AMSTERDAM!!!

We left for Amsterdam on Friday after class.  It took about 2.5 hours to get there, but the train was really comfortable so it flew by.  We arrived around 5pm, and the second we stepped off the train we were in a different world.  Every city in the world has crazy people in it, but it seems that being a complete lunatic is a requirement to live there.  I saw the most bizarre clothing, heard the most eccentric music, and smelled the most peculiar odors. I knew immediately that I was in for an interesting weekend.

That night, we went out to dinner as a group to an Indonesian restaurant.  It was delicious! Afterwards we went to the Van Gogh Museum.  I have never been particularly interested in art, but it was a humbling experience to see the paintings I had only seen in textbooks right in front of me.  The museum was arranged in chronological order, so we could see how different stages of Van Gogh's life affected his paintings.  Van Gogh was quite a mad man, but an incredibly talented one.

On Saturday morning, we took a boat tour around the city.  Amsterdam is not only HUGE, but incredibly beautiful.  The weather was a little difficult, but Madame Martine, with her infinite energy, did not let the weather prevent us from getting a very thorough tour of the city.  As we were walking to another museum, we walked through the infamous Red Light District.  It certainly earns the reputation it has.  It was quite shocking, especially when you have a 65-year-old French woman showing you around.

On Sunday, we started the day at Anne Frank's house.  Wow.  We walked up to a building right in the middle of the city, with shops and other houses on either side.  The building blends in perfectly.  If it wasn't for the large crowd gathered outside waiting for it to open, I wouldn't have seen it.  It was eerie to see the building and to imagine a family hiding there.  Going on the tour affected me way more than I thought it would.  Anne's toys, clothing, and diary pages are on display, and it feels frighteningly real.  I was covered in chills as I walked up the creaking stairs, then saw a sign at the top that said, "During the day we must tread lightly so the workers don't hear us".  It was quite a startling experience, but I am really glad I had the chance to go.

The group was much quieter after the Anne Frank House.  We toured a few churches then got on the train to go home.  It took about 20 minutes before everyone on the train was asleep.  What a glorious trip.

This week at European Voice, we are preparing for an event we are holding on October 5th.  It is a debate about public acceptance of new technologies.  Basically, members of European Parliament, the European Commission, and various researchers are going to gather and discuss how to make the population more prepared for new energy sources, like wind and solar technology.  (The European Union is a very "Green" organization) I am in charge of the guest lists and preparing the program for the event.  These sound like easy tasks, but not being European sure makes things more difficult.  I have found myself many times struggling to pronounce names, or wondering if they are male or female.  While I am working on the program, I have to prepare myself for Lorenzo to come and make a million corrections, because I am expected to use UK English, not American.  They are NOT the same thing.  Lots of words are spelled differently (organize/organise), punctuation is used differently (no period after Mr or Mrs), and apparently I should avoid "kissing hands" like Americans do in their invitations.

I received an email today from Vesalius University warning students to avoid certain areas tomorrow morning because of a protest that will be taking place.  It says to stay away from the Shuman metro stop (where I get off to go to work), Rue de la Loi (the street I work on) and Place Shuman (where I eat lunch everyday).  They are expecting 80,000 people to attend this Trade Union protest.  It seems like I should perhaps take a different route to work tomorrow, but it is a good reminder that no matter how dull my internship can feel sometimes, I really am in the center of it all at European Voice.

More Pictures coming soon!

 One of the many museums

 Cathedral of Amsterdam

The train station

Typical Amsterdam resident

 Everyday Amsterdam

 Matt and one of the many strange street performers.

Our hostel room in Amsterdam.

Recent Pictures! I apologize for the random order...

The Printing Museum in Antwerp.  The books were printed in the 15th and 16th century.  Pretty cool, even if your not a journalism major!

The Largest church in Antwerp.  There was a funeral going on during our visit. 

View of the Antwerp Train Station

Garden at the Printing Museum

The canals in Bruge.

Emily, me, and Anne in Antwerp

David and I posing in Antwerp

A typical day in the Grand Place of Brussels

Madame Martine during one of her long-winded explanations in a church in Antwerp.  Notice how well all of the students are listening. 

Square in Antwerp

Madame Martine

The train station in Antwerp. Gorgeous!

Antwerp 

David and I on the banks of the Scheldt river in Antwerp.  He was nice enough to lend me his SLU sweatshirt.  It was a little chilly!

The castle in Antwerp

I love this city

hmm...where to begin...


The Trip to Bruge:

On Saturday morning, our art class took a trip to Bruge.  The train was PACKED so we had no choice but to stand in the aisles for the 45 minute trip.  The lurching of the train was a frustrating start to the day, but we were blessed with  sunny weather that made up for it.  We got off of the train and walked into the most picturesque town I have ever seen.  Canals lined with potted flowers and adorable houses are the main mode of transportation.  We started the day with a tour on a small motorized boat that zoomed around on the canals.  Although we could not understand a word that the tour guide was saying, it was still so much fun to ride in the boat and see the hundreds of swans floating on the water.  
We then began a 7 hour “power tour” of every museum in the city.  It was EXHAUSTING!  We saw churches, bridges, arches…and our teacher mumbled relentlessly in front of EVERY painting in EVERY museum.  We stopped in front of a medieval hospital called St. John’s where I gave my 15 minute presentation on the Plague of 1350.  While I was talking, I looked around and saw most students were just as worn out as I was.  
We ended the trip with a trip to the Minnewater, or the "lake of love".  There is quite a romantic story behind the title, similar to Romeo and Juliet.  It is a beautiful lake and apparently is the site for numerous wedding proposals.  We took the 6:30 train home and luckily were able to find seats.


Anne's Birthday


Tuesday was Anne's 21st birthday.  This is an pivotal birthday for an American college student, but in Brussels, where the drinking age is about 18 months, it is just another birthday.  I was determined to make sure that she had a memorable time.  I was really excited to go to a pastry shop after work to get her one of their gorgeous cakes that they sell.  I got off work at 6:30 and all of those stores were closed!  I was devastated and proceeded to do laps around the city trying to find one that was open.  No luck.  When Anne walked in the door a few minutes later, she find a bottle of champagne with a single candle duct-taped to the top.  Hey, it was her 21st, right?
Anne and I had seen the restaurant called Kakob that serves Ethiopian food.  I looked at the website and was quite impressed by the unique menu and atmosphere and decided that it would be a fun place to go for her birthday dinner.  The six of us Mizzou students all headed to the restaurant not knowing what to expect.  We were given a free cocktail and a menu of different meats in a variety of sauces.  We all ordered one, expecting it to be served on plates with knives and forks... instead the waitress came out with two platters that were lined with a spongy flatbread.  She then proceeded to spoon each of our separate orders on top of the bread.  She then demonstrated how to eat it.  Basically, you used torn pieces of flatbread to pick up the various meats, sauces, vegetables and cheeses off the platter.  No forks, no knives, no separate plates. It was a BLAST.  We laughed at the sanitary concerns of sampling our own and each other's food from one plate.  It was a great night together.


Meeting With Gareth


Gareth, the Belgian student coordinator, invited us to have a drink one night to catch up and discuss our internships.  He brought along a friend of his, a fellow journalist who has worked on basically every continent and has the most incredible stories.  Coolest part about him?  He is a New Trier Graduate! Grew up in Wilmette!


Making phone calls at work


Among it's small readership (mostly EU staff), European Voice it is taken very seriously.  I have had to make a few phone calls to Members of Parliament (MEPs) and various commission members, and whenever I say that I am calling on behalf of European Voice, I notice a change in the tone of voice of the person  I am calling.(They don't seem to be so annoyed by my American accent)  Just the other day, I was given a list of people to call to double-check that they had received an invitation to an event we are holding in October.  I started my usual routine of looking up each name to see if it was a male or female name, and praying that I wouldn't botch the pronunciation too terribly.  As I looked over the list I saw a name I recognized.  Jose Manuel Barroso.  The president of the European Commission.  I called, entirely expecting to speak with his secretary, and was amazed when he, the president of the EC, answered the phone.  I choked on my own tongue and told him that I was calling from European Voice. He confirmed that he would be attending the event and I was incredibly excited to tell my boss the good news.  


10.10.10 A little jog around the city


It's official, I am registered for the Brussels Half-Marathon!!  The 13.1 mile distance is equivalent to 21.08 kilometers.  It starts off in the Cinquantenaire Park and Ends in the Grand Place.  I am incredibly excited and think it will be a unique to to see the city.  


Fall Break


Emily and I booked our fall-break plans.  here is the itinerary: 


October 30-Nov 2     Art class trip to PARIS


Nov 3                     Fly from Brussels to ROME


Nov 4                     Spend the day in Rome before taking the 6:30 train to 
                             FLORENCE


Nov 5                     Day in Florence before taking the 6:30 train to VENICE


Nov 6                     Day in Venice before our late night flight back to Brussels


CAN'T WAIT! and thanks to the Schengen Treaty, the whole trip will be less than 200 euros!




My camera is a little under-the-weather...it will be a few days before I can upload pictures. :(

Travel Weekend

It was an incredible first week at my internship. (Or as the Belgians call it, my stage)  I really feel comfortable in the office and have a good understanding of my expectations.  I am amazed by how much the editors are willing to trust me with, and I plan on doing everything in my power to exceed their expectations.  I told one of the marketing directors about my interest in design, hoping to maybe sit in on a session or two, and was given the assignment of designing the logo for the EU Studies Fair.  This is the most profitable event the European Voice puts on, and my logo will be on every poster, banner, webpage...pretty exciting stuff!

On Friday, Anne and I went to do some shopping down in the city center.  We turned a corner on to a major street and saw roughly 250 German men all wearing soccer jerseys or German flags.  They were repeatedly singing the German football fight song and judging by their slurring and stumbling, they had been drinking for quite a while.  We thought they were absolutely hilarious and chose to eat at a sushi restaurant nearby so that we could continue to watch them.  

We left dinner and were walking down a major road back to the apartment when suddenly, our eyes and noses started burning.  Apparently the Belgian-German rivalry isn't so friendly because a fight had broken out that resulted in the police having to use tear gas to break it up.  We were at least a couple blocks away, but the tear gas was so strong that it hurt our eyes and burned our nostrils.  We walked towards the bus, but found that we couldn't pass through an intersection because of a 100-man police force blocking it with dogs, shields, full-body armor...the works.  I asked a female officer what was going on and her response was simply, "futbol".  I asked her if this was how it always is and her response was, "well...yes...."  

The MU/kU rivalry now seems very mild in comparison.  

On Saturday, Emily and I took the train to Antwerp with 20 other Vesalius students that we had met.  It is about an hour away, but the round-trip ticket only cost 7 euros! The second we stepped off of the train I was in love with Antwerp.  The train station alone was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen.  The group was going to a concert called Laundry Day, which, completely to my surprise, gathered a crowd of over 70,000 people!  It was absolutely insane.  Emily and I chose to observe the concert from the outside for a few minutes but the expensive tickets and enormous drunken crowd didn't appeal to us.  We left, and decided to explore the city on our own.  We stopped at a cafe to enjoy the sun and a coffee while discussing how we should spend our day in Antwerp.  We were delighted when our waitress spoke English.  She suggested to us that we walk down to the river.  Not knowing what to expect, we followed her advice and walked about 15 minutes towards the Medieval castle in the distance.  We arrived at a gorgeous castle sitting on the bank of a beautiful river.  We explored the castle and the street fair that was located nearby.  It was wonderful.  It was a warm and sunny day, and the people around we met were all incredibly friendly.  We ate a delicious dinner at a Lebanese restaurant and window-shopped in the diamond stores.  We left on a 7o'clock train promising each other that we would return as soon as possible.  

On Sunday, Anne, Emily, and I decided to again take advantage of the cheap train rides and go to Oostende, a small city located on the coast of the North Sea.  I had met a Belgian boy who was from the town and insisted that we come and visit.  Nicholas, our new friend, met us at the train station.  The second we got off of the train we saw a beautiful marina with magnificent sailboats.  It was another gorgeous sunny day and the smell of fresh seafood and the sound of seagulls were all around us.  We walked to the beach and played frisbee.  It was an absolutely perfect day.  We had a quick dinner at a Spanish restaurant called La Siesta and then headed back on the train.  Nicholas rode the train back with us, and we taught him the card games BullShit and Gin Rummy (Grandpa, you would be proud!) Despite the fact that he speaks perfect English, it took Nicholas a while to catch on to the rules of the games.  During BS, every time it was his turn, he insisted on putting down 9 or 10 cards and saying "tree jacks" (three jacks)  It was obvious by the thick stack of cards he would put down that he was BSing, but he would still become frustrated when we called him on it.  It was certainly the hardest I have laughed since I have been in Europe.  

It was a wonderful weekend, but I am excited for the work week ahead.  Next weekend we are going to Bruge with our art class which should be a blast!

The Beach in Oostende, Belgium

                                     

Anne, me, and Emily at a park in Oostende

                                   

Wading in the North Sea.  My Belgian friend Nicholas is standing next to me.

                                 

The Boardwalk in Oostende.  Farther up there are fresh seafood stands lining

the walkway.

We could not have asked for a more gorgeous day to spend here. 

A night on the town with a new friend from Vesalius!

The view from my office window.  Belgian Parliament Building.

                                   

My Desk at European Voice!

                                  

At the street fair in Antwerp.  Not really sure why he was dressed this way.

Checking out the views on the banks of the river in Antwerp.

Medieval Castle in Antwerp.

BCD: I know you will understand the significance of this.  

Everyone else, I have a slight obsession with a restaurant in Columbia that has the same name as this place.  The owner was standing outside and insisted on being in the picture.  

Pastry stand.  These places are all over Belgium and despite that delicate decorations, they only cost 1.50 or 2 euros each!