Belgium/France Update

Tuesday June 7th

Tuesday was finally my 21st birthday! The day was wonderful and didn't rain until the end of the day which was expected because it always rains on my birthday. However, I picked out a great perfume by L'Occitane. Ge and myself went to an exibit in Brussels called 6 Billion Others. It was a video exibit with interview clips of many different people from different cultures and their views on topics such as love, dreams, war, and so on. It was wonderful but, in the three hours we had we only saw about half of the exibit. For dinner I was taken to a local restaurant. I had some pasta and ice cream for dessert with beligum chocolate sauce. They restaurant even played happy birthday to me and had sparkelers. It was a great night at dinner and I ended the night by packing for my Italy/France trip.

Wednesday June 8th

Today I literally traveled either by bus, train, or plane for 14.5 hours. I left La Hulpe, Belgium at 9 am on the train for Brussels Midi. From the train station I took a bus to the airport for my flight to Milan, Italy. The flight was just under 2 hours and then I took a bus from the airport to the center of Milan. My tain left Milan at 4 pm and should have taken only 4 hours to arrive in France. However the train was stuck for 3 hours because of a broken down train. So, finally at 11:30 at night I arrived in Chambery, France hungry and tired.

Thursday June 9th

Thursday was my first day in France! Chambery, France is a "small town" in the French Alps. It has some great mountains all around the town. For brunch we had AMAZING crepes. I had three! One with ham and differnt cheeses, another with Nutella and bananas, and the last one with only Nutella. I cant wait to make these when I arrive back home. Because of the sunny weather we went to the lake (Lac Bourget) and walked along the water for a bit. The lake and mountains were beautiful and it was nice to relax. We went to a city near the lake called Aix les Bains. It was a small town with some very old buildings. We sat and ate some ice cream, speculoos and cookies! When we arrived back in Chambery Celie went to work for a couple of hours and her Boyfriend gave me a quick tour of Chambery and some history behind it. (He also was able to practice his English, he was very good at it.) After relaxing while Celie worked we picked her up and attened their swing dance lessons. I tried to learn but I was not very good at it.

Friday June 10th

Yesterday, was again sunny and we decided to hike one of the mountains! Okay we drove most of the way and then went on a 30 mins hike to the top. It was beautiful up there and you could see for miles. The mountain was called la dent du chat. It was nice to get some exercise and have a snack at the top of the mountain. We drove back down and sat on a beach at the same lake as the day before. Me and Celie went back to the apartment to relax until her Israeli dance class and I took a nap. However, I was woken up by her and she said their was a gas leak and everyone had to get out of the building. We went outside and waited for about 2.5 hours while the fire department, police, and gas company blocked off traffice and searched the building. There was no gas leak but, only the smell of a gas tank someone must of carried into the building. I was glad that nothing started on fire because my passport was in the apartment!!! After being let back into the building we prepared for the dance class. There was great food and I even learned one of the dances. Last night we stayed in the country at her moms house. It is a beautiful house with views of the mountains. My alergies were bad yesterday and my head hurt so I went to bed right away and slept for 12 hours.

More to come....