July 16
After a long long weekend I
somehow still managed to get up out of bed to work out before work. Once again I
just did insanity in my room and got a really good workout in. At camp I helped
in the Superbowl Commercial camp. It was crazy to know these kids had no idea
what the Super bowl was, they didn’t watch it, and they didn’t get the significance
of super bowl commercials and how big and funny they were. But I guess on bases
they play only local and Army commercials that are sent in and the super bowl
isn’t really watched because it’s on at like 2 in the morning and they all get
the next day off work haha. So the kids decided to do a rap about the super
bowl. And well we all know my rapping skills are amazing so I was busting
rhymes all morning to help them write the song.
Then this afternoon I really was
talking to a lot of the kids and just having a good time making them sing songs
and just hang out. Today went by really fast for some reason and it was a
pretty good day. I got my spilt shift back again which I am actually happy
about. This way during split I can go to the gym, go downtown to buy that dress
I have had my eye on since my first day downtown, book train tickets, go
shopping, or do anything I need to do during business hours since everything
closes soon after we get off of work.
Tonight is just catching up on emails,
chatting, homework, and sleep of course =)
July 15
This weekend we went to Belgium
and it was a huge learning experience for me full of lots of firsts. To start
the weekend off we got up and left at 5 am for our first train Saturday
morning. And oh wasn’t it just the perfect weather… not a taxi in sight or with
enough time to call one… so we walked in the rain. And it became more like
running for the train station because it took longer to get there than we
thought. So we ended up missing the 5:30 am train from Schweinfurt to Wurzberg…
but they come every half hour so it was ok. When we got to Wurzberg we found
out we didn’t even need to leave until 8 am because our reserved train from
Wurzberg to Frankfurt wasn’t until 8:55 am. Man we just have the best luck with
the train system. And of course once again nothing was open in Wurzberg until 9
am so we just hung out in the train station again and of course I got my 1 Euro
mocha. Finally we got on the next train and it was my first time on the ICE
train system (basically a bullet train) and it was really cool. You don’t have
to reserve seats, but I am glad we did. Well after 5 hours on the train we
finally reached Brussels. We were all kind of hungry so we went to this little
restaurant across from the train station. But really only one person got pasta
and the rest of us got our first Belgian waffles. It was soooo good! It has
cinnamon and sugar and whipped cream. I can definitely see why they are famous
for their waffles. After that we saw a fair down the street and decided to
check it out. But all the rides were like 5 Euro each so we decided to just
head down to the Grand Place. The Grand Place is this Square of important and
pretty building. Wow I sound like I am really learning a lot. To be honest I really
wish we were taking tours everywhere so that I could tell you more about the
history of the places I am seeing and the fun facts. But all we really do is
get to these cool places and take pictures. The Grand Place is gorgeous though
and there are a lot of restaurants and chocolate places around them. We also
saw the Opera house and a beautiful church that day and then headed for some
shopping. There were so many people out that day it honestly felt like a large
city such as San Francisco on a huge shopping sale day! It was pretty
overwhelming but cool to see at the same time. There was an h&m on
practically every corner as well as a
forever 21. The only thing I bought on the shopping extravaganza was yet
another waffle… this time with chocolate INSIDE it (yeah I know I am being sooo
healthy)!!! It was cheaper than the first one I had and was even better
tasting. I have been having a hard time finding anything to get anyone because I
see a bunch of little trinkets or things and I never really know what people
might like and/or need. I still haven’t even really been shopping for myself. I
haven’t seen anything I would die without and honestly the pictures and the
experiences are better than any little trinket that says the name of the places
I have been. I think after my trip I want to try to make a scrap book with my
blog write ups and all my pictures in it… that would be cool and way better
than anything I could buy. Plus I think when I go back to Munich and Dachau I will
get Germany souvenirs rather than anywhere else.
Anyways after everyone was done
shopping their brains out we headed to our “hotel”. Now I put hotel in
quotations because honestly I think this was more like a hostel (not that I have
been in a real hostel yet), but what can you expect when you only pay 27 Euro
per person for a three person room. It was fairly small room and pretty dim and
dirty… but it was a bed to sleep in at night so I didn’t mind. After we put all
our stuff down we quickly got on the local Metro subway to make our way to the
atom. The atom was discovered in Belgium so they have a huge structure with
different museums and galleries in the different molecules of the atom. At the
top there is a restaurant that is by reservation only. We pulled a Ferris
Buller and said we had a reservation and bullshitted our way into the place
since it was all supposed to be closed. It was an awesome view and such a cool
looking restaurant but the prices were extremely high! It was a little portion
for a lot of money just like the Cliff House in SF but still very worth it. I
got a plate a veggies and quinoa for 15 Euro (the first really healthy thing
since I have been in Europe!) and it was actually pretty satisfying. That was
the cheapest thing and everyone else spilt salmon plates that were like 23
Euro. After dinner it was of course raining (as always) but we wanted to go
check out the Grand Place and stuff at night all lit up. Everyone else was
still so hungry (especially since one girl didn’t even eat at the atom) so we
went to the Drug Opera. It was this awesome bra/grill place that is open til
2:30 am and has tons of selections on the menu and 4 pages of desserts. I got a
huge amazing sundae with Belgium hot fudge and I even tried my first (and last)
mussel (another famous item in Belgium). The buildings looked so gorgeous at
night and were really cool to see even if it was rather wet outside. After
seeing all the building at night… it of course started to rain again and I was
definitely tired. Nora and I decided to walk home and because we have such
great luck we both forgot our umbrellas and it started absolutely down pouring.
So the next morning I had to wear
the sweats I slept in, wet shoes, and borrow Miranda’s Oregon hoodie for the
day (as you will see in pictures). In the morning we visited a beautiful cathedral
when mass was actually going on. It was so amazing to be walking up as the
bells were ringing and we went inside when they were burning the incense and
the choir was singing. It was so pretty and just peaceful. I really liked being
there for a little bit of the mass even if I was under dressed and I couldn’t
understand the language. We also left our mark on these weird bull looking
structures outside the church which we some sort of city marking as the sign
next to them explained.
Next we finally got to the
chocolate part of Belgium. We went to chocopolis and I bought a small praline which
is a filled chocolate. Mine was a mint one and it tasted like real mint leaf. It
was really strong but still really good. Next we tried French fries (something
else Belgium is famous for and yet again some real substantial food…) at 11:30 in the morning. We literally stood
outside the window until they opened haha. We were hungry and wanted some good
fries. On our way to see the peeing fountain we saw a hotel where all the
famous people stay when they come to Belgium and even went to a chocolate
museum. The museum was really cool because we learned about the history and
process of chocolate making. We saw a French chocolate Master make molds for
pralines and got to taste a ton of different chocolates (my favorite part of
the trip I think). We learned about where all the chocolate came form in the
word, how they processed it, and the nutrition facts of chocolate. Chocolate
was first used in drinks and it wasn’t until way later that they began using
the coco to make solid chocolate.
After lots of wandering around
and asking a ton of different people, we finally made it to the famous peeing
statue. To our surprise, the statue was tiny. But I think it is just so famous
because the guy is peeing into the fountain. And that’s when I got my third and
final Belgian waffle for only 1 Euro and it had Nutella on it. It made me so
happy haha.
We then caught a train 4 hours
earlier than our reserved ticket said and started our way home. Since we left
so much earlier, Anneke and I decided to get off at the Cologne stop in Germany
and check out the cathedral there. I am so happy we did. It was literally right
out of the train station and it was gorgeous. By far the most beautiful church I
have seen yet. We also got to climb to the top of one of the towers of the cathedral
(only 553 steps that were narrow and spiraled the whole way and crossing pathes
of people trying to go both up and down). It was amazing up there! And we were
lucky that we were climbing the tower as the bells were going off for afternoon
mass and we got to actually go in the bell tower and see the bells ringing.
They were extremely loud and I felt a little deaf afterwards for a while but it
was so worth it. The view at the top was amazing and I felt like I could see
all of Koln (how it is spelled in Germany). We then got back on our trains and
because of weird timing of the trains, missed a few connections by five minutes
and finally got back home at 10 pm.
It was such a whirlwind weekend
and a great learning experience. I learned to bring a lot more shoes and extra
pants, always have my camp rain jacket, and always carry my umbrella even if I think
it is going to be sunny. It was a long and tiring trip and I still have to get
used to a lot of different things when I have these weekend travels, but I am
so glad I went.
WOW !!!!!!!!!
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