Work has been going really well. I am learning quite a bit about the European Parliament, and especially all of it's members. Everyone in the office has been so nice, and I have enjoyed getting to know all of them a little more this week. I work from 9-6 with a 1 hour lunch break, so I'm glad I get along with them considering how much time I spend with them.
Today I just went in for a half day of website training and then spent the rest of the day doing some coursework, running some errands, and exploring the city. It was lots of fun!! I got my first Belgian waffle to start off the afternoon's adventures. It was soooooo good - I wish I could send some back to the US so that you all could try them. They are warm and sweet and fantastic and they may make me fat! After setting up my Belgian bank account, I decided to see what shopping here is like because everyone has told me that the big sales are in January and July. I found the big shopping street and quickly realized how much a dollar doesn't buy. It didn't take long before more than just the prices negated my shopping efforts, I also realized/remembered that all of their sizes are extremely different as well. All this to say, I enjoyed lots of looking and admiring, but did not do a lot of spending.
I was then hungry for some chocolate and decided to head back to the Grand Place to see a little more. In Brussels, there is a LOT of public transportation. The 3 types are metro, tram, and bus. There are only 4 metro lines, probably about 20 tram lines, and probably upwards of 25 bus lines, so I am trying to learn one thing at a time. I feel pretty comfortable with the metro, but I took my first tram to get to the Grand Place and everything worked out great! I got there just as it was starting to get dark, so I went to a couple chocolate shops so I can figure out which one is my favorite. The Grand Place is just that Grand - the square itself is pretty large and the buildings are huge and pretty cool actually.
From there I got back on a tram and then the metro to get to a larger Carrefour (Wal-mart) that I had seen. In fact, it was not just larger - it was huge. My perception of size may be a little skewed at this point because everything around here is so small, but still it was huge. It was like a super Wal-Mart, so it had everything, and the biggest selection of groceries I have seen anywhere so far! So I enjoyed wandering around there for a while picking up some more groceries. Then I headed home to get ready for dinner.
Anastasia and I went out to sushi that was really good and really fun. It is always a nice treat to have a good meal after a long week. Tomorrow includes more exploring - who knows what I'll see next.
YEY, you found a big Carrefour! It's really nice to have one of those. And I love your picture of the American corner.. Michael and I ate at a Subway ALL the time. Your room is so cute! It'll be nice for you to have a pleasant room to come back to every day. This is all bringing back so many memories for me. I'll pretty much be stalking your blog from now on. Oh, and in your last post you talked about how you were a bad blogger because you had skipped a couple days, and how you wrote "so much." I would write novels every time I got on my blog. And I only wrote one every week or so. Sometimes way longer. Hey, if you have any interest in reading mine to see the adventures I had and the culture shock I experienced, I think this profile links up to it. Keep eating those waffles and chocolate. YUM!
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