"In vacant or in pensive mood..." I am: Bekah; 24; Law Student / Favorite Things: Carbs (so there!), Johnny Damon, Smiling at babies, Grilled cheese, Comfortable silence / Favorite Supreme Court Justice: Brennan / Favorite Wilson: Owen by an inch / Today's Special: Song: Elliott Smith, "Bled White"; Quote: "You know, there's like a butt-load of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join because I'm pretty good with a bowstaff." Please love me: mmbekah@yahoo.com

 
Belgium: I'll see your chocolate, and raise you three waffles!

So much to say, so little time to say it. When I arrived in Brussels, I spent the day wandering around the city to the amazing square (the Grand Place) and on all the little side streets. I kept wondering, during all of my aimless travels, how I was getting so lucky in terms of people I asked for directions or for food or help with something. Everyone I talked to seemed so friendly, so willing to deal with my delinquency in the language, etc. And then I realized: I'm not getting lucky; everyone is nice. Even more exciting than that revelation was my discovery that the term "Belgian Waffles" actually refers to the fact that they make lots of incredible waffles in Belgium. They actually sell waffles the way that we sell hotdogs in the US--on the side of the street in wax paper. I simply cannot emphasize their goodness. I serendipitously ran into one of my old friends at my hostel (what are the odds? who goes to Belgium?) and he became a big fan of the waffles too. In fact, we decided that Belgium should use waffles as their new currency. We started thinking in terms of waffles whenever we were faced with the opportunity to buy something: "Oh, I don't know, that looks nice but I think it's about 3 waffles right there." I spent one day in Bruges, a city over toward the coast, and absolutely loved it. Little canals, romantic walkways, amazing buildings. And again, the nice people. And again, the waffles. Nice people and waffles. Mmm.

An American in Amsterdam...

I arrived in Amsterdam on Sunday and immediately liked it, but in a different way. I actually haven't gotten much of a chance to explore all of the major stuff here (like the Heineken tour!) because of this little thing called school. When I signed up for Summer Study Abroad in Amsterdam, I think my brain chose not to process the whole "study" part. This is intense: 600 pages of reading in 2 weeks. 10 classes for each of 3 one credit courses. One class is patent law. Today, the professor drew a plow shank on the board. The boy sitting next to me turned to me with a look of confusion and said, "I don't get farms." Yeah, I hear you buddy. I don't get chloroflorogooglecarbons or whatever most of these cases are about. Luckily, 4 classes are over which means I'm basically halfway there. I've been out several times, and have had a blast, but I've started to become really annoyed with Americans. Just as always happens when people are initially thrown together, people on the program have been traveling in herds. So 20 of us will try to go to a public establishment, and it's loud and obnoxious. People in Amsterdam are much more chill. Except if they're riding a bike, in which case they will not hesitate to run you down, but only after assaulting you with their little bells (since when did bikes get priority over pedestrians?) We did go on a canal cruise (paid for by the law school), with wine and cheese, but the wine caused us to get a little too rowdy to listen to the tour guide. This weekend it's off to Scotland for friendly visits and R.E.M.

Oh, one thing. Europeans are cool and all, but I think it's time for them to really just admit that shower curtains are useful things. If you have a shower curtain, you don't have to buy those annoying squeegees which allow you to sweep all of the water that accumulates in the entire bathroom into the drain. I know the novelty of being able to sit on the toilet while showering is good for some, but I still firmly believe that Europe should just embrace the shower curtain and be done with it. I won't even make fun of them for taking so long to catch on. That is all.

posted by Bekah at 9:01 AM :: |