Shelby's Year in Belgium: Last Week of Summer!

Hello All!

Here’s my quick weekly update. This week was pretty crazy and very busy. Monday, my host sister Luna left for Chile. There was a lot of emotions for everyone in the family but she made it there safely! On Tuesday, I was able to go to Mons (another beautiful city in Belgium) with a couple of my friends. It was really great to see my friends and explore another city. I went to the oldest café in Mons, Le Paysan with my friend Kiara. It was really cool to see a business with so much history still running today. We then met up with Rachel and Byron and a couple of his friends. I rubbed the head of the monkey, who is in the Grand Place of Mons, for good luck. We had a fun time playing games in a pub together. Rachel and I also did a little bit of shopping and I bought some super cute combat boots for 25 euro (round that to about 30 US dollars, it was a steal!). I had a cold since Saturday and after being out and about Tuesday, I was really tired so on Wednesday I slept literally all day. I woke up at about 6pm and cut some carrots for dinner we were having. My host mom and I do a lot of cooking together and that night we made what I am going to call European Meatloaf. It was super good and we had potatoes and carrots and wine to go with it. My host mom invited her friends, Delphine and Martine over and we had a fun girl’s night together. I understood a lot of French that day and it was really fun to interact with all of them together. We sang and ate a lot and I definitely started to feel a lot better. Thursday I went to Louvain-le-Neuve. This city is probably one of my favorites in Belgium. Imagine Boulder as a European city and you have LLN. I went with Brier and Kiara and we ate some really delicious cheesy pasta (almost like my families recipe for homemade mac and cheese). We also shopped in the mall at Louvain-le-Neuve. I bought a couple shirts for school, socks and a hair straightener. It was a really fun day and I was happy to visit LLN again! Thursday night I went to the cinema and watched a beautiful Turkish film with my host mom & her friends. It was really crazy to see a Turkish film with French and Dutch subtitles but I understand most of the film! Friday was another day for relaxation. I spent the day looking at scholarships for college for the first time in months. I also realized I will be starting school here pretty soon so I practiced writing in cursive because that’s how they write in school. Friday night we went to Samantha’s parent’s house as we do most Fridays to have a Jewish meal together. We ate some really yummy fish and I got to show them pictures of Cheyenne and my family. I really really like her parents and they are so nice and help me with my French. Saturday we had inbound orientation with all of the inbound students of District 2170. I was so excited to see all of my rotary friends that I made a week ago. We listened to all the rules and expectations for the day so when it was over we were exhausted. That night, I helped Samantha make spaghetti Bolognese. It was really great with carrots and celery. Today (Sunday), Samantha, Elliot and I made a trip to Brussels. We went to the one of the few places I hadn’t seen very much, Place Sablon. Sablon is a beautiful church located in Brussels. We walked around the church and I took so many pictures! Pierre Marcolini is a superior Belgian chocolatier and today, we visited and bought chocolate from a store. We ate lunch at a restaurant and I had a Belgian classic with 3 different sauces and meats and of course, Fries! After lunch, we walked through the Galleries Royals. It’s pretty much an area full of shopping, how could you not love that? I bought a classic Belgian candy, cuberdon. Cuberdon is like a jelly bean but 10 times better. We met up with Samantha’s sister’s family and went to their house for a little bit. It was a long but exciting day. And for those of you wondering how my language is going, there are good days and bad days. I usually understand a lot but speaking always freaks me out. I think the more I get comfortable, the easier it will be. Also meeting so many people means different accents I have to hear while they speak which causes some difficulties. I hope I can understand enough at school because tomorrow is my last day of summer vacation before I start school at IPES! I am going to enjoy it as much as I can. Look for my update next week!