It's finally here. My absolute most favorite time of year, and even with finals looming around the corner I couldn't be happier. How anyone could be unhappy at Christmas is beyond me. Not to mention, it's been snowing for the past 2 days and it's suppose to continue until the end of this week. I've never had a snowy Christmas season before, but it just makes everything even more wonderful. I started playing Christmas music today and I probably won't listen to anything else until after New Years.
The Christmas market opened in Brussels last weekend. Downtown literally looks like a Dickens Christmas Village. Every where I look reminds me of the little buildings my grandmother sets up on the buffet in her dining room every Christmas since before I was born. It also makes me a little home sick, but I'm going to soak in all of the Brussels Christmas magic I can for the next week and a half!
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| Grand Place at Christmas! |
DJ was here last week so he got to see the Christmas market with me. We spent Saturday drinking vin chaud (spiced hot wine, delicious!), Christmas shopping at the little chalets, watching the ice skaters, and looking at the lights. It was really cool because earlier in the week when he first got here they were just setting up the tree and thatching the roof for the nativity set- yes that's right, I said thatching the roof, and when we returned at the end of the week we got to see the finished product. It's absolutely beautiful, and pictures definitely don't do it justice. Saturday was also DJ's last night in Brussels and of course I couldn't let him leave Belgium without eating mussels and frites, so we went to one of the super touristy mussels places and then ended the night with the Christmas light show in the Grand Place (I posted a video of it on facebook if anyone wants to check it out).
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| The ice skating rink and ferris wheel in St. Katherine |
I think the nativity scene is one of the coolest parts of the Grand Place decorations. They have live animals (donkeys and sheep), statues of Mary, Joseph, the wise men, and baby Jesus, and a star of Bethlehem on top. I was so impressed with their inclusion of a religious aspect to the decorations (even if Mary does have blonde hair...), especially considering that the majority of Belgians and other Europeans I've met here are not religious at all. America tries so hard to leave religion out of Christmas so as not to offend anyone, but it's a religious holiday! Christmas is meant to be a time of happiness, joy, and cheer for everyone as we celebrate the birth of Christ (hence CHRISTmas). If a nativity scene was put up by a public group in a public place at home, it would become of a matter of national attention, which leads me to another observation about Europe in general. Everyone here is so much more willing to speak their mind here. P.C. is not a term the Europeans are familiar with and I like it so much better that way. People have conversations about what they really think and no one takes it personally or gets offended. Definitely a trait I'm hoping to take home with me. |
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| nativity scene Friday, DJ and I went to Amsterdam. I had been once before, but it was with People to People so I didn't get to see much besides Anne Frank's house and the canals. Deej and I toured the Heineken brewery, which was actually really cool. They teach you how to do a proper beer tasting, you get to see how beer is brewed, and then they basically brainwash you into thinking that Heineken is the greatest thing ever made, but I guess that's their job... We spent the rest of the day just walking around Amsterdam. It's a much prettier city than I remembered it being or thought it would be, but that could partially be due to the fact that last time I was there I was being shuffled around in a big group and it was pouring rain. This time it was sunny all day.
 The highlight of the Amsterdam trip, though, was definitely the 2 guys that sat across from us on the train on the way home, Angelo and Armando. The train was set up so that seats were in groups of 4 with two facing forward and 2 facing backward. We sat down and then shortly after 2 Italian men sat down facing us. The first incident with the Italian men occurred when they came to collect tickets, and the Italians tickets wouldn't work because they were bought at a different station. They didn't speak any language other than Italian so the ticket taker got very frustrated with them as he was yelling in English and they were yelling in Italian, and DJ and I were cracking up. Eventually, the ticket taker drew them a diagram and explained why the tickets were no good and they bought new ones. After he left, Angelo looked at me and DJ and started ranting in Italian, which of course we didn't understand and Armando started smacking him in the head. Apparently, Angelo is some type of racing driver and Armando is his Moroccan manager. They were back and forth on the phone the rest of the trip and yelling at each other in Italian about something really important that Angelo had clearly screwed up and Armando was trying to fix. At one point they ordered a can of pringles and offered some to DJ and I. After they finished the pringles, the can became Armando's new tool to hit Angelo with and he would squeeze the can so the top would pop off and hit Angelo in the face as he repeatedly told Angelo how stupid he was. I seriously felt like I was watching a sit com about the Italian mafia. It was hysterical. Angelo kept trying to talk to us while Armando kept making signs calling him crazy. We couldn't do anything but laugh because we had no idea what he was saying. We thought we were getting somewhere when Angelo asked if we spoke French and I told him I spoke a little he said he didn't speak any at all except "Je m'appelle Angelo," so we were back to square one. DJ and I eventually gave in and just started nodding and saying ci. After what felt like a very long game of Italian cherades, we understood their life story and parted ways in Brussels. It was a very entertaining 2 and a half hours. I wish we had taken a picture of those two. But on a completely different note, I'll be home 11 days from today. It still hasn't really sunk in with me that I'm leaving Brussels. I'm beyond excited to get home to see my family and friends, but I'm going to miss Brussels so much. I've met so many amazing people here and had such a wonderful experience! It's going to be so strange not to be able to just hop on the bus and go wander around downtown or to a museum when I have free time, and I'm definitely going to miss the city in general. There's always something to do or see here, and unfortunately that is far from the case at home, but all the people I miss at home make up for all of that. 11 days left, and finals or not, I intend on making the best of them! |
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