This past week has been super busy! Last weekend I
was in Belgium, Monday I was in Germany, and then I was in Austria until Friday
night. As you can see I have a lot to talk about so here it goes (prepare
yourself for a super long post)!
Last Friday Shannon, Tessa, and I left for Brussels,
Belgium for the weekend. After spending the afternoon in Cologne we took a train
to Brussels. The ride was about 2 hours and the train was super nice, which the
three of us appreciated (and probably got slightly spoiled on). When we got to
Brussels, Tessa’s and Shannon’s friend Alice picked us up and took us to her
apartment. After dropping our stuff off at her place, Alice took us to get
traditional Belgian street food. The place she took us to was obviously popular
based off the long lines that stretched on either side of the building, and Alice
told us that this particular place had been given an award for having the best
fries in the world a couple of years ago. Let me tell you, the fries definitely
didn’t disappoint! Typical Belgian street food consists of fries with various dipping
sauces plus an assortment of meats. Naturally, we got as many different things
as possible to try and all of it was delicious! After dinner, Alice showed us
around the city. Two of the big things we got to see were the Great Square and Manneken Pis. I really liked the Great Square which was especially
nice at night since all the buildings surrounding the square were lit up. Later
we went to a pretty big and popular bar in the city which is known for having
over 2,000 different kinds of beer. I got to try a Belgian beer and talk to
some of the locals, which was fun!
Manneken Pis
Saturday morning Alice had class,
so the three of us went around the city to do some more sight-seeing and try
the famous Belgian waffles. We walked around for what seemed like hours,
especially since we were starving, trying to find waffles. Luckily, we got to
see some cool things along the way such as the palace (which of course was
beautiful)! Finally, we found a waffle place which sold these massive Belgian
waffles with everything you could imagine on top of it. It was good but that
was mostly due to the fact that mine had strawberries, ice cream, Belgian
chocolate, and whipped cream on it. We later tried more traditional Belgian
waffles at the train station which were by far better than the first ones!
Anyways, we then met up with Alice at the University of Brussels to grab lunch
at one of her favorite restaurants nearby. After that yummy meal, we headed
back to her apartment to grab our things and then took a train to Namur. Namur
is a smaller city where Alice was born and had a lot of pretty buildings
throughout the city. We got to see the Citadel, which had a great view
overlooking the city and had a very interesting history behind it. We walked
around the Citadel for a while and then headed to the House of Desserts (as if
we hadn’t eaten enough already). Man, this place knew how to make the most delicious
desserts and hot chocolate! We got a sampler platter of several different
desserts, which we devoured in no time. Once we finished our desserts, we
headed back to the train station to meet Alice’s step-dad who drove us back to
Alice’s home village called Thy-le-Château. We got to meet Alice’s family, who
were all very sweet and welcoming! There was a slight language barrier so Alice
had to translate between English and French most of the time, but overall it
went incredibly well. The three of us had dinner with Alice’s family, played
some card games with them, and just hung out for the remainder of the night.
House of Desserts
Sunday we all woke up and had
breakfast with Alice’s family before heading to mass. I really enjoyed the mass
and liked comparing it to what I have seen so far in Germany and back in the
U.S., even though I didn’t understand much of what was being said throughout
the mass. Alice then gave us a tour of the church and her village, which included
a small castle which we unfortunately didn’t get to go inside to see. However,
we were fortunate that during our tour of the village the weather was super
nice and we got to see the sun (which I no longer take for granted)! Next we had
lunch back at Alice’s house and hung out with her family a little more before heading
back to the train station to catch a train to Brussels. Once we got to
Brussels, we sadly had to say goodbye to Alice and catch our bus back to Cologne.
The bus ride was definitely not as nice as the train we took earlier, which
made it more challenging to work on our circuits homework, but we managed to work
on our homework and have a good ride back. Overall, I absolutely loved Belgium
and really enjoyed the weekend!
My next exciting trip was to Vienna
with the rest of the bioscience group. We got to see and do a lot in just four
days, which was awesome! Most of those activities were with AIB so I’ll save
those details for my next post, but we did have most of Wednesday free to do
whatever we wanted. To start off our free time, a group of us first grabbed
lunch and then headed to Hofburg Palace. We got to go inside the palace and see
the Sisi Museum plus multiple rooms that were set up like they were during the
time of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) and her husband Franz Joseph I. I
enjoyed learning about Sisi especially since I have heard several people talk
about her since arriving in Germany, and getting to see the gorgeous palace was
an obvious plus! Shannon and I then walked around the grounds of the palace and
the surrounding buildings that once were part of the palace. I had no idea that
the palace included so many buildings, but it definitely was a nice area! Next,
we went to St. Stephan’s church and walked around it for a little bit. It too,
like everything else, was beautiful. Then we went to the Albertina, which is an
art museum that was featuring some of Picasso’s and Monet’s paintings. Although
I wasn’t a fan of some of the exhibits they had on display, I liked getting to see
in person artwork from such famous artists such as Monet and Picasso.
Hofburg Palace
As for this weekend, my host family
threw a surprise party for my host sister’s 16th birthday on Saturday.
I got to meet a couple of her friends who were all very sweet! Besides that, I
have just been trying to catch up on some sleep and homework. I still can’t
believe I have gotten to travel so much in just a week, and I never would have
imagined that I would get to visit Belgium or Austria! I couldn’t be happier
with my decision to come on this study abroad program, and I am even more grateful
for this opportunity to travel the world with such great friends!
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