Hey everybody!

It's been quite some time since my last post and I'm so upset with myself for putting it off for so long, but I've been so busy! I don't even know where to start, I've had some incredible experiences and some terrible ones, but I'm still making the best of my time here in Belgium. It's been so long since I wrote anything that I literally have to go through my pictures to remember what I haven't written about! I'm gonna split this post up into 3 separate ones, to let you know what I've been up to around Belgium, Ireland, and France!

Of course I've been spending more time in Leuven with Toni. We had some really beautiful days in the past month where we were able to explore the town, take lots of pictures of the Grand Beguinage, and feed the ducks in the park (Toni's favorite pastime, she insists we bring bread everywhere we go just in case there are animals we can feed). One day we were walking around the center of town, heading to get some food and do some window shopping, when we noticed all these people standing around on the sidewalks and walking in the middle of the street. We were sure a parade was about to ensue! To our delight, near the train station there were all kinds of carnival stations set up, including bumper cars, carni games, and our favorite... Carni food! We found a stand selling zeppoles and purchased some to eat as we waited for the parade to start. The fried dough balls covered in powdered sugar were delicious, and the parade was... interesting! Apparently it was a parade for Mardi Gras that was about a week late for the actual festival, but it was lots of fun anyway! There were all these interesting floats that drove by, almost all of them being pulled by a tractor, and they threw candy out and played loud American club music from giant speakers. Some of the floats were accompanied by performers who either danced or threw flags in the air or dumped confetti onto unsuspecting onlookers' heads! Toni got hit like five times and I got hit I think once or twice, it was really funny, however Toni also got a free beer from one of the floats and I didn't!

Toni's friend, Jordan, from Loyola also happened to be visiting that same weekend. On one of the nights he was there my friend Ed came to visit us in Leuven and all of us went out to the Oude Markt for drinks. Our night didn't end until the early hours of the morning and was so much fun! Jordan was a really cool guy and lots of fun to hang out with. 

Toni and I also decided to start visiting the neighboring cities in Belgium. However we mistakenly picked our first stop as Mechelen, the old Antwerp. You see, Toni and I visited this really cool map shop in Brussels that has maps of Belgian cities made by young adults for young adults. We decided that we would visit each city that had a map. Unfortunately the map for Mechelen is INCREDIBLY misleading. We went on a Friday in hopes of seeing all these cool sights and having so much to do. However we quickly found out that there is almost NOTHING to do in Mechelen, and the streets on a Friday afternoon are nearly deserted. The highlight of the trip was when we found this little second hand shop that we'd been looking for. It was in a run down looking part of the town (which was what a lot of the town looked like) and wouldn't have been any cool at all if I hadn't found a cool vintage Stella Artois glass for 25 cents. There were a few pretty churches and a neat (but kinda creepy) green river, but that was about it. We ended our afternoon shortly after realizing that our map had betrayed us and that Mechelen was NOT a cool place to go. It was funny because I had told a bunch of students at VeCo that we were going just a few days before we went, and they all had nothing to say about it, but when I told them that we found out how much it sucked they all responded enthusiastically "Duh! There's absolutely nothing there dude, how did you not know that!" Live and learn I suppose!

One Sunday afternoon we decided to do some more exploring in Brussels using the map we got for my home city. This map was much more accurate and we actually found some cool stuff that neither of us had seen before in Brussels. One really cool spot the map listed was this skate park in the city where Belgian skater punk youth come to hang out and skate. We sat up at the top of the skate park and watched some of the kids attempting to perform dangerous tricks on their BMX bikes and skateboards, it was pretty cool just to watch how the Belgians hang out at a skate park just like Americans of the same nature do. The skate park also looks really cool with graffiti all over the cement. We also walked through a little statue garden, went to some places with great views of the city, and rode this giant elevator in the middle of the city. The weather was great but it was a little cold, so as it got later in the afternoon we headed back to Leuven for a night in. Toni and I bought some wine and sat out on her windowsill under a clear star filled sky while drinking it. It was nice to just relax and reflect for a while on just how incredible it is to be under a European sky, drinking wine and hanging out with my girlfriend at only 20 years of age. I really am privileged to be out here exploring the world, and again I can't thank the people who've helped make it possible enough.