Fort Eben-Emael

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

So, due to the fact that I am a whole 2 weeks behind on this thing, and that I don't really remember any of the impossibly boring things that happened to me on this Monday or Tuesday, I am going straight to Wednesday. Just like any other Wednesday, this school day was ridicously easy. But how can it not be when you have 2 study periods and 2 English classes? You have no idea how tempting it is for me just to not even come to school on Wednesday's. I mean, my conscience and my drive to master the French language and make Rotary proud of me would never let me do it, but that doesn't mean it hasn't crossed my mind.

Anyhow, this Wednesday was different than most because all of the District 1630 kids had an activity planned for the day by Rotary. Because the meeting time was so close to the end of the school day and there was no possible way I could have made it in time, Pascale, I think on her lunch break, was kind enough to pick me up and drive me out to Vise, which is were everyone else was meeting up at the train station. Of course, I was like the first one there other than Lauren and Jimena, who live and go to school in Vise. So we had to wait for a bit until the others started to arrive. Not to my suprise, although some people were like me and got rides after school to the station, a majority of the students arrived on the same train coming from Liege having skipped at least one of their classes to get there. I truly feel that exchange students could get out of anything as long it was an activity through or approved by Rotary. I am pretty sure that when I go on the Prague trip in mid-June I will be missing my exams... I was quite excited when I discovered that nice coincidence.

Once everyone arrived, our special bus was there as well and we all hopped onto the bus and went to our destination of Fort Eben-Emael. I was finding myself hoping that the fort would be like the mine, in which we had an amazing English speaking guide who made the whole experience awesome. But no such luck... Although I could understand the basics of what the tour guide was saying if I really paid attention and tried really hard, for most of the time I just entertained myself by taking pictures or whispering with my friends. And although the fort was one that was taken over by the Germans in WWII (I listened enough to know that, at least...), which is a period in history that really intrigues me, it was kinda a boring place to go to. I mean, after a while all of the gray walls and the empty rooms and hallways all looked the same, and there wasn't that many things to really even look at. But, due to the fact that I was surronded by Rotary kids, of course I had a lot of fun. I honestly think that rotary could just get all of the kids in one huge room and leave us there for a few hours with some food and we would probably be just as happy... Just being around the only people that truly understand what you are going through is good enough.

The Entrance

Just had to walk up a million stairs... no big.

This was by the door way seperating the rest of the building from the bombing area. 60 years later and the sand is still there....

Katie and I!

Eliza and I

A Refinished Cannon that was Used Way Back When

So this staircase collapsed after the Germans tried to bomb the place... But from my understanding, the Germans weren't too smart because the also tried to escape the fort up these stairs...

So kinda a weird picture, but the bolts on the door were blasted off so hard from the bomb that it left this mark. In the stone wall...

Just some WWII Belgian Wear

Some Artillery

Just some of us...

Creepy Statue and A Remake of a Plane

Gabby, Rachel, Claire, Me, Eliza

Everything here is in a million different languages... I love it!

Bascially the whole little Verviers group, except for Rachel! Only missing Riley, Tedde, and Becky.
Rachel, Katie, Eliza, Me, Gabby, and Claire

And just one quick little cultural difference before I hit the sack... I noticed today as I was sitting in the living room with my host parents writing this blog post that TV scheduling here is weird. Shows start and end at random times, and during the shows there aren't generally commercials. The only time there are commercials are between shows, which I guess may explain the random times they are starting at??? At mean, at home the are always on the half hour, and unfortunately always have heaps of commercials unless you are on a specific movie channel. I think I like the way things are here as far as the commercials go, but if I was really interested in Belgian TV shows than I think I would also get very annoyed at having to remember the random times that my shows were on. I seriously am learning something new everyday.... Other than the whole French thing!