I've done quite a bit in the past two weeks. I had a nice dinner with all my host families, spent 2 days in Frankfurt, went to the North sea in Belgium with Manon and her mum, went to a few parties, watched a couple tennis matches, went to Namur with a friend, and spent a lot of time in train stations, trains, and buses.
Frankfurt was awesome. I arrived in the afternoon of the 19th, and I stayed until the following afternooon. A friend from Chimay is currently living there. This year he's done a series of short exchanges, and this is his last one. It worked out nicely because I would have wanted to see him at some point during this trip anyway, so I'm glad I was able to go to Frankfurt and visit a new city as well as spend time with an old friend. The perfect combination! We walked a lot and ate at weird hours, but we had a lot of fun! We visited the rooftops of a couple buildings, shared a couple drinks with some other exchange friends of his there, visited a church, walked along the river, visited a museum, and looked around for impossible-to-find souvenir shops. I bought some chocolates as souvenirs though. I ate some of it on the train ride back already and it was delicious!
When I came back from Frankfurt my 2nd host mum picked me up and I spent the night and most of the next day with my 2nd family. But it was so darn hot on Sunday! It's actually been pretty hot here. Just the first couple days I was here weren't super warm...
I think the biggest difference in temperature between here in Belgium doesn't actually have much to do with what it's like outside. The past couple weeks it's been just as hot here as my normal summers back home. The difference is that here people do not have air conditioning. Since it isn't normally this warm, it isn't really needed. They save a lot of money that way and only (usually) suffer a couple really hot days per year. But there's not much relief from the heat in a lot of houses. The windows are open and it's shady inside, but sometimes that can only do so much.
On Monday afternoon I left with the women of my 3rd family and we drove up to Koksijde (Coxyde). My host parents rented a small apartment by the sea for the week. I was there with my host mum and sister until early Wednesday morning. The first evening there I went to the beach a bit with my sister, then we ate dinner (mussels! :) ) and looked around at the shops. The second day, we go up when we felt like it, around 8:30-9ish, ate delicious, fresh, warm croissants/pains au chocolat, went shopping (window shopping for me) in the morning, came back for lunch, then layed out on the beach all afternoon ^^ . I managed to get a bit of tan, but surprisinly I didn't get burned. Manon did, but I'm sure she's darker than me now. I also found a little Wallonia flag and I decided to buy it. I've been looking for one since Wallos 2011! and I found a beautiful blue scarf that wasn't very expensive too.
Early Wednesday morning I left Koksijde and took the train to Namur, where I met up with a friend, exchanged a couple gifts, had sushi for lunch, went to H&M where I bought a little dress, and then had a couple early-celebratory birthday drinks. She gave me a few cute bracelets, and I gave her 1L of maple syrup as well as my old cell phone that she admired so much when I showed it to her on Skype a long time ago. I also finally found a sporting goods store that sells official merchandise of the Belgian soccer team! They only had 3 jerseys left, one of which was my size, and none of which were my brother's. So I have a jersey and I guess he isn't getting one :S Unless I find one in the airport. We took the train back to Charleroi together then I got on a bus for Sivry and she got on a train for Couvin.
Today is my birthday! I'm glad to be celebrating it in Belgium. There's a little party tomorrow night at a friend's house, which is apparently being arranged behind my back. Hahaha. It's not a surprise, but I'm really not in the loop at all. I only know the time and place and I've been told "not to worry, it's being taken care of". Also, there is a facebook event for it that I was not invited to. I know because I saw it in Damien's events in the corner of his facebook home page when we were looking at peoples picture's on facebook last night. I just saw "20 ANS DE LA CANADIENNE..." for tomorrow. I don't even know who's invited xD But I trust my friends to know my friends. I'm pretty excited :) No one's ever really organized a party for me before! The family get-togethers for my birthday when I was younger really don't count though.
Tonight I go to a Rotary meeting with all the rebound and outbound exchange students from the Chimay-Couvin club, then possibly karaoqueen (Karaoke at a bar in Chimay called The Queen Mary) with Alice after?
I can't believe I'll be leaving so soon already :/
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
A fast first five days
Ok, so I mentioned that I experienced a bit of culture shock upon my return. I was mostly referencing the people. But I think I might have said that too soon though. I'll explain why.
We arrived here on Thursday afternoon. On Thursday evening, Manon and I went out to Zoé's house with a bunch of their friends, including my first host sister, Adeline. Their are kind of my friends as well, but they aren't my close friends, you know? Anyway, when we arrived we said hi to everyone, but they just did a bisous and asked "ca va?" as if they had seen me yesterday. I was a little shocked that no one seemed extraordinarily happy or even a little excited to see me. No hugs or things like that. I already mentioned I'm used to Brazilian people, and with them people are always touching you and it's just the way it is. Hugs and kisses and loudness and laughter and dancing and music... so this just seemed so calm and, well, cold! I was actually a little sad and disappointed.
But then it was the Ducasse de Vaulx on the weekend! There were many of my closer friends, and they greeted me much more warmly than the others. I was picked up and spun around twice, hugged a bunch of times, and kissed (on the cheek) many more times than that. I liked when the people I didn't expect to hug me back at all were actually the ones who initiated the hug. So that was much better!
I'm still waiting on Damien, Sarah, and Elena to come back from camp (tomorrow!!!), and Pauline and Polina to come back from vacation and then I will have seen all of my friends that I absolutely need to see. My second host family will also be coming back from vacation the 15th. And I will have dinner on the 11th with Martine, Jean-Paul, and Laura. On the 18th I'll be going to a Rotary meeting. I still have to work out a time to see my first family. I've seen Adeline, but I really want to see Marie!
Anyway, I think this weekend at Virelles will be best so far! I want to make my limited visit as memorable as possible! :D
We arrived here on Thursday afternoon. On Thursday evening, Manon and I went out to Zoé's house with a bunch of their friends, including my first host sister, Adeline. Their are kind of my friends as well, but they aren't my close friends, you know? Anyway, when we arrived we said hi to everyone, but they just did a bisous and asked "ca va?" as if they had seen me yesterday. I was a little shocked that no one seemed extraordinarily happy or even a little excited to see me. No hugs or things like that. I already mentioned I'm used to Brazilian people, and with them people are always touching you and it's just the way it is. Hugs and kisses and loudness and laughter and dancing and music... so this just seemed so calm and, well, cold! I was actually a little sad and disappointed.
But then it was the Ducasse de Vaulx on the weekend! There were many of my closer friends, and they greeted me much more warmly than the others. I was picked up and spun around twice, hugged a bunch of times, and kissed (on the cheek) many more times than that. I liked when the people I didn't expect to hug me back at all were actually the ones who initiated the hug. So that was much better!
I'm still waiting on Damien, Sarah, and Elena to come back from camp (tomorrow!!!), and Pauline and Polina to come back from vacation and then I will have seen all of my friends that I absolutely need to see. My second host family will also be coming back from vacation the 15th. And I will have dinner on the 11th with Martine, Jean-Paul, and Laura. On the 18th I'll be going to a Rotary meeting. I still have to work out a time to see my first family. I've seen Adeline, but I really want to see Marie!
Anyway, I think this weekend at Virelles will be best so far! I want to make my limited visit as memorable as possible! :D
Summary of January-July 2013
Ok so not really that much has happened in my life since the beginning of this year.
The biggest part of my life has been school, but I've already talked about that.
I became close with the inbound RYE students in 6400 and hung out with the ones around Windsor fairly often. And now I understand entirely how my Belgian friends must have felt when I left last year, now that it's not me who's leaving. I now see both sides of the story, even though they really aren't all too different in the end. So unfortunately I've already had to say goodbye to most of them. I've become closest with a Brazilian girl, Bethina. And she doesn't leave until the beginning of August, so I will still be able to see her one or two last times when I get back home and give her a proper farewell (thank God).
Bethina has actually taught me so much. There were some things that I did on exchange that I seemed to have forgotten when I came back home. But hanging out with her more kind of reminded me of who I was on exchange, and that it was a good thing. Things like putting myself out there in social situations and just talking to people. I did that on exchange but I stopped doing it back in Canada. I mean, I still did a little, yes -- but it was much less.
It's also thanks to her that I have the friends I have now at the university. They are basically all Brazilian exchange students who are here for a few semesters. They're all in engineering, so I probably wouldn't have met any of them otherwise. I've been going out to parties with them since May and I have a blast every time. I even had some of them over at my house the Friday before I left for Belgium for a little BBQ pool party. That was really fun too, even though the weather wasn't ideal.
I've been working as a cashier throughout the year, though not very often. I was only scheduled maybe once a week, which was really not enough. I decided to quit instead of take a leave of absence to come to Belgium. I realized that I didn't want to go back to a job where my availability was 24/7 but I only worked 4-5 hours/week. I am keeping my eye out for when a list of TA positions I can apply for at the university come out. I can really see myself being a TA for Spanish or Language and Linguistics! I also managed to find myself a little job teaching Spanish. I currently only have one student, but we meet on Monday nights and I've started teaching her beginner Spanish and I am payed for it. It's fantastic! I think it would be really cool if I could build on this. I have another friend who is very interested in learning French, and I think when I get back I will be working out an arrangement with him.
Back in May, one of my Belgian friends who was doing her exchange in Ohio came to visit me for a few days, so that was pretty awesome. And Manon had come to Canada the week before we left for Belgium. So she was at my BBQ with the Brazilians, and I also took her to Niagara Falls and Toronto.
It's weird how many things change and how many things stay the same a year after exchange. Especially when you return. Some people look a little different, some people have gone different ways, and you know that you and the people you were closest with now have a year of totally separate experiences and stories to share... but really nothing has changed. It was like it was yesterday. It passed so quickly too. A year really isn't a very long time.
When I first came back, and even before I left to come back, I thought it might be easier to leave the second time. Because I actually have a life back home that will continue on very easily (not like before where it was in a transition period and my future path wasn't too sure). I have friends I am looking forward to seeing. I want to go back to say goodbye to one of my best friends. I am very eager to hang out with the Brazilians again. I am actually looking forward to second year (even though it's pretty intimidating). I want to find a job and start saving money for my future travels. I want to go back and do all that..... and I think I almost forgot how much I freaking love(d) Belgium!! Yesterday I thought about it. It's going to be hard to leave for a second time. This time I know I won't be coming back in a year, probably not even two. It might be much longer than that. If I go to Chile or somewhere on another exchange in 2015, I'll surely have to save up money for that, so I wont be doing any major travelling before then. So that means the earliest I could come back here is in 3 years. And even then maybe not. I might be doing summer courses and stuff because going to Chile is going to mess up my graduation time (big time).
Anyway, there are so many little different things here I've forgotten about. The fact that you have to specify if you want flat or sparkling water, they don't serve pop or water with ice cubes, there are no ceiling fans in bedrooms, people tend not to have screens on the windows or screen doors (which are always open) so there are flies flying about everywhere in the house, creme fraiche is used to cook so many things, chugging beer isn't easy anymore (I'm out of practice), you can wear the same outfit like 3 days in a row (which is awesome for me because this way I won't have to do almost any laundry while I'm here), etc....
As far as speaking French all the time again is concerned, I haven't forgotten much. Sometimes it's difficult for me to find the words or say something entirely correctly, but I understand everything. And when I don't understand something, I admit it and I ASK. WHY COULDN'T I DO THAT BEFORE!? lol I didn't do it during my exchange year. I would always pretend I knew something or I would tell myself I'd look it up later. That's one of my regrets from my exchange year is not asking enough questions. Now every time I will ask "qu'est-ce que c'est?" or "ca veut dire quoi?" or "comment s'appelle ce truc la?". I ask someone something like this multiple times per day. But I never did that after the very beginning of my exchange. I was embarassed not to know something. Now I don't care anymore. I opened up a lot during my exchange, but I didn't noticed that I opened up even more within the past year of being in Canada. Because I am noticing changes in myself that I didn't know happened, but I can tell there is a difference between the person I am now and the person I was last year. I think it has a lot to do with the large Brazilian influence in my Canadian life hahaha.
The biggest part of my life has been school, but I've already talked about that.
I became close with the inbound RYE students in 6400 and hung out with the ones around Windsor fairly often. And now I understand entirely how my Belgian friends must have felt when I left last year, now that it's not me who's leaving. I now see both sides of the story, even though they really aren't all too different in the end. So unfortunately I've already had to say goodbye to most of them. I've become closest with a Brazilian girl, Bethina. And she doesn't leave until the beginning of August, so I will still be able to see her one or two last times when I get back home and give her a proper farewell (thank God).
Bethina has actually taught me so much. There were some things that I did on exchange that I seemed to have forgotten when I came back home. But hanging out with her more kind of reminded me of who I was on exchange, and that it was a good thing. Things like putting myself out there in social situations and just talking to people. I did that on exchange but I stopped doing it back in Canada. I mean, I still did a little, yes -- but it was much less.
It's also thanks to her that I have the friends I have now at the university. They are basically all Brazilian exchange students who are here for a few semesters. They're all in engineering, so I probably wouldn't have met any of them otherwise. I've been going out to parties with them since May and I have a blast every time. I even had some of them over at my house the Friday before I left for Belgium for a little BBQ pool party. That was really fun too, even though the weather wasn't ideal.
I've been working as a cashier throughout the year, though not very often. I was only scheduled maybe once a week, which was really not enough. I decided to quit instead of take a leave of absence to come to Belgium. I realized that I didn't want to go back to a job where my availability was 24/7 but I only worked 4-5 hours/week. I am keeping my eye out for when a list of TA positions I can apply for at the university come out. I can really see myself being a TA for Spanish or Language and Linguistics! I also managed to find myself a little job teaching Spanish. I currently only have one student, but we meet on Monday nights and I've started teaching her beginner Spanish and I am payed for it. It's fantastic! I think it would be really cool if I could build on this. I have another friend who is very interested in learning French, and I think when I get back I will be working out an arrangement with him.
Back in May, one of my Belgian friends who was doing her exchange in Ohio came to visit me for a few days, so that was pretty awesome. And Manon had come to Canada the week before we left for Belgium. So she was at my BBQ with the Brazilians, and I also took her to Niagara Falls and Toronto.
It's weird how many things change and how many things stay the same a year after exchange. Especially when you return. Some people look a little different, some people have gone different ways, and you know that you and the people you were closest with now have a year of totally separate experiences and stories to share... but really nothing has changed. It was like it was yesterday. It passed so quickly too. A year really isn't a very long time.
When I first came back, and even before I left to come back, I thought it might be easier to leave the second time. Because I actually have a life back home that will continue on very easily (not like before where it was in a transition period and my future path wasn't too sure). I have friends I am looking forward to seeing. I want to go back to say goodbye to one of my best friends. I am very eager to hang out with the Brazilians again. I am actually looking forward to second year (even though it's pretty intimidating). I want to find a job and start saving money for my future travels. I want to go back and do all that..... and I think I almost forgot how much I freaking love(d) Belgium!! Yesterday I thought about it. It's going to be hard to leave for a second time. This time I know I won't be coming back in a year, probably not even two. It might be much longer than that. If I go to Chile or somewhere on another exchange in 2015, I'll surely have to save up money for that, so I wont be doing any major travelling before then. So that means the earliest I could come back here is in 3 years. And even then maybe not. I might be doing summer courses and stuff because going to Chile is going to mess up my graduation time (big time).
Anyway, there are so many little different things here I've forgotten about. The fact that you have to specify if you want flat or sparkling water, they don't serve pop or water with ice cubes, there are no ceiling fans in bedrooms, people tend not to have screens on the windows or screen doors (which are always open) so there are flies flying about everywhere in the house, creme fraiche is used to cook so many things, chugging beer isn't easy anymore (I'm out of practice), you can wear the same outfit like 3 days in a row (which is awesome for me because this way I won't have to do almost any laundry while I'm here), etc....
As far as speaking French all the time again is concerned, I haven't forgotten much. Sometimes it's difficult for me to find the words or say something entirely correctly, but I understand everything. And when I don't understand something, I admit it and I ASK. WHY COULDN'T I DO THAT BEFORE!? lol I didn't do it during my exchange year. I would always pretend I knew something or I would tell myself I'd look it up later. That's one of my regrets from my exchange year is not asking enough questions. Now every time I will ask "qu'est-ce que c'est?" or "ca veut dire quoi?" or "comment s'appelle ce truc la?". I ask someone something like this multiple times per day. But I never did that after the very beginning of my exchange. I was embarassed not to know something. Now I don't care anymore. I opened up a lot during my exchange, but I didn't noticed that I opened up even more within the past year of being in Canada. Because I am noticing changes in myself that I didn't know happened, but I can tell there is a difference between the person I am now and the person I was last year. I think it has a lot to do with the large Brazilian influence in my Canadian life hahaha.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Back in Belgium!
I will write another post later on to give a little update about the past 6 months of my life, because a lot of stuff has changed and gone on (I actually have friends in Windsor now, thank God). For now I just wanted to say that I AM BACK
And it is NOW that I am getting some culture shock! Not when I first came on exchange, nooo. It's whenever I go back anywhere, apparently. haha. It's more funny than really bothersome. I know how to deal with it, so it's not a problem really. I'm just really noticing the differences this time around, and I've only been here for 22 hours.
Anyway, details on all this will come later.
But I will give this short tidbit of information because it is short and requires no long explanation or back-story: I kicked first year's ass. My average over the year was 12.3 out of 13. And a week ago I registered for my classes for 2nd year in the fall. I am taking abnormal psych, child psych, social psych, social science research methods, and advanced Spanish I. I also declared Spanish as a minor. AAAANNNNDDDD I have decided that I want to go on exchange with university in 2015 to Santiago de Chile! That's all I have to say about school ~~ it's summmerrr (though someone forgot to tell Belgium - it's so freaking cold here! 20 degrees isn't summer. It's supposed to get better though)
Most of my closest friends are either on vacation or helping out at scout camp, so my real fun here will start after July 10th. I am really excited to see them. Tonight and tomorrow night should be fun too. It's the Ducasse de Vaulx!!
My flight here was impeccable! I've been to Iceland!!!! :'D And what I saw from the plane was beautiful! I saw the clearest/brightest/lightest/whitest blue lake I have ever seen in my life! I'm glad I have a longer layover on the way back, especially since there doesn't seem to be much walking between the various gates. I want to buy myself a little something from one of the shops if I have any money left on the return trip. I actually wanted to bring home the male flight attendant (weird, right? I've never had a guy flight attendant before) He was sooooooooo cute. hahaha. If all Icelandic guys look like that I think I might just miss my connecting flight and stay there! LOL
I arrived a little later than scheduled, but I found my bags no problem, so it worked out fine.
Ok, more details later, I promise!
And it is NOW that I am getting some culture shock! Not when I first came on exchange, nooo. It's whenever I go back anywhere, apparently. haha. It's more funny than really bothersome. I know how to deal with it, so it's not a problem really. I'm just really noticing the differences this time around, and I've only been here for 22 hours.
Anyway, details on all this will come later.
But I will give this short tidbit of information because it is short and requires no long explanation or back-story: I kicked first year's ass. My average over the year was 12.3 out of 13. And a week ago I registered for my classes for 2nd year in the fall. I am taking abnormal psych, child psych, social psych, social science research methods, and advanced Spanish I. I also declared Spanish as a minor. AAAANNNNDDDD I have decided that I want to go on exchange with university in 2015 to Santiago de Chile! That's all I have to say about school ~~ it's summmerrr (though someone forgot to tell Belgium - it's so freaking cold here! 20 degrees isn't summer. It's supposed to get better though)
Most of my closest friends are either on vacation or helping out at scout camp, so my real fun here will start after July 10th. I am really excited to see them. Tonight and tomorrow night should be fun too. It's the Ducasse de Vaulx!!
My flight here was impeccable! I've been to Iceland!!!! :'D And what I saw from the plane was beautiful! I saw the clearest/brightest/lightest/whitest blue lake I have ever seen in my life! I'm glad I have a longer layover on the way back, especially since there doesn't seem to be much walking between the various gates. I want to buy myself a little something from one of the shops if I have any money left on the return trip. I actually wanted to bring home the male flight attendant (weird, right? I've never had a guy flight attendant before) He was sooooooooo cute. hahaha. If all Icelandic guys look like that I think I might just miss my connecting flight and stay there! LOL
I arrived a little later than scheduled, but I found my bags no problem, so it worked out fine.
Ok, more details later, I promise!
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