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