Beginning of a social life?
Yeah, so, it's no lie that since Ive been here I've had pretty much zero social life. I don't deny it. BUT I think that's about to change. So yesterday I was waiting for the train after school with some friends and they invited me to come hang out with them that night so I was like score 1 for not being a loser anymore! So anyhoo, we went to Louvain-La-Neuve and just chilled in the grand place and some little park. Honestly, we didn't do a whole lot but I'd rather not do a whole lot with friends than by myself. Most of the people there were a grade older than me and they are all really cool.
Today we didn't have school so me and a bunch of other exchange students went to Antwerp for the day. It was so fun. Me and my friend Neah (I have no idea how to spell her name but that's how its pronounced) took the train to Brussels and met everyone there then went on to Antwerp. I'm pretty in love with the city. It's really old and way cool. We went shopping for a little bit then went to a grocery store to buy some baguettes and cheese to have a picnic in the park. I know, cheesy, huh? Then we went to a museum that I really didn't like that much. It was all abstract sculptures and normally I'm ok with it but they were just... too weird for me. We did a little sightseeing too. Two of the students with us live right by the city so they gave us a little tour. And I met another girl and she was wearing a Mae shirt and when I saw it I got so excited, then she got all excited that I actually knew who they were and she's gonna go to Matt Costa with me. Yay for Matt Costa!
Ok interesting fact of the day: did you know that when you go to the bathroom on the train it just flushes onto the tracks?? Yeah, I was amazed. This guy Kelsey went pee while the train was stopped and Neah was like "Um... you could be fined for that." And we were all like um... what? Then she was talking about how when we're stopped you can see the pee going down onto the tracks and they don't like that so they'll fine you. She's what we call an oldie cuz she's Australian and been here since January so she knows things like this. Well, I thought it was really funny. I think I'll post my pics of Antwerp tomorrow.
Bisous,
Chelsea
Oops
Ok that was the first time I did the pics obviously and I messed up and didn't give myself enough room to write under a few of them so these are the captions...
1-4: my room
5: the forest i walk home through from the train station
7: me at the beach
8: statue of General Montgomery and there's a big arch behind in farther along the street if you can see it... it goes straight into Central Brussels
Ok that's about it
PHOTOS!!! YAY!!!
Today I finally got myself to put my pictures on the computer and so it's pretty much a bunch of random ones...
Sunrise via my window
Random Statue?
Biking through Brussles
Some of the fam... Maxime, Quentin, Stephanie, Guillaume and Julie
The fam again and apperantly I don't know how to take pictures because half of my dad is on the left, my mom's head is gone at the top, and half of Guillaume is cut off... whoops. Anyway, the ones fully in the picture are my brother Maxime, cousin Quentin and his girlfriend Stephanie. I'm pretty sure they're in the running for cutest couple ever against me and Andrew McMahon... I think they win.
C'est tout pour today.
Bisous,
Chelsea
sans titre..?
Ok to clarify my last blog I wrote most of it on Sunday then pressed Save As Draft instead of Post so yesterday I wrote some more on it then posted it so it says Sunday but when it says "today" it means Monday. Sorry for the confusion.
Anyhoo, today was pretty much the most fun day ever. First I had my French community lessons and they are so fun. I'm easily the youngest person there and I didn't get to sit by my gay German friend but I met this Russian man, Emil, and he is really funny too. We were working on listening exercises and the song said the F word and I was so suprised... thought it was really funny though. Emil seemed very interested in learning the word in French.
So after that I went to school and once I got there we got on another train to go to a movie for history... yeah, a movie for a field trip. At first I didn't see anyone I know so I was just chillin by myself and once I got there I found my friend Amelie and we went exploring the city of Louvain-La-Neuve. Pretty much on my top 10 list of coolest cities ever. Basically the whole city is a campus for some university I don't know the name of and zero cars are allowed in the city. It is amazingly cool. The whole place is either buildings for school or shops. They have a huge mall and a ton of cool stores. The whole time I was thinking
I could go to school here. After a while we ran into our friend Marie and she had always talked about her boyfriend but I'd never seen him and I got to meet him. Turns out he's 23... and I was a little wary at first like
Why in the world would a 23 year old date a 16 year old?? But he ended up being sssoooo nice. And then I realized why he was dating a 16 year old: he and Marie are exactly alike. They are pretty much the nicest people ever.
The movie we saw was "The Wind That Shakes the Barley". I knew it was about war so I figured it would be violent but I was like WOAH! That is a lot! I was cringing in my seat watching it. I was so suprised they would actually take us on a school trip to see this movie. It said the f word about a thousand times and there was this torture scene where this guy ripped out another guy's fingernails... it was gross. But it was in English! yay for English! But it was all in Irish accents and they were very thick so sometimes I had to concentrate really hard on what they were saying.
After the movie I went with some friends to a café and we had some cokes then took the train home and then walked with my friend Gaëlle (different girl than my sister). We were talking about music and aksed her if she knew Jack's Mannequin and then she said yes and I was so suprised I said "YOU DO?!" in English and she thought it was so funny. I'm pretty much in a very good mood right now. The end.
Bisous,
Chels
ah, la mer
This weekend was pretty much the most amazing weekend ever. Well ok on Friday I did almost nothing besides school but that's ok. Maxime and Gaëlle were still in France on vacation, my mom had a meeting at the school and Guillaume was babysitting so it was just me and my dad. We watched some comedy show and I actually understood some of it.
I was an idiot and forgot to sign up for a Rotary weekend on Saturday where everyone was going kayaking and I was a little bummed about that. But then I found out that we were going to the beach instead... yeah :) It was the cleanest beach I have ever been to. We ate lunch and dinner at my grandparents house. I think the city is like Florida because most people there seemed to be old. So while we were there we played in the water of course. Me and Guillaume pulled a She's the Man and played football on the beach with a bunch of other guys, I was the only girl. And I even scored a goal. Then played pétanque (I have no idea how to spell it) and sunbathed. It was so nice.
In my lost blog I lied. I said every Sunday Brussels doesn't have cars but it's only one Sunday a year. I don't think my butt is ever going to forgive me. We rode 37 kilometers today. Yeah, count 'em, 37. I was suprised how well I actually kept up. And lemme tell ya, 37 kilometers + cobblestones + a rickety bike = one soooore butt.
Today school was the most pointless day of school I have ever had. So my first period is free and me and some friends went and loitered by some store. Then I had a double English class which I think is pointless and so do the teachers, so I just read the whole time. Then I'm supposed to have 3 periods in a row with the same French teacher but the teacher went on a field trip with some other class that she teaches so pretty much all I did was loiter some more for one period but then my friends didn't have the other classes off so I took a nap on a bench... did some more nothing. Then I had double Geography but because of the field trip pretty much half of my class was gone and the teacher decided to not do anything. So more nothing. Why did I go today?? And that is my day to this point... the end.
Bisous,
Chels
PS: Gaëlle and Maxime are back from France! Yay for Gaëlle being back!
um... I can't think of a title but I want one so this is it
I think I'm finally getting into the swing of things. At home I'm not afraid to talk, I've gotten over my self consciousness (?) of my accent and now I realize that for my accent to get better, I need to speak more. And at school I'm not afraid to just go up and talk to people even though it's still hard for me to understand.
Today I was in an undeniably good mood and at first I couldn't figure out why. I mean I'm a happy person but not
that happy. And then it came to me... "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't." Yep, I think walking home from the train station has helped a lot. It's no teeny walk, it's about 25 minutes uphill. But it's cool, I like it.
I'm really excited for Sunday. In Brussels on Sundays, cars aren't allowed so people riding bikes, walking and rollerblading can just walk wherever they want on the streets or whatever. I pretty much think that's the coolest thing ever. So I guess there is going to be a huge group of us riding bikes with my family and my cousins. I think it will be really fun. That's about it for today.
Bisous,
Chels
[Untitled]
So today I switched my community classes so now I'm in the higher class. I think it's better for me. Even though we're still on present tense, I learned a lot just from today. The teacher pointed out verb patterns that I'd never noticed before and I learned a ton of vocab. She does go very fast though, it's hard to keep up. There is this German guy in my class and he cracks me up. I ended up sitting next to him and we were partners for everything. He kept playing footsies with me under the table and I could hardly keep in the laughter because he's like 25 years old and he's very obviously gay, so I had plenty of laughs in that class.
While I was waiting for the train to go to school, I saw my teacher from the beginning class and I started talking with her. She is very cool and I think we'll end up being friends. I have a lot of respect for her because she teaches French in French to people who have no idea what's going on. I know I couldn't do it.
Back to school... When I got to school I didn't see anyone I knew so I just sat down on the grass and watched all the guys play football. Then a bunch of people a grade above mine came over to me and started talking to me. They were all talking to me at once and I was really confused but it was fun meeting new people. After school they found me again and I sat with them on the train and walked home with the girl who lives kinda by me, Sylvie. So it was cool make more friends.
Today in class Jeremiah came and sat by me and we were talking the entire time, which got us in a little bit of trouble, but he was teaching me new words. Yep, I'm pretty positive I have a petit crush on him. Anyway, I guess we were electing a class president for something I assume is like student council and they all wanted me and I was like um... what? Thankfully, they didn't choose me because I barely had any idea what was going on when it happened. I think that's about it for today.
Bisous,
Chels
PS
Am I the only one who notices that my picture looks like a devil when it is so small?? I think it's hilarious
Again, nothing super amazing happened today. I walked home from the train station today for the first time b/c my mom didn't get off work until after I got out of school. I decided I'm going to do it anyway cuz I don't feel like I'm doing anything besides my swimming class, which is only once a week.
Anyway, I just wanted to write about something that I've noticed. There seem to be no defined groups of friends here, no cliques. Everyone seems to be friends with everyone. There are those who are more jock-ish, more nerd-ish and more perfectionist...ish than others but they all seem to get along fine. This seems like it would be perfect and with a lot less drama. I haven't seen any drama personally but I've only been here 3 weeks and I don't understand half of the things they say. It's so new to me. I can't decide if I like it or not. I mean I enjoy the no drama part but it's like you don't have that one group of friends you can lean on when you need to or call when you have nothing to do. I dunno maybe I'm just being stupid.
Just felt like talking about it.
Love you all,
Bisous,
Chels
Nothing super amazing happened today. There was pretty much one story. So I'm walking into class, just doing my thing then Jerahnia (I really have no idea who to spell his name) formerly known as Jerome starts singing Paris Hilton's song to me. Yeah. I was like uh... what in the world..? So he got through like 2 verses and a chorus. I still have no clue why he did it. It was the most random thing ever.
So since not a whole lot happened I'm just gonna put some general observations I've had:
-I think it's a rule you have to have a boyfriend
-All the boys have steps in their hair
-Driving is the most insane thing ever
-There are pretty much zero automatic cars
-Everyone has cell phones but hardly anyone texts during class (I was amazed)
-Everyone here is super organized... like they use rulers to underline things in notes
I know there are more things but I can't think of them at the moment. Maybe I'll write them some other boring day.
Bisous,
Chels
PS: I keep absent-mindedly checking my ipod for texts... withdrawls?
A whole lotta nothin
So I didn't write this weekend because uh... nothing happened. On Friday night I got together with some American exchange student friends and we watched The Day After Tomorrow (an American movie, in English... it was such a breath of fresh air). On Saturday I did pretty much nothing until the evening and it was my cousins birthday party. That was pretty fun but I felt out of place cuz it was all family and I'm like 'Hey, you've all known each other for your whole lives and I've been here for three weeks... that's cool.' But I got to know some of the cousins better and we made a deal that I would speak in French and they would speak in English. On Sunday I did a whole lotta nothing, well ok that's a lie, I went swimming. Then I watched the rerun of the US Open Women's Championship. I was disappointed that Justine didn't win but whatever.
Went to school today... yep... that was pretty neat. Marie is one of my favorite people ever. She is so nice. This morning I forgot to set my alarm clock so I had one of those Dane Cook "I'm late!" moments and therefore didn't have time to make a sandwich. Marie and another girl Lauren gave me parts of their sandwiches and I was very grateful. My geography teacher wants me to do a presentation on Utah in a while and I'm a little nervous about that, but the kids got excited because of the cowboys. So uh... that's pretty much the end of that story.
Bisous,
Chels
More friends, perhaps?
So today was my first full day of school, only it wasn't really full. First I had a double French period with the teacher I can't understand. I don't think I have ever been more confused in my life. She was talking about abbreviations or something and I think even the kids who speak French were confused. Pretty much the only part I got was when she put EXIST(sme) on the board. I figured out it means existentialism (thanks, Straylight Run).
After that I had a free period. When I first found out about it I thought I was gonna be the only one just chillin in the halls or whatever but turns out my class had it too. So I was just hanging out sitting on a bench and this group of people came over and asked if I wanted to come with them, so I did. I really do appreciate this gesture but we had absolutely nothing in common. After we got through everyone's names it was kinda like "So... the grass is very green."
My 2nd class was English. My principal put me there so we can exchange words and such. So I was just hanging out then my teacher came up to me and started talking to me about a project I can do. I'm going to make a presentation on a bunch of different places in England and talk about Shakespeare and Elizabeth I because that class is going there this year. And I help the teacher out because there is an odd number of students learning English in the class so I do stuff when we get paired up. Today we did a pairs thing and we had this paper with a bunch of different questions we were supposed to ask and it was so easy that it was hard. My partner was the girl from Tuesday whose name I can now remember (Marie). It was hard because I could think of about a thousand different ways to say the question but I had to remember to do it the only way the students know how.
I had another free period after that and this time my class didn't have it with me. By that time it was sunny so I was just laying on a bench in the sun listening to my ipod. I thought I heard something so I opened my eyes and there was a person right above me and I was so suprised I almost fell off my bench. It was a guy in my class whose name I think is Jerome but I could be mistaken. I was a little suprised it was him because I've never talked to me but I wasn't complaining because he's pretty cute. We talked for a little bit then his friends called him over to play football with him and that was the end of that, unfortunately. Lunch was after my free period so I was just on my bench then Marie came up and told me to come with her. I met all her friends and they're pretty cool. I think they're the people I would be friends with anyway. We started talking about music and turns out they like the same music I do! YAY! Only they don't have the same depth into underground music as me. Their favorites are bands like U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse and Green Day which is probably about as good as it will get here because everyone likes rap. They introduced me to a French rock band... something like Indochine? Then I introduced them to Jack's Mannequin and they all loved it (I think it's impossible to not).
I had another double English period after that with one of the girls from the new group, Louise. They were learning how to make a conversation and the teacher got so excited I was in the class. She had the students ask me any questions they wanted but only in English, it was extremely tough for me. In this class I think I'm just gonna be like a teacher's assistant. That's all for today.
Bisous,
Chels
Friends, perhaps?
To start the day off, I had my second day of community classes. Once agagin, I was a little bored with learning thigns I learned 4 years ago. My teacher realised this and wants to put me into the other class which is at a higher level so I don't waste my time. Unfortunately that class is 3 days a week on Mon, Tue and Thurs. Tues and Thurs would be fine but I have school on Monday and I don't know what I'm going to do about that. Until I get things worked out I'm going to keep attending the class I'm in now.
When I got to school it was lunchtime and I was just chillin by myself then 2 girls came over and started talking to me. They were talking pretty fast and I couldn't understand so they called another girl over who actually spoke English pretty well. The girl left again so me and the others were left speaking franglais. Then some other people came over and started talking with us and one of them asked me if I had friends to which I said no but then the 2 girls said "oui! nous!" and that gave me some hope. One of the girls was in my French class where I had the horrifying experience and pretty much repeated what I said to the 2 girls. At least now I know they understood me. They asked to see my schedule and I was happy to find out I have some classes with them. And the best news is that I actually remember their names: Elise and Sarah. Maybe I'm a social outcast no longer?
I may have done something a little inapropriate today but it was so perfect I couldn't help myself. Fabio and his gang wanted me to tell them some American slang, so I told them one of the favorite American teenager words: douche bag. There's a possibility that I told them it means something different... something along the lines of a really sexy guy. Fabio, being his cocky self, asked "I am douche bag?" and I said "Yep!" he had this kind of proud look on his face and I thought it was so funny I started laughing out loud then managed to make it sound like a cough and had to walk away.
After school I was walking to the train station and the group of girls from my French class came up and started talking to me. Once again, they spoke very fast so I asked them to slow it down a bit and I could actually understand them, woot woot! They were asking me about where I am from in the US and when I said Salt Lake City (I say SLC because no one knows what Utah is but everyone knows SLC from the Olympics) one girl got all excited because apperantly her dad lived there for 3 years? And the first question after that they ask me if I'm Mormon. I was a little suprised they knew that's where all the Mormons are and I told them yes and they looked a little shocked. That's about it for today.
Bisous,
Chels
What is up with the fanny packs???
So first things first... turns out Fabio isn't the only one who wears fanny packs around his neck. I am astounded people actually do this. Just the name "
fanny pack"... I can't get over it. I was very suprised when I saw the brand of it... freakin Lacoste! I guess it's gangsta or something...
Anyways, just another school day. My first period was double French and some girls had said hi to me earlier and invited me to sit with them, for which I was grateful. On the very first day of school I met who I thought was going to be my teacher and she seemed very nice and I liked her a lot but turns out there's a new teacher. At first I thought "Oh this is no bueno" because I didn't know if she knew my situation. She explained why she was teaching instead but I didn't really understand it because A) it was in French and B) I am a zombie in the morning. She then explained a project we had to do and I understood but I was just freaked out about how to do it. We had to choose a way to introduce ourselves from the paper she gave us and they were all a little hard. On the inside I am freaking out then the teacher comes over to me and talks with me a little bit. She says I don't have to choose one on the paper I could just write about myself normally. So I think
Ok, I can handle this. Writing is something I can do. I take back the no bueno she's pretty nice. I write the little page about myself and I'm just dandy then all the sudden she starts calling on people to read their papers and I start freaking out but then I think
No, she didn't say anything about speaking. I think I'll be ok. We listen to a few students and we clap and such and then I hear my name. I look up and she asks if it's done and I squeak out a oui and then she tells me it's my turn. If there was ever a moment in my life when I needed to throw up/burst into tears/curse a thousand times at the teacher, this was it. I read my paper and made sure to not make eye contact with anyone and finally when I'm done, I've never been so relieved in my life.
After that class I went to ANOTHER French class. I pretty much had no idea what was going on. I understood the other teacher much better when she spoke. I figured out one thing though, we get to go to the theatre 4 times as a class.
Following French class #2, there was a 15 minute break. I had no idea what to do so I kinda sat there and watched everyone else, all by my lonesome. I regret every time I have ever shunned a new kid. Everyone knows who I am but no one will talk to me. New goal: be nice to new kids. After the break I had history, where I ended up sitting next to another fanny pack kid (why??). We learned something about the rise of capitalism... yeah, I didn't pay an amazing amount of attention in that class. Nothing else of note really happened so I guess I'll write again tomorrow.
Bisous
Chels
Today was my first day of the French community lessons. I'm not gonna lie it's a little below my level but that's ok, I feel comfortable there because we all suck at French. In my class there is a Japanese couple, an Iranian couple, my friend Mikyla another exchange student with Rotary, Yun, a Chinese exchange student and Olina, a Czhek (?) student on study abroad with her college. We have fun and today we learned the verb être and I was a little bored considering I've known it for 4 years. In one of our exercises there was the word "veuve" and no one knew what it meant and English is the only language we all have kind of in common so the teacher said it means widow. Everyone understood except the Chinese girl, who didn't know the word in English. Then Olina said "When my husband died, I became a widow." And she's 26 so it was kind of suprising that she'd been married but not unbelievable and everyone was like "Oh... sorry." Then we realized that she was just trying to explain to the other girl what widow meant. We all felt a little stupid after that.
After my class, I went to the train station and I was the only one from my class taking it. I didn't know where to go so I went to the ticket booth and asked him where to go and he said platform number 6 so I go over there and wait for a little bit then I hear the man's voice come over the intercom saying the train headed where I need to go is actually number 3... thanks a lot. So the train is coming and I have to sprint down the stairs, under 4 platforms, back up the stairs, through the station and finally go the train and I barely made it in time. I thought I was getting a little more comfortable with the trains but I guess not.
With the timing of the trains I would only have 15 minutes of lunch at school when I got there but I had to wait 30 minutes for the next train there so I decided to eat my lunch there. I was very glad that I had something to do once I got to school ( my mom needed some kind of letter saying the school accepted me so I can get my identity card) so I wouldn't have to sit outside all by myself like an idiot.
Then... there was my first class. I knew what building I had to go to so I went in there but I had no idea which room was which. I asked someone and they pointed me in the right direction and then the door was locked. So I stood outside of it then some girls came up and were helping me (praise the Lord). They spoke
extremely fast and I had to have them write down what they were saying. There was one girl in particular who helped me and I really wish I could remember her name... So class started and it was Religous Education (no, not seminary) and I honestly didn't understand a word. The teacher had this really weird voice and after class she explained to me (in English) my homework assignment, which I am not excited for. I have to bring one object that describes my relationship to my parents, my teachers, my friends, and my boyfriend, who is nonexistant.
My next class was double Geography. The girl whose name I can't remember showed me the way to the room. I was pretty much the first one in there because aperantly all the other students have friends to talk to between classes... whooda thunk? Anyway, I choose a seat on the far right kind of in the middle. The class starts filling up and then my teacher starts talking. She introduced me to the class and then said that we're going to learn about the conflict in Isreal. After a little bit in class I notice that I am the only girl on the right side of the room and I'm like um... did I miss something? But I guess Belgians are still at the cootie age or something.
It's funny how I'm thousands of miles away from Utah, yet I'm meeting the same people, only with different names and faces. For instance, there was this guy Fabio... yes, Fabio, and needless to say he thinks he's very hot, but he isn't. He wears a fannypack around his neck and I have no idea why, but I guess he thinks it's cool. Anyway, I managed to choose the seat right in the middle of his gang and they're all the stupid jocks that do something that they think is funny but it really isn't and everyone else knows it but they all do that fake laugh that drives me insane. I can think of plenty of boys who do this at Timp (cough Coburn cough Cam cough Nate). They all seemed to want to practice English with me saying stuff like "I play for Manchester United!" and "Bush can go to hell!" Ok, thanks.
That's pretty much everything for today, I'll write tomorrow.
Sep 4
So I decided to create a blog where everyone could read what happened and I don't have to write the same thing to everyone and I won't spend as much time online. I mean I love you all, but this is a big time consumer.
Today was the first day of school and I was REALLY nervous. Gaëlle rode the train with me to school and introduced me to one of the girls she knew but then she had to go so I was all along with Madeline. We talked a little bit but she speaks very fast and I couldn't catch everything. After that the principal called us into the auditorium to tell us what classes we were in. School is like Hogwarts, the classes are like houses. You are with your class for every period, every day. There are 8 different periods a day and they change everyday. I only have 2 full days a week because on Tuesdays and Thursdays I take French classes at the community center and Wednesday is half day for pretty much everyone in Europe. I think that's pretty cool.
While we were in the auditorium my principal introduced me to everyone (I was very embarassed) and then told them to speak only French and hardly any English to me. I realize this is going to help me become fluent faster but that doesn't change the fact that I don't like it. After that the principal told me to follow him so I could get a copy of my schedule. He showed me which buildings were which and where to go for what classes. After that we walked into the room where my class was and he intoduced me again (I was hoping for a quiet entrance and a seat in the back) so of course all eyes were on me and I would have liked to not be the center of attention. Since the class was there already everyone had taken their seats and I didn't get the seat in the back I had hoped for, nope I get the seat front and center. Jeewillikers was I happy about that.
Tonight at dinner I met my grandma and she's probably one of the funniest old ladies I've met. She reminds me a lot of both grandma greats for those of you who know who I'm talking about. Over dinner the whole family got into a big argument about how far SLC is from Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon (I had no idea).
So that's about it for today, I guess I'll write some more tomorrow.
