Congé de Toussaints

      We get the whole week of Toussaints off.  It's All Saints Day, and we celebrate those among us who have died.  People visit with family and go to cemeteries and that sort of thing.  Me, I went on a crazy crazy walking tour of Liège by myself (see 2 posts ago).  We don't have a fall break or thanksgiving break or whatever, so this is it!  I took a bazillion pictures. Here they are (some of them).
     We'll start with Monday, Halloween, on which I went to Anvers (Antwerp) with some Latino exchangers.  The shopping is brilliant, but I didn't shop.  We just walked about without a plan and took some pictures.  Still getting over my illness, I wasn't terribly pleased to just be wandering around, and I really must go back to truly visit it, but I did have a good time!

Pretty colours

The gare d'anvers is amazing ! there are 2 levels of voies!

Plenty of flash mobs happen in this room.

My first ever Big Mac.  I had it in Anvers.  and it was small.

Amaya Amigo, mi amiga.

This is a chocolate café called Quetzal I think.  I got coffee with really good chocolate in it.
Isn't this well known or something?  I forget.

Speaking of flash-mobs, Thriller flash mob in Brussels-Midi station.  It was Halloween after all.
It wasn't the coolest thing though.  It was a bunch of kids with a quiet boom box and their parents all circled around them.  But cool way to end the trip.

     Tuesday, climbing, and walking (see 2 posts ago)

   Wednesday I went to Maastricht with Jarrod for a little exploring.  Again, we just walked about without a plan, so I'd like to go back, but I did get some pretty pictures.  Apparently shopping there is good and cheap.  I've officially been to Pays Bas (Netherlands, Holland).  I got back to Liège and went straight to Chloé's house where we played French pictionary, dined, sang some Grease, and watched Moulin Rouge!!  Love that one.

My first crêpe since I've been to Belgium! with Cassonade.

   Thursday I went to Ghent with Françoise and Fanny to take Fanny back to class.  We brought bicycles on the back of the car and rode them around Ghent with ALL the other cyclists there.  It is really a beautiful city, and a nice one to ride a bike in!  All the students and residents bike, so the cars are really used to them.  I got a bunch of really pretty pictures.  We even went to a museum: the Museum of Design.  it had all kinds of design: furniture, tools, architecture, and lots more.  Really neat.  It was a fun day.

they have trams.

cool cool mall, this.

zillions of beers for sale

check out how weird this roof is!

a brussels waffle from Ghent with a bit of ice cream on top

Fanny at the dorm! deuces.

  Friday through Sunday, I went to Oostende and had a really nice time by the sea!  I have many pictures, and they're edited to look pretty, but I think I left some in original form so it is clear how grey the sea really is!  Oostende is a really developed, beachy city, and I bought a winter coat there.  so fun!

it really is the coast.  the tracks end.

the station

Interesting building.

little october fair there too.

they're everywhere! Rotary wheels.

This cathedral is a copy of a larger cathedral in Cologne.  Very pretty.

that's the TGV.  This one goes from Oostende out to Cologne or Vienna if you want.

yes, that is a surfer in the back left.

Now I have school as normal.  MAJOR let down after a fantastic vacation, but fortunately, we have a day off Friday for Armistice day, so it's not a horrible week.  I do have a new school schedule now, and that's just something else to get used to.  That's is annoying, but I'll figure it out eventually.  My schedule didn't actually change that much, it's just that the first few months of school they are trying to solidify schedules and allow for changes.  Now it's solid (for everyone who's school really counts) and a few of my hours have switched locations.  No worries, but it's just something new to get a handle on, and like I said, it's annoying.
     I'm listening to Kaskade's new album, Fire & Ice.  It's good club techno, if you're into that.
     I'm always exhausted because I keep such good care of my photos and blog and email and calendar and stuff, and I forget that I only have 4 hours in between school and when I should be in bed (8, really), so that's why I often don't post.

oh yeah, I got a haircut the 3rd week of october.  you can see it in Friday's pictures at the fair with mes amies cos I got it on thursday.  That's a really important detail, I know, but I remembered it in it's entirety, so I thought I would share.  I even did it in French, but of course I had to say, I don't speak french well, so you'll have to help me etc.  Whatever, I could do it again if I wanted to!  Yay me.

lol