COMPUTER FAIL >:(

My laptop´s hard drive died for the second time in less than a year, so I won´t be able to update nearly as often until I figure out what to do to fix/replace it. I will add photos to this post once I get things figured out. There´s many, so I might just do an additional huge photo post.

Yesterday, we went on a bus tour of Brussels. It was fairly boring, the sights were beautiful but the tour guide had a very thick Flemish accent that nobody could understand very well. Then a few of us, plus Sabine, my director, got off at the Grand Place and took pictures. The pictures cannot do the place justice. It looks amazing online, but it is absolutely breathtaking in person. We stopped in at a famous bar next to the Mannekin Pis (Brussels´ famous fountain of a little boy peeing), which was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I tried a banana gin drink, and it was fabulous. I love being in Europe, and actually being treated like the adult I am. The first day I was actually in Brussels, a downpour hit us out of nowhere. We ducked into a bar and I ordered a glass of Merlot to wait it out. In America, the government is perfectly happy with me signing up and dying in a war for them, but I cannot get a drink. I find it ridiculous.

After finishing our drinks, we headed down another street on the Grand Place and some girls in our group really wanted a Mohito (there was a restaurant offering them 2 for 1). Me and another guy in our group (whose name escapes me) decided to go get some frites because we were hungry. Oh. My. God. The best fries I´ve ever eaten in my life. I did not eat them with mayonnaise, as is traditional, but the frierere (the man who made the frites) recommended a Belgian mayonnaise-based sauce (I can´t remember the name). It was bloody delicious. We returned to the rest of our group, frites in hand. We were in a very tourist-y area. There was plenty of English speaking Americans, which was a nice break from the primarily French-speaking in the metro and in my neighborhood. There was a lot of Japanese people, too, doing three different ´peace´ poses in front of the Mannekin Pis, holding up the rest of the tourists from taking a picture. Oh, the Japanese tourists.

Also, fellow Americans, while it´s on my mind. If you go to a famous, historical, beautiful, medieval square, and wear pajama pants, you look like a f#$%ing idiot. Pajama pants: ok for walking to breakfast in (American) college on a Saturday morning, not ok for walking through Europe. You cannot stand more out as an American than to wear pajamas outside, on cobblestone streets older than their great-great-great-grandparents, at 4:00pm. I saw three girls wearing pajama pants yesterday. I wanted to punch them and tell them that they, themselves, were what is wrong with America. </rant>

That´s been my adventures thus far, I think I skipped a day before, but honestly, nothing really that great happened. Actually, I kinda can´t remember. OH YEAH, I do now.

On Saturday, we went to the Atomium, which was very impressive. Similar to the Mannekin Pis, it was much larger than I expected. You go up an elevator to the very top ball and get a crazy beautiful view of Brussels. On a clear day, you can sometimes see all the way to Antwerp.

Today´s been warm and sunny, but every other day has been really cold, and rainy. It´s very different from an American summer. The weather is very unpredictable, the only thing you do know about a Belgian summer is that it won´t freeze.

Au revoir, my friends. I´ll update with photos soon (I hope) <3