Mussels in Brussels!

It has been a busy few days! I haven't had any time to blog...I apologize to those living vicariously through me via my blog. I have to admit, I miss London terribly already- take me back!! The last day of London we went to Westminster Abbey and FINALLY got our picture with the royal guards haha. We came to Brussels via Eurostar (aka the train) and thankfully there were no loud French children on this train. We got into Brussels, checked into our hotel and then got right back on the train to Brugge. My brother told me about this wonderful little town in the North of Belgium and me and my loud mouth told everyone I was going...and sure enough everyone followed suit. The more the merrier right? Not if you have a bunch of winey primadona girls complaining the whole time. Losers. Whatever. Brugge was BEAUTIFUL! It is one of the most well preserved medieval towns in all of Europe. It has cobblestone streets and canals that run all through the city. I seriously wish we had gotten to stay longer. Brussels is a pretty neat city I guess. It is one that I could see once and be content with never going back. Harsh, I know. There just really isn't that much here. There is the Gran Platz which is the main square. It is really pretty when it is lit up at night. The humorous part of the city is this fountain of a little boy peeing. It comemorates the time during the French occupation of Belgium when a little boy in an upstairs room saw a fallen French soldier outside. The little boy wanted to throw water on the soldier to show him what he thought of him, but there was no water to be found so he pissed on him. So they made a fountain to honor this event. The funny part is, the little boy was made naked but people from all over donate little outfits for the boy to wear, so he always has on different clothes. it was quite amusing. I did try a Belgian waffle and omg...they are to die for. I will definitely be picking one up tomorrow before we head out of town. I also sampled the local fare last night- steamed mussles and fries. "Mussels in Brussels!". It was actually pretty decent. Today we went to the European Union Commission. This was actually pretty cool for me since I took a class about the EU last semester. The presentation was pretty boring though since I already knew everything the guy was talking about. The incredibly fun part about today was the torrential downpour that we got to walk in on the way to the Commission. We were literally drenched by the time we got there. Not fun. I'm still waiting for my shoes to dry. I swear, if I ruined my favorite pair of shoes....Jose Manuel Barrosso is buying me a new pair on the EU budget! I think my favorite part about today was hanging with Carmen. That girl is so incredibly funny. We shopped for a little bit in the morning after our horrendous test, retail therapy, you know and then went out after supper as well. Well, first we made a pit stop to load up on Belgian chocolates. Holy smokes- that is some GOOD stuff!! I spent 50 euros buying chocolate haha. Don't judge...or do, I don't care. So for those of you who don't have the pleasure of knowing Carmen, it is prudent for me to let you know that she is black. Not a racist comment, I swear- this is for the purposes of the story. So Carmen has decided that she needs moisturiser for her hair because it is way too dry and frizzy. Well, they don't make moisturiser for white people so even though we walked all around this damn city today, we never found the moisturiser. We went into this one supermarket and I was carrying a bag with a pair of shoes that I had purchased. They have detectors that you have to walk through to leave the store and of course I set the freaking thing off. Then the security guard came over who did not speak English(only person in this town, I'm sure) and I had to be searched. I legit thought I was going to jail or something for a few seconds. Anywho! So Carmen and I are walking back to the hotel and we meet these black guys so Carmen asked them where to go to get hair products. After like a 20 minute drawn out explanation of how to get there, we finally leave with directions. After supper we decided to make this trek since we had to get on the metro to get there and we haven't yet taken the metro here in Brussels. So this guy told us the shops were open until 11 PM. He said "follow all the black people, they will be getting off at the same stop. This is the black people part of town" Dear Lord. So Carmen and I FINALLY find this "black people part of town" and it is sketch as hell. I am like the only white person in this area and come to find out the damn place isn't even open! And to top it off I stepped in a huge puddle while wearing my new shoes...I'm not having the best luck with shoes. Maybe I'll just start going barefoot. The last part of me and Carmen's adventure is when we are about 5 steps away from the front door of our hotel and this guy pulls up in a car and asks where we are going. "Uh, home". "Can I take you there?" Is he for real?! Can he take me home?! HELL TO THE MOTHER EFFING NO HE CANNOT TAKE ME ANYWHERE! I don't know you, creeper! Fool must be outta his mind. Carmen's answer was a more polite, "Oh, no thank you!" haha. Oh man, get me out of this city and pronto. I have Amsterdam to take on now. We leave tomorrow morning at 7 woohoo!!