Bruselas

Madrid was fun, but a lot like I left it about a month ago. We also met up with some students from another program in Toledo and had about 15 bottles of wine between the 20 of us on our program's tab (not something they were expecting), so that was nice. Also, we checked out the cathedral in Segovia, which I missed the last time I was there.

Brussels was amazing, if not very cold and wet. In fact, it rained every day we were there, and only got nice the afternoon of the last day. None of us, though, really had clothing that was appropriate for the temperature. In the hotel, I literally had to step over the toilet in the bathroom to get into the "shower area," which had only a hand-held nozzle clearly meant to hang on the wall but which lacked a piece or two of hardware, while the tub was about big enough for me if I squeezed in and held my breath. Unfortunately, I got pretty sick in Madrid with a cold, and didn't really have the luxury of being able to breathe for the majority of the trip; this is a problem in a place where the only thing to do is eat. You might think I'm kidding, but absolutely everything we did in the city revolved around eating. We had waffles covered in sugar, nutella, bananas, strawberries and ice cream on the street, we had french fries with curry ketchup and mayonnaise wrapped in newspaper, we had mussels, we had cherry beer, we had Chemais beer made by Trappist monks somewhere in Belgium, and we had lots and lots of chocolate. From the free samples alone I have gained 12 pounds, but, not to worry, I have quite a bit stored here in my closet. In fact, we tried to go to three museums, and only made it to two. The Comic Book Museum proved impossible to find, especially in the rain, so we had to settle for the Museum of Chocolate and the Museum of Beer. We went out for a really nice dinner the first night we were there to a restaurant which formerly had three Michelin Stars, but which has recently been downgraded to two. Despite the fact that I could taste almost nothing and that it had been knocked down a peg, it was one of the most memorable meals I've had. One of the girls I was with has culinary aspirations and a direct attitude, and the next thing we knew we were in the kitchen having our picture taken with the chef. Once I get copies, I'll get those up on here, assuming that I don't have bloodshot eyes, a glazed look from the amount of drugs I was on, and something dripping out of my nose.


This is a picture of the Grand Place, the main plaza in the old section of town. Unfortunately, this doesn't do it any justice: it's huge and stunningly beautiful. Each of the smaller buildings around the plaza was built by one of the guilds of the city back in the 17th century. The most impressive building, I think, was built, unsurprisingly perhaps, by the brewers.

In other news, classes started today, I have my other two classes tomorrow, and then I'm off to London and Oxford. ¡Que paséis una semana fantástica!