The university’s international exchange integration program called ESN (Erasmus Student Network) organized a weekend excursion trip to Bruges / Brugge, Belgium (the French part of Belgium and English speakers say Bruges, but Dutch speakers say Brugge, so it’s a toss up which one I use) and that’s how my European-weekend-excursion virginity was taken.
We left mid-afternoon on Friday, February 13th, and made our way to Belgium by bus. I already knew about ten of the fiftyish people going on the trip which was both a blessing and a curse. It’s funny how things in life look different depending on how you look at them. I was happy to know so many people, because familiarity makes me comfortable. But, I also sort of wanted to branch out and make new friends. Having people I already knew, though, made me feel compelled to stick with them, for the sake of familiarity and established friendship and whatnot. I’m happy to say that I think I solidified those friendships a little more and even made some new ones. Fishing village! Anyway, on the bus I sat with some friends and soon-to-be new friends. The boy who sat beside me was a Greek named Demetrius and it sent me back to my first European experience last may in Greece. Who would have ever guessed that I would be living in Europe less than a year later? Sometimes I think about the full magnitude of what I’m doing and I’m still amazed at myself. And in slight disbelief. About halfway on the trip, the group stopped in a Dutch fishing village for dinner. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was once an island, completely surrounded by a sea. But, the Dutch being the Dutch corralled the water and built dams and made the island into a village and damn is it cute. I snapped a photo of the dock by the restaurant and you can see it to the right. Isn’t it darling? Dinner was much better than I thought it would be. The restaurant was #fancy and had chandeliers and full window views of the water. We had chicken (we didn’t eat fish in a fishing village?), potatoes, french fries, and salad for dinner. Dessert was delicious ice cream! After dinner the bus ride continued. For the last two hours, ESN put on the movie In Bruges(blue text means you can click on it!)which stars Colin Farrell. It was a dark humor, sort of weird but cool film that is hard to explain the plot of. The bus’ TV was black and white only, which I think only added to the experience. I enjoyed it! Slowly but surely we arrived to our hostel sometime between after 9. We stayed at St. Christopher’s Inn, which was my first hostel experience ever. It wasn’t bad. I stayed in an 8 person suite with a mix of new and old friends and it was lovely! Room 12 for life. Sidenote: hostels charge for everything that you forget, so bring your own towel and toiletries, otherwise it’ll cost ya. For example, renting a towel cost only 2 euro, but the deposit for it was 10 euro, which sucked. So bring a towel when you travel! And shower shoes! And toiletries! But, not being able to really hear at night when I sleep (thanks, hearing aids) has become a bigger blessing than ever. Snore on, you snorers. ;) The first night the whole group went out to drink, dance, and get in our first night of Belgian partying. Let me preface this by saying that Belgian nightlife is not nearly as exciting as Groningen…
Nightlife highlights: the Lion King song and Pokemon theme song being played in one club, discovering a gay club that didn’t really feel like a gay club (hi, older creepy guys), and laughing at friends trying to pole dance (no one got injured miraculously). Canal tour! The next day was our first and only full day in Bruges, so it was a long one. We all had breakfast at the hostel (free cereal/bread + fixings/juice/coffee) and then made our way to the canal boat tour, which was a great way to begin our time in Belgium. I wish I could remember all that the tour guide said, but he did reference the film we watched the night prior a lot, and one building still had Venetian glass in it from many, many years ago. Oh and swans grace the canals. <3 Apparently a few months ago the canals had a black swan and the city tried to get rid of it, which made me sad. Isn’t that something wicked awesome? Poor black swan. </3 A lot of people didn’t take photos on the tour, but I did. I understand that you don’t want to be that tourist who only takes photos, but, I made a deal with myself to only take photos on the first half of the tour and the second half to just enjoy the moment. I think finding a fair balance is key. There’s nothing worse than having left a place feeling like you didn’t capture its essence in just the right away, because you didn’t take enough photos or hell were even in any photos. It’s personal preference, yes. But don’t feel awkward about doing what you want! Oh and the bridges we passed under were very low, so I was secretly thankful for my status as a #shortie. Sorry, tall Europeans, but I win this time. Michelangelo’s statue. After the canal tour, we were given an afternoon of free time to explore the city. I found a group of American girls and we explored the famous Church of Our Lady, Bruges, which houses a white marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo around 1504. Absolutely beautiful! The sanctuary itself was absolutely a treasure. Very peaceful. I could see myself sitting for hours just breathing in the ambiance. Little tea light candles were sprinkled throughout the church. There was also a prayer intentions box where you could write a prayer request of sort of the church to think about. I wrote one for the woman who has a big piece of my heart, my Grandma Granny. After the church, I branched off with a group to go explore the famous Belfort or Belfry of Bruges, which is a famous Medieval church tower in the center of the city that offers an amazing scenic bird’s eye view of the city if you’re up for a 366 step narrow climb up. We grabbed some Belgian fries before the climb, though. Delicious! I got the typical famous dish of fries and mayo. Afterward we were obviously game for the tower climb! We waited about 45 minutes or so to get in and while it was extremely claustrophobic and scary at times, we did it, and damn did the view not disappoint. THE CITY IS SO MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE LIKE AND CHARMING AND I LOVE IT. Sorry, Groningen, but Bruges is so much prettier.
After the tower, we made our way to the city’s main square for pictures, chocolate, and waffles. BELGIAN WAFFLE. Ah, Belgium. The chocolate really is to die for. I bought some pieces of chocolate (caramel, coffee, mandarin…) and a box of mint chocolates (mmm) and a bag of famous Belgian praline-chocolate seashells and a bag of chocolate-covered oranges and a mini bag of different types of truffles. Thank God I walk so much, right? I have the biggest sweet tooth ever. Sorry, family, but I’ll be eating all of it (well, some friends, too)… I can’t let it sit in my room until July. You understand, don’t you, mom? I got my sweet tooth from you. ;)<3 After chocolate purchases, we made our way to the Tea Room Laurent and bought coffee and waffles! I bought a to-die-for Chocolatecinno (Chocolate Cappuccino) and a Dame waffle (ice cream with chocolate sauce) and it was quite the religious experience. Also, the free wifi was lovely. While eating, me and a new friend Cassie were approached by these two older ladies next to us about our chocolates and they were very sweet and it was a nice moment. Some people hate Americans, while other people are generally interested. It’s an interesting dichotomy. After our yummy waffles, we walked around the city on the search for banana beer, artwork, Christmas ornaments, shot glasses, and postcards. Hello, yes, we are tourists, sorry. We all got what we were looking for eventually, so yay! Oh random story is that the nice older lady from the Tea Room grabbed my back belt loop randomly to which I almost slapped someone (I thought it was a man obviously) but she was just desperately looking for her phone or purse (language barrier) and she thought we might know where it was since she left it in the restaurant. :( We felt so bad for her!
Now for dinner…. we screwed up big time. We were given a map in our ESN travel booklet of where to go for dinner and to be on time for it. Well, we all walked to the hostel to drop our stuff off and then go to dinner, but we (don’t laugh) mixed up the addresses, meaning we thought the hostel address was the restaurant address and visa versa. In short, we got lost and ended up asking like 5 people where to go and one very kind Belgian walked us most of the way there even though he had a meeting. That made our day! Go nice people! We eventually got to dinner (45 minutes late) and had pasta and chicken and it was all okay. We had survived. We had food. But man was that a story. Banana beer, mmm. After dinner, it began raining (the only time it rained, luckily!), so on our way to the hostel we stopped to look at more chocolate. I bought this vintage-looking tin box that has a scenic faux water painting of the city on it. I thought it’d be functional for letters, postcards, jewelry, maybe even food. We found a supermarket close to the hostel and lo and behold there was BANANA BEER. One girl of the group had been talking about wanting to try it. I bought one, too.
At the hostel, everyone took power naps and eventually began pre gaming with drinking games and socializing! I drank my banana beer and it was delicious, probably because it didn’t taste like beer really. Yum. I also had a cherry beer, which was delicious, too.
Pre-gaming highlights: playing a game in which a person whispers something to you (example: “Who do you think has been arrested?”) and you pass a card/lighter/whatever object to them and they don’t know why they got it and then they ask someone else and it goes in a circle. I was given the card twice, once for seeming to have the most tattoos (I’m so amused by this. I guess my faux badass-rocker-chic look is working) and lowest alcohol tolerance (also amused by this. It was from the girl who helped me open my beer. Fair guess, but I told her I don’t drink beer, I drink vodka, lol). It was just a nice time of socializing! Oh, the German guy in our group knew how to open a beer bottle with a plastic fanta/soda bottle and we were all in awe. Fascinating stuff. Red dress with the red hair to match. #vday Ahhhh so I decided to wear my red dress for Valentines Day and when I walked out of the bathroom after changing a random girl stared at me and was all “damn you look good, girl!” and that made my night. Ahh I love nice people. Eventually we all walked to the party street of Brugge and proceeded to go clubbing. Well, fun fact, everyone, I can’t club. I’ve tried many times while I’ve been here in Europe but it is not my thing. It makes me feel very bad about myself. Alcohol doesn’t make me “fun,” and I just can’t dance in a room with people literally squished between me and I’m just not into that. I wish I was so badly but I’m not. I want to sit at a bar and sip cocktails and then go dancing with someone. It’s very different than dancing sort of purposelessly in the middle of a club. We’ll see. I just felt so bad because I felt like everyone thought I was judging them or hating it when really I was just so uncomfortable. I want to be you, fun dancing girl. Also, random side note, I have a *thing* for spotting potential couples. I notice when people are into other people, if that makes sense? Why can’t I do that on myself? God dammit, Angel. Speaking of Angel, whenever I say my name and then add “like you know with a halo,” people are fascinated and it makes my day. For example, a very drunk Welsh boy walked past our drinking group in the hostel common lobby area and introduced himself and when I said my name HE FLIPPED OUT. It was very amusing, haha. So, anyway, I left the club early and made my way to the hostel by myself and I am so proud of myself for being a bangin’ navigator of cities. I didn’t get lost at all. Go me! At the hostel I used wifi in the lobby area (there’s no wifi in the rooms, just in the common areas) and a nice lady walked past me and while I pooled in self-deprecation (this study abroad experience has been characterized by a roller coaster – very big highs and very big lows) she complimented my hair and that made my night. :) I went to bed later and later on most of the hostel room got in late, drunk and giggly. It was cute. Hostel room 12! <3
The next morning (Sunday, the 15th) most everyone was suffering from sleep deprivation and being hungover. Good thing we were doing a brewery tour that morning. Apparently drinking the next morning helps a hangover? I wouldn’t know since #neverbeenhungover but alas. The brewery tour was nice. The beer at the end was subpar. Give me my banana or cherry beer back, please. After the brewery, a group of us went to the Church I went to yesterday (I didn’t know the Michelangelo statue was what I saw yesterday so long story short I went twice and paid twice but the second experience was much better/lovely!). After that, we almost went to a Picasso exhibit but it was a little too much money. Instead, we walked around the city and had fries and waffles (I got fries with American sauce that was more Italian than American… I thought it was going to be ranch, but nope.) and shopped for more chocolate and postcards and I bought my Christmas ornament. It’s a lace ornament of two lovebirds. Lace is very big here in Belgium, which I didn’t know about, so even though it doesn’t scream Belgium, it is characteristic to the country, perfect for my future international Christmas tree! I plan to buy a Christmas ornament from each place I visit. Some people do shot glasses or postcards or mugs, too. Anyway, we made our way back to the hostel and left Bruges around 2:30. The bus ride back was tiring. When we got back to Groningen, the temperature was so much colder, and I think it’s because Holland is closer to the coast. I said goodbye to friends and made my way back to my dorm. I talked Alexa’s ear off and we ended up chatting until past 11 and it was wonderful to share in laughter with a friend.
What more is there to say? I feel like I’ve done the experience injustice. There is so much more I want to say. The city is truly beautiful. Its medieval charm is something else. I wanted to walk down the untouched alleyways and find cute cafes but time was not a luxury. Oh! Bruges had horse carriage rides just like Charleston, which was a sweet reminder of home. The carriage rides here, though, were much less kind to pedestrians… haha. I wanted to sit in the city square for hours and soak in the atmosphere but I felt like I couldn’t do that. I think that’s why I want to travel alone for some trips. I want to do whatever I want whenever I want. The worst feeling is feeling alone with people. It is not feeling alone. It is feeling lonely. And sometimes I just don’t know how to get over myself and my anxiety and I wonder how people see me (am I intimidating? annoying? boring? disinterested?) but then I think, no one thinks about me as much as I think about me. So I need to calm the hell down and embrace the experience for all it is. I reflect back to orientation, when a professor spoke that this experience is made with self-discovery in mind, whether you know it or not, and that cannot be more true. I am discovering so much more about myself, and I don’t know if I like what I’m seeing. I wonder how I’ll feel when I read this come July.
Thanks, Bruges / Brugge, Belgium, for indulging my sweet tooth and blinding me with your medieval beauty and enchanting me with your charm.
Brugge Canal!Love ya, Bruges.Atop the brewery’s roof!
