My Semester Abroad

This is my last blog post! Today is the last day of classes here at MUDEC, and we have our award dinner and Prom tonight.  I will head back to the states in less then a week! It has been a great trip. I have visited 13 countries and over 26 cities.  My list of places to see/return to is longer now then when I came!

Some things that I won't miss about Europe are the need to pay for bathrooms, the lack of free water, stores closing at 6 p.m. or not opening at all on sunday, and the challenges communicating with people.  But I will miss the Christmas markets in every city, the rich history around me everyday, actually going to the European Courts of Justice when I learn about it, and hopping on a 20 Euro flight and going anywhere I want for a quick weekend.

Ireland: Dublin, Galway, and the Cliffs of Moher

For our last weekend of travel, we decided to go to Ireland.  This could have turned out to be a disaster because of the harsh winter already starting in Europe, but we had great weather the whole time.  We arrived in Dublin late friday night and went out to get a delicious authentic Irish meal. I had a spiced hummus and pita dip, with peppered chicken, potatoes and green beans. So good! We just hung out there for a while and then headed back to the hostel.

The next morning, we decided to do a tour of the west coast of Ireland.  It was about a 3 hour ride, and then we switched to a bus that stopped at a bunch of destinations up and down the coast.  Our guide told us about the potato famine, legends of Ireland, and those evasive little leprechauns. The absolute highlight of the trip was the Cliffs of Moher. The tower about 700 feet above the Atlantic Sea. We had blue skies and no winds which was great.  We even hopped the fence to get a better picture, and luckily no one fell off the cliffs.  It was such a magical place and I want to go back once day.  On our way home, we also made a stop at the Galway Christmas markets and enjoyed dome yummy Irish food.  Unfortunately, the weather on the way home got a bit icy and so it took us about 4 hours to get home.  Since we were so late, we just changed and headed to the Temple Bar area and grabbed a pint.  We had to leave super early sunday, but had time to do some serious shopping.  It was a great trip and a great way to end the semester!

Business Study Tour and Parents Visit

Friday, November 19th our school departed for a series of field trips.  I was going on the International Business trip to Budapest and Prague. After an hour flight delay, we arrived in Budapest late friday night and immediately headed out to get some dinner.  I have no idea what my mean consisted of, some kind of meat and potatoes, but it was delicious! We hung out there for a while and then headed back to get some sleep.  The next day, our teacher had organized a walking tour of Pest and then a boat tour of the river so we could see Buda. After the boat tour, which was freezing!, we headed to a park that housed old communist statues. It was a depressing place and very imposing.  Our teacher had a little surprise for us that night, and took us to see one of the world's biggest wine barrels.  We also got to taste some great wine :)  There was a group of us that decided to go to Hungarian baths on the way home.  It was basically a bunch of indoor pools, spas and saunas with natural springs.  It was so relaxing and made our skin look so great! When we got back to the hotel, we got ready to go out and ended up at this cool bar called the ruins (which was basically just in a rundown old building).

The next morning, we got up early and loaded a bus that would take us to Prague.  It was already supposed to be a 6 hour drive, but on our way the bus lost a tire and we lost 3 hours.  It was scary, but the bus driver acted like a pro.  The only problem was there was no bathroom on the bus, and so we had to pee in the woods. Thanks for the travel toilet paper dad! By the time we got into Prague everyone was tired and we all headed to bed to rest up for the remainder of our trip.  We once again had a walking tour of Prague in the morning, and after a great lunch, has a couple lectures about the Brewery business in the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe.  It was hard staying awake through that, but they provided coffee which helped.  After that, we went to a great Czech restaurant and then went to see Harry Potter!!!  And it was in English. What more could you ask for? The next day we took a bus about an hour outside the city to visit an old cathedral and bone church.  If you have never visited a bone church I don't recommend it.  It is basically a chapel completely decorated with bones (chandeliers, curtains, statues, ect.) So depressing! After that we were able to visit the TPCA plant (Toyota, Peugeot, Citroen Automobile) and have a tour of their assemble line and talk to employees.  It was great and so fun to done hard hats and protective glasses. When we got back into Prague, our teacher had arranged tickets for us to see one of Prague's top entertainment sources, the Black Light Theater group.  Let's just say it was one the most bizarre and captivating things ever.  After that we hit a couple bars to celebrate the end of the field trip and I prepared to meet my parents back in Lux!

I flew into Cologne, Germany on wednesday and took to the train to Luxembourg City to meet my parents around 19:30.  It was so exciting seeing them, and I took them to one of my favorite restaurants in the city Chi Chis.  They told me all about Rome and it was great being able to talk face to face.  The next day we walked around the city, and only got lost once! We hit up all the highlights of Lux and grabbed a beer at Scott's Pub.  In the evening, I took them to Differdange, where my school is, and showed them around the Chateau.  We grabbed a big boot at Das Boot to kill time for dinner and m parents got to enjoy some time with the locals who frequent the bar.  Then to celebrate Thanksgiving, we went to San Marino's, my favorite Italian restaurant ever! After being completely stuffed, we headed back into Lux city. On Friday, I took them to see some of the old fort and to tour the new European center. Then we went back into Lux and did some shopping, what mom and I do best!  We decided to call it a day and headed back to get ready for dinner with my host family.  My parents absolutely loved Andre, Lucie, and their son Joe.  They also got to see the great accommodations I have here. Lucie is THE BEST cook, and we enjoyed a meal of fondue and chocolate cake.  We all stayed until 00:30 (twelve thirty in the morning!). That made us a little late for our day trip to Brussels the next day. We left at 9:20 and arrived 3 hours later to freezing weather and a lot of people. Not exactly ideal travel conditions.  We got to see all the sights, had some good food (like beer and waffles) and enjoyed the Mannekin Pis. Unfortunately, we couldn't take the cold for much longer and headed home around 18:00. Bythe time we got back to the city we found a great little restaurant and hung out until late.  Sunday was our last day together, and the last day of my break, and so we slept in and headed into the city to enjoy the Christmas market.  Lux is tough because most stores close on Sunday and the weather was cold, but we found a nice little hut for coffee and some sweet treats.  Later that night, we met up with my roommate Meghan and grabbed dinner.  It was so nice seeing my parents and getting to share some of my experiences with them.  Their the best!  

Valencia

Returning to Luxembourg after Italy was really hard, especially with the temperatures dropping steadily.  Luckily, we had a trip for the next weekend planned to Valencia, Spain.  The group included Meghan and Shelby like usual, plus our MUDEC friend Brad. We literally were there for only one full day, but it was a great and relaxing trip.  We spent all day saturday walking toward the coast, and encountered all sorts of great parks and landscaping along the way.  It was also in the high 70s all day, and so sunny.  We played on some of the jungle gyms, slid down the giant slides, and fantasized over some of the million dollar yachts in the harbor.  The best part of the trip by far was the 2 hours we spent walking and laying on the sand. I forgot how much I loved the beach! We went for a great authentic Spanish meal that night, which lasted a long time.  We had to get up early on sunday to fly home, but the short weekend in Spain was definitely worth it!

Italy

Sorry it has taken me so long to update! During the first week in November, our school was on "holiday" and so we had 10 uninterupted days of travel.  My friend Shelby and I went to Italy for those ten days traveling throughout the country.  We started our adventure at 2:00 in the morning on saturday, October 30th.  We took a bus from Luxembourg to Frankfurt Hahn airport we we flew to Rome with RyanAir.  After sucessfully landing at 7:00, barely, we took a bus into the city and tried to find our hostel. That was probably one of the most sketchy discoveries of our trip.  The hostel was right outside the train station, which is almost never a good sign, and had groups of people loitering on the doorstep.  Luckily we ended up with some pretty cool roommates which salvaged the situation.  After setting our stuff down, we decided to get started on sightseeing. After grabbing some delicious gelatto, we found a cheep tour of the Colusseum and the Roman Forum.  It was great and lasted about 4 hours. All for 8 Euros.  It was amazing to see how much was still standing in that area after 2,000 years.  Later that night, we met up with some other Miami kids at a pub called Scholars.  It was really fun but we were really tired and headed home early.  The next day we woke up and went to do some more sight seeing.  We started at the Spanish Steps and then wondered through the alleys around that area to do some shopping. On our way, we ran into the Trevi Fountain and all stopped to make a wish. After some more shopping, we came across the Pantheon which was under construction.  It was still amazing to see the domed ceiling and huge columns that held the building together.  Our group was able to find a great Italian restaurant where we stayed for about 3 hours! I ordered gnocchi which is now my favorite food.  Monday was our last full day in Rome, and we spent the entire day shopping.  On tuesday before we took the train to Florence, we stopped by the Vatican.  It was the most amazing place I have ever been.  The entire Vatican Museum was spectacularly decorated and the Sistine Chapel was so detailed. But my favorite place was the Basilica, which was just huge and elaborate.  Later that day we took a train to Florence for the next leg of our trip.

It only took us about 2 hours to get to Florence, and we arrived to find our hostel was nice and cozy and in a great location.  It was pretty late so we just got dinner and gelato and headed to bed.  The next day we woke up early to shop at the leather markets. We went crazy and definitely came home with a lot of souvenirs.  In the afternoon we went for a hike into the Tuscan hills and got lost for 2 hours, but got to have a great view of the sunset.  Later that night we met up with my friend from high school, Meghan, and another Miami kid.  It was a great night and fun to meet up with old friends in new places.  Our last morning in Florence we went and saw the basilica there along with some of the other sites. Then we hopped on a train to Cinque Terre with an hour stop in Pisa.  We literally hopped of the train, got a picture with the leaning tower, and continued on our way.  We stayed in the costal town of Vernazza for the night, and spent our only evening visiting the other four cities.  The sun was shining, the weather warm, and later that night we got to see a beautiful sunset. It was by far one of the best nights I have had in Europe (or Ever!).  Unfortunately, we only got to spend one night in Cinque Terre, and headed to Venice early the next morning.

It was a long 6 1/2 hour train ride, and so by the time we got into Venice, it was already dark. We just grabbed food and then headed to bed.  The next morning we met up with two other Miami girls to shop and site see. The interesting thing about Venice is that when it rains it floods. Luckily, we missed the rain, but there was some residual flooding.  It was still a beautiful city, and looked remarkably similar to the Venetian Hotel in Vegas.  After we had visited the major sites, we hopped on a boat and visited glass island, called Morano. Once again we went a little crazy shopping but it was so cool to see how glass objects were made.  We once again had some great Italian food and Gelato before heading back to the hotel, trying to cram everything into our backpacks, and preparing for the long trek home. And what a long trek it was.  We started the tip off at 6:30, and were set to arrive in Luxembourg at 7:30.  Unfortunately, our train to Milan where we had a switch at was delayed and so we missed our train to Zurick. The next train would not get us home until 10:30 PM. We were able to whine our way onto a different train bypassing Zurick and going straight to Basel which got us home at our intended time! It was such a great trip and I definitely want to go back to Italy again!

Paris

For the past three weeks, French transportation workers have been on strike because the retirement age has been raised from 60 to 62. Tough life.  You know how taxing a 35 hour work week is.  So in the middle of all that, Shelby and I decided to go to Paris.  Luckily, we made reservations on the TGV, a high speed direct to Paris from Luxembourg train. You can get there in about 2 hours, because the train can go well over 200 mph.  Shelby's mom was great and got us a hotel right next to the Eiffel Tower. Everything in Paris is pretty spread out, but they have a great metro system set up so you can just head to the subway and get almost anywhere.  And pretty much every metro trip was quite the experience.  We arrived at about 16:00, and freshened up to head out.  On friday nights, the Louvre had free admittance for European students after 18:00, which saved us about 10 Euro.  I am not a huge art person, but it was fun getting lost for a couple hours and stumbling upon the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.  The Louvre is simply massive, and when we tried to follow the exit signs we ended up in the mummy displays.  But it was a lot of fun, and when we finally got out we grabbed some dinner. I was so excited to be able to order my chicken, potatoes and carrots all in French! We headed home fairly early and mapped out the rest of our weekend.

On saturday, we got up early and headed up to Moulin Rouge, where we thought our tour started.  We grabbed Starbucks right across the street and took some pictures.  15 minutes after the tour was supposed to start there was still no tour guide, so we checked the directions again and realized we were at the wrong place.  Oh well, at least we got a tour of the city.  Luckily for us there was another tour starting in an hour, so we headed toward Notre Dame and the Saint-Michel fountain.  This was our third city that we used the New Europe walking tours, and once again it was great.  We walked all around the city and got to hear some great history.  She also told us about some the typical scam artists you would see in the city.  My favorite was kids with clipboards asking you to sign for peace, and really there was fine print saying you owe them 40 Euro.  The end of the tour took us to the Eiffel Tower, so Shelby and I took the opportunity to take some pictures.  We did not go up, because it had been closing frequently for security threats. After we were done with the whole tourist thing, we headed back toward the center of the city and did some shopping, finding some great things at H&M.  We found a cute Italian place and had some penne arrabiata and some wine. Before we left the center, we decided to pop by the Arch de Triumph for a quick picture too.  We headed home around 22:00 and rested up for our last day in paris.


On Sunday, we decided to take the train 30 minutes outside of the city to Versailles.  The palace was absolutely amazing! The gardens were gorgeous and the Palace itself was covered inside and out in gold leafing.  And because we were students of the EU, we only had to pay 6 Euro for the gardens as opposed to the regular 25! Good deal for sure.  We wondered around for a while, and it only confirmed my belief that I should have been a princess.  We couldn't stay for too long, because we had to catch the TGV home at 18:00.  We did end up with more time then we thought we would, and so we stopped by the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur.  It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It is pure white, and situated at the highest point in Paris. We probably spent a little too much time there, and so for the next hour we were running around Paris trying not to miss our train.  We made it, barely, and were soon on our way back to Luxembourg!

Interlaken

        While it was still (relatively) warm here, we decided to go to Interlaken, Switzerland for some extreme sports. We left around 16:00 on friday, and arrived at 22:00.  We stayed at a place called Balmers, which is world famous, so when we got there there were guards that checked our IDs before they let us in. It was intense.  We stayed in a 10 person dorm, and there were 15 of us total.  We went down to the bar for a bit that night, but knew we needed to rest up for our big excursion the next day.  

On Saturday, we signed up for a 6 hours canyoning experience.  Canyoning uses repelling, climbing, jumping and sliding to descend the canyon. We headed to the shop we would depart from and were told it was time to gear up.  We were given a long wet suit, two wetsuit jackets, special shoes, a life vest, a harness and a helmet. Each of the helmets had names, and mine was "Flipper".  They loaded us into a van and we travelled about an hour up the mountain.  They dropped us off on the side of the road and that is where we changed into our gear. Good thing they told us to wear a bathing suit.  They lead us on a short hike and we came to a cliff where they told us we would now repel down into the canyon. Yeah okay.  It was a 150 foot cliff, and there was nothing to hold onto as you stepped over the cliff.  It was one of the most thrilling things I had ever done.  Once we got to the bottom, we continued on.  Now I should let you all know that the water in the canyon was about 40 degrees.  Almost right away we were swimming in the water, and it was a brain freeze every time you went under.  One of the coolest parts was using the natural slides that the water had made out of the granite rocks it ran over.  There was also a 25 foot jump, where you have to make sure you don't hit rocks! It was a workout, and we got a little bruised, but it was definitely the coolest thing I have ever done.  We were so cold by the end of it, that our hands were bright red and we were definitely ready to get into our sweats.   The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back.  We were so tired, so we just walked around some of the shops got dinner and packed up to leave early on sunday.  Such a great weekend!

London

After our week in Germany and Brussels, I went to London with Meghan, Shelby, Garrett and Ben.  We left thursday afternoon on the Eurostar and were set to arrive around 9:30 via the Chunnel.  Well right before we were set to go under the water, the train stopped and the conductor declared that there was a security breech and we were all to remain in our cars.  After about an hour they made the back of the train get off and go through security again.  It took 3 hours before we got moving again, and we were all getting really antsy.  So Garrett decided to turn the orange he took from lunch and turn it into a super hero.  Thus Orange Man is born.  He has since deteriorated, but kept us entertained through the 6 hour journey.  When we finally arrived in London, the Eurostar people payed for our taxi, since we were so delayed.  We decided to stay at an apartment just outside of Hyde Park, and it was very nice.  A little small but super nice.  We ended up getting there around 1:00 and crashed right away.


The next morning we got up and had some breakfast, and headed to the free tour in London.  They met just outside of Buckingham Palace, and took us through Trafalgar Square, Parliament and Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey.  It was great and we really got a good feel for the city.  Then our tour group went out to lunch and got tickets for the pub crawl we were going to do later in the night.  It was already pretty late, so we headed back to the apartment and dried off and got ready for the night.  The pub crawl consisted of 4 bars and one club, and would last about 4 or 5 hours.  It was a great time and we got to know a really cool married couple.  The next day once we were up and recovered, we grabbed Starbucks and the girls decided to do some shopping at Portobello Market.  It was so much fun and they had a lot of unique items.  Then we met up with the boys around 3 for a tour of "Old London".  This tour took us by the Court of Justice, the bridges of London, old churches and expensive shopping areas,    and the Tower of London.  Then we were able to meet up with my friend from high school, Caroline, who is studying in London.  We got dinner at an Italian restaurant and headed to a small pub for some drinks and card games.  It was a lot of fun and I am so glad I got to see her!

Sadly, we had to head home early on Sunday and so we packed up all of our belongings to take the Chunnel back. It was a very uneventful journey home, but good to be back after a 10 day trip.

Berlin and our Chocolate Tour

Sorry I have been so behind! On September 24th, my friends Shelby, Meghan and I went to Berlin for a three day weekend.  It was an 8 hour train ride, and we tiredly arrived to our hostel, "All In" at 10 PM.  We slept in the next morning and joined the 11 AM free walking tour around Berlin.  It was excellent, and provided a lot of history during its 4 hour duration.  We saw amazing sights such at the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Holocost Memorial, the ground above Hitler's Bunker, the remaining portion of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, many museums, and the Berlin Cathedral.  We also stopped into Starbucks and did some shopping to get our fill of "America" for the day.  I was really impressed by Berlin, and amazed at how much history this capital city had.  We headed home and went to bed early to get ready for the next day.


On Sunday, we decided to go visit a concentration camp on the outside of Berlin.  Sachsenhausen was a work camp, and saw the training of many Nazi soldiers.  It was a really humbling experience and a much more realistic view of the Holocaust then you get from reading a text book.  It was sad to see all of the suffering people went through, and the truly cruel ways that prisoners were tortured and murdered.  All in all it was a sobering day, and we headed home grabbed dinner and a drink and went to bed to get ready for our next adventure!


The next morning we met up with our "Chocolate Business" class to begin our study tour.  A study tour at MUDEC is a week long break where travel and have exposure to the topics we discuss in class.  Our tour was supposed to begin in Koblenz, Germany, but Meghan, Shelby and I missed the boat ride.  Our insructor, instead of giving us an address, gave us a street to meet them on, and no number to call.  They ducked into a building and we could,'t fin them until it was to late and they were on a boat sailing away. Luckily the bus driver was still around and he drove us to the next city so we could get on the next dock.  Once our blood pressure went down and we were seated, the crew served our class dinner and we enjoyed our meal and we coasted down the Rhine.  We arrived in Cologne, Germany late monday night.  We checked into our Hotel, and then headed out to a local pub.  It was a fun night and Miami definitely took over that club.




Tuesday we had a jam packed day of sightseeing.  It began with a tour of the Lindt Chocolate Museum, where we learned some history (or taught them history in some cases) and tasted some chocolate.  Later on we headed to the Cologne Cathedral, which was absolutely stunning.  It houses the remains of the Three wise men, and has towers with 509 steps.  And yes we went up them.  It was a stunning view from the top, but we were all so tired by the time we got down.  After we regrouped, we headed back to the bus and and began the second half of our trip to Brussels.  We arrived at the Hotel Du Congress and were immediately whisked off to a sit down dinner at Pizza Hut. No joke. And it was delicious. Later that night the group headed out to Delirium, the bar we had previous visited our first weekend away and which we love!


The next morning was some serious chocolate tasting. It was serious stuff and by about the fifth store I never wanted to taste chocolate again! It was a great experience though and chocolate from the US will never seem the same again! We even got to make our own chocolate at one place, which was really awesome.  I had to wear a white apron and a white bakers hat (super stylish).  After that we went to visit someone I would call a real life Willy Wonka.  Not only did he have great sweets, he could do magic tricks and looked a little mid like a mad scientist.  It was a great experience but we were so tired it was hard to really appreciate it.  We rounded the night off with a fancy dinner in the city and drinks in the Grand Place while we watched the light show.  Thursday was the last day of our study tour, and we headed to Brugge for the day.  We got a historical overview and a personal tour of the sights.  We also visited a place called the Chocolate Line where we all snorted chocolate! It was so bizarre, but really cool and we were able to taste the chocolate for about 15 minutes.  After that we headed back to Brussels to start our next trip, which was to London!

Oktoberfest: 200th Anniversary

On September 17th, 60 Miami students embarked on what should have been a 7 hour bus ride to Munich.  10 hours and 1 speeding ticket later, and we were finally at the opening day of the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest.  We got in line for the tents at 8:00 AM, and finally were able to grab a table at 9:00.  We had to wait until 12 for the first keg to be tapped.  Our tent, Augustiner-Brau Muchen, alone held about 8,000 people.  It was absolutely crazy.  We all decided to order some food, and you can see my giant pretzel below.  Some people also ordered chicken, and were literally served a whole chicken.  Everything was delicious! When it was finally time for the kegs to be tapped and the beer to flow people went nuts.  It was the best thing I've ever been a part of.  Everyone is cheersing, saying "Prost!" and people from all over the world all mingling.  A few hours and steins later, and we decided to walk around and find a bathroom.  That proved to be the most difficult task of the day.  The lines were so long!  Later that night we decided to have one more pint before we left, and settled into the Löwenbräu for a drink.

It was such a fun day, and truly a bonding experience for us all.  I walked away with a sore arm (those steins are heavy) and some great memories.  But wait, the biggest drama of the night was about to happen.  We were told that the bus was going to leave at 12, and when it pulled away at 11:45 we realized to late someone got left behind.  The simple solution would be to call his cell phone.  Except that was sitting in my pocket.  So the bus driver took us back to the train station (where he was last seen) and we started running through the train station.  No one could help us and we ended up admitting defeat.  The one left behind eventually made it home, after sleeping in the train station for 3 hours and buying a 90 Euro train ticket.  

So there was some drama, but it was an unbelievable night! I will definitely be making a trip back in future!

The Netherlands: Den Haag and Amsterdam

The weekend of September 10th, we took a trip up to the Netherlands. There were eight of us, and we decided to share one hostel room. We arrived in Den Haag around 8:30 pm and checked into StayOkay Hostel. It was actually really nice and located on the river. After we made our beds, we headed out to a Mexican restaurant the hostel worker recommended. They had the BEST margaritas ever, and even brought us tap water! We headed to bed early and got up at 8 to head to Amsterdam for the day.

We walked around the streets for a while, searching for the I AMSTERDAM letters. Once we found those and took some pictures, we headed to the Heineken Brewery to for the Heineken Experience. It was so much, and we even got 3 beers out of it. It was much more then just a tour, with interactive tastings and "rides" it made for a great afternoon. After that, our group split up and we headed to the Anne Frank House. It was incredible to go to a place that I had read about previously. it was a heart breaking place, but served to promote justice throughout the world. Our next stop was to find the worlds narrowest house, only 6 feet wide! We got lost on the way an ended up in the red light district. It was...interesting. And completely surreal. We did finally find the tiny house and proudly took a picture in front of it.

We headed back to Den Haag later that night and wanted to walk around sunday morning before we headed home. We should have known that our luck with the weather would only last so long. After seeing that there was no stopping the rain, we admitted defeat and started our 6 hour trip home.

Belgium: Ardennes, Brussels, and Bruges

We covered some serious ground this weekend.  Our trip started on friday afternoon as we loaded buses to head to the Belgium region Ardennes.  There, we went on a two hour tour of the caves.  They were amazing (and a little creepy).  That was the second time in a week I has gone underground, and I think I'm done for a while.  After that we headed to the train station to go to Brussels.  We arrived around 9:00 PM, and immediately headed to The Hotel Queen Ann to change for a night out.  Our hotel, even though inexpensive, was super nice and clean.  Our group consisted of Meghan and Lauren (my roommates), Shelby, and I.  However, about 30 other Miami kids were touring the same cities, and so we met up with them later.  We grabbed dinner at Subway (I know) and then went to a pub called Delirium where 90% of the beers has an alcohol content of 10%.  It was a really fun night, and we got to know a group of people from Canada.

The next morning, we got up bright and early and ate the continental breakfast provided by our hotel.  Then we headed out to tour the city, and headed to the Grand Place first.  The buildings are stunning and there is so much history there.  It was actually Belgium Beer week while we were there, so there were dozens of white tents in the center.  We kept walking through the streets and found Manneken Pis (the little peeing boy).  The first time we saw him, he was wearing a military outfit, but then had a wardrobe change into a navy suit.  Our little group covered the entire city in three hours, all the while toting our huge hiking backpacks.  After we tired ourselves out, we decided to try a belgium waffle.  I got mine with whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate.  It may have been the best thing I've ever had (next to my mom's cooking :)) Once we were full, we headed to the train station to go to our next destination.

In Bruges, we checked into our hostel Charlie Rockets.  And it was definitely a hostel.   Although it was clean, the beds were precarious and the rooms super loud (it's above a bar).  We got what we paid for though, so it wasn't too bad.  Once we were settled, we headed to grab some dinner.  Lauren and I got a glass of wine and some fajitas.  They were delicious! After that, we met up with some other Miami kids to bar hop for the evening (one happy hour to the next!)

We got up early again the next morning, and headed out to breakfast where we got waffles again.  This time with powdered sugar.  And again, they were AMAZING! Our feet were hurting from the day before and we still has a lot of ground to cover, so we rented bikes.  I forgot how long it had been since I had been on one, and they were high off the ground so getting on and off was quite an experience.  But we were able to ride to the outskirts of the city along the canals where we found a flock of swans.  It was  beautiful.  We made a point to walk up the 366 steps of the Belfry Tower for a panoramic view of Bruges.   After that we decided to stop into some of the churches; my favorite was Church of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk in Dutch).  Inside, is Michelangelo's sculpture Madonna and Child which was exciting to see. Sadly, we had to head home and decided to grab some frites (fries) on the way.  


It was a great weekend and we covered a lot of ground.  Somehow, we had no major mishaps and I am so excited to go back to Bruges and Brussels with my Chocolate class!

Welcome to Luxembourg!

I have finally arrived in Luxembourg! We landed on Wednesday and were immediately taken to the Chateau in Differdange where were greeted by our host family.  Andre (the dad), Lucie (the mom), and their sons Jim and Jo are all very welcoming and helpful.  Andre took my roommates (Meghan and Lauren) and I into the city for a tour of Luxembourg’s history.  The entire city is built around an ancient fort, with most parts remaining today.  There are great shops, cafes and pubs in the city. 

Thursday was our first day of scheduled events, which included lectures at the Chateau and a scavenger hunt, which we all ditched in favor of headeding to the local pub called Das Boot.  It is the place where you will find most Miami students after classes.  They serve their beer in huge glass boots.  But don’t let the name confuse you, “Das Boot” actually means the boat.  On Friday we had more lectures and then headed to the American and German cemeteries for WWII.  It was really interesting to see the differences between the two cemeteries.  The bus then dropped us off in Luxembourg City where we had to complete another scavenger hunt.  We ditched that too when it suddenly started pouring! That night all of the students and their host families met at the Chateau and enjoyed a BBQ prepared by our chef. 

On Saturday all of the Miami students met up for three separate field trips.  Our group went to three countries over the course of the day.  It started with a picnic on the Moselle River in Luxembourg where the Schengen Agreement was signed (on a boat).  It created a borderless zone of 25 countries covering 400 million people that makes travelling from Luxembourg to France as easy as crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky.  From there, we went to Chateau de Malbrouck in Manderen France.  They were housing art from Niki de Saint Phalle.  The art was not really my thing, but the castle was gorgeous and the views amazing.  After that, we headed to the Wellenstein Winery in Germany.  We got a tour of the winery and then went on to wine tasting.  They taught us proper tasting technique and allowed us to sample three of their Riesling wines and one sparkling wine.  All of them were delicious! After that, the bus took us back to Luxembourg City where we had a traditional meal of sausage and fries at the Schueberfouer  (the Luxembourg city fair).  This is no normal fair! They sell everything from candy to pots and pans.  And their rides are better suited for somewhere like six flags.  After that we walked to the city and went to a pub called Fire and Ice.

Sunday is a traditional family day in Luxembourg, and so we spent the day with our new host family.  Andre took Lauren, Meghan and I out to the European center and we say all of the governmental buildings.  We also took a stroll through the old Luxembourg fortress.  We then went back to the house for lunch (which is as big as our dinners), and took a quick break.  Then Andre whisked us off to the old steel mines.  I was a little apprehensive about going down into the mines, but it was so much fun(if not a little cold). 

It was a great first week in Luxembourg! Our host family is great and I am so excited about the other trips in my future. Next weekend I am headed to Brussels and Bruges!