1 Month, 2 weeks, and 6 Days

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Before I start on my account of the day, I just want to talk a bit about exchange. In a few short days, I will have been in Belgium for 2 months. 2 months of my 11 month stay. 11 months to become fluent in French, be bored in a school I don't understand, travel the world, miss my family, experience new things. 11 months that I think will change my life. I don't really know why, but it honestly still all feels unreal to me. Like tommorrow I am going to wake up in my own bed to my puppies barking and go downstairs to find my mom on the computer eating her daily everything bagle and coffee and Maddie watching TV or practicing lacrosse or chatting Mum's head off. I don't really know how to describe it, but it's like I am just floating around in the sky watching someone else experience Belgium. It's a dream come true, don't get me wrong. Just sometimes it feels like that this dream is going to end tommorrow, and I will find out that it was someone else I was watching. And yet I am quite obviously here, going through classes, learning French, adjusting to the way other people live their lives. Exchange is a crazy thing. Never before have I had a million conflicting feelings all at once. Never before has there been a test that I didn't even know where to begin. Never before has so many people in the school known who I actually am and stare at me weirdly every time I pass by, as I worry whether I am wearing a weird or ugly outfit that looks completely American or if it's just the fact that I am the foreigner. People ask me how my exchange is and all I can think of to say is "Good!" over enthusiasticly. Honestly most of the time, I just don't even know where to start. And I think it is for that reason that I feel like some of the other exchange students are already like my extended family. Because they are truly the only ones that get what I am going through and know what I can't seem to describe in words. I think I partially understand what exchange students mean when going home almost feels weird. I mean, I think every single day about going home and finally being able ot see my family (I miss them soooooo much!), but once I get home will Belgium just feel like even more of a dream? And will I miss it as much as I miss home now that I am here? Seriously, this whole exchange thing just messes with your head. Someone should seriously write a book on the whole situation (although I think my Rotary District 5020 back home is pretty close with their ultra long slideshows that take up an entire weekend...).

And now for Thursday! Defnitely the worst day of the week. Lots of French, some art, some science, some math. Just not the most fun day. But today, as I went down into the basement where all of the art classes are (it's weird, I have to take a whole seperate staircase to get there! Like, I walk up to the 2nd floor, go to a different staircase, and walk to the basement or as the Belgians call it, the -1 etage!), and there was none of my friends there. Luckily, there was a girl in 6th year that explained that the teacher was gone today, so we had no class. I wasn't going to complain because that meant a double lunch period for me, but seriously, the teacher doesn't show up and they just cancel the class? Ever heard of a subsitute teacher? Apparently that doesn't exist here... Sometimes I feel like their school system is based more like college, except for the fact that you have to go [suffer] through classes all day long.

Since I had two hours for lunch, I decided to go and meet up with Eliza (the Texan girl in my club) and some of the other exchangees in the middle of the town for lunch. It's about a 20 minute walk away, but there is also a bus that comes by at like the perfecct time so I just took that so I could get there sooner! Kids have so much freedom here. They can just walk off campus whenever, grab a bite to eat at their favorite store, and wander around town and do whatever they want. I mean, if I had more than two hours break in the middle of the day (some people do...), I could just go and shop or something rather than spend probably about 30 minutes at home before I would have to leave again! Good thing I never have more than a 2 hour lunch, or I would be broke! (European shopping is just soooo nice.)

And after school, I went to my French lessons. Once again, it was educational and fun and I feel like I learned some even though we are only there for about an hour (any longer after 8 classes a day and my brain would explode...). This time, Eliza went to the right class (last week she went to the wrong one with another exchange student that goes to her school...) and she said that our classes were better so I am really glad that my Rotary club stuck their leg out and decided that we would take a different class. And it's extremely nice that they pay for us to be able to take the class. Seriously, I don't think that their is any other program that could ever compare to Rotary exchange. Ever. I wouldn't have gone on exchange any other way!

Saw this shop and thought of my Mum... Piggy!

Belgian's beauty never cease to amaze me...

On the way to my French course! :)

Full frontal view

Where I take my French lessons! But what I found more amazing was the very first four door, full sized truck that I have seen in Europe! I freaked out and sneakily took a picture... :)