My first week of classes is finally done, and what a strange and confusing week it was! Once I again I have to apologize in advance for the wall of text that this entry is about to become. I haven't had the energy to update the blog since I haven't used my brain this much in about a month, and this weekend was a well needed recuperation period. My week began on Monday at 8:30 a.m. with "Decoding Science and Technology: Survival in a Scientific World." The class seems interesting, it covers a variety of topics in science such as physics, chemistry, astronomy etc. and the teacher seems to be fairly good at explaining these topics in a simple manner. However, in the end I had to drop the class as I was placed into Elementary French which I was previously wait listed for.

I knew that my next two classes would keep me tied up for four and a half straight hours so I decided to get some lunch at the cafeteria on the VUB campus. I don't know if I explained this yet but there are two parts of VeCo's campus, the English speaking side and the French speaking side. VUB is the French speaking side, and it just so happens that that is where our cafeteria is. For less than five euro you can get a decent sized meal that includes an entree, a soup or salad, a slice of bread, dessert, and a fountain drink. I got some Chinese food (I forget exactly what it was), tomato soup, bread, a banana and a coke, all of which was delicious! I was full by the time I made it to dessert so I saved my naner for a snack in between classes.

My next class was Marketing Communication and Advertising. The professor is a cool guy who seems very intelligent and interested in what he teaches, which is a good sign. We mostly spent the period discussing the projects that we'll be doing and watching advertisements and thinking about why they're effective. I think I'll enjoy that class a lot as it progresses, the three hours I was in it seemed to fly by which doesn't usually happen in such long periods. It also helps that a majority of my friends here at VeCo are in this class with me, so I'm sure that'll make it even more fun. After Marketing Comm it was straight into Broadcast Journalism where I followed the same professor for another hour and a half long class (I really hope I end up liking this guy in the long run, I have to spend a lot of time with him on Mondays haha). Broadcast Journalism is another class that seems like it will be a lot of fun. The curriculum is mostly made up of group projects that we prepare to present every two weeks. The first one is a fake "live radio broadcast" in which a group of three to five is to present the biggest, most important/memorable events of 2009 in a unique and creative way. On Monday I was grouped with two students I hadn't met before, Katrina and Jordan, but on Thursday Micole added the class and joined our group, and Katrina and Jordan dropped the class! This left Micole and I on our own, but after working an agreement out with our professor, we decided to keep it that way and just do a shorter presentation. The two of us were both DJs at our institutions in the U.S. and we have a good idea for how we're going to present our history of 2009. I'm excited to finish the project up and present it on Thursday!

Tuesday and Wednesday were free days for me where I took care of some errands around the city, getting my Verizon account suspended, figuring out how to get money into my ING bank account etc. On Thursday I went to my first Cultural Studies and Cross Cultural Capabilities class, another 8:30 a.m. three hour brain buster. The professor seems pretty boring and the material looks like it'll be kind of dull, more like a history class than anything else, so I think this is the class I'm going to dread going to each week. In any case though, I'll get through it. It's another class that I have a few friends in so I can always get together with some of them if I need help trudging through the material. After that it was back to the house for some PB&J for lunch and then off to my first Elementary French class in the afternoon! The French professor seems like a really sweet lady but I feel like I'm back in high school Spanish class all over again... This time I'm gonna make sure I pay a little more attention and apply myself more, seeing as I barely remember anything from my five years of Espanol. Again, I know people in this class so when it comes time to do homework and study for oral exams I'll have people I can practice with.

After French I had Broadcast Journalism again, but this time it was in a different building and I didn't realize it until it was time to be there! I quickly checked the bulletin board to make sure it was in the room my course catalog said it was. I don't believe I explained this yet, but classes here at VeCo are subject to change rooms every so often, sometimes every day! There's a bulletin board that has an updated catalog on it where you can find your classroom for the day, I don't know why classrooms are such a problem here but it feels like they should have things figured out a little better than they do, but c'est la vie I guess (I'm so French!). My catalog was right and I texted Micole to try and find where the K building was. After walking WAY past it, almost to the other end of campus, I realized where it was and hustled my way there. I made it, only five minutes late and out of breath (it's time to start running again). 

Once that class was out I was done for the week and ready for fun! On Friday Toni came to Brussels to visit and meet up with me, Mallory, Joey and Joey's two friends, Collin and Ian, who are studying in London and came to visit for Joey's 21st birthday on Sunday. The weather was gorgeous as the six of us walked around the city center and made our way to the Chocolate Museum, but not before stopping at a restaurant so Mal, Joey, Collin and Ian could try some warm wine. I had a sip of Joey's and it was freakin delicious! Once we finished we found the museum, which was interesting and yummy! We got to see all kinds of chocolate sculptures and learn about how cocoa beans are harvested and shipped to Belgium. There was chocolate clothing, giant cocoa beans, and of course demonstrations of how chocolate is made into little chocolate filled chocolate candies... SO MUCH CHOCOLATE!!! We all got samples at the end of the demonstrations and it was better than any chocolate I've ever tasted, I'll be sure to bring some home for everyone to sample!

After the Chocolate Museum, which I so animately dubbed the "Chocolate Factory," Toni and I split off from the group to do some shopping while sales were still on for some new jeans for myself, since I only have two pair and both of them are dirty already. We didn't have any luck with jeans but I did find a nice scarf for only three euro and Toni found a cool hat that makes her look like Link from Zelda for only one euro! We found a big mall in the city center that we walked around in. It was pretty cool, it looks all futuristic with lit up escalators and cool architecture inside. After the mall it was time for us to depart for our respective homes for dinner, and then I hopped on a train for another tour of the night life in Leuven! Toni and I went to this bar that the Leuven study abroad students call the Batman Bar, cause there's this huge Batman figure in a loft that watches over the bar from the shadows at night... And watches me take my first shots of Jenever! After a couple cheap drinks and some frites with samurai sauce, it was time to turn in for the night.

Saturday was a day to take care of some errands and a night to party hard for Joey's 21st! The night however was not so much for me to party than it was for me to buy a drink for Joey and make sure he and his friends made it home in one piece. I did however have my first shot of Tequila with him and manage to have a lot of fun going from bar to bar with Toni and my friends. Lazy Sunday rolled around and I didn't do much besides lay around and recuperate from the excitement from the weekend and take care of a little bit of homework for my Monday classes.

Now it's time to start the week all over! I'm rested, fed and ready to use my brain again! I've really gotta get used to updating this thing with shorter entries, I'll do my best to add some short blips in throughout the week, though I can't see anything very exciting happening. You never know though! After all I am in Brussels, Belgium, where the city's most recognizable image is a mischievous, naked little boy peeing into a fountain... Things are bound to be interesting somehow.

Until next time!