Thursday, April 26, 2012

One month/Un mois

This year has seriously gone by way too fast! How can it be that I only have one month left in Belgium?! It seems like just yesterday I was getting on a plane in Sacramento and heading to Brussels. When I look back on that day...and my first few months in Belgium, I feel like I'm thinking about another person. I've changed so much during my time here...and I'm very sad to know it's coming to an end.

Even though I know I only have one month left, I'm going to try not to be too sad or emotional. I will try to make this month the best! Make new friends, see new cities, eat more chocolate and waffles ;) This weekend I already have so much to do! Friday night I will be going to a party with my host brother, Saturday there are some activities to do with my host family in Namur and after a Scouts dinner for my other host brother in Dinant. Sunday is a Rotex organized day in Walibi! Walibi is Belgian's theme park, which means lots of rollercoasters and I'm hoping for a ferris wheel too :) I will get to see about 150-200 other exchange students. Thankfully Monday and Tuesday are vacation days...I need time to rest! Monday my friend from school invited me over to her house to hang out with some of our other friends. How sweet!

But now that I'm thinking about being home in one month......it's going to be so GREAT to hug my mom and dad!!! Ahhh I really miss them so much. Sadly, my sister will be studying for her finals in Santa Barbara so I won't be able to see her till June at her graduation. I hope my flight doesn't get delayed because I really want to go to In-N-Out for dinner!! :D

Have a nice weekend!

Living the Belgian life ;)

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Italia April 2012!

Ciao Bella!! I was lucky enough to spend my Spring Break all around Italy with 70 other exchange students and a few Rotary chaperones. We left April 1st and returned April 11th.

Day 1: Driving to Rome in two different buses. One for the English speakers and another for the Spanish speakers. The drive took us about 24 hours, but I loved it because we got to talk, play games and watched a couple movies.
Day 2: Roma! When we first arrived we had a yummy group lunch. Salad, pasta, chicken, and dessert! I miss Italian food already :( Then we walked to the Vatican Museum for a guided tour. There were so many tourists! But the weather was perfect and Rome really is a beautiful city. Also I enjoyed some delicious gelato that day, Limoncello and Nutella :) We left at night and headed to our hotel where we had another delicious meal of pasta, meat, and dessert.
Day 3: Rome...in the morning we had a tour of the Colosseum. I really enjoyed it! In the afternoon I had delicious pizza for lunch followed by gelato at the Trevi Fountain! I made sure to make a few wishes :)
Day 4: Rome and Montecassino. Nice day...visited some ruins and moved into our second hotel.
Day 5: Almafi Coast and Sorrento. Beautiful places!! Sorrento is the town known for Limoncello, and it is quite delicious! Amalfi had great views and I enjoyed a great pizza lunch that day (Pretty much everyday I had pizza for lunch :) )
Day 6: Capri and Anacapri. My second favorite day! These two places are breathtaking....beautiful blue water, colorful houses, great views. I wouldn't mind spending some more time in Capri later on...
Day 7: Pompeii. It was raining this day so it wasn't the best but I still had fun :) We went on a tour of the city...
Day 8: Pisa and Sienna. Raining again...but took some great pictures with the Leaning Tower of Pisa! Sienna is a really pretty town also...ate some pizza then looked at a church.
Day 9: Murano and Burano. Amazing day! These are two little islands, Murano is known for glass making and Burano for the brightly colored houses. We got to watch a man blowing glass. I bought some really cool souvenirs that day :) I would love to love in one of the bright pink houses on Burano!
Day 10: Venice....MY FAVORITE!! This was our last day and I absolutely loved Venice. It's just so magical. There were so many gondolas but they're so expensive! 70 or 80 euros for just 30 minutes with 6 people. But we had a lot of free time to explore and all around it was a memorable day!

I hope to go back to Italy soon! It is an amazing country....friendly people, beautiful cities, the best food you will ever eat!! Take me back!!
Pizzzzaa!

In Rome :)

Capri with some lovely exchange students!

Pisa! With Sravya and Jane :)

Burano

Gelato in Venice!

Group at the Colesseum

Sorry it's taken me so long!!

Hello everyone! Wow, I haven't updated my blog in awhile. Things have been really hectic lately...I went to Italy for Spring Break and when I returned to Belgium I changed host families. I finally got wifi to work on my computer today so I decided it was the right moment to write my blog :)

I am enjoying my third host family, I am back to the same town where my first host family lived. It's strange but it brings back a lot of memories to me. I feel like I've been living here for ten years but at the same time these past eight months have gone by way too fast.
So in this host family I have three younger brothers and a cute dog named Noisette :) I plan on making them pancakes, red velvet cupcakes and peanut butter and chocolate cookies before I leave. I've already introduced them to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and I think they like them :)

So I officially have my return flight back to California. I will leave Belgium May 26th and arrive in California that night. That means I have about a month left in Belgium. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to everything; my host families, friends, school, food, cities, buses and trains. I love Belgium so much and everything that comes with it. Although I have decided to continue some of the Belgian ways back in California. Including eating waffles, nutella and croissants for breakfast, and riding my bike more. My mom actually found Belgian waffles at Costco! Yay!
At my first Belgian soccer game with Mayuko!

At the Liege train station going to meet the International President of Rotary!!