Orientation Weekend in Huy

Sat-Sun, August 27th and 28th, 2011

After not very much deliberation, I decided that having a post for everyday isn't very realistic. Because some days, I just simply don't do anything very exciting and so why would I write down just pointless details that no one probably wants to read? But don't worry,  I will try and update things a lot. Just not everyday...

So anyhow, this weekend was a meeting in the town of Huy for all rotary kids in District 1630, French speaking part. At first, I wasn't very excited to go because I thought it might be like my own orientation back home, where we listened to rules for what seemed like FOREVER and hardly even got to talk to the other exchange students except for really late at night. But, thankfully, first impressions are hardly ever right! My host mom, Pascale, was kind enough to drive me there since I didn't have my bus pass yet and quite frankly, the idea of public transportation still scared me quite a bit. Even though the email we had gotten said to arrive between 8 and 9, I was the very first person there... And they definitely weren't ready for students. Maybe they wanted us to start arriving at 9??? I don't know, but luckily after like 5 minutes I was joined by a girl from California, Lauren, who I had at least talked to during the Brussels trip. So we hung out, and then more and more students arrived. Even though everyone kinda of still broke off into groups depending on which country you were from (or in the U.S.'s case, whoever you had talked to a couple of days ago...), people also went around mingling with others and trading pins and business cards like crazy. I was really glad that my host rotary district told me to bring so many pins, because just in my district there is something like 83 students. And I swear I traded pins with them all... My blazer is completely covered on the front! After trading pins and just talking for quite some time, we were told to sit down and that the rules were to begin. The rules were basically the exact same as the rules back home, but the only difference is that they were spoken all in French, so the oldies (Aussies, New Zealanders, South Africans, and some Brasilians) had to translate for us. The guy that was sitting near Lauren, Emmaline (South Carolina), and I was really funny, so at least there was some humor in the translations... 

After rules, we were all starving (seems to be common among all Rotary activites, they always keep ya starving!) so we were all really glad to go and eat lunch. They served us some kind of chicken with some veggies and potatoes (or something along those lines..) and it seemed very Belgian and was good enough. We finished lunch and listened to even more rules that apparently don't matter (according to Matthew...) and then the Rotex (people that have returned from exchange and joined this high-up little club thing that plans activities for the exchange students...) took us on a tour in Huy. So, once again, I got the experience of looking like a complete tourist walking around with a huge group of students while everyone else stared at us and got mad as they had to wait for us all to cross the street (but luckily, no blazers or dresswear this time..) Our first stop was this old church. But then again, it's Europe. I am pretty sure every single church here is old and gorgeous. Of course, it was a really old Catholic church with beautiful stainglass windows and such. My friend, Lauren, said that going to churches like this make her want to be Catholic. Well, for me, going to beautiful churches and seeing how large of a part the religion plays in Europe's history makes me proud to be Catholic (although sadly enough I have not been to a service here yet... Just been to busy!) I was shocked when a couple of the students were immediately bored and very unimpressed by the church. I mean, seriously, if you don't like old beautiful buildings and visiting places enriched with culture and history, then why are you in Europe anyways? After the church, we went to a museum type building. But, it was kinda really boring and didn't have anything that exciting there. And all of the stuff was in French, and since it didn't really look all that exciting I didn't exactly put in the effort to actually read it...

Lauren and I walking through Huy...

Huy, Belgium

Beautiful Church! (Sadly, the color doesn't come through as well on this blog..)

I'm in love with old Catholic churches <3

Imagine this, but everywhere in the church...

The exterior just wasn't as amazing as the inside.

There was this huge painting randomly in the middle of the city... Of course, I loved it!

Yay for Belgium and its beautiful buildings!

On the way back to the old school, we walked back through a little festival with kiddie rides and food tents. At this point, we were all starving again (no one ate all that much at lunch, it was not the best...) and so practically all of the exchange students went and got quality Belgian food. Lauren, Emmaline, and I each got a little cone thing of BELGIAN (yes, fries were created IN Belgium, NOT France) fries and then split a waffle that we devoured in like 2 minutes flat. It was sooooooooooo delicious, I think that I could live off of fries and waffles for the rest of my life, as long as you all don't mind me weighing a million pounds ;) Good thing I brought my running shoes and cleats!!!

Belgian Waffles!



The fries, they come in those little paper cones. It is weird, but very convenient. And also, everyone eats them with these tiny forks... It's so weird!

 After eating some delicious food, we headed back in for some more rules and regulations. Everyone was glad when we wrapped up the rules and had dinner.  I was really happy at first when I realized that the dinner was salmon, because of course it is by far my favorite fish. And with potatoes, I was excited for a good meal (by then, the waffle and fries were starting to wear off...). But then, when I actually went ot eat the salmon, it tasted really gross and as if it had been sitting in a can for too long or something. And it was really mushy...So, needless to say after years of mostly fresh Alaskan salmon, I just enjoyed some potatoes that night and gave the salmon to this one boy who literally ate like 3 platefuls of food. But then again, boys will be boys! Once we finished up dinner, everyone brought their bags and such up to their rooms. At first, everyone was pretty excited because we all got our own room with our own bed and didn't have to worry about sharing a room with complete strangers. But then, once we actually got up there, we realized that this old all boys school was quite creepy, and the bathrooms smelt awful. The rooms, as Lauren correctly labelled them, kind of resembled what I imagine an insane asylum would be. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Rotary and realize how much wonderful things they do for us and how hard it must be to find a location like this in a cool enough town, but I just found the rooms slightly creepy... And, in the room, there were random sinks. Dn't really understand why, but hey, that's Europe. You have to pay for most bathrooms, every toilet flushes a bit differently, some toilets you literally just stand there and pee (there is just a little flusher thing that flushes out the little basin... When I first saw them, I honestly thought that I had walked into the men's bathroom...), and in houses most of the time sinks, showers, and toilets are all in different rooms around the house. Weird, right? But hey, if the whole world were the same life would be extremely dull. So anyhow, after Lauren and I vowed to sleep together in the room at night, we went down to the little party that the rotary people were nice enough to throw for us in the auditorium with a DJ and lights and all that jazz. It was a lot of fun, and an even better way to get to know everyone. And then, in the middle of the party, fireworks started going off right next to the building for the little festival in town (at least, I think). It was a super long, super good show, and we were so close that the sparks were actually floating over us and got in a couple of people's eyes...

Even though the party ended at 12, none of us were really tired and the chaperones didn't really care if we were up as long as we were quiet enough so a big group of us all squeezed into one room and sat up just talking and listening to music on someone's Mac until like 1:30, 2ish. Then, some of the boys got tired and went to bed so that party kinda died down. But Lauren wasn't really tired (not quite used to the time change yet..) and she made me stay up with her and a couple of really ncie girls from Mexico. One of them, Jimena. spoke really good English and the other two understood Lauren and I if we spoke really slow, but it was funny because we'd be talking and then Jimena turned would turn around and explain it to them in Spanish and then they'd say something and with my small Spanish education for two years at Auburn Riverside I woudl try and understand them... It was a great night, but then around 4:30 one of the chaperones was up to go to the bathroom and she saw our light on and told us to go to bed.. I was happy, cause I was super tired. So then Jimena and the other girls left to go to their rooms and Lauren and I were so creeped out by the place that we slept with the light on, in the same room, sharing a twin bed. But hey, I was so tired I could literally fall asleep anywhere at that point.

The next day we had breakfast and I discovered the wonder of Speculoos. I picked it up, because it looked like it was peanut butter and I had been craving it ever since I was forced to leave my own supply at home. But come to find out, it is actually some sort of spread that looks exactly like peanut butter, but doesn't taste like it. I mean, it does a little bit, but it is sweeter because it is made out of this kind of cookie. I don't know how to explain it really though... You all will just have to try some when I bring it home :) After a delicious breakfast we listened to even more rules (but I zoned out a bit after the long night and the fact that I am NOT a morning person...) all the way up until lunch. The lunch was delicious, mainly because it was some kind of beef (ok..) and fries with this delicious mayonaise. Seriously, I don't love regular mayonaise back home. But here, it is ridicously good. And, since the parents were coming a bit later on to eat lunch as well, they also had all of these desserts brought in that apparently were made at local families homes and then brought there for us. They were all sooooooooo good. I filled my plate with just a little bit of everything, and I don't think there was anything really that I didn't like!

Post lunch, we walked to a nearby auditorium and the parents were given a condensed version of all of the rules that we had been hearing all weekend. Luckily, I had had some coffee along with breakfast and with dessert so I was able to get through the meeting without completely falling asleep... After the rules wrapped up, I was quite glad to be heading home and made plans with my new friends to meet up sometime before school. For dinner that night, we had the tuna that Eddy had caught in France. It was pretty good, as far as tuna goes. And after dinner, I was exhausted and immediately went to bed.