Hey everybody!

I have a lot to talk about but I'm currently waiting to catch a bus to Amsterdam so I'll make this one as short as I can! 

First off, school things. I've given two presentations in my Broadcast Journalism class so far. I explained what the first one was all about in my last post. Micole and I KILLED IT! It was the best presentation in the class hands down, which was awesome but also set the bar pretty high for our next project. That being said, our next one was not quite as good. We were forced to work with a bigger group, which I'm not a very big fan of. The presentation was good but not perfect and definitely not the best out of the three. Either way I'm sure we did well so it's no big deal I suppose. I took my first French exam yesterday, and I think I'm going to need to study harder for the next one. I didn't do too terribly, but it's all still very new to me and I hadn't really been practicing enough before that exam. I'm working on it much harder now, using the language whenever I can. I'm starting to really enjoy it too which helps a lot. C'est bon! Other than that school is going well, nothing I'm worried about there.

Lately I've been trying to plan spring break but it's difficult cause I can't find anyone that wants to come to Scotland with me. So far my best friends out here are these three dudes, Joey, Ed, and Sam. Joey and Ed have plans for the first week, Joey with his family and Ed with the school, and for the second week the two of them have already booked flights to Milan, Rome and Barcelona. To go to all three of those places is a little too expensive for me, so what I'm ideally hoping to do is go to Scotland for a few days and then meet up with them in Barcelona. If I can find someone to come with me I will plan it as soon as I can! Very exciting but definitely stressful stuff.

In addition to my usual crew, there's this Polish guy Thomas who fixed Joey's shower in his room and became friends with him. This dude only 20 and is crazy but a lot of fun to hang out with. He's got all sorts of unbelievable stories to tell us about getting drunk in Poland and doing wild things. His English isn't terribly good either so it makes it extra funny when he's telling us these stories in broken sentences hah. I'm going to try to practice my French with him the next time we all hang out.

I also learned something kind of interesting and a little bothersome from Thomas. Apparently there is a big problem here with racism towards and from Muslims. There are districts not too far from where I travel to and where Ed lives in the city who's main population is Muslims and they don't like to follow the laws here in Brussels. There's all sorts of problems with it because of the overcrowding in prisons here, so when one of these extremists recently shot a police officer in the leg, he was held for something like 42 hours and then released back to freedom so he can wait some years for his trial. Apparently Brussels citizens are paying outrageous taxes right now to rent prison space in the Netherlands and they STILL can't find a place for scum that shoot cops for no reason other than the fact that they're not Muslim. It's a little disheartening, but it's important to remember that not ALL Muslims or Moroccans here are like this, there are plenty of them who are upstanding citizens that cry for their kin who get caught up in violence. It's just a few extremists who want to cause a ruckus and disturb the peace. Fear not however, I know the areas to steer clear of and I'll be safe.

Toni went to the Canary Islands last week, she hasn't updated her blog yet but her pictures are up on Picasa here:  http://picasaweb.google.com/tvdecristoforo/EspanaGranadaAndGranCanaria#   so check those out if you wanna see how beautiful Spain is (VERY). 

Last Saturday I went to the Atomium here in Brussels! It's astonishing from the outside but kind of lame on the inside to be perfectly honest. There's a few exhibits but they're nothing really spectacular. The view from the top of the monument is breathtaking on a clear day, which it was when I went! Until we got to the top... That's Brussels for you though, perfectly sunny and beautiful one minute, raining/snowing the next. Oh well, it was an experience either way and the pictures will be up soon! Luckily, just as we were leaving the monument around 5 p.m. it lit up so there are some nice pictures of it shining at night and some cool ones where you can just barely see it in the fog.

I spent some more time in Leuven this weekend once Toni got back from the Canary islands which was nice. I'm growing quite fond of that little town, it's just a really charming a comfortable place to live. The cobble stone streets come alive at night with the hustle bustle of students and adults riding bikes or walking to events or bars/parties. On a clear night when all the buildings are lit up it just looks really nice and feels warm. Brussels is incredible but it can be a cold and impersonal city at times, just like any big city in the U.S. While my stay in Brussels will always be remembered as a life changing experience, it's never a place I could live. Leuven however might be a different story, it's a nice place to settle. However it's still too far from home, and I'm not sure I could ever live outside of the states for more than a year or so.

Super Bowl Sunday was lots of fun here! Joey met a guy named Laurent Bourggraff who had reserved a bunch of seats at this bar called Fat Boys. It's an American bar (surprise, surprise) and it was 10 EUR deposit per person that you wanted to reserve a seat for, but that 10 EUR covered the first 10 you spent on food and drinks. We got some AWESOME hot wings and I had a Guinness while we watched the Saints whoop up on the Colts. To everyone's disappointment however, there were NO Super Bowl commercials. The broadcast we watched was apparently for soldiers overseas and they couldn't play the commercials. LAAAME! We still had fun though. The game didn't start until midnight here and ended around 4 a.m. at which point Ed, Joey, Sam and I made our way back to Sam's apartment to crash for the night.

The last exciting thing I did this week was attend a "Drink for Disaster" party! It was a fundraiser in Leuven to raise money for victims of the earthquake in Haiti. 1 EUR beers, 2 EUR tequila shots and 3 EUR wine! The event was held at a student apartment in Leuven and there was good, loud music, TONS of people, and a bon fire outside. Ed came with me to Leuven and he, Toni and I went to the party together, but not before trying this drink Toni's new roommate, Irena, calls "Mish Mosh." You just mix red wine and Fanta and it tastes really good but is WAY too easy to drink. All in all the night was cheap and lots of fun.

That's all for now folks, so much for my short entry... Man I stink at keeping things to a minimum. Oh well! I'm off to catch a metro to Bruxelles-Centraal and then a train to Bruxelles-Noord. From there I'm just a 3 hour bus ride away from Amsterdam!!!! I'll put some pictures up once I get there and attempt to update this thing a few times from the Venice of the North!

Until then! Miss everybody like crazy and hope all is well at home