Oooooooooohh weeee. What a weekend. Normally, I’d be writing this at the end of the week to describe what happened over the course of the week. This will not be necessary. Just this weekend is enough. First off, we (Ryan B., Marcus, Vivian, Katerina, Josh C., and me) went to Brussels and it was a great time. The hostel we stayed at wasn’t too sketchy, which is always nice, and the city had some interesting aspects. Throughout the city, there were these enormous murals depicting a variety of characters from comics, many of which that had started in Brussels. I never knew that both Asterix And Obelix and Tintin, two of my favorite comics growing up, were both made in Brussels. It was exciting to get to see those characters again after so many years since I last read one of those books.
Now, I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. When Ryan and I planned this trip, we had a singular goal in mind. Of course, we’d explore the city, understand the culture, maybe visit a nearby town. But our main goal was a chocolate making workshop. A 3 hour long workshop where we end up with our own Belgian chocolates, handmade with our own hands. We got our schedule so that we would for sure have time for this one activity, with everything else secondary. And it turned out great. We showed up, were placed into a group with a couple other people at a table with molds and other chocolate making supplies, and the workshop began. Throughout the lessons, whenever the instructor was demonstrating something, he would frequently call on the “students” for a volunteer. By the end of the lesson, everyone in our group had volunteered once to help with some part of the process. It was usually small jobs, like using the blender for the hot chocolate or helping to make the ganache. I mixed and measured the temperature of the chocolate before pouring it in the mold. I may or may not have dropped the thermometer into the chocolate and fumbled for a good 20 seconds trying to get it out while the instructor was looking away to direct the rest of the students, nearly all of whom were looking at me. But that’s not important. The chocolate ended up delicious and now I can make it at home. If I have all of the ingredients. And tools. And remember what to do. Maybe
We also visited the Bruges, a whole city that’s a UNESCO heritage site. All over the city there’s water, which made for some beautiful views. At one point in particular, we all sat down by a small river and just watched the water pass by. It was one of the more peaceful experiences I’ve had this whole semester. There’s something about flowing water that’s very calming for me. That reminds of something I read that said that we see green foliage and flowing water as beautiful because that was typically good refuge for our ancestors. I don’t get as strong a feeling with greenery but water is always peaceful for me. Anyway, we were in Bruges, we saw some sights, enjoyed the architecture, and went the the fries museum and had some of the best fries I’ve ever had. Were they so good that they warranted a trip all the way to the bottom of this museum in Bruges? Probably not. But since we were in Bruges anyway, they were a very nice treat.
Ok. Karneval. What a time. First off, I only made up my costume the night before and the mess I ended up with was a banana costume, a sombrero, and a pair of jeans. When I made it, I just thought it was a weird combination that’d stick out. Only after leaving the house and meeting with everyone else in Bonn Hauptbahnhoff, did I decide to pretend that I was a Banana Republic. I thought it was a good pun but it didn’t really connect. Oh well. We headed to Cologne and watched the parade. It was a really fun time and, since then, I still keep finding candy in pockets I thought I’d already cleared out. I’ve eaten so much candy this weekend, it’s ridiculous. There were so many people and the parade was so much crazier than the one we had in Bonn and I’d love to come back and celebrate Karneval if I ever visit around now in the future.
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