Buongiorno Brussels

Here is a much needed update on a fabulous weekend. Last week, for whatever reason was a very long week and I was excited for a break from Italy. I left Italy for the first time I arrived here for Brussels! I mus say I am very proud of myself for doing this because the logistics were a bit confusing and I have not really traveled much by myself before. The trip involved a train from Verona to Milan, a shuttle from the train station to the airport and then a flight to Brussels. Some bumps included, reading the date instead of time on my train ticket, therefore arriving at the Verona train station for a train leaving at "8:10" yes, October 10th instead of 9:07, being given incorrect directions by policemen in the train station to get to the shuttle, and arriving to Linate so early that the Brussels Airlines desk was not open. Despite this I did not freak out too much (okay I know you don't believe me but seriously I didn't). 

I met up with David my cousin from the Airport and started a great weekend. One of the first things that I noticed was that people in Brussels actually drive normal sized cars, compared to the tiny cars and vespas in Italy. Driving from the airport, the area reminded a lot of the east coast, it was a little more hilly than in Illinois and wooded. We arrived at their beautiful house and I was immedietely greeted by their dog Junior (see picture below), who I believe was not sure if he should be excited or scared to see me. He kept running into the room, trying to sniff my stuff, then when he noticed I was looking at him ran away. He quickly warmed up to me though, and I believe forgot that I wasn't always there within a few hours. After that we had a nice Shabbat dinner, something I definitely miss. I got to eat all of the foods I missed from home, matzo ball soup, chicken and Challah.  

The rest of the weekend was just spent hanging around, which was something I definitely needed after the long adjustment to living in Italy. I started the day Saturday just laying around and reading while Gaby and Arielle did their homework. We then went to a gas station that sold American goods (random but exciting) I bought peanut butter (an unfortunate victim of the Brussels Airport Security), twizzlers and a People Magazine. After eating lunch we went to a park that was just two minutes from my cousin's house. It was a beautiful day (apparentely rare in Brussels) and there were tons of people in the park. The park had nice paths for walking, a road that was closed to traffic on the weekends and a big grassy area. The grassy area kind of reminded me of the quad at school except that there were tons of cute children (one little naked boy we were not sure why) and a lot of  French (which I comprehended nothing of) In the park, we bought a "gaufre" (spelling?) which is a waffle. Brussels is famous for their waffles with big chunks of sugar inside but we got ones with chocolate and sprinkles too. (see below Arielle with hers) 

 

After eating our waffles we walked around, the area was beautiful, with the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees. We spent a bit of time trying to catch leaves, because it is good luck to catch them before they touch the ground.  

Once we returned to the house I helped Arielle a bit with violin (she just started and uses a quarter size!) we decided to bake some cupcakes. The cupcake recipe was in Hebrew, which was good practice but confusion for me. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication  and instead of putting a "capit" (tablespoon) of baking powder, we put in a "sackit" (an entire packet)…result: exploding cupcakes. We decided to leave the baking for awhile, but later we made the double baked chocolate chip cookies which I always make at home, and they were a hit.  That night we relaxed watched "strictly," the British version of Dancing With the Stars (very British) and watched 2012 which was a great movie.

 The next day me and Jackie worked out while the girls had tennis. I was not as unfortunate as I thought I would be, but I definetely felt the past month of spaghetti and cappuccinos. We returned back to their house for a a quick shower, then went off to the main center of the city. A majority of the city was actually destroyed during WWII, so most was built in the 1950s or after. The center is the only remaining old part and was really pretty. There, we bought chocolates and frittes (fries that Brussels is famous for) and I learned that the symbol of Brussels is a small statue of a boy peeing.

 

We returned home with a mission to successfully bake the cupcakes and luckily they worked this time (with the help of a "capit"). We later decorated them and enjoyed. I also gave the girls the U of I t-shirts I had brought at home. I did not anticipate how much they would like them (especially their new American factory smell) and was happy to spread the Illini spirit in Belgium. After that we relaxed a bit and then went to bed, I knew I had a early flight in the morning.

The trip home was largely uneventful. The major things that happened were

1. I forgot I was going to Milan and kept trying to find Chicago on the flight board...whoops

2. Had to empty my entire backpack at security and had my precious peanut butter confiscated. The woman went "too sticky!!"

3. Wandered around, bought some more chocolate and books (in English yay!) until they finally told me what gate my flight was at (only 10 minutes before boarding)

4. Found this funny coca cola ad (if you were wondering what the peeing boy statue looked like) 

Otherwise I made it back, very proud of myself for traveling independently and loving that I connected with new family. Can't wait to see you guys in Israel next year!