Shelby's Year in Belgium: Ghent, Braine-le-Comte, & Charleroi

This week was a bit of a struggle for me. Almost every day I missed the bus and had to have my host mom drive me to school. I didn’t get a lot of good sleep even though I came home every day and lounged around. I also got a little homesick. I definitely understand now why rotary doesn’t want you on your electronics all the time while on exchange. Not going to lie, it is definitely something I need to work on. Anyways, I celebrated Jewish new year on Sunday with Léon and his family! We ate a lot of great food and I got see my host cousins which was really exciting! Monday I had my first PE class and it made me miss PE in the states. Yep I really just said that. We took a 15 minute walking in the pouring rain to get to a gym that we sat in for 40 minutes doing nothing. It was so pointless and very cold. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow! Monday evening I had a small dinner with Samantha, her brother and parents to finish of the Jewish New Year celebrations. Tuesday I had a day full of salle class. Salle is pretty much a class on running a restaurant so its almost as fun as cooking. We made cocktails Tuesday and they all turned out pretty good! Wednesday I had a quiz in organic chemistry. I didn’t know we had a quiz so it was more of a pop quiz for me! I got a 6/10 on it (not bad for not studying and being in a French chemistry class). Wednesday afternoon I went the Charleroi, which has a not so great reputation in Belgium. I got to meet up with other rotary exchange students and see how pretty the city is. It was a wonderful way to spend my afternoon. Friday was a really good day for me. I talked a lot with the people in my class and the professional cooking level. They all are so nice and friendly and funny. Friday I finally got to cook. My class made sandwiches and it was super easy. It reminded me a lot of working with my mom for her friend Becky, who is the chef of the Govenor of Wyoming. Friday evening I spent with my host mom and brother at the house. Saturday, Samantha, Elliot and I went to this really adorable bakery in Waterloo. There were so many tarts and amazing breads and cute little candies. After we bought some candy, we went to the Waterloo Brewery because there was a little event going on. At the brewery, people were dressed in uniforms just like the soliders would’ve worn at the battle of Waterloo! It was super cool and a little funny to see. There were a few mini shops to check out. Elliot and I found giant smurf statues and took pictures with eact one we found. Later that day, I went to Braine-le-Comte to spend the weekend with Rachel. Saturday evening we walked around Braine-le-Comte. I got to see her school and we went to a cute little bakery and chocolatier together. I bought something small from each place and it was yummy. We then walked through the woods and back to her house to eat pizza and watch Gossip Girl. It was really great to spend the night with her. Sunday, we went to Ghent for the day. Ghent is in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium so I was a little nervous to go because I know hardly any dutch. We had a lot of fun visiting the city. It was one of the first weekends we hadn’t gone shopping for clothes (mostly because on Sunday the stores were closed haha). We were able to go to Gravensteen which is a 10^th-century castle with a beautiful view of the city. It was my first castle I saw in Belgium! We explored the city and shopped in little shops. We were able to eat a brunch at this chic café called Simon Says. Afterwards we bought cuberdon from 2 different vendors to decide which had the better candy (Results: Rachel’s had better texture but mine had just the right amount of sugar). It was really a lovely visit to a magnificent city. Next weekend, there is an event with Rotex to go kayaking and I am really looking forward to that. I will make sure to take lots of pictures and write about it next week.

Until Next Time

~Shelby