So it's been a busy weekend..

I didn't realize I hadn't posted in a while so I will try to sum up the good stuff quickly:

Friday we spent the afternoon in Gent and survived getting home. We had a quiet night because we were all feeling exhausted with another full day ahead of us. Saturday morning we left at 9 for Brugges via train. The ride was a little longer than expected but we got there and dove right into our tour with Dr. Wright. By noon we had covered the important parts and were released for lunch on our own in the huge city center. After an hour break we had the option of going on a bike tour with Dr. Wright to another small town and then on to the coast to see the ocean. Well the small town was a bit creepy but the ride there was tons of fun, it was like being in elementary school and riding around the neighborhood with all of your friends! Unfortunately after the small town we were told it was another 5 kilometers to the ocean, just follow the canal. 10 kilometers later and we were informed it would be 10 more kilometers so we got to turn around and head back to Brugges because we had spent too much time already. On the way back we were being goofy and getting very worn out when my bike went into a rut and I ended up in the grass. I somehow managed to only hit my wrists and knees so no face scratches.. But my knee is pretty bruised and disgusting looking, there will be pics posted eventually. After making it back to Brugges we had an amazing dinner with the group but I had to play the Ugly American and not finish all my food because I was just too full. We were all ready to relax by the time we got on the train so the ride home went quickly. After getting our second wind about half of us went to the students bars to hang out with the locals. We ended up at Barracuda and it was pretty awesome! We spoke with three Belgians about lots of different things and they were very nice! Talking to real people is so different than hearing stereotypes or statistics from professors. Overall a great day.

Sunday was our day off, but did we rest? Of course not! Instead we hopped a train to Herentals, Belgium to visit a theme park and ride some big roller coasters! Ironically the park was cowboys and indians themed so it was a little bit like home I guess? We made the most of it and tried to new rides, and new foods. Hot dog=not okay. But there was one ride that went literally straight up into the air and almost straight back down. I think there are less safety standards here so they can get away with that. By 6:00 we were all exhausted so we were ready to head home. The bus that took us from the train station to the park was 3 Euros each way (lame) but we were happy to be done walking for a while. After returning to the residence we all took our showers and got comfy before grabbing pizzas for dinner. I tried to start studying a little after 10 pm but found that reading the book for class was the only thing that could truly put me to sleep in this country, so i was out by 11:30 and apparently sleeping pretty hard since my roommates continued to talk for a couple hours without me even moving in my sleep.

Monday morning brought a day to sleep in finally since class wasn't until 10. I did get to have my chocolate bread for breakfast again. It's amazing, i don't even know how to describe it. It definitely makes my day though! Morning class was taught by Mrs. Kelly who has worked with our group in other years so she was very informative and full of facts. After lunch we had a business dress group picture and then class all afternoon. That was a big struggle to stay awake throught but it was with Dr. Roosens again. He is an economics guy that taught us most of last week. He is a phenomenal teacher. After 3 hours of class we headed straight back to get our laundry done before studying for the test. We did manage to get a group together to go over notes but we're not sure how much that will really help us for the test tomorrow so we'll all find out together I guess!  I think we're all happy to be done with class because it's one thing to stay awake during a tour, it's another to stay awake in class all day.

Tomorrow we get to visit the Diamond District and see if it is everything it is cracked up to be! And then Wednesday marks the beginning of our traveling! But not before we celebrate Mike's birthday tomorrow night! Once we start traveling I don't know that I will have my computer on me so there may be a lot of time between posts. I will try to remember everything that happens but if I don't then it is just a memory for me to keep :)

Good night!

Love,
Jenacious