Edinburgh & Newcastle Upon Tyne!

       I decided to take a little trip to the UK...nbd. So I headed off to Edinburgh, Scotland with Maeda for 2 nights. We made the trek to Charleoi Airport...off the beaten path in Belgium to snag a cheap seat on a Ryanair flight. We arrived in Edinburgh around 10pm to be greeted by my cousin Conor. He has lived in Edinburgh for a good few years now and it was really great to see him after such a long time. He drove us around the city for a while to give us a mini tour before dropping us off at our hostel.

Me and Conor in Edinburgh.

       We stayed at the Caledonian Backpackers just off Princes Street. It was a really cool eclectic place, and it had WIFI! #winning! Its the little victories that make every day better...we were able to stay in touch with reality while we were there! Anyways, we shared a room with 8 beds in an all female dorm with some people from Australia and New Zealand. Its amazing to think about all of the people we have met from all over the world. 

This was the common room/breakfast room in our hostel.
It has such a cool vibe and I loved all the color!

I almost forgot to mention I tried Vegemite! It was a breakfast option to spread on toast...lets just say I wouldn't recommend it. Its a favorite "Down Under," but lets just assume our taste buds are VERY different...I thought it was pretty gross...sorry to disappoint. 

     Around 11AM we headed out to explore Edinburgh. We didn't have much of a plan, but that is half the fun! We made sure to hit up the Edinburgh Castle, the Christmas Markets, and obviously stop in a few "touristy" shops. We truly walked ALL over the city, it is quite adorable. We walked the Royal Mile, and struggled a bit to find one of J.K. Rowling's inspirations for her depiction of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Who knew she wrote some of the books right there in Edinburgh?!?). We ended up finding it...after about 2 hours of walking and asking about a half dozen people for directions...but it was awesome to see! It was such a beautiful public school...our public schools back home don't exactly look like Hogwarts...

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Christmas Market.
These markets are always so quaint and beautiful..I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME!

Casually hanging out with Comet outside the Christmas Market!
'Tis the Season!

The glowing George Henriot School in Edinburgh.

           After a great stay in Edinburgh, we boarded the Megabus to take a little drive to Newcastle Upon Tyne ( I learned it is called "Upon Tyne," because it is just along the Tyne River). We decided on this destination because it is where another Loyola study abroad program is located. Some of my close friends from back home were studying there and we joined them on their last weekend! Unfortunately, they were heading back to the U.S. forgive this week...not lucky to come back in the spring like me.
     

Angelica and I ready for the game!

        Anyways, once we arrived we were greeted at the station by my friends Angelica and Kristyn. They gave us a walking tour of Newcastle before we headed back to their flat. Later on we went into Newcastle to see more of the town they have spent the last semester in. It is great to go to other cities to see how other Loyola students live abroad...I'm still partial to Leuven obviously, but Newcastle was very nice. On Saturday we got tickets to go to the Newcastle United "football," (a.k.a. soccer) game. It was great to go to a real match because soccer is HUGE over here.

We had really great seats, we were just 2 rows behind the goal! It was great, just FREEZING! I was not ready for the cold! It seemed to be a major theme of the weekend.
Note to self: Bundle up, its December.

Angelica, Kristyn and I.

Maeda and I at the Millennium Bridge in Newcastle.
This bridge is one of the best known landmarks in Newcastle.

            After a great trip, we had to get to bed early to catch our 5:30 AM bus...oh the joys of travelling on a budget! We hopped on a 4 hour bus to Manchester, to get another bus to the Manchester Airport. After arriving a bit later than expected, we rushed to our gate to make our plane. Luckily, everything went smoothly. So after a few more buses, trains and bike rides...we arrived back in Leuven around 6PM...so college commuting for 12 + hours to get home...BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!

         
          Its almost Christmas...meaning its almost time to head back to the states for a bit! I have some holiday festivities in Leuven first, stay tuned!

Thanksgiving: A Day for Turkey and American Football

          I have never spent a Thanksgiving away from my family, so this would be my first. I knew it would be weird not being at my Grandma's house with my 30+ relatives to enjoy a meal together. It was bizarre for me to think that all of the people (besides the Americans, of course) surrounding me had never even heard of the holiday. It reminded me that I really was in a "foreign place," but I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to share the great holiday with my new friends and family here in Leuven.
         To prepare for out Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday evening, Shayne and I took the challenge of baking banana bread upon ourselves. Most of the internationals had never even heard of banana bread, let alone tasted it, so we were excited for them to try something new. Banana bread is a favorite of ours, so we were hoping we could open their eyes to another delicious dessert!

Table 5! We were each assigned a seat at one of seven different tables so we could mingle with different people during the meal.
 (Starting with me, going left: Meaghan, Evelien, Dan, Lesley, Emilie, Daniella, Annie, & Dominika)
Our table was representing America, Belgium, Italy, & Poland!

        Thursday rolled around and everyone was very excited for our big meal! We had to attend Dutch class just before the meal, so it was #strugglecity for those two hours. There was going to be a traditional "Thanksgiving basis," with a Belgian spin. I had received a call earlier in the day from Dr. Hughes, in which he asked me to say Grace before dinner, I was a little nervous because there were going to be 70+ people in attendance, but I took on the challenge to make my Grandma proud! It went over well and it was a great way to kick off the start of a delicious meal.

THE FIRST COURSE: PUMPKIN SOUP

I may or may not have gone for seconds...
It was my first time having pumpkin soup, and it shirley won't be my last!

                                                              THE MAIN COURSE

There was so much going on, on this plate:
croquettes, turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries...you get the idea!
It was fabulous!

THE FINAL COURSE: DESSERT

Everyone brought something different to the table, literally.
I had some pumpkin pie, cake, brownies, banana bread...

The only downfall was I was the LAST person to get both dinner and dessert...and dessert was at random--How does that happen? But on a lighter note, I did not go hungry, not in the slightest. 

Here is a look at the dessert table:

Here is a look at the dessert table after 70 people made their way through it:

GO BIG OR GO HOME!

        After dinner, we all rolled ourselves home ready to rest. We also had to get our head in the game because the next day was GAME DAY. We were bringing American football to Leuven. 

THE team.

War paint, if you're going to do it-do it right.

Just a casual interception, things got pretty intense on the field!

       Overall, the game was a lot of fun! It was a great way to bond with all of our new friends by teaching them an American favorite. In the end, everyone learned a lot, and we opened up the eyes of many to this great game. 

Bottom line: HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM BELGIUM!

Back to reality, although I am still in a bit of a food coma--BRING ON THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!

I AMsterdam.

         It has been a very busy week! After an exciting/exhausting weekend in Spain, we had about a day and a half to rest up until our trip to Amsterdam: Part een. (a.k.a. one... #sonederlands!)

        Shayne, Cait, Tissy & I hopped on a bus for three hours to hit up the concert of our beloved Wiz Khalifa. Wiz (we are now on a first name basis, you know how it is), a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, inspired us to be reppin' black and yellow across country lines. 

The Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam

Members of nine west: reunited once again at the concert.

        We headed to the concert at the Heineken Music Hall in the heart of Amsterdam, and we were spending the night with some Loyola students studying there for the semester. It was a lot of fun to experience a concert in a different country with an entire different population. It was a surreal experience...is this really my life?!?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lVZQ0FekuU

  Here is a sneak peak of the concert, its not the best footage, but its the thought that counts, right?




         We got up pretty early the next morning to get on the bus back to Brussels. Yes, many may think we were crazy to travel back to Belgium, just to head back to the Netherlands the following day, but when Dutch class calls, you must listen. After an extremely exciting Dutch class (NOT), we packed our bags for Amsterdam: part twee (a.k.a. two, I suppose you got the drift by now).

We couldn't bring cameras inside, so I took this from the bus. Its just here to give you an idea about the type of security around the area.
#LEGIT

         A few of the Loyola students woke up extra early Friday morning to head into Brussels and visit NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). It was a great opportunity because it is such a classified place that we needed to have our passports checked as well as thoroughly checked by security before entering. We had a women speak to us about the organization for a while before we headed back to Leuven to ride back to Amsterdam.

      It was about a 3 1/2 hour ride to Amsterdam, but I was an old pro by that bus ride. We arrived at Hotel Nadia and left our luggage in our rooms so we could get a quick walking tour in before dark. I'm really starting to feel the lack of sunlight...short days are rough!

Our hotel in the heart of Amsterdam

This is the staircase in the Nadia Hotel.
These are what I like to call "the stairs of doom." I was lucky enough not to fall victim to them, but they were SO steep, I probably am one of the few. Since the property taxes in Amsterdam used to be solely based on the width of the front property, everyone just built up!

          After the tour we had a free night to explore, but we had to be aware of our early start on Saturday! We met for breakfast at 8:30 am Saturday morning in the "Breakfast Room," in the hotel (duh!), before walking to the Rijksmuseum. There was a lot of amazing art there and we spent a few hours taking it all in. After that we went to a hidden church, walked through the Red Light District (not with Dr. Hughes of course...), ate some fro-yo (obvi), went on a boat tour, and just took in the sights. We were free for dinner and the night so a few of us met up with the Loyola students studying abroad in Amsterdam (again) for them to show us around.

The boat we took out for a spin!

         Sunday was our last day in Amsterdam and we were ready to see as much as we could. We had a pretty busy day heading to the Anne Frank House first. It was definitely my favorite place in Amsterdam because I had read her diary and it was amazing to stand in the very place she stood. It also gave me a little motivation to study Dutch, because I learned that was the language her diary was written in! Hearing all the details about the "Secret Annex," and everything that went on was mind-blowing. I can't believe that something like that happened not too long ago. It was such a privilege to have the opportunity to go to the house.

This is me in front of the Anne Frank House. 

          After visiting the Anne Frank House we headed to the Van Gogh Museum (nbd). It was a really cool place, the building is set up in such a modern and artsy way (appropriately enough). It was four floors of countless paintings created by famous artists like Van Gogh and Monet. DH gave us an assignment about the paintings we saw in the museums, so I had to take a lot of notes! I believe it is important to mention that there was free wifi at the museum! Its the simple things in life that make it so sweet.... After the museum we hit up the big I AMsterdam sign, it must a must see of course. We had a few extra hours before loading up the bus again and heading home. 

This is the whole group of us with the mini I AMsterdam sign outside the Amsterdam museum.
(Did I mention we went to a few museums?)

Amsterdam is such a beautiful place, I was surprised how much I liked it! I'm going to take a leap and say it was my favorite city so far!

Well I guess its back to Leuven to prepare for our international Thanksgiving dinner! Yum!
                                               
                                                                   Tot ziens!

¡Hola España!

So this past weekend I headed to Spain to meet up with a bunch of my favorite Loyola ladies!  My Nine West peeps, as I like to call them (because we all lived on the 9^th floor of Newman West last year) reunited in Madrid to spend some quality abroad time together! I had been soooo looking forward to seeing everyone because for some of us, we haven’t been together since the last day of school in May.

Reunited and it feels so good!
(not everyone made it in this picture, but you get the idea...) 

People flew in from Italy, England, Denmark, and Belgium (of course), to meet up with the lovely ladies spending the semester in Alcala de Henares, Spain. It was a very long day traveling from Leuven to Alcala on Friday morning. We started our journey biking to the Leuven train station, hopped on 2 trains and a bus to finally arrive at Brussels Charleoi Airport. From there we flew into Madrid International around 6pm, where we proceeded to get on the wrong metro and have to backtrack to the airport (#awkward).  We than hopped onto 2 more metros and than another train line to make it to our final destination. All the hours of tedious traveling were worth it when Gianna and Claire finally met us at the station closest to where they live. We walked through Alcala to head to our hostel where we met everyone else. There were countless hugs to go around, as well as stories about what have been happening in each of our lives the past 2 ½ months.

The Tapas restaurant we went to on Friday night.

This is one of the dishes that came with the sangria, it is salsa,
and egg sunny-side up and some delicious bread.
Eggs were in SO many of the dishes I saw this weekend.

We settled into our rooms and got ready to get some Tapas at a local restaurant. We had sangria and some delicious authentic Spanish dishes. It was one of MANY dishes from the weekend that I thoroughly enjoyed. By the time we were eating it was 9:30pm, so around 11pm we headed into Madrid to check out the nightlife. We took a 40 minute bus ride into the city for 3 euros and spent a few hours there before heading back to Alcala for the night.

Saturday we stayed around Alcala to spend some quality time together. We had a long and relaxing lunch, which lasted about 3 ½ hours….(we’re definitely not in America anymore, the waitress REALLY took her time).  After lunch, we got some fro-yo (frozen yogurt, of course) for dessert, because that is something I am deprived of in Belgium…tough life. After a few hours of walking around and shopping, it was dinnertime! Are you sensing a pattern? There was so much food, and so little time, but lets be real, I didn’t hate it!

Katie, Cait & I after dinner on Saturday.

For dinner we had some more sangria and croquettes with ham, or “jamon.”

I enjoyed exploring the grocery store in Alcala, it is interesting how all the food shops are so different from country to country. The most interesting find was definitely the wine juice boxes…yes, there were juice boxes with wine---Only in Spain! There were also actual legs of lamb hanging all over the place…quite interesting.

I suppose its 5 o'clock somewhere during lunch time in Spain...

There were so many Christmas goodies, and I couldn't have been happier to see them!
¡ Feliz Navidad!

On Sunday we packed everything up early to put our bags in lockers at the Madrid International Airport because we were heading to the El Rastro Market in Madrid. We were warned that there were a lot of pick-pocketers around, so we didn’t want to tempt them with huge backpacks in a crowded market. We also had an encounter on the metro with a pick-pocketor.  My friend Katie (yes, this is the same Katie who solved my pick-pocketing dilemma!) spotted one in action and stopped him before he could take anything from another man on the way to the metro.

So back to the market, it was quite an astounding sight. There were streets and streets packed with people and vendors. There was everything there from food, to scarves, to soccer equipment. I picked up a few souvenirs to remember my fabulous trip to Madrid. I had an chorizo empanada as a snack to hold me over at the market, it was “soooooo Spain,” and so delicious!

El Rastro Market
Madrid, Spain

There I am, enjoying my authentic chorizo empanada at the market!

We went to Plaza de Mayor for lunch/dinner. I had some Paella, it was my first time having it and it was very good. I am not a huge seafood person, but I figured I should embrace the culture and try the authentic dish. That was our “Last Supper,” so to speak because after we ate everyone had to split up, some heading to the airport, some staying in Madrid, and some heading back to Alcala.

Paella with seafood and chicken.

Angelica & I after dinner.
Who would of thought from New Hyde Park Memorial High School, all the way to Madrid, Spain?

Just casually touching down on the actual center of the country
before we headed back to reality. 

The Leuvenites (myself included) headed back to the airport in the evening to spend the night…yet again. It was a lot colder than our last airport stay experience, but we made it alright. 

Roomies for the night!  So comfy, right?
(Yes, I am a poet, and I didn't even know it.)

What a wonderful world!
The breathtaking view of the sunrise over the clouds from the plane.
One of the few perks of a 6:30 am flight...

We ended up back in Leuven around 11:30am for a well needed rest. Overall it was a great weekend, but I was very happy to be back at the huis! "Home Sweet Huis," as I like to say.

                                         Amsterdam is next, adios for now!

Halloween at the Huis!

To set the mood, click on this link so you can listen while you read...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTcIgMzIa3A


          HAPPY HALLOWEEN errybodyyyy! It is tradition in the Loyola Nachbahr Huis to have a kitchen decorating contest between the different units in the house every year. Our house is divided into six different units with about 10 people in each unit. Each unit shares one kitchen and it is where we first came together to get to know one another. In all of the units there is a mix of Americans, Belgians, and other international students. Halloween is pretty big in the house because the Americans are in charge of getting all the other residents excited! Most people outside of the United States don't decorate, dress up, or trick or treat for Halloween like we do, so the end of October is a time for the Americans in the house to share their traditions with everyone else.
           For the decorating contest, each unit has to come up with an original but spooky idea! Unit 3 decided on a scary circus theme because we felt it was very original, being that it strayed from the usual witches and ghost associated with the holiday. Astrid, one of the Belgians in my unit, works at a summer camp that had loads of clown costume and props, so she was our MVP of the week! Once we got all of the supplies we went to work!

Unit 3 kitchen pre-decorating....

We started off by covering ALL of the walls with black garbage bags to make it more dark and mysterious than the usual white and yellow. There is Mayank (from India), Pavla (from Slovakia), and Stipe (from Croatia), hard at work! It got a little dangerous standing on cabinets, but it was all for the good of the unit!

We decided to name our circus Carn-Evil! Muahahah
We had to put on a little skit when DH and Christel came to judge our kitchen, so we went with the theme "Are you happy?" Earlier in the week, Stipe anonymously slipped sheets of paper with the message "Are you happy?" on it. A few days later, the day of the compeition, he slipped another note under eveyones door in the huis that said "You will be happy very soon." It was very funny to see everyone freak out about the anonymous notes, knowing exactly who they were from. Our story was that our old ring master was not "happy enough," so all of the clowns came together and killed him... gruesome I know, but its Halloween--so what did you expect?! Our new ring master was a clown who took control, Clara (a Belgian in my unit).

That is Clara decorating the kitchen (pre-costume of course), with ketchup...I mean, blood, on her hands.

There is Kristien (also from Belgium) putting on my clown make-up. 

There I am...not exactly fresh to death...but pretty creepy!
It was Halloween, so I didn't hate it!

        After everyone was all dressed up and ready to go, it was show time! DH and Christel came to judge our kitchen and I believe we did a GREAT job in completely freaking them out. We had scary halloween music playing and we all went along with the skit! It was so much fun to dress up as something really spooky! Back home, I never actually dressed up as anything "scary,"so it was a welcomed change!

(From left to right) Mayank, Tessa, Pavla, Kristien, Astrid, myself, Clara, Stipe, and Shayne as the bear!
What a good lookin' crew! 

Shayne, Cait, and I were the "Drie Blind Cats," this year. As much as I loved my clown costume, I thought I should redeem myself with something less frightening.  'Drie,' means three in Dutch, and we just thought it would be fun to put a Belgian twist on "Three Blind Mice,"....

         On the actual night of Halloween we had a huge Halloween party in the common room. Dr. Hughes & Sue came to announce the winner, and they told us that in 20 years, there has never been such a great display in ALL of the kitchens. There were a bunch of different awards given out for creativity, most frightening, etc. all leading up to the first place kitchen. And the winner is....UNIT 3!! (aka our unit!) We won a waffle maker! (So Belgian, right?) It was a great night. We introduced the internationals to a bunch of different American games, such as bobbing for apples and flip cup (yes, a drinking game, but what else did you expect?!).

Unit 3 with our prizes!

Cait and I bobbing for apples--an oldie but a goodie!

Halloween in the huis was fun, but next week...off to Spain we go!