a wish! The Sistine Chapelle is the chapelle of the Pope that Michelangelo painted. Its breathtaking and I could stand there just looking at the ceiling forever. Venice and Almafi are probably my top two favorites. We spent our whole last day in Venice and I spent most of it exploring and wandering with a couple of my friends. Its such a wonderful city to get lost in. We also rode in a gondola so that was very cool! The Almafi coast was just an incredible experience. We were driven in a huge coach bus on little tiny streets, it was mesmerizing to watch the driver maneuver his way through. We stopped at multiple cities on the coast and they were all so cute. I definitely wanna go back some day!

School is almost over for me now! I have two more days of exams and then I will be done! I spent the last week making bread and cookies and brownies which was super fun for my last few times in the kitchen. I did 3 major end of the year projects, all in french! One was about making my own menu, another on the city where my school is and the last one was on the wine from California. Looking back I am pretty proud of my work. I will be presenting them Tuesday for my teachers. I also did a week of reception. I stayed in the restaurant for a week answering phone calls and hosting guests when they came into the restaurant. It was really fun and a great way to practice my french. As my last couple days come around i just wanna say a couple things to my classmates (idk if they read this or not but if you do) Merci Beaucoup pour tous cette annee. Je suis tres contente d'avoir les gens comme vous dans ma classe cette anne. Vous allez me manquer trop.

We had a short vacation in early May. I took those days to travel around Belgium with some friends. We went to Liege to see the Dali Expo, Ghent to see the castle Gravensteen, and Antwerp to see a fashion museum (which ended up being closed due to technical problems). It was a really nice break in Belgium and it was super cool to explore all these cities. The Brussels food truck festival was also during that time and it was so cool. There were food trucks from all over in a little park in Brussels. I had a bubble waffle, a hot dog and some yummy homemade lemonade!

I got to go to my friend Jasmin's prom. Prom in Belgium is kinda of the same as US prom. There is music and dancing and a photographer. The dress code isn't super forced but people still wear fancy dresses (a couple girls showed up in a jumpsuit!!) and there is alcohol and snacks served. It was a very nice night for sure.

I also went to Keukenhof to see some tulips. It was a 4 hour train ride but it was worth it. They were beautiful! I also went to an abandoned Abbaye which was also pretty cool. We got off at the wrong stop so we walked over an hour to find the abbey. I also saw the Zoo in Antwerp with my friend Laura. It was such a cute little zoo, my favorite was the monkeys because there was a little baby one. It was so cute!

DouDou was one of my favorite parts of the year. Its a week long celebration in the city of Mons. I went with my 2nd host parents who orginate from Mons. Theres a huge combat with St George (the protector of the people) and the dragon that we got to watch. Its good luck if you get a piece of the tail and a kid gave us the tail which he grabbed. We were able to see a lot about the culture because we were with people who come from Mons. Another part that is important is a parade with the shrine of the creator of the city. They descend the shrine the night before and then march with it while its placed on a golden carriage. The carriage then has to be pushed up the hill by the church, if it doesn't make it up the hill, its a sign of bad luck! Fortunately it made it up this year! DouDou was an unforgettable moment and a big thanks to the Maindiauxs for inviting me. Merci Beaucoup :)

As for rotary events, we have done a couple things. We had a gala which i went to and worked, I served drinks then was able to watch the a capella show. It was some 80s music but still pretty cool. I also gave my presentation on my year here in Belgium. My club said they were very impressed and were glad i had a good year. With the other exchange students in my club we threw a culture dinner party together. It was nice to try food from their countries. #GenvalCrew for life.

I also changed families in April. I moved in with a rotarian, Pierre who has 3 daughters. I am pretty close with Manon, Lea and Fanny and was glad i could be apart of their family.

From now until i leave i plan on visiting a couple more places in Belgium, taking some exams, a trip to Prague, going to Disneyland Paris and visiting a German city. Hopefully i have time for it all!

Shelby

Rome

Mt Vesusius

Pompeii

Gondola in Venice

Gravensteen in Ghent

Keukenhof in Holland

Presentation for Rotary

Culture Dinner with the Genval Crew

Abandoned Abbaye

DouDou 2016

Monkey from the Zoo!

Saturday, May 14, 2016

50 DAYS!

I have 50 days left on my exchange (not long enough!!) but I thought it would be cool to post a blog about 50 things I’ll miss about my life on exchange and my life in Belgium. Not in any particular order

1. Chocolate

2. Half Day Wednesdays

3. Being Legal to Drink

4. Train Rides

5. My wonderful host parents

6. GAUFFRES

7. Conversations that go like this: ça va? ça va!

8. Constant updates on the Belgium Exchange Students Page

9. Being able to cross one country in 3 hours

10. Walk Homes from the train station

11. Frites & Mayonnaise

12. BRESA trips

13. Brussels

14. Using the word Chouette

15. Adventuring in Antwerp

16. Desperados

17. Emmanuel’s Cooking

18. Belgian Rain

19. My school friends

20. Singing with Samantha

21. The freedom

22. My amazing exchange student family (mom loves you all)

23. Park Drinking

24. Primark

25. Catching up in little Cafes

26. Travelling throughout Europe

27. Drum Lessons

28. Genval Rotary Club

29. Bread

30. Speaking French

31. Trying in school but not stressing (because it doesn’t matter)

32. No wind

33. Movie night at the Maindiauxs

34. Fresh Sandwiches from the Sandwich room

35. Shopping Days in LLN or Brussels

36. Making Weekend plans to go check out a new city

37. SNCB App

38. Cuberdon

39. Selfies with Knights in Gravensteen in Gent

40. Trying to take those Instagram worthy pictures

41. Never leaving the house without a minimum of 2 coats

42. Hearing Dutch

43. My cooking classes at school

44. Being able to walk everywhere (or if not take the train/bus/tram)

45. Wandering the streets of Bruges

46. Krik

47. Junk food night chez les Schmits

48. Croissants for Sunday morning breakfast

49. My host siblings (4 sisters & 3 brothers) who all became like real siblings to me

50. Speculoos

Here’s to making the last 50 days the best

xoxo
Shelby

Friday, March 25, 2016

100 Days, Trips, and Terror

I don’t really know where to start with this post. I could talk about the 2 amazing trips I have had the chance to go on since my last post, the rotary activity in Mechelen, or my feelings about approaching my 100 days left. I think the place to start is the terror attacks that happened in Brussels this week. So starting backwards but here we go. First thing to get out of the way, I am safe. I live about 40 minutes away from Brussels and was on my way to school when I heard about the attacks. I am not coming home earlier than planned. I know a lot of people probably think I should but I would like to explain to them why I am not. First, I am obviously taking precautions given by rotary to avoid places that there could be an attack (crowded events, big cities, etc.). I hopefully won’t be put in the situation. Second, the goal of terrorist is to cause terror or fear (hence the name) and wouldn’t finishing my exchange right now be giving into what they want? I think it would and I am not planning on let the bad guys win. Thirdly, terrorist can attack anywhere, I am just as safe in Rixensart as I would be in Cheyenne. So no I am not going home quite yet. I trust that if the situation does heighten, rotary will know what to do, but I do not plan on coming home any day sooner than the 3^rd of July. So now that my safety is covered I guess I can talk about my feelings of the attacks. Of course it is awful. It hurts because part of me is now Belgian. How could someone want to harm a wonderful, welcoming group of people? We will never know. I knew Brussels, being the capital of the EU, was a high target for ISIS. IT is so awful that it really did happen and my heart aches for the families involved. For now I think we just need to be together and show Brussels we are with them. I just want to restate the two statements that I said after the Paris attacks. 1. Terrorist want to cause terror and we shouldn’t live our lives in fear because of what they have done. We have to continue on with life and not worry about what could happen. We really just need to enjoy each day and not live in fear. 2. ISIS is an extremist group. They don’t represent ALL Muslims or ALL Syrian Refugees. They represent a group with EXTREME ideas. After the Brussels attacks, the hashtag #StopIslam was trending. I found that very inappropriate and was quite frustrated with it. It should’ve been #StopISIS or #StopHate. It’s truly unfortunate that Muslims will be the scapegoats for what ISIS has been doing. On a bright side, I love how the world has shown support for what has happened. My favorite part of Tuesday was getting a tweet that the University of Wyoming (my future school) was lit up in red black and yellow to support Brussels. I think that’s all we really need to do right now, we need to unite and find a way to end this. Finally I just want to send a huge thank you to everyone who was worried about me! Your thoughts and prayers mean the world and I thank you all so much.

Happier topics now: So I’ve been able to do quite a great couple things in the past month. One was an activity to Mechelen with my rotary club. We had the opportunity to visit a concentration camp. I didn’t know that there was a camp in Belgium so it was really interesting to learn about. It was really a changing experience. I really have no words for it. I think that everyone in their life should at once go to a camp. It is important to understand what happened here. A quote that comes to mind is from Winston Churchill, “those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it”. As painful as the holocaust is to study, it is important to know what happened so it doesn’t repeat. The camp was interesting and was followed by a long museum visit (which we ended up leaving early because the guide wasn’t super great). It was great to meet more of the Rotarians in my club.

I also had the chance to go to Copenhagen in Denmark with two of my exchange friends who were in the USA last year, Cris (from Italy) and Irem (from Turkey). We had a great time catching up and exploring the city together. The northern part of Europe has such a different vibe than the Europe we Americans think of (France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, etc.). It was very cool to see a different pace. We saw everything from the little mermaid to Christiana. I will share a couple of my favorite memories. Our first day we went to the largest aquarium in Northern Europe, the big blue planet. It was my first time in an aquarium so that was really cool! Almost every night, we watched the sunset from a tower. The first night was from the round tower which is an old observatory in Copenhagen. The second night was from the tower of a palace in Copenhagen. Both were so beautiful and perfect photo opportunities J One night, we got locked in the garden of the summer palace together. It was so funny because we were all so scared that we weren’t going to get out but we did. We laughed about it for hours. I am really glad I was able to go on a trip to see them and it was really hard to say goodbye.

The next trip I took was a weekend in Paris with my host parents. As many of you know Paris is my favorite place ever so of course I had fun (going with my awesome host parents was just the icing on the cake). We did A LOT in the 3 short days I was there. I got to see the thinker in the Rodin Museum and we bought my favorite macaroons. We also saw Moulin rouge, Montmartre with sacre Coeur, the Paris opera, the house of victor Hugo, the Eiffel tower, and went to Shakespeare and Co (my favorite bookstore in Paris). I also got to see Saint Chappelle which is now one of my favorite churches ever (it’s literally a church with stain glass windows EVERYWHERE!!). There was a great exposition on photography we got to visit as well. It was on a fashion photographer and her pictures are amazing. We did a lot of window shopping too. I had a lot of fun and it’s really hard to pick my favorite part. I am so lucky I got placed in great host families like them.

Today marks 100 days left of my exchange. It truly is a bitter sweet feeling. My exchange has gone by so fast (too fast??). Part of me never wants to leave but another part knows it is time to move on with life. I still have a lot to see in these short 100 days. It is time to follow my inner Frenchie and Carpe Diem. Here’s to making the last 100 days the best.

School is going really well here. I passed all my classes and am really content with my marks. For the past two weeks, my class has been doing their internships so I have been coming to school and cooking all day. It has been really fun and I have learned a lot of skills in the kitchen!

A couple miscellaneous things I’ve done with my host family! We went to Mons, the city where my host parents come from, and they showed me around. We went up to a bell tower and saw the whole view of Mons. We also went to a museum on this huge event called DouDou that happens in Mons in May. It was super cool to see the city they came from. We also went to Tom (host brother)’s Jazz festival that he and a group of other students put on. It was really cool and I can now say that I am a big jazz fan. We had a lot of fun dancing and going out and listening to some great tunes.

It is now Spring Break here and my plans are to go on the rotary trip to Italy. We will be gone for 11 days and will be visiting Rome, Capri, Naples, Venice, Pompeii, Pisa and Florence. We are going to be about 100 students so it should be very fun! When I get back I plan on enjoying the time I have left with my host family (my 3^rd family change is April 17^th!) and checking off things on my Belgian Bucket list. I promise an update after break!! Thanks for the thoughts again! See you all soon.

Shelby

Fort Breendonk

Sunset in Copenhagen from the Round Tower

Nyhavn, Copenhagen with Cris and Irem

Paris with Caroline and Manu (he wasn't ready)

UWyo supporting Belgium

Wonder what hes thinking

Nights at the Jazz Festival!

God Save the Swing

The Monkey of Mons (rub him for good luck!)

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Art Expos, Carnival, & Amsterdam

Bonjour Tous!
My dad is the one who reminded me to write my blog this time. I guess not being able to write just means I’ve been occupied with life here which is a good thing. The struggle now is to make sure I write everything in order! Here we go. So one of the first things I did with my 2^nd host family was an art expo in Brussels. It was super cool. They were all Belgian artist from Mons, where my host family grew up in. I had to leave early to go to a rotary meeting but I did see a lot of it. My rotary meeting was a “halftime” meeting to check on our progress halfway through our exchange. It’s crazy to think I am over halfway in my exchange. Somedays it feels like I got off the plane yesterday and other days it feels like I’ve been here for ages. No matter the time, I know I have to enjoy every day I have left here! A couple other things I remember were the Saturday night family/friend dinner parties my host parents threw. They were really fun times when I got to meet some of the family & friends. We also enjoyed watching movies together almost every night after dinner. They also help me out a lot with my French. We have also been to the La Hulpe Park together to take the dog, Fiji on walks. We also celebrated my halfway point together! We had black forest cake from the local bakery. It was yummy! I spent about two weeks with my real second host family before they left for Chile. While they were in Chile, I lived in a Rotarian (who lives maybe 5 minutes away) who is also hosting an exchange student. Jasmin, the other exchange student, is from Australia. We spent a lot of time together and I got to show her around Rixensart (our city), Brussels, and Namur. We got to go shopping together in Brussels with the other exchange students in our club which was really fun! It was cool to give Jasmin her first view of Brussels. We also went to a Pop-Art Expo in Brussels which I really enjoyed. I was really glad I got to live with her and have the chance to make some really great memories. We got to go to the Rotarian’s daughter’s school for a school party they were throwing right before our carnival break. We ate good food, watched fireworks and I even sang karaoke. It was such a fun time and we met some really nice Belgians! So in Belgium they have the vacation of Carnival in February, we get one week off! I kicked off vacation with my friend’s birthday party. We had a blast at her house with a couple other exchange students. It was a great way to kick off the break! The next day, I went to Carnival de Binche. Carnival de Binche is a huge party with confetti and lots of folklore. They parade around in little groups with drums (which each group has a different beat) and everyone is in costumes. That was just the Sunday part. I also went Tuesday (will explain that part later!). Sunday I went with Jasmin and Maeve and we took cute pictures while throwing confetti. We watched the little kids who were all dress up parade around until we got to cold and decided to warm up in the train station. Monday I switched back to my normal family because my host sister got back. Tuesday I went the Carnival de Binche again, this time really early so I could see the Gilles all dressed up. I met up with other exchange students around 8:30 am and we danced, caught oranges (the gilles throw oranges for good luck), laughed, and watched the parades throughout the day. You can say I was pretty exhausted plus the weather was sucky so we left around 3pm. It was a really cool experience though! To finish Carnival vacation, I went to Amsterdam with Rotary for 3 days. We saw a lot and I really enjoyed this trip. On our first day we stopped at Delft, which is this really cute city where they make delftware (typical blue and white pottery). We had some free time, during which my Canadian friend, Mackenzie and I found a really cute bakery that sold cupcakes! We tried a couple and then continued walking around the town. We then had a museum visit of a local artist. It was a little weird because there wasn’t any of his art in the museum, just analysis of it and his history. We did end up seeing some of his pieces though. That night we headed back on the road to Amsterdam. We ate at Hard Rock Café and then saw Amsterdam by night. My friend Kristin and I volunteered to help out on the trip so we wore bright orange vests so everyone could see us and not get lost. That night everyone started calling me mom because I literally was the mom of the trip (in a good way I hope!). We saw the famous Red Line District of Amsterdam. That was interesting. It’s weird to think prostitution is legal. Honestly I found it really sad that people can have that as a job. But I guess that’s how it is. That night, my room had ice cream together and we went to bed because we were tired! I roomed with 5 other girls, Olivia (American), Mackenzie (Canadian), Kate (American), Brier (Canadian) and Maddi (New Zealander). The next day was the busiest! We went to a navy museum (which definitely gave me a Pirates of the Caribbean vibe). We got to go on a remake of a famous trade ship that sank. We then visited a Portuguese Synagogue. There were a lot of Jews (and still are!) in Amsterdam. They brought a lot of diverse culture to Amsterdam to make it the beautiful city it is today. We had free time for lunch and my friends and I found the cutest bio place with delicious salads. We didn’t have a lot of time to eat because we had to make it on time to see the Anne Frank House. I gave 2 presentations on the trip, one on Anne Frank and one on Vincent Van Gogh. They both went really well. The Anne Frank House was amazing. I have been interested in the history of the Holocaust since 8^th grade so it was really surreal actually going to this place I have dreamed about for years. It was full of history and I really enjoyed how they laid it out. While I walked the tour with my exchange friends, Tim and Kinsey, I had such a sad feeling. It’s difficult to think that this young girl lost her life over her religion. I can’t even put into words the feeling that came over me when I went into her room. It was a tiny little room that was dark and hardly sufficient enough to live in, but she did for over 2 years. The museum was just so well put together and I highly recommend that everyone goes there at least once in their life. We couldn’t take pictures but I did buy the book about the house (so if anyone at home wants to read it let me know!). It really put in perspective how lucky I am to have the things I do have. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. After the house, we walked around Amsterdam, specifically the “Jardaan” quartier and the flower market. We honestly did so much walking and saw so much of Amsterdam. You could get so lost though because the buildings all kind of look the same. The flower market was full of tulips that you could buy. I definitely need to go back to buy some with my mom sometime. We then headed back to the hotel for a little break. My room spent the whole breaking talking together. It was really fun to have some girl time with them. That night we headed to the Van Gogh Museum. I did my other presentation (which the Rotarians seemed to really like). I am such a huge fan of Van Gogh so it was another thing I was really glad I got to see. The museum was absolutely wonderful. I loved learning about his life and artwork. It was honestly such a great end to the night. We headed back to the hostel and got a teeny bit lost. At the hostel, Maddi, Kate, and I went down to the bar (which Rotary allowed) and made some British friends! We stayed up talking with them until 1am which was also super fun. I find that such a pro about Europe, you can go anywhere and still meet someone and have great conversation with them. Everyone is so open here. It’s wonderful. On our last day we visited the Rijks Museum, which is pretty much the Louvre of Amsterdam. Kate and I explored that together. It was nice but I didn’t really know any of the artist so we moved through it pretty quick. I think we saw about half of it. After the art museum, we had a boat ride through the canals of Amsterdam. That was honestly a great way to wrap up the trip. Looking back we saw so much of Amsterdam. When the boat trip finished we got three hours of free time. My friends (Mackenzie, Kaylee, Olivia and Kinsey) went to find the Fault in Our Stars bench. I was so excited to see it as it was the one thing I wanted to see on my trip (that wasn’t on the agenda). We spent the last few hours in Amsterdam eating at an Argentinian restaurant and popping into souvenir shops. It was such an amazing trip filled with a lot of wonderful memories I will always remember. Thanks to BRESA for having such a good trip planned for us. As for Valentine’s Day, I spent it with Jasmin in Louvain-la-Neuve (the college town). We ate some really good wok and then watched Netflix and ate chocolate. It was a really chill day. Yesterday I stayed home sick, I’ve been sick since Amsterdam: p but now I feel a lot better. I lost my voice (from yelling watch out for the bikes (because bikes are everywhere in Amsterdam!)) and needed to catch up on my sleep. Tomorrow my host parents get back and Saturday I have a trip planned with my Rotary club to Mechlen to see a fort related to the Holocaust. More details about that next week. I promise to write next week because these once a month updates get long!

xx
Shelby

Rocking the Orange Vests

Leah's school party

On a Ship in Amsterdam!

Anne Frank House

I AMsterdam sign with the crew!

The Fault in Our Stars Bench

Tulips Everywhere!

Amsterdam

Carnival de Binche Round 2

Delft!

Carnival de Binche Round 1

The Gilles

HBD Amelia <3

Love My Aussie

Valentines Day 2016

Pop Art in Brussels

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Lyon, Bruges, New Year, & Au Revoirs

It’s been almost a month since my last post, so I have lots to share! I’ll try my very best to keep it in sequential order. So I finished all my exams the week of December 18^th. During the week I took a couple day trips with my exchange friends after my tests. I went to Antwerp again and saw a whole other side of it. We went through this tunnel which was 35 meters underground to go under the river Schelde. It was so cool! We also took a lot of pictures together and explored the Christmas market in Antwerp. I also was able to spend time in Brussels with Larry and Sarah, two Americans who live near me! We visited Brussels’ Christmas market and I showed them my favorite bakery in Brussels. It was full with so many things. We also tried a Christmas specialty, vin chaud. The Christmas markets are a great way to get into the Christmas season. Sarah and I also rode the giant ferris wheel in the market. I swear you could see all the way to Paris! I had such a great time with them. We also got to see the light show in the grand place. That was so neat. I am so lucky to live so close to a big city like that. Friday, Rachel and I left for Lyon, France. We took a train from Brussels to Lyon. It was so wonderful to be back in Lyon. I could actually speak French really well with my first exchange family and that was something really special for me. We saw a lot in the 5 days we were there including Old Lyon, Fourviere, St. Jean, a show starring the famous puppet Guignol, Lyon’s ancient Roman Ruins, a tapestry museum, Confluence and an awesome jazz concert. We did a lot of shopping and saw the new star wars movie as well! Confluence, where the two rivers that run through Lyon meet, was a really cool site for me to see because on my first trip it was still under construction and this time I saw the finished building! It is so cool. One of my favorite days was the Sunday we celebrated Lorelei’s grandpa’s birthday. I got to meet the rest of their family, try new food and drinks, and speak French! We had an enormous meal so we went to a park to walk it off. Its family moments together like that day that I really cherish. Many people want to see typical places in France like Paris, Normandy, Bordeaux and the French Riviera but I definitely recommend Lyon for you world travelers. It is a city with a feel like nowhere else. After my trip, I went back to Brussels for a few days. I met up with my friend Matthew to help him with some Christmas shopping. He showed me my now favorite café in Brussels with the BEST chai lattes. I’ve gone back 3 times since then! The next day, Samantha and I went out in Waterloo to see her friend play in a jazz jam. We ate flatbread pizzas and listened to some really cool jams. We were both dead by 11:30 so we left a little early. Christmas Eve we went to celebrate with Samantha’s sister’s family (she has 2 little boys). We had a lovely meal and I got to try oysters for the first time. I find them really yummy! It was a funny night and I loved seeing the little kids so excited for Christmas. On Christmas day, we didn’t do much being that my host family is Jewish. Samantha and I stayed in pajamas and watched Desperate Housewives all day, which was really fun! I also got to skype my family and it was so nice to see everyone even though I wasn’t with them. In between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, I explored plenty of places with my host family and friends. One day we went on a walk in La Hulpe and saw the castle which is in this huge part. I am not even sure we made it through halfway of the park, it was that huge! Another day we visited Bruges. A lot of people told me to make sure to visit it and I can see why. It’s a lovely city with a lot of history. Samantha, Elliott and I saw the Christmas market, played bumper cars, bought chocolate, and visited the historium. I really enjoyed the historium because we learned a lot about the history of Bruges! The chocolate was really yummy too. With my exchange friends, we went to Namur. I finally got to see the citadel of Namur. We all played music and chilled at the top of the giant hill and admired the view. That was a really cool memory made with them. Maeve and I also took a trip to Brussels to find some cute outfits for New Year’s Eve. We found a really yummy restaurant and it was really funny because one of my school friends ended up being our waiter. It was a fun day full of shopping and indulging in Belgian waffles. Sam and I made cream puffs for the New Year’s party she was going to. That was a lot of fun, even though they didn’t turn out perfect. For New Years, Rachel, Maeve, and I went to Antwerp for the night. It was a blast and we got to ring in 2016 with fireworks and our exchange friends. The next day, we slept a lot! I went to Bruges again with exchange students from district 1630. It was really nice because I don’t really get to see them a lot so I really enjoyed spending the day with them in a beautiful city. My friend from Australia, Patrice, and I wandered off from the group and found a really adorable chocolate shop/ tea house where we found quite possibly the best Belgian hot chocolate. It was really sweet to spend time with her because she was a really good friend and has already finished her exchange. I was able to meet a couple past exchange students in Brussels in the first 2 weeks of January. 2 were past exchange students who had their exchange in Belgium and one was a friend from home who I knew through exchange who was travelling around Europe. I got to show her around Brussels one day and that was a lot of fun. The first few weeks of 2016 have been wild. I had many of my friends from the southern hemisphere leave so I had a lot of hard goodbyes to say. During the same time the trains went on strike so I had to take buses to get to the places to say goodbye. I am really so dependent on the trains here. Fortunately we made it work and I was able to say goodbye. For my Aussie friends, I was able to go to the airport and watch them leave. It was very bittersweet. It’s heartbreaking to know that my group of exchange students will be the next group to leave. After saying those hard goodbyes, I changed host families. I now live in a city with a train station and its 10 minutes closer to school! More time to sleep in. I really like my new host family too because things are more like how they were in Wyoming. I have 2 older host siblings, Zoe and Tom. It’s a different place for me to be in because now I am the “baby” of the family. My host parents have really cool jobs and are really nice! They like to cook and each night after dinner we watch a movie or a TV show together. I really think they’re a great fit for me and I am excited to stay here for the next few months! I will have to take some pictures with them soon!

I think that catches you all up on the past month, I will try to post more often!

Bisous!
Shelby