Good Sites

Art Nouveau

http://www.bruxelles-art-nouveau.be/frhome.htm

Musee du Chocolat

http://www.mucc.be/

Breweries/Monasteries

www.leffe.be/index


www.orval.be


Art

http://www.magrittemuseum.be/code/en/index3.htm


Sundry

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/lf_hl_eating_green
http://www.brusselssucks.be/

pourqoui conserver vos reves pour plus tard?

its a line from an advert i saw here, meaning, why save your dreams for later? of course there was a cute picture of a guy and girl in swimsuits caressing each other underneath the line, and it happened to be an advertisement for a travel agent. but still, its so true. by the way, the entry from the other day i still read and find funny. did i skip the part where i mention i'm in paradise? i am. i was pretty much forced to take some time off from touring brussels in order to recuperate. after spending too much time in a smoky little neighborhood convenience store, i developed a case of the flu, or something bronchial anyway. when i couldn't keep my eyes open during the EU tour we took today, i decided a nap would probably be wise. i pleaded with myself, but finally gave in. besides i had fresh stuff from the market that needed attention, cause i sure don't plan on eating anything else raw for awhile....not that the hamburger meat wasn't delicious all red and mayonaised last night at dinner.
but i went for a run after my sleep and realized how startlingly stunning this area of town is. almost to the end of the metro on the lower east side (thats right new yorkers), it is unbelievable...florid avenues, lightways to delight (if i may indulge my inner anne of green gables), covered gardens and heated terraced restos...its all part of my neighborhood. i really can't believe my eyes. and to make it even better, there are signs everywhere for the moto-weekend! apparently there will be some kind of motorcycle/scooter festival coming up. i'm psyched, i think. i'm not totally sure what it entails, but if i get to take a ride with some biker, i'm ready. or maybe i'll get to go it alone! thats an interesting visual. mom you should probably stop reading. but then again it was probably a mistake to give me luggage as a graduation gift. thats right. i'm blaming you for all this.
anyway, i can't spend too much more time today. i'm taking leave after i get better so i can spend it with the locals. its a blessing no doubt. my french still sucks, but with practice...

seriously though. it makes me mad when i can't go out at night. especially ones like this, the late summer kind, drowning in idyllic cafe scenes, discotheques with the furmaners. sudafed....do your magic. tant pis.

JEW- an acronym i never noticed before!

I can't skip the opportunity to say how much I adore Jimmy Eat World. I'm in need of somewhere I can belt the lyrics, they make me so crazy!!! I feel like a teenage girl watching Elvis on TV. Them and Anberlin. Gracious me, this rock n roll, its sinful.

Wasn't that entry-worthy? I think so.

WAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

"All I can say, I should have said. Can we take a ride, get outta this place while we still have time?"

je suis folle.

Sunday, 26/8/07

I'm going to start by saying that, while I try to convince myself of the psychotherapeutic technique which confirms all feeling and emotion as legitimate, the feelings i've been having lately have not been. I just can't look myself in the mirror and say, you have a right to feel this way. I really do not. Thats when I hear my dad's voice go, 'where is your smile?' for it is symbolic of his innate attitude, that, no matter what we have going on, life is good. Life was good and will be.
Anyway, what i'm trying to say is that i've realized lately that a state of loneliness has come upon me. why? i'm not unhappy, by far, i've been given the best situation I can possibly imagine. Not only the circumstances in which i've been placed as a senior in college and young girl of very modest upbringing. But, whats more, even the little details of these circumstances leave me with no room to complain. You see, I live with a lady of great servitude. Widowed, but blessed with many children and grandchildren, she is known to love and share. I've partaken of these virtues at her table and in her home. She loves Africa and has many stories to tell about it, her home for over 20 years, which encourage my desire to venture there possibly for work. She is a seamstress of fashion clothing and also an amazing cook, willing to share her time. Evidently, she lacks no quality i can think of that would pleasure me more in sharing her company, unless she has some secret professional dance experience closeted away somewhere (or maybe a grandson who does). I live with her on the ninth floor of an apartment building, with balcony access from my bedroom overlooking a swan-filled lake, and with a perfect view of the sunset nightly. But, for some reason my coeur trop petit forces me to forget all this and instead dwell on the fact that i am in fact separated from family and friends and therefore have no one with whom i am loved unconditionally. And i think that is why i have trouble sleeping. It's ridiculous, actually.
I've been mulling over all this, because i do feel pathetic about the whole thing, and i've decided that it must be human nature to desire people, and not things or places. Clearly, i am not at peace because i am separated from those i love. And yet, i do not burn to be with them. i like solidarity. but i guess i just love it as an alibi, when i get tired of family and friends. but its their constant presence i miss. Its true. And so, me and Tom Petty are crying together now as i think of them so far away, and how much they've given me. And so i guess its not that lame. i cry for love. "this is gonna be hard," even if i wouldn't change my situation and make it easier. surely there is growth in being apart, as well as adventure. Ive been through it for the past 4 years and i think i will my entire life. I am destined to be an ex-pat, a misfit, because i do believe that may be my calling. And so I'm learning that it doesn't really matter where you go, but that you must cherish it and the people that you'll meet there. And so i will spend quality time with Maman Viviane, as well as the people in the marche, and those at my internship who work relentlessly for human rights. I love how all this sounds so cliche, not to mention obvious, but its a completely different experience to feel it. Loneliness is a state of mind, right? But still it is a challenge until we realize we are not really lonely. We may be alone, but we're never lonely if we have trust in God, and hope that we can share love again. Maybe it isn't important who those people are, but that we commit this act. For if those we love now were to disappear, we would find new ones. Again, how trite it all reads on the page. Anyway, I enjoy being needy for love because that perpetuates my need for God to fill it, and I am then conscious of my humanity. At home, it seems I often am too distracted by those i love.
Just some things i've been sorting through. Again, i recognize how much greater my circumstances are than last month, which honestly was the epitome of loneliness, of complete isolation. It was the bottom of the barrel, but it was where I learned to do without, to look up, because what i think i need and what i really do are not on the same list, but will make us miserable if we let them. But its all gravy, baby, in the end! I am so glad I went through that to see how great sitting at home watching 24 with my family can be. makes for a stellar evening. good wholesome fun, patterson style!

As an afterthought, I realize how startling it is an experience to actually feel what many people feel all the time. And for that especially i am grateful. I now know how it feels to think yourself lonely. People go through this all the time! And so it must be a lesson to not run over them in our daily quests. Maybe its a little macabre, but we should possibly assume that anyone we meet could be experiencing the worst day of their lives. Could we treat them anyway other than altruistically?

Good night, loved ones.

mais, qui va promener le chien?

ok, so this is really a continuation of random thoughts. amuse toi!

i wrote down two phrases in french which appealed to me today. the first one was so funny, i thought i'd title this entry after it. it was the name of a restaurant in the arts district (which i happily stumbled upon) in Brussels. 'qui va promener le chien?' it was called, and it struck me as this post-modern joke. what a funny name, right, for a resto? surrounded by la tour de bruxelles, l'ancien tea house, and godiva, it was a unique attempt to stick out. i hate thinking about dogs and other living animals before consuming them (which is a possiblity since they are not meat racist here or in france), perhaps it was trying to provoke that insecuirty in me and others, it was totally irrelevant to the dining experience- it didn't describe the cuisine or give you an idea of the chef's nationality, and it wasn't aesthetic or named for impressions (the acropolis or la grande cafe, etc). and perhaps it was making fun of all these other basis for typically naming restaurants. anyway, i thought it was quirky and it made me smile.

while watching a da vinci documentary today (part of my daily routine of exposing myself to fine culture and history), da vinci's father is portrayed as saying, but, what is all this education good for? and in french it was, mais, 'quel est l'avantage d'etudier?' this fundamental concern of mr. da vinci senior caught me mid-yawn. its a question i struggle with on a daily basis, and ostensibly the reason for this journal. i seem to forget with great ease, and so in order to avoid wasting $35,000 x 4, as well as 5 months of my life, i want to journal a bit of my time here. the advantage of studying is in the growth we see later in ourselves that we originally can't predict or even imagine, the challenges we learn to accept and expect, and the power we get from both: faith and maturity. when we recognize that life is challenging, we become realistic and human at the same time. its going to be hard sometimes; thats an intrinsic part of life we can't avoid and we all share in. which for me means, if i'm going to work hard anyway, might as well be for something great! so i'll work hard for the things i really desire, things that hold great worth for me. i'd rather do that than work hard for someone else.

i'm sure we've all had thoughts like these, but that one line in the doc stirred them up again and so i thought i'd share. l'avantage d'etudier est de trouver toi-meme et puis t'avancer par force.

things that happened to me today, unplugged version-

went to vesalius college for housing assignments
was really tired, came home and slept an hour
woke up and ate 3rd day's quota of balance bar (spent too much on cherries to eat anything else)
watched da vinci documentary for awhile
went to bellevue museum (history in palace), which looked appealing from the brochure i found

walked around that area, found tea store, district with art galleries, visited two of which second had photos of naked girls everywhere (glorious technicolor!)- talked to artist for 30 minutes feeling rather awkward
walked and found busy strip and movie theatre
ate dinner (not a balance bar!)of bread and cheese, which i realized later was the perfect introductory euro meal- bread and cheese, their and my favorite staples!
scoped out possible job opps
europe feels so natural, a bit desensitized b/c of last month
muscles melting as usual- getting used to it and getting over it

a great big texas hello

mardi, le 21 aout

qui va promener le chien?

quel est l'avantage d'etudier?

allo, tout le monde! its the first day (and possibly the last) of my so-called memoirs, an attempt to record the random happenings and even possibly significant events which happen to me during my stay in Brussels. after a good two days, i can already conclude that it will not be vacation, and yet, i'm not quite a resident either, although i'll assume resident behavior (aside from not having local friends and family, at least, not yet). its not vacation because i'm not squandering money on food or entertainment, but having to economize a lot, and sacrifice time and opportunities to do things the cheap way. while the tendency to be spontaneous does flow in my blood, i just can't develop that lifestyle here in brussels. somewhat, i will, cause i have to live! but a 5 month vacation just won't afford me the same luxury. that is, unless i can find a job.....with french speakers....that pays in euros...

i say its the first day of my memoirs, as i have been motivated by several factors to commence a journal online. usually i hate these things, to be honest, cause they just get so long and are simply extended post cards of events, meal selections, and wishes of goodwill to family and friends. but i want to record some things here that are of significant value to myself. the candor here is an attempt to analyze whats happening to me and how i'm reacting/changing in order to see some truths. my greatest fear is that i'll forget the things i've learned, whether things taught, felt, or understood through self-sacrifice. its just so frustrating to have to relearn, because you know if you had just paid attention and maintained a healthy inventory of your memories, your experiences, you'd remember those things that changed you and why. looking back at new york last summer, i now remember how much i learned and why it was so easy for me to be away from home. being there was paradise, while being at furman is inferno. why? what about my personality hates being at FU, though many of the circumstances are the same?

to make a long story short, i would like to call these my memoirs. i'm an elitist in many ways: i like my expensive soap, my bags carried for me, and my designer clothes (bought on sale of course). and i've been so lucky as to have the opportunity to travel to very popular and exciting destinations: paris, london, oxford, brussels, that i just can't call it a journal. memoirs is definitely more fitting. plus, the word is so presupposing of greatness, of which this journal certainly will not be, and so the peremptory word gives it a bit of irony. for me to presume it a work well-exacted and craftily designed for dramatic purposes, revealing secrets and scandals of a 21 year old girls' life (of utmost significance) or moral truths worthy of notation, i would be so ridiculous. but i love the insinuation. so have fun! i'll be as self-deprecating as possible in order to maintain some humility, but here is my preface: i'm recording my favorite memories as a chance to remember and as an outlet for my wonders. i wander in order to wonder. and that is the essence of travel for me. but thats another story.