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

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.

xx

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!)

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

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

Just across the river from Antwerp

Brussels Christmas Market

The view of Brussels from the Ferris Wheel

My French Family in Lyon

Lyon, France

Lyon, France

Castle at La Hulpe

Bruges Round 1

New Years Eve

Bruges Round 2

A really hard goodbye

Until Next Time Loves!

Au Revoir Aussies

Lyon with Rachel for Christmas Break

Namur #representwyo

Bastogne, Birthday, Brussels

So I fail at blogging regularly but that’s okay. It means I have been super busy (which I have been!).  My host mom took me to Bastogne in the south of Belgium to see some of the US history there. We ended up doing a lot shopping and eating crepes which was fun. I did see a US Sherman tank which was pretty cool. It was really cold so we spent most of our time shopping or checking out the local goodies in the bakeries.
School that week consisted cleaning up from the Gala and quizzes to get some grades before the exams. I remember wrapping stacks of plates together for my cooking and service classes haha. It was a pretty laid back week at school.
My birthday was the 27^th of November, the day right after Thanksgiving so for my birthday, my host family and I had thanksgiving dinner together. Dinner included a pumpkin pie made by yours truly. My friend Gabby from California spent the night and had dinner with us. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday
The next day, Gabby and I went to Antwerp with a couple other exchange students. It was the first time I got to go somewhere after Paris. My grandpa was stationed in Belgium during the war so I had some old pictures I wanted to recreate and my friends helped me with that. We walked around the city and visited plenty of stores. I bought my first bath bomb from Lush in Antwerp! We had so much fun together. Gabby, Will (my friend from Brazil) and I even got to meet Saint Nicholas! It was a great after birthday celebration with a few of my exchange friends.
The next week at school was preparation for the exams. For Salle, we made all sorts of cocktails together which was really cool. In the cooking class we had to clean crawdads and I was so scared of them because they were alive. I had jumped when one came crawling towards me and the floor was wet so I slipped and fell which was slightly embarrassing but very funny now that I look back on it. Exams started at the end of the week. I had science and math which I feel pretty good about.
After my science exam, I went to Brussels to celebrate my friend Maeve’s birthday with her. Brussels was all decorated for Christmas so it was really beautiful. We ate at a Tex-Mex restaurant and went ice skating and got waffles. We also had a mini photo shoot in front of the Christmas tree! That was a lot of fun. Gabby came a little later so we got hot chocolate together and walked around the Grand Place.
That weekend I spent with Leon and Sao in Brussels. Friday night, I ate dinner with Leon’s family and met some of his  brother-in-law’s family from South Africa. They didn’t know a lot of French so we spoke English together. It was really funny because they had such different accents so we joked about that. Saturday I went to Namur with Rachel, Gabby, Anastasia, Maeve and Ilham. We did A LOT of shopping and found the cutest little café with really yummy crepes, delicious waffles and chocolaty hot chocolate. It was such a fun day with them. Sunday I went to the Thai market with Sao and Leon. I tried a lot of Thai food and liked them all.
The following week at school was more exams. I studied a little but didn’t stress about them because I am here to learn French, not the things the exams were on. One nice thing about exams week is the time we finish. We finish earlier so we can go home and study. Monday night, my rotary club had a Christmas fundraiser so the exchange students came to help. It was great to see everyone! On Tuesday, I met my friends in Gent and we saw the Christmas Market there. That’s one thing I really like about Christmas in Europe. Every city has a little Christmas market where local vendors are selling things for Christmas. Also every town is decorated in its own way which is also really beautiful. In gent, we did a little shopping, explored the Christmas market and drank hot cocoa. I found probably my favorite white hot chocolate at a hidden chocolate store there. It was simply amazing.
Friday evening I celebrated Hanukkah with my host mom’s family. We had plenty of yummy food and we gave each other presents too! I even got to lit a candle! It was so fun to see all the little kids run around and play with their toys. I got some jewelry, a scarf, bath/shower stuff and a Belgian cookbook! I am so lucky to be a part of their family, even though it is only a few months. The next day, we found a Christmas tree and decorated it together. It was really fun and now the house is all decorated for Christmas!
I have 2 more exams this week before I have winter break. For winter break I am going to go visit my old host family in Lyon with Rachel. I am really excited to see them again and be back in Lyon! It should be a very fun start to my winter break! I will also be changing host families soon so I am going to be spending as much time as I can with my current host family before I have to change.

Until Next Time!

Shelby

Sherman Tank at Bastogne

Birthday Festivities

Saint Nicholas and His Helpers

Cocktails

 

Ice Skating in Belgium

New Friends from South Africa

Antwerp  Crew!

Christmas Fundraiser

Crepes from Namur