Bruxelles

We headed to Brussels next. I'd been there before, when studying abroad my junior year of college. It's a beautiful little town, and I think I liked it more this second time around. It's not the most wonderful place in Europe, but it's quite charming and lovely. It has a really nice downtown area, and the architecture is quintessentially Low Country. It's a nice place to exist.

We spent the evenings in local bars tasting Belgian beers while we could get them for cheap. (Let's be honest here...I didn't drink any beer. But the others did.) On our first full day we had a long briefing at the European Commission. After a terrible lunch on the Grande Place, we went to a briefing at the US Mission to the European Union--a discussion on US strategic relations in EU. It was kind of nice to be around Americans in an abnormal situation.

We played drinking games at the bar. I tell you what, whenever at the bar with my friends in the US, we never play drinking games. But the undergrads can play them like crazy. I learned all kinds of new games. Yikes. I'm going to attempt to erase that part of my memory.

The next morning, we visited the European Commission's Executive Committee for Finance. I took the afternoon off.

A few students and I spent Saturday in Brugges! It's among the most beautiful places I've ever been. I just love it there, and I'd love to visit it every year. Gorgeous buildings in a precious little town. Canals snake through the streets. It's perfect. We ate mussels and took a boat tour of the canals. And there's a Christmas store!! Clearly, I spent more money than I should have. That evening we drank in a 1920s bar and then ate at a restaurant with all kinds of Central Asian food. After too many waffles, the trip was a wonderful success.

The next morning, before heading to Frankfurt, I had breakfast with my mom's former French teacher and her son and cousin. She's a fantastic, kind person, and I love to see her. She took me to a huge flea market which was crazy. Blankets were laid edge to edge to edge in this large square such that we could barely walk between blankets, and the blankets were covered with things for sale. Crazy.