On Wednesday we had culture class with Marie-Therese in the morning and then had our lunch break. After lunch we headed out with the communication program for our weekly excursion. This week our destination was Planete Chocolat where we had a tour and demonstration. We learned all about how chocolate is made, why Brussels is famous for chocolate, and even got to make and eat our own chocolate.
Brussels is famous for pralines (chocolate with yummy cream inside).
Beth making chocolate
Did you know that Belgian chocolate tastes better because they only use cacao butter whereas companies like Hershey's uses oils instead?
We all loved the chocolate factory and our nutrition program headed home afterward because Madame LaForce who is the mother that lives in our house cooked dinner for us! She made spaghetti with meat sauce that was delicious and had peppers, tomatoes, and carrots in it. She even made me rice since I couldn't have the pasta. It was really great to bond as a group and get to know the family that lives here better. After dinner a group of us headed to Delirium to hang out which was really fun.
Thursday wasn't a very eventful day. We had culture class all day so we spent the morning in the classroom then in the afternoon Marie-Therese took us to the park that is near the CUBC to talk about Belgium and the Congo and all the slavery and horrible events that went on there. She even let class out early and the people that didn't have to leave to catch their flights and trains went and got gelato with her which was really fun. Basically, I love Marie-Therese and hope I am as cool as she is when I am old.
CUBC
After class Beth and I went into town because it was chocolate time. We wandered around, then came back near our house for a drink and some fries for our dinner. We packed for the morning then went to bed early since we all had to be up so early.
We have Fridays off from class so we get the weekends to travel. People from our program went all different places. Most of the group went to Milan and Cinque-Terre in Italy, one went to London, and one stayed in Brussels. Beth and I went to Dublin for the weekend and met up with Auburn friends that are studying abroad in Italy for a really fun weekend.
On Friday morning there were 7 of us that got up ridiculously early to get a taxi to the airport. RyanAir doesn't fly out of the normal airport in Brussels so you have to drive or take a bus about 45 minutes south of Brussels. Since there were 7 of us (5 going to Italy and 2 going to Ireland) we split a taxi and it worked out great.
3:45 am taxi to the airport....
We said goodbye to girls going to Italy and Beth and I took a RyanAir flight from Brussels to Dublin. We slept the ENTIRE flight. AND we got the emergency exit row so we had extra leg room. Seriously, I was asleep before the flight even took off and the flight attendant woke me up to make sure I understood how to open the door in case of an emergency. After getting to Dublin we found our hostel, which was in a great location and really nice. We couldn't go into our rooms yet but because we got there so early but they told us we could eat breakfast at the hostel. They were playing Friends on tv which made the whole situation even that much greater. We didn't really have much to do while we were waiting on the rest of the girls to get there in the afternoon so we looked up things to do in Dublin and wandered around the city exploring.
Katherine, I saw this in a store. It made me think of you. Good luck studying.
We saw an add for natures valley granola bars on a bus which started our quest to find granola bars. After our second grocery store we finally found them, made us so happy! FYI, Europe doesn't have much as far as granola bars go. Beth and I were rationing ours that we brought with us out.
Success. We love granola bars.
In the afternoon we headed back to the hostel and met up with our friends Melissa, Meredith, Lauren, Kaitlin, Claire, and Meghan. It was so fun to see them! Beth and I got a sandwhich for lunch and then all 8 of us headed to the Guinness Storehouse.
The storehouse was really fun. It's a self guided tour so you walk through yourself. It was really well done and we all really enjoyed it.
We learned how to pour a pint of Guinness which has a very specific technique
Nothing like some big/little bonding at Guinness.
Guinness is gross. We all hated it. But the view from the top of the storehouse was beautiful and we all had a good time. Afterwards we went to dinner at the Old Storehouse and had some traditional Irish food. I had the beef casserole which was delicious. That night we all went out and went to Whelan which is the pub where they filmed P.S. I Love You. It was really cool. Then we went to a bar next door and hung out for a while before heading back to the hostel.
Saturday morning we did a walking tour which is called New Europe and its free you just pay by tipping however much you want or can afford.
Meredith and I at Dublin Castle
Garden. The bricks are suppose to represent the eels that used to be in the water that was once here.
Tour break at the Temple Bar. Beth and I had Irish Coffee. Yum.
Statue to Remember the Potato Famine.
So green.
The tour was really good and we learned a ton about Dublin and Ireland, which was great because I knew nothing. The tour was 3 hours so towards the end we all got restless because our tour guide loved history and loved to tell us loads of it. Even though it was a bit long towards the end, we were all glad we got to see a lot of the city on our tour.
After the tour we split up for lunch and some people went and got burgers and Melissa, Beth, and I went to a place called the Queen of Tarts. It was amazing. I had a tart that was gluten free and full of vegetables like squash, potatoes, spinach, and feta cheese. I also had desert which was a GF strawberry chocolate cheesecake.
Mmmmm
You must go here for lunch if you are going to Dublin.
After lunch our whole group wandered around and we went shopping in some cute stores.
Biggest bows I have ever seen
Late afternoon we wanted to see some country side but since we didn't have a ton of time the guys at our hostel suggested going to Howth with is outside of Dublin and is a fishing community. We loved it. We walked around and looked at the incredible views.
We thought it was a sea lion but I think we concluded it was a seal.
Octopussy's...license to chill. Seriously??
Oh hey. We're in Ireland.
Map of Howth. It looks like the United States. Cool.
Saturday was also the day of many funny quotes. Many of them from Lauren Wyatt. Because she is that great. When we were walking to dinner at a place recommended by our hostel, we were walking down the street when Lauren yelled Ahhhh. Right when she yelled it two college guys were walking by and one asked "What and I that ugly?" Turns out she just had a bug fly into her eye but it was hilarious all the same. It got even better that we saw them again when they ended up next to us our table at dinner.
Fish and Chips for dinner at the Bloody Stream
Another Lauren quote of the day:
Lauren: So where are you from?
Waiter: Brazil
Lauren: Oh cool! We're from the Americas too!!
Sunset in Howth
Beth, Lauren, Meredith, and me
After we watched the sunset and walked around some more then headed back to Dublin. Some of the girls headed to bed and Melissa, Lauren, Beth and I headed back into the Temple Bar area to hang out. We went to The Temple Bar but it was really crowded and hot and we were by far the youngest people there. Then, some guys that were probably about 40 looked at us very seriously and asked if we were 12. Uh noo? So we left and headed to another bar which was packed as well but the guy told us there was another band playing upstairs. We went to go check it out and ended up loving it. It wasn't nearly as crowded and everyone was sitting down enjoying the music. We found a table and had a great night listening to the music.
2 Guys playing acoustic. They played lots of Irish songs which I loved as well as U2, Coldplay, and other songs we knew. It was really fun.
Hey remember that time we went to Dublin together?
It was a fantastic weekend in Dublin and we were all so glad we went. Beth and I had to leave early this morning (Sunday) to catch our flight back to Brussels. When we got back we hung out at the house, went for a run, and are now catching up on emails and doing some homework for class. We are going to try and work on some plans today for our next couple of weekends and hopefully get rested for another great week in Brussels!
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