Bonjour Paris!

This morning I left Belgium. It was super sad to say bye to Anna again and of course I cried. I was surprised to be in first class on my train though, which was nice.
When I got to Charles de Gaulle, it took a half hour to find Amy, but at least I found her. Then it took an hour to get into the city. Luckily Amy knows the trains weirdly well so we didn't have any problem. Paris is amazing. I love it. The apartment is in a safe neighborhood and it takes about ten minutes to get to the notre dame.
We waited in line at notre dame for only like ten minutes, which was super lucky. The area around notre dame is one of the favorite places in the world. It's absolutely beautiful.
Then we walked around the Latin quarter and went to the pantheon and the jardin Luxembourg. Everything is amazing here and it's so tough cause I can't capture it in a picture.
We ended up eating at a nice restaurant and I had a tartine and fries. It was only one euro because Amy has these awesome coupon things that I can use at any restaurant.
Afterwards we went to Montmartre and visited the sacre coeur. It was one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. It sunset so the city was just lit up but it was still not dark yet. And the church of course was beautiful.
The funniest thing happened when we were there though. I wish I took a video. There were artists everywhere and there was one guy who was throwing a fire baton. Not even a minute into his show, he accidentally flings the flaming baton down on the audience below. Everyone freaked out and glared at him and this one guy threw a beer can. The best part was when the artist just picked up his baton again and continued with the show as if nothing happened and then asked for money afterwards. It was pretty hilarious.
Now we're at the apartment and have a relaxing day planned tomorrow. Paris is amazing and I love it so much. I'm so lucky to be here right now.

En Bruges

If I could choose anywhere in Europe to live, vacation, or go with my friends, I think I would choose Bruges.
This morning, we left with the whole family (minus Sam) to take the train to Bruges. It was Noah's first train ride and he was so excited. Noah and léa were fighting a lot though like siblings do and it was kind of annoying. The two hour train ride seemed really really long. Once we got there though, things got better. It was kind of a far walk to the town, but it was totally worth it. The first thing that we did was eat. We stopped by a small sandwich place and all got baguette deli sandwiches. After that, we went on a boat tour of Bruges. I can't even describe how beautiful and awesome this city is. All of the buildings and house and really old, but they all have beautiful gardens and intricate details. You can always see a cathedral from where you are on the river. It was just perfect. It was a bright sunny day and relatively warm (high 60s maybe). I wish that everyone could see what I see. My mom and jessi were especially on my mind- I feel like they would absolutely love it. And Francesca and Hannah because they would take a ton of pictures. It was so pretty, I wish I could capture it in a photo.
After the tour, we walked around and stopped for some soda on a terrace overlooking the river. We ended up walking through an art fair. Everything was too expensive, but I enjoyed looking. I bought a waffle and Anna bought some violet candy that we watched them make. Later, Anna and I stopped by a store called galler, which is apparently really good chocolate. We got these praline chocolate filled waffles that were essentially heaven on earth. It might be one of the best desserts I've ever had.
Then we had to run to the train station and caught our train with two minutes to spare.
All in all, bruges was the prettiest city I have ever been to in Europe. I want everyone to go there and see what I am talking about.
It was only a little difficult to communicate because they all speak Dutch in Bruges since its in the north of Belgium. They were actually more likely to speak English than French, which was kind of funny.
The other thing I noticed was all of the bikes. In cities like bruges and Maastricht, more people own bikes than cars. I saw some people road biking through town and I can't imagine how rough that would be. The roads are opposite of smooth, they are all cobblestone and bumpy. It's hard to walk, so I can't imagine road biking!
Anyway, hopefully you can see the beauty of the city in the pictures I post.
Paris tomorrow! Amy better not go to the wrong station.

The anniversary party

The party at Sara's house was so nicely done. It was kinda weird for me cause it was mostly adults. Even though Anna knew them, I didn't and I can't understand people when they are speaking French drunk and slurring their words and stuff. So all of the adults would try and talk to me and when I didn't get it the first time they thought I couldn't speak French.
The whole party was amazing though. It was in the garden of a beautiful house with candles everywhere. The theme of the party was classy with a trashy accessory, so everyone looked pretty funny. Sara's boyfriend was the bartender and they had hired a dj to play (except he only played oldies French music). By the end of the night everyone was dancing a having a good time.
The food was also delicious. There were three different types of pasta and it kind of reminded me of my moms cooking. Then there was fruity tiramisu, cheesecake, and chocolate moose for dessert.
I wish i could throw parties like that.

The north sea

This morning we went to the north sea. We were running late for our train though, so when we got there, there were no seats left and we had to sit in between the train cars by the bathroom. It was about an hour before we got seats, but then we had four seats to ourselves so we could sleep. Ostend (the city on the north sea) is about two hours away from liege.
Of course it is beautiful and European, like all of the cities I've been to. It's more american though because it's a beach city. Just with shorter swimsuits and people speaking Dutch. We got lucky and it was sunny and about 70 degrees today. Instead of shopping like we planned, we got a sandwich to go and laid out on the beach for a few hours. As we were eating our sandwiches, a seagull swooped in a took a bite of Anna's. It was kinda scary but also pretty hilarious. That's never happened to me before. All the seagulls were pretty scary, but they stopped bugging us when we stopped eating. The north sea was beautiful and surprisingly warm. I definitely would've gone swimming if I had brought a swimsuit.
It sounds like a boring day, but it was so nice to take a break from being a tourist and just relax on the beach and walk along the boardwalk. On our way back we got ice cream from a place called Australian, which is apparently the best. It was pretty darn good, I had a crème rocher flavor, which is apparently like ferrero rocher. Now we're on our way home and we have seats this time!
Tonight there is a party for Sara's parents 30th anniversary. According to Anna, they paid 25 euros per person for food and it's about to be so good. I'm so excited!
I'm also excited to get to Paris and see Amy! I can't believe I'm going to Paris.
Too cool.

Durbuy and other stuff

Some stuff I forgot:
When we were in Brussels, there was a guy playing a radiohead song over loud speakers. We weren't at le grand place but somewhere like it and it was just too cool. I felt like a total hipster.
By l'atomium there was a park where we walked around and there were a ton of rabbits! I have never seen so many rabbits in my life! I could see ten all in one spot and those are just the ones that were out in the open. If I made a loud noise they would all move and it was so weird.
Okay now Durbuy. Yesterday I went to the smallest city in the world. Durbuy was absolutely adorable. It's exactly like a tiny european city would look like. It smells like amazing food cause there are so many restaurants in such a little place. It's also located in this beautiful forest area with a river running alongside it. However, it is the smallest city in the world so there wasn't really much to do. And what do all small towns have in common? Mini golf. Yup, we played mini golf. The whole family was super serious about it, it was pretty funny. We went to this cute little restaurant and I had a cappuccino and a croque Monsieur, which was delicious of course. Then we walked around and shopped a little bit in the few shops that are there. Everything was so cute, I just kept taking pictures. That was pretty much it for durbuy.
That night, I went to a birthday party for Fanny. Everyone is so nice here! At first people didn't really talk to me, but when victorine came and started talking to me suddenly everyone was so interested. Again, people were very impressed with my French which is always nice to hear. Sadly though, we had to leave. I finally got to meet Anna's best friend, Sara. We went to the carré and danced and stuff for the rest of the night. For those of you who play just dance, hey ya came on in the bar we were dancing in and all I wanted to do was the just dance routine with Saloni, jessi, Sureel, and Francesca. Don't worry, I got everyone to do the shake it part.
All in all it was a pretty good day. I wish I could stay longer so I could get to know all of Anna's friends better.

My mornings

I'm always the first one to wake up. I eat a wonderful breakfast and then watch tv with Noah until Anna wakes up. It's so funny seeing American tv shows in French. My favorite is phénomène raven aka that's so raven. I can't believe they're still playing this.

Mini Europe

Today we woke up in Brussels and decided that our tourist activity of the day was to go to mini Europe and l'atomium. It took like an hour to find it but we finally did.
L'atomium is apparently the thing that belgium is known for (I didn't know it). Essentially it's a large silver thing that looks like an atom. It's surrounded by a park and it's pretty cool.
But even cooler is mini Europe! This is exactly what it sounds like. You get a guide and walk through Europe. Each country is represented with a great model of some of its famous monuments. Maybe I'm just a need but it was super cool to learn so much about Europe! In one of the northern countries- Finland I think - there are more saunas than cars. How cool! We spent like two hours there and saw all of Europe! I thought it was pretty sweet. Then we walked to the train station.
Anna hates waiting so we decided I find a cafe in Brussels. Instead, we stumbled upon a fair. There was rides and food and tons of people! It was so cool! The weird thing was there was a ton of seafood there. Like can you imagine getting escargot at a fair? I thought it was weird. Anna and I shared croustillons and lackeman, which are...hard to describe in English. Croustillons are like mini donuts but better. They're like deep fried dough covered in powdered sugar. And lackeman is a really thin waffle with syrup inside and syrup outside. Both were so good!
When we finally got back to liege, Anna's dad took us on a small driving tour of the local prostitute scene. It was so funny, Anna's dad is hilarious. He tries to speak in English and narrate everything we are seeing. So we were driving and he would say stuff like "allo Madame, ow are you" "oh allo, bonjour" "yes sir, you choose this street to walk your dog. Ouais je promene avec mon chien, il y a une probleme?"
The rest of the night we spent just relaxing and skyping. Tomorrow were going to Durbuy. I don't know what we'll do but it'll be fun.
Missing everyone in the us!