Dearest friends, family, countrymen!
We finally got the blog set up! It’s only taken about 2.5 weeks, but we finally have something to work with here. I appreciate all the patience from those of you who actually want to know what’s going on with us, which I know is about 3 of you 😉 But how to sum up the last 2.5 weeks…well I’ll do my best.
For those who don’t know, Trevor is going to Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U. Leuven) on a full scholarship to study philosophy of religion in a 1 year pre-doctoral program. I’m along for the ride trying to find a job in French speaking Brussels. We are in Leuven, Belgium, a Dutch speaking college town in Flanders (Dutch speaking part of Belgium. Wallonia is the French speaking part, and there is a tiny German speaking part whose name I can’t recall).
First of all, getting here went pretty smoothly though Trevor and I did fly separately and had 4 bags each (which is quite difficult to handle alone as you might imagine). We arrived Friday Sept. 17th me in the morning and Trevor in the evening. I spent that first day waiting for Trevor to arrive to the Brussels airport hotel where we were staying and napping. The next day, Trevor’s bday, was spent in Brussels where we experienced our first Belgian beers (Leffe Blond for me, Westmallen Triple for Trevor) and our first, absolutely mouthwatering, Belgian waffle.
Oh, the waffles. I could, and probably will, write an entire post about them later. All I can say is, it was beyond anything I could have ever imagined a waffle could be. But more about those later.
That day was pretty great in many ways, though we wasted 7 euro buying a truly useless map since Trevor decided against bringing the Belgian guidebook (which by the way has a nice map of Brussels, duh) because it was too heavy. So once we actually figured out which way to go to get to the Grand Place, we were pretty tired. Plus, jet lag doesn’t really help the situation. But we did get to the Grand Place eventually and saw the Mannekin Pis, a parade with crazy stilt people, many delicious looking chocolate shops, etc. Pictures of all these are on Facebook, of course. We need to return to get to all the other sites we couldn’t make it to in one afternoon.
The next day, my bday, was a little more complicated since we had to get our 8 or so bags to our Leuven hotel (apartment wasn’t ready to move into yet, plus we couldn’t get the keys on a Sunday). We were forced to take a taxi there 😦 But once there, we had a nice birthday lunch at an overpriced restaurant to which we have not returned since. They told Trevor he couldn’t swipe his American credit card (here they have chips in the cards and don’t swipe and also don’t need to sign), so I ended up paying for my own bday lunch with cash, kind of a bummer. But alas, it’ll all even out soon enough.
Move in on Monday was challenging with all of our luggage, since we had to walk it from the hotel to our apartment. We looked rather ridiculous walking the cobble stoned streets of Leuven dragging our luggage and panting the whole way up and down hills. But we made it. The biggest snag we ran into that day was realizing that ING Bank America and ING Bank Belgium don’t have access to each others’ clients’ accounts, so I couldn’t access my savings to pay for our deposit on the apartment. I had a petite freakout since we were under the impression we couldn’t actually really move into the apartment without paying the deposit first. And being we couldn’t stay in our hotel (or any for that matter) for another night because it was all booked up for some big conference that K.U. Leuven was having, we would have been homeless for a night. However, we explained the situation to our landlords, and they allowed us to move in anyway as long as we paid within the week. All is paid and dandy now (thanks Mom and Dad). However, we slept that first night on the floor since we still didn’t have a mattress.
The first week here was a blur. Trevor was busy most of the first week with orientation things for the international students, and I was focused on getting on the internet to look for jobs. The first Saturday we went to Bruges with the international student organization at K.U. Leuven called Pangaea (again, pictures on Facebook). That was a blast. Our tickets included a walking tour of the city with the most bad-ass tour guide ever. He spoke about 5 languages and had the funniest accent. He knew just about every little historical fact about every building and every painting inside. Other than the weather being completely unpredictable, it was raining one minute, then sunny the next, it was a great day. We went to the chocolate museum called Choco Story, which recounted the history of chocolate and how Belgium got to be the veritable chocolate capital of the world. There was a chocolate covered praline making demonstration as well which gave away samples, and they gave away countless little chocolate circles in milk, white, and dark chocolate. The museum was run by one of the big Belgian chocolate manufacturers, so it was full of awesome chocolate propaganda, “choco-ganda” if you will. We unfortunately didn’t get pictures of the signs combating the “myths” about chocolate including:
- Chocolate doesn’t give you cavities. In fact, chocolate contains tannins which actually prevent cavities. So it’s good for your teeth, even though it contains sugar!
- Chocolate doesn’t make you fat. Chocolate contains caffeine and other antioxidants that are good for you! (I know this is true, but for dark chocolate, you know).
Anyway, we thought it was pretty funny. We unfortunately couldn’t find the Belgian fry museum, so we missed out on sampling delicious Belgian frites. **Note, don’t you dare call them “French fries” here, they were invented in Belgium, and they are called frites. Get it right.
So since Bruges we haven’t really gone anywhere. Trevor had his first week of classes last week, which I’ll let him talk about, and I spent the week searching for jobs and translating my resume and general cover letter into French. This was absolutely painstaking. You can’t just translate ever little word, obviously. I had to make sure that a word we use in English would actually make sense in French, etc, etc. It sucked, and took forever, and to top it off, even though I saved it about 500 times, Trevor’s computer lost the document once I closed it, and I had to do it ALL OVER AGAIN! We tried everything to retrieve it to no avail. It was kind of heartbreaking, and I cried a little…ok maybe a lot. But the next day I did it over and sent it off to the specific job I was applying for.
We went to IKEA today though, which was a trip, literally. It was a 45 minute bus ride to the most wonderful place on earth. IKEA holds a very special place in both Trevor and my hearts, being that it was our first date location. It was packed, an absolute zoo! BABIES EVERYWHERE! But we absolutely had to get a dresser, comforter, pots and pans that actually work with our induction stove top, and some other essentials. We tried to get most of this stuff at a second hand furniture store much closer to us called SPIT, and we did walk away with a sweet table and chairs. (I mean, we literally walked them all the way back to the apartment as the delivery was too expensive). However, a second hand comforter isn’t really our style, and they had no dressers small enough to actually fit in our tiny place, so IKEA was necessary. (IKEA is always necessary).
So yeah, that’s the last 2.5 weeks in a nutshell. I hope you didn’t die of boredom before the end. I promise to write about the little (and big) differences about living in Europe vs. America and all of Leuven’s quirks in a later post. I just wanted to get everyone up to speed as to what we were up to. Of course, we miss you all terribly. We only have a couple of friends so far (our Canadian neighbor for one), and it’s hard for me not to share all these new experiences with my girls back in Minne and Boston. But we are managing pretty well here. It’s our pre-wedding adventure!
wow. does this bring back memories! i had the same issue with “the chip” in france where none of my debit/credit cards worked. i also had a surprise deposit on my room and as i couldn’t get money from my debit card, i was very blessed to have family close by loan me money. my room was also bare despite being told i would receive the necessary amenities. and i had no contact with my family.
that beings said – i am so glad you are up and running in leuvan and i can’t wait to hear about all of your adventures and the little discoveries you make in your town. i love you both and am glad that you made it safely. remember, each trial will make marriage feel like a breeze! 🙂
YES! You two have the official Nacho Patrol stamp of approval (we linked to you on ye olde nacho blog)! Any noteworthy ‘chos over there?
Waffle ‘chos?
Ideas.
Andi
As Trevor mentioned in a facebook post, I believe, the student center called Stuk has nachos. We haven’t been able to sample them yet, mostly because we are afraid to. We need to give them our full attention, bring a camera, and bring up all the nacho criteria before we review them. I really want to though…
Lindsey & Trevor:
Your mom sent me your blog posting. Just great to read about your new adventures and going-ons. Please include us in your blogs.
Sounds like you are coping and just remember Erma Brombeck’s saying “your first decorating is called “early poverty” style.
Anyhow, have greatfun.
Love…Grandma & Grandpa
Thank you for providing me with something to do (besides work of course ) on a Monday. I am sitting here enjoying my tea and pumpkin bread.
I miss you both terribly!
Wow, waffles and beer, what a wonderful birthday. I am happy that you made it with all of your a million bags and are having a lovely time. Keep drinking, eating and posting!
xoxo
Elsa
sounds like quite the adventure. i’m glad you all made it safe and sound:-)
Hi Lindsey!
I’m glad to hear you’re in Belgium, it’s so close to Paris : if you come for a week-end, please let me know, it would be great to see you again!
I just read your first post and I wanted to let you know that if you need help for translating English into French, I can help 😉
Je t’embrasse
Morgane
It sounds like you two are having a great time and adventure. Love the posts! Can’t wait to read the next one. Love you both.
[…] much anticipation and build up, it is finally here…a post on waffles. I promised this many posts ago and have been waiting for the right time to do it. So here […]