Hello everyone!
I've been in Belgium for a couple of days now, which is wonderful. Things pretty much happened fast.
My flight was alright, early if anything, which is always a good thing.
First off things I forgot to pack/accidentally left at home:
Left my toothbrush and vitamins, I really needed both.
Forgot a towel, face-wash and soap.
Luckily I'm able to find all at local stores.
From San Antonio to Washington DC the flight was okay, my layover was 6 hours long and I finished 1 book and tried napping the entire time. There was a Potbelly's near my gate so I ate that for lunch.
For my flight from Washington DC to Brussels I got bumped up to Economy Plus
because United "forgot" to give me a seat. And Economy Plus was pretty much empty so that was nice.
Landed in Brussels on Wednesday, took the train to Leuven, where it was raining pretty much all day. We also
got our student ID for KU Leuven and our bikes that day.
Our bikes will be our main source of transportation for our entire stay in Leuven.
Hopefully I get a butt and lose some weight! :)
Thursday we had a bike tour with Dr. Munster (our professor) who showed us a lot of the city and got us to
use our bikes more. I for one need it but I am also starting to hurt from it. He showed us where our classroom
is and the forest behind it! Where the cafeteria was, gym, pool, soccer fields, school stuff basically.
Then we ate lunch at a nice sandwich shop which was also very cheap! I had the Club Kaas, which is basically a club sandwich but it only had lettuce, tomato, boiled egg, cucumber, mayo and mustard and cheese!
Kaas=cheese in Flemish. For 2.60 euro and the size it was a steal.
Then we had a guided walking tour of Leuven which was really nice
since our guide was very knowledgeable of Leuven and its history.
After that I remember taking a nap since I was exhausted and then going out with friends that night.
We basically bar hopped and I tried a lot of new beers.
I am also keeping a running list of the new/local beers I've tried :D and I'll post pictures also!
Also, in Belgium, if you are at a bar and order a beer they also serve the beer in its perspective glass.
So each beer is as unique as the glass its served in!
My favorite so far which is called Hoegardden Rose.
Friday we took a day trip to Brussels!
It was rough at first since it was our first trip to the train station on our own so obviously we got a little lost.
Then when we got to Brussels we spent a lot of our time looking at our map. All in all it was pretty nice.
Brussels is a lot busier than Leuven, It kind of reminded me of Paris.
The food is more expensive and we went to/saw:
Saturday we explored Leuven. Leuven has festivals/activities happening every weekend during the summer
or July-August. This weekend there are circus type of acts happening around the town,
next weekend its music festivals.
Sunday I made a spinach and egg scramble with toast and coffee for breakfast. Then we walked around Leuven a bit before our bike tour with our professor. We went on a 3 hour long bike tour. Where we explored other parts of Leuven as well as its forests. They were beyond beautiful. We also stopped by the Heverlee War Cemetery (a WWI British cemetery.) On our way back we grabbed a beer and frites with mayo (fries with mayo, how the Belgian's eat their fries) and took a nap. Now I'm just getting ready for classes to begin tomorrow morning.
I've been in Belgium for a couple of days now, which is wonderful. Things pretty much happened fast.
My flight was alright, early if anything, which is always a good thing.
First off things I forgot to pack/accidentally left at home:
Left my toothbrush and vitamins, I really needed both.
Forgot a towel, face-wash and soap.
Luckily I'm able to find all at local stores.
From San Antonio to Washington DC the flight was okay, my layover was 6 hours long and I finished 1 book and tried napping the entire time. There was a Potbelly's near my gate so I ate that for lunch.
For my flight from Washington DC to Brussels I got bumped up to Economy Plus
because United "forgot" to give me a seat. And Economy Plus was pretty much empty so that was nice.
Landed in Brussels on Wednesday, took the train to Leuven, where it was raining pretty much all day. We also
got our student ID for KU Leuven and our bikes that day.
Our bikes will be our main source of transportation for our entire stay in Leuven.
Hopefully I get a butt and lose some weight! :)
Thursday we had a bike tour with Dr. Munster (our professor) who showed us a lot of the city and got us to
use our bikes more. I for one need it but I am also starting to hurt from it. He showed us where our classroom
is and the forest behind it! Where the cafeteria was, gym, pool, soccer fields, school stuff basically.
Then we ate lunch at a nice sandwich shop which was also very cheap! I had the Club Kaas, which is basically a club sandwich but it only had lettuce, tomato, boiled egg, cucumber, mayo and mustard and cheese!
Kaas=cheese in Flemish. For 2.60 euro and the size it was a steal.
Then we had a guided walking tour of Leuven which was really nice
since our guide was very knowledgeable of Leuven and its history.
After that I remember taking a nap since I was exhausted and then going out with friends that night.
We basically bar hopped and I tried a lot of new beers.
I am also keeping a running list of the new/local beers I've tried :D and I'll post pictures also!
Also, in Belgium, if you are at a bar and order a beer they also serve the beer in its perspective glass.
So each beer is as unique as the glass its served in!
My favorite so far which is called Hoegardden Rose.
Friday we took a day trip to Brussels!
It was rough at first since it was our first trip to the train station on our own so obviously we got a little lost.
Then when we got to Brussels we spent a lot of our time looking at our map. All in all it was pretty nice.
Brussels is a lot busier than Leuven, It kind of reminded me of Paris.
The food is more expensive and we went to/saw:
- Mannequin Pis statue - once you find this statue you are no longer considered a tourist
- The Grand Palace
- St. Nicholas Church
- The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula
- Jeanneke Pis statue - same for Mannequin Pis, but this statue was more difficult to find
- Alberts statue - 1st king of Belgium
Saturday we explored Leuven. Leuven has festivals/activities happening every weekend during the summer
or July-August. This weekend there are circus type of acts happening around the town,
next weekend its music festivals.
Sunday I made a spinach and egg scramble with toast and coffee for breakfast. Then we walked around Leuven a bit before our bike tour with our professor. We went on a 3 hour long bike tour. Where we explored other parts of Leuven as well as its forests. They were beyond beautiful. We also stopped by the Heverlee War Cemetery (a WWI British cemetery.) On our way back we grabbed a beer and frites with mayo (fries with mayo, how the Belgian's eat their fries) and took a nap. Now I'm just getting ready for classes to begin tomorrow morning.