Monday July 27^th

Today we had class and went to lunch at an Argentinian restaurant. I know the Argentinians are known for their steaks so I decided to get the mixed grill which had fries, steak, and chicken. Everything was delicious, I really enjoyed the place. Of course I got a beer. I’ve probably had more beer here on this trip than I have in my whole life. We wanted to go to the market but It was raining so hard we figured there wouldn’t be any stalls open. We decided to go back to the apartment and I essentially slept the rest of the day. I looked up several places to visit, did a little bit of study about Cologne Germany and then talked to my girlfriend on Face Time. The distance between us sucks, I wish I could see her everyday. Paris tired me out so I decided to go to bed early.

Tuesday July 28^th

Today we got up early and got on the train to go to Brussels. The ride felt like it took a long time, the train wasn’t a high speed one. We finally got to Brussels at Brussels Nord and went to our hotel. Fortunately our hotel was 5 minutes from the train station. We dropped of our bags in a room because our rooms weren’t ready yet. We had an hour to get lunch so we went to a good sit down restaurant. They had great food, everyone was impressed. I got the spaghetti and it came in a huge portion. It was delicious and probably one of the best meals I’ve had in Europe. We came back and started our navigation to the European commission. The metro here is worse than Paris. It stinks and is old and rickety. It was also pretty crowded too. We finally got to the European Commission, went through security and started our lecture. Our speaker was from Croatia and she could speak English very well. I was impressed. We learned a lot of interesting facts about how the government here works, it lasted about an hour and a half. I enjoyed our visit there because it’s a place that makes huge decisions. We jumped back on the metro and went near our hotel to jump on an open top bus tour of Brussels. It was pretty cold and windy and most of us didn’t bring jackets. I didn’t think the tour was very good , most of the audio recordings cut out before you could listen to the whole thing. I wasn’t enjoying Brussels, there wasn’t much to see and I think they don’t take care of everything very well. We FINALLY got back to our hotel and checked in and settled down for a while. We changed and went out shopping for chocolate. I didn’t buy any because they were selling bon bons for 2 euro each which is way too much to me. The samples were good but not that good! We went to dinner as a group and I got paella, I’ve never had it before and it was really good! I got my Mussels in Brussels! After dinner we walked around and then went to this local three story bar called Delirium. It was really cool , they had over 2000 beers there. I’m really missing everybody back home, especiialy my girlfriend and family. I tried several and decided I didn’t like porters, that’s for sure. I got back late and fell asleep.

July 29^th

Today we got up late and got dressed and ate breakfast. That was probably the best breakfast we’ve had since we were here even though it was pretty simple. We got on the train to go to Bruges. That train took FOREVER! Bruges was really pretty but there was definitely some stinky spots there. I think it’s a nice place to see for a day but besides that I didn’t like it that much. I haven’t been very impressed with Belgium, that’s for sure. That’s why the journal for today is so short. We’re finally back on the train back to Amsterdam, it feels like home compared to the rest of Europe. USA is #1 and the Netherlands #2.