Maastricht & Viva for Life Gala

Wow it has been a while since I have posted on my blog! A lot has happened in those few weeks. First I want everyone to know I am doing perfectly fine regarding the attacks. I live in a small city 30ish minutes from Brussels and approximately 4 hours away from Paris. Not much happens here and I feel safe here. More of my thoughts on terrorism later in this post. As for where I left off on my last post. It was fall break and I had just returned from Paris. I was sick so majority of break I spent catching up on sleep so I could feel better for school. On the Friday of break I did go to Maastricht, Netherlands with a fellow exchange student. We spent the day exploring the city, visiting the churches and shopping at stores. We found one church that they converted into a bookstore. They sold English books so of course I bought one. We also found a super expensive department store and a market right in front of the town hall. It was a pretty decent day weather wise and it was a good experience for my first time in the Netherlands. Our train coming home was super late. It took me almost 4 hours to get home when it’s usually about 2. The weekend of November 7-8 I spent in Brussels with my host dad. We went to see 2 movies that weekend, The Intern and Specter (the new James Bond movie!!). Both were super great films and I am so glad I got to spend the weekend in Brussels. I also got to walk around place Louise with my host dad and we peeked into a couple stores. Place Louise is what I call the Belgium version of Champs-Elysees (minus all the tourist). It is also where Stromae filmed his music video for Formidable!! School started back up the next week. It was a pretty normal week besides the fact that we had Wednesday off for Reembrace Day. My host mom and I decided to take a day trip to Lille, France for the day. We did a little shopping and visited the Grand Place of Lille. It is such a beautiful city in France! She also showed me a traditional Lille specialty, gaufre vanille. It is really hard to describe but the transduction is vanilla waffle. Except it isn’t really a waffle because it is really flat and the vanilla is on the inside. SO GOOD! I also bought some cute riding boots from a little shoe shop in Lille too. The next big thing that happened that week was the Paris attacks. My first thoughts about the acts were heartache for the people who were a part of it and shock. Lots of shock. How could a city that I had just seen 2 weeks ago be attacked like that? It was absolutely horrible. I woke up Saturday morning with many notifications for all my social media accounts from people asking if I was safe and what not. Thank you to everyone who thought of me, fortunately I was safe and sound in Belgium. 2 major things I can take away from the attacks in Paris are: 1. you can’t be afraid because that is what the terrorist want. If you are afraid, they win. And 2. Not every Arab or Muslim is a terrorist. ISIS is an extremist group and I often think people forget that. These attacks reminded me a lot of 9/11 and the pain many Americans went through on that day. It is so heartbreaking we live in a world where these things happen. Paris is one of my favorite places in the world and it definitely hurt to see them suffer. Security across Europe has definitely increased after the events. Sunday, my host family and my host uncle (Samantha, Ilan and Elliot) went to Waterloo. I really enjoyed learning about it because it was such an important part of European history. The memorial they have about it is really interactive and super cool. I learned a lot and got to climb to the top of the Lion of Waterloo. We were the only ones up there at the time so that was really neat too. Monday at school we talked a little bit about the attacks. A lot of the students at my school had the same reaction I had: shock. I think that everyone was a little on edge from the attacks so we didn’t really have a lot to say. Other than that, school this week consisted on preparing for a big banquet and taking lots of quizzes.  We have exams in a few weeks right before winter vacation. The banquet we had this week was to raise money for Viva for Life which is an organization that raises money to give to underprivileged children. Tuesday, my class made chocolates to serve with the coffee. Wednesday we have half days so I went to Namur with other exchange students and we received our exchange student hoodies we designed together. Friday was the big day of the banquet (which I took no pictures of :( )! I left my house around 7:40am and got home around 1:40 in the morning. I was at school helping set up for it. The gala started around 7 o’clock and I was working salle so I had my own table to serve. At the beginning of the night, I was really nervous. Serving a table of 11 people with all the tips and tricks like serving the soup on the left side and the wine on the right and on top of that everything being in French definitely wrecks the nerves. Fortunately, the people at my table were super understanding and very helpful. By the end of the night I felt pretty confident! At the end of the night, the check of the money earned that night was given to Viva for Life by 2 students. I was one of the two students who presented the check! I went up on stage with an older student, Pierre who was the mastermind of the salle portion of the night. I didn’t really know what to do so I acted like Vera from the Wheel of Fortune and just held the check and smiled. All of my classmates started chanting my name which was so funny and really cool. They are some really great people and I am really really lucky I have the opportunity to meet them. After the people left, we cleaned up and went home. It was a very long day but I learned a lot! Today I had lunch with my host mom, uncle and grandparents in Waterloo and tonight Samantha and I are going to a jam with her friend. Right now Brussels is on level 4 alert regarding terrorist and attacks. I am not in Brussels but just outside but my host family and I will be super careful for the moment. I know I am safe here and that if it wasn’t safe, I wouldn’t be here. Tomorrow we are going to go to a city near Luxembourg and I am super excited for that because I haven’t seen that area before! Thanks for reading and for all the thoughts. I will keep y’all updated through Facebook although I think all will be well.

Until Next Time,

Shelby

Namur with my Blodnies <3

Waterloo (we climbed to the top!)

Maastricht, Netherlands

Lille, France

Gaufre Vanille in front of Meert (the bakery you get them from!)

Sunset from a walk home

Viva for Life Gala (pc Berenice)

Old Dutch Church in Maastricht

Champagne & Paris

What an amazing week! Last time I posted I talked about my plans to go to France with school and rotary. Both were amazing trips and I saw so much. So on Monday I went to school and then after school (approximately midnight) Samantha dropped me off. My classmates and I claimed back seats in a bus to go to France. We arrived at Rungis (an international market right outside Paris) at 4:30 am. We saw the fish, the meat, the fruit and vegetables and the flowers that the market sells. It was MASSIVE! Each section had their own room filled of the product people were selling. It was super early in the morning for me to understand all the tour guide said but I did enjoy seeing all the fresh food and took a couple pictures. After our tour, we had breakfast then got on the bus and headed towards Champagne. As we were leaving, we caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. In champagne we had some free time so my school friends and I bought an iced tea at a café. It was the most expensive iced tea I have ever bought (3.80 euros!!) but we got access to a toilet so it was worth it. After we drank our tea, we went to a cute little macaron shop. I bought everyone a macaron to try. They were really delicious. For lunch we ate at a restaurant in champagne. It was some kind of meat (I think either chicken or duck) with a champagne sauce. After lunch we headed towards Champagne de Castellane, a famous champagne maker. We were given a tour of the caves where the champagne is made and stored and then we got to try the champagne. I can now say I have drunken champagne in Champagne! After that we headed back home to Belgium. We got in a little earlier than expected so there was a little trouble for me getting home but fortunately my friend Berenice gave me a ride home. Merci Beaucoup! After the trip, I was really tired and became sick. Wednesday, my host mom and I went to the town hall and I got my Belgian ID card (which I needed for Paris!) and we tried to open a bank account for me but it was a little complicated so we have to try somewhere else. Thursday I packed for Paris and relaxed at home after school. Friday I was on sink duty with my friend Chloe for cooking class. It was actually really fun to work with her even though we had one of the not fun jobs. I also received my grades for the period, I passed all my classes and did really well for an exchange student. After school, I helped Samantha and Elliot decorate for Halloween! We ate dinner and then I spent the night in Limal with my friends Dani and Cami. The next morning, we left together for Paris! We got on the bus at Namur and headed to Mons to pick up more students then to Paris. We spent 3 days in Paris (including Halloween). We travelled for most of the morning. Our first stop was the Palace of Versailles. I visited last time I was in Paris but this time I saw more of the gardens and the chambers of the queen’s ladies plus all the rooms in the castle. It is really such a beautiful place. I can imagine living there a few hundred years ago having balls and such with royalty. Maeve from New York and I explored the gardens together which was a lot of fun. Fortunately for us the weather in Paris was warm and nice. After Versailles, we headed towards Paris. We ate at a restaurant called hippopotamus. All the waiters were dressed up for Halloween and I was so afraid one was going to scare me, and one did! After we took a picture with the spooky staff we piled into the bus to see a little bit of Paris at night. It was amazing but I wish we could’ve walked around outside of the bus! After a little drive, we got off to go on a boat cruise. It was actually the same cruise I went on with my school the last time I came to Paris. It brought back a lot of good memories. The cruise was so much fun and we took a lot of pictures together. After a fun-filled day we arrived at the hotel. I went straight to bed because I was sick and tired. Day 2 was a day full of art! We went to the Louvre and the Museum d’Orsay. Maeve and I covered almost all of the first floor of the Louvre together in 2 hours. It was awesome to go back and see the Mona Lisa. We had lunch at the Carousel de Louvre which is like a shopping mall in the Louvre. I bought an instant photo camera for myself as a birthday gift. I am super excited to use it! In the Museum d’Orsay I saw impressionist paintings (Monet and Degas are my favorite!) and I got a quick peek of the Van Gogh section of the museum. Afterwards, we waited almost 2 hours for some exchange students who didn’t know what time they needed to be back. It was kind of a bummer that we lost that time but there was a street performer that kept us entertained. Once the MIA students were found we headed towards the Champs-Elysees and Arc d’Triomphe. We had 30 minutes of free time so Maeve, Gabrielle and I (the 3 sickies on the trip) took photos together in front of the Arc d’Triomphe and checked out a souvenir shop. We then had dinner at a cute little restaurant on the Champs-Elysees. Afterwards we had more free time so we walked to the top of the Arc d’Triomphe. It was so beautiful to see all of Paris from there. I really liked it because it was something I didn’t see before. We got to watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle up there too. That was one of my favorite moments during the trip. Afterwards, we went to the Eiffel Tower. The view from the Eiffel Tower during the day is amazing and at night it was like Paris was a new city. I definitely understand why it is called the city of lights. So beautiful. We were on the Eiffel tower while it twinkled at 10pm and I thought it was cool knowing that the people of Paris were looking at this massive structure I was on. We returned to the hotel and Maeve and I went straight to bed, again trying to get rid of our plagues. The next day was our last day in Paris. Our first stop was Notre Dame. Maeve, Gabby and I went inside the church and then walked around the church and across the bridge with all the locks on it. I saw the area where Mackenzie and I put our lock from the first trip to Paris. We also went to Shakespeare and Co, a very famous book shop but it wasn’t opened until later during the day so we bought books from the vendors on the side of the Seine. Afterwards we headed towards Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. I bought a painting from an artist in Montmartre and Maeve and I bought macarons from a little shop there too. They were very yummy! We walked down the stairs right in front of Sacre Coeur to get to Hard Rock Café. That was so cool to see the church from close and then from a distance. I went to Hard Rock for the first time in Paris!! I really enjoyed it. Afterwards we had some free time so Gabby, Maeve and I walked around. We found chipotle so I bought some to eat on the bus. It was so good and I definitely missed it. We then said Au Revoir to Paris and headed back to Belgium. It was such an amazing trip with a wonderful group of people. I am really glad that was my first trip with Rotary and I am looking forward to my next trips with them. This week I have fall break so I plan on resting and getting better. Friday I am going to the Netherlands with some other exchange students and then hopefully spending the weekend in Brussels. It has been a pretty good vacation so far. That’s all I have for now! Thanks for reading.

Until Next Time!

Shelby

School Trip to Champagne

Champagne!

one part of Rungis for the fruit and vegetables

Sunrise at Rungis

Versailles

The Winged Victory

Arc d'Triomphe with Gabby and Maeve

on the Eiffel Tower

Sacre Coeur

my new camera

Notre Dame

Hard Rock Café Paris