And so the adventure begins...

Well, I have finally made it to Verviers! I left at around 6 in the morning on Monday, August 8th after saying goodbye to my older sister and brother. Then, we headed to the airport (Mum, Dad, Maddie, and I) and I said goodbye there. Mum was able to stay at the airport and stand in line in security with me, but Dad and Maddie had to leave so Maddie could catch the ferry to go to her lacrosse camp on Banbridge Island. Of course, the got caught in traffic and missed to ferry, making it so that my mom had to wait forever until my dad could get back. It was really hard saying goodbye to my family, especially knowing that I could not see them for an entire year! After getting my customary Starbucks drink and breakfast, I boarded the plane for Chicago. There, I had a long layover and on top of that, it was heavily raining which caused all of the planes to get backed up. I ended up just sitting on the runway for about an hour. The Chicago airport really needs to take some tips from Seattle, because I have NEVER seen airplanes backed up there due to the rain...

After a very long flight during which I suprisingly got a lot of sleep, I landed in Brussels. Finding my luggage took quite a while and it was hard because I had to drag all of my suitcases around until I could get a luggage cart. Then, I was able to move around much easier and I easily found my family, thanks to the sign that they had made. We then left for my village, which is about an hour away from Brussels. Once I got into the car, I actually started feeling what I thought was car sick, but for the time being I was able to put it to the back of my mind. One funny thing they asked me was about the cars. They were all extremely suprised that the US had small cars just like them. Apparently, their perception of us is that we all drive huge Hummers or pick-ups or something... The landscape is very beautiful, and some of it even reminded me of home!

Once we arrived in the town of Jalhay, we went to what they called the administration office and registered me in the system. But because we didn't have all of the papers from my school, I guess I am not even officially registered! After that, we went to the bank but and made an appointment to meet with someone to set up my own bank account. So then we went on home, and the gave me a tour of their house. It is beautiful, and my room is very nice and has an absolutely amazing view! I still felt quite sick once we got home, so I didn't really eat anything for lunch and just took a nap, expecting that I was just tired and a bit carsick. But, when I woke up to go to the bank and set up my account, I still felt sick. So when we got home I laid down for another nap and then I got sick. I decided, since when I went to London I got sick as well after the car ride from the airport, that crossing the Atlantic Ocean just takes a toll on me. After a while, my couselor and his wife came by to visit. I was feeling a bit better at thast point, so I talked to them in my "French" (luckily there english was good...) and sat with everyone while they ate dinner. It was definitely nice to go to sleep after such a long two days.

This morning, I woke up and I dropped of my host mom at her work in Verviers at a hospital. Then, my host sister, Cecile, drove me around Verviers and showed me the main town. It is absolutely gorgeous. It is everything that I expected it to be and better. All of the buildings are old and beautiful and the main city is surronded by gorgeous countryside with green rolling hills. I wish I would have been smart enough to bring my camera with me, but then again it would have been hard to take pictures from the car. For breakfast, we stopped at one of the many bakeries around town. The bakery was absolutely adorable. Just like any bakery you could imagine being in Europe. It had ot crossiants (which I got for breakfast) and beautiful desserts and a million different types of bread to choose from, and they all looked delicious. They also had the ever famous Belgian waffles, which we bought so I could try later on when I wanted to. We just ate lunch, set up my new phone that my parents gave me as a gift last night, and now I think we are going to explore Jalhay, my actual town, a bit more more! Pictures to come later...