Post of Shame

*Hangs Head in Embarrassment*

Before I begin, I would like to offer my sincerest apologies.

Sorry about the lack of updates. 

When I made this, I made a promise to myself that I would continue to update regularly, and well...you know how good I am at keeping promises. 

Its been what, a week? A week and a half? Maybe longer????

If I had the time and subject material, I would love to update everyday. But, faithful readers, why can't Emily update everyday? Sadly, poor little Emily has to start her most stressful year of school as of yet this Wednesday, and seeing as Junior year counts most toward college applications, it is high time she turned her priorities elsewhere.

Who am I kidding? I wish I could update everyday, like those really serious and intense bloggers, but then again, blogging is kind of their job...and I am unemployed. 

But all ridiculous excuses and puns aside, what shall I blog about? My exchange/trip ends on Wednesday, and now I feel almost obligated to keep this little project going. Should I write about what interests me? What interests me again? Oh yeah, I wrote about it here. 

But then again, I could just guess to wait and see what the future holds. 

Y'all take care now,

Emily xxx

Now What?

21 days,

8294+ miles,

4 countries,

2 hotels, 

countless sets of stairs and faces,

1 girl.

All of this leaves a single, haunting, question. 

Now what?

Of course, the answer is obvious--life. Life will go on, weather you want it to or not. 

Don't think my journey is over, because it's not. Far from it, in fact. 

If you're someone (like my #1 fan) who is still reading this, and is still interested in my daily happenings, then I suppose this blog will turn into something of an everything blog. 

But now, let's focus on America. Ah, America. The land of the free, the home of the brave. During my cousin's stay in our great nation we will certainly be busy. Tomorrow we head to Louisville for some underground zip-lining, and on Wednesday it's off to Florida at 3 am for a restful getaway on the Atlantic Coast. We managed to squeeze in a day at Disney, in order to garner the full experience. After Florida, Atlanta, and after Atlanta, Chicago. 

This post has been a random mishmash of my thoughts, plans, and ideas. 

See you in Florida? 

Emily xxx

Brugge

Two days ago I went on my last city day trip. This made me both happy and sad, to be completly honest. Happy, because Brugge is an absolutely gorgeous city, Andreas, because I'm leaving à country (and continent) that I have fallen head over heels in love with over these past 3 weeks. 

Sentimental ooey-gooey fluff pushed aside, I will now enlighten you faithful readers on the breathtaking city of Brugge. 

They say Brugge is the Venice of Western Europe. I have never been to Venice, or Italy for that matter, but it is without a doubt the prettiest town I've visited. Sorry Antwerp, you were lovely, but.....

We started the day by taking an early train. It was not just Emma and I this time, because we were joined by another cousin. The three of us spent an enjoyable day wandering through the various streets, oogling and the mountains of delicious chocolate and piles of delicate lace. 

After a "traditional" lunch of Belgian fries, we took a relaxing boat tour through the city's canals. 

Once the trip was over, it was back to more wandering. I love wandering, so what we did settled just right with me. 

If nothing else, this trip has tought me to experiment, to try new things, to be a part of a culture not my own. I've learned so much in a short amount of time, not only about others, but about myself as well. 

Tomorrow, Emma and I will be departing from Brussels to go back to the states. I've had the time of my life, and I can't wait for our adventure to continue.

See y'all  in America, 

Emily xxx

The City of Lights...Right??

Ahhh, Paris. 

The city of lights, the city of love. They say nothing is more romantic than walking through the streets of this timeless town, eating a baguette, wearing a beret, and holding your loved one close. 

Um, I don`t know what kind of Paris was just described, becuase that was not the Paris I visited. 

The one I saw was just as beautiful, but there were sure a lot more stairs. 

Paris was, well, so Parisian. Everything was so classy and romantic, that the city can put you in a little trance. 

When I was last in Paris six years ago, I remembred that we climbed a lot of steps. So this time, I decided to count and write down every long set we climbed or decsended. You want the final result? 

 86 (Sacre Coeur)

147 (Sacre Coeur)

94 (Monmatre)

513 (this was 57 strairs every day to get to our hotel room, so if you say i went up and down about 9 times, 513 is the result)

670 (Eiffel Tower)

67 (???)

Now if you add in 500 stairs counting the numerous times we took the subway, you get a grand total of.....

2077

I think my legs have aquired some sort of super strength now. 

Following the advice of my sister, I also counted the pharmacies, and found 47. Dude.

But anyways, Paris was great aside from all the stairs. We visited the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, the Monmatre, the botannical gardens, the Museè D`Orsay, the Centre Pompidou, and tons of great shops and bakeries. Maybe all those stairs.

Brugge tomorrow!! 

Emily xxx

A Couple Days Off...

I know, I know, I`m late to post again. My same excuses are still valid as the last time, so enough of that, let`s move on.

I`ve finally mastered the art of eating like a proper European. You know, holding the fork in the left hand, the knife in the right, never letting go of either...Drastically different than the American way. Luckily for me, I learned to dine sort of like a European, so alothough the transition was weird, I`m used to it now.

In other news, I spent three days on the Belgian coast. 

My host family has a house on the North Sea, a charming little cottage only five minutes bike ride from the ocean. We ( my two cousins and a friend) spent our time sitting on their patio, listening to music, laying on the peach (the weather was amazing), and swimming in the ocean. It was a really nice change of pace compared to the busy schedule that we had been partaking in, and I really enjoyed myself there. 

I`ll include a photo of the house here, and leave you to it. This is a double update day!! Paris is next on my agenda. 

Emily xxx

Amsterdam

Amsterdam.

Population: 800,000

Bicycle population: 880,000

Wait. What???

If those numbers do not give you an indication on the traffic type in the city, let me tell you; THERE ARE A LOT OF BICYCLES. During our four day duration in the city, I tried and tried and tried to get a really good picture of bikes. Believe me, after I failed, I tried some more. The best picture I could come up with was this one: 

So we stayed in the city for four days. It was an easy drive (2 hours) from their house. After we parked the car in a garage, we took a tram to our hotel.Amsterdam has a really good tram system, with cards that you HAVE to beep when you get on and when you get off. This really helps prevent free riders.  It was always pretty uncomplicated to find where we were trying to go. 

Everyday, we always ended up one way or another in Dam Square, which is sort of like the Amsterdam Times Square. The Royal palace is here, as well as really good stores and Madame Tuddaud`s famous wax muesem. 

We managed to fit in as much culture as possible, visiting the Anne Frank House, The Rijks Muesem, The Van Gogh muesem, several churches, cozy city streets...

We also met up one day for lunch off of Dam Square (see, I told you we always landed there) to see a relative on my dad`s mother`s side. We ate a really good cafeteria-style lunch on the roof of a mall. 

Our hotel was pretty snazzy (well, our room at least), complete with a nice flat screen TV, and a fully functional jacuzzi. 

It`s hard to believe that my trip is more than halfway over, and we still have so much to do! I`m writing this post at the North Sea, on the Belgian Coast. We have been here for the past two days, and will also be here tomorrow. Then it is off to Paris for four days! 

Ahh, Paris.

Emily xx

Antwerp

I know, I know, I´m way behind on my blog. It has just been so busy here, and I am constantly traveling, eating, visiting, and all of this leaves little time for computer work. Which is good, because I did not come here to spend all my time on the computer. Okay....moving on..

Antwerp.

The literal translation of this port city name means ´´to throw a hand´´. This comes from a legend that once upon a time, a giant guarded the river leading to the city and demanded money as tax from all the poor fisherman. The city was in crisis, so eventually a heroic man went and cut off the giant´s hand, and threw it across the city. Today, to commemorate, there is a lovely statue in the center of town showing the hero`s actions. If you walk a little further in the city, you also may notice a large stone hand in the middle of the sidewalk. 

Antwerp is the 8th largest port in Europe, and at one point was the 3rd largest city in Europe. Everything there is so pretty, so charming, so European. And I honestly do not mean that in a bad way. Its the most beautiful city that I have seen yet, and the food there is also incredible.

We (myself, two cousins, and two other relatives) spent the majority of the day shopping, something I had no problem with. Europe has many good stores that are not offered (as of yet-fingers crossed) in the states. The city is also known for their diamonds, and they did look dazzaling from the shop window. 

Lunch was a large, delicious pizza. After that, we toured the huge old church filled with paintings from the master painter Rubens. As an unapolegetic history and art nerd, this was AWESOME. 

For dinner, we went near the water and ate a small but extremely satisfying Greek meal. 

If I did not mention it before, I kind of fell in love with Antwerp. 

Now, time for Amsterdam!!

Emily xxx