Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Dodici ore (doe-dee-chee – ohh-ray) – 12 Hours

            ….twelve hours…that’s all I had in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday night, but I was determined to make the 11th country ive been to totally worth it….and boy did i…..so Thursday started with up early enough to shower, and actually take the time to do my hair in the morning J before it was off to class….the best class ever actually, half of the class was in Brussels for a class trip to the European Union (I went to meet up with natalie who was on the trip, and since it was cheaper to fly to Brussels and then the Prague and home, I figured I might as well add another country to my list J)…so when we asked on Wednesday to have a party on Thursday, our professor said that we could if we did half class, and all brought food to eat while we listened to Italian music….it was totally fun J perfect start to an amazing weekend….
            …when I got out of class, it was home to finish packing the last few things and grab some lunch before heading to Porta Susa to get a bus to Milano….then on a plane from Malpensa Airport to Brussels International J….touched down in country #11…..then the real adventure started…how to get from the airport, into the city and find the hostel…thankfully HostelBookers.com gives really great instructions on what trains and metros to take and the stops and all, but ya see, I was still trying to figure out what language they spoke in Belgium J….(its French btw)…so after trying to work the ticket machine for the train, then having to go wait in line for a ticket instead, I RAN to the platform to catch a train to the south of Brussels…..got on, still using the airport wifi to message Nat that I was on the train and on my way, to which her response was “you shouldn’t be on a train, youre supposed to take the metro…”…awesome!....so, well, I just sat back and hoped for the best……when I got there I walked around the train station for a while until I finally found how to get down to the metro, figured out how to buy a ticket, and after a few stops I walked out of the metro, took my right turn, and saw Natalie and Isabel waving their hands like crazy people…..finally made it J

            …I checked into our hotel, and we were immediately off to the city center to get some dinner…..and although I only got to see Brussels at dusk and in the dark, it was absolutely lovely….the downtown was really cool too, a bunch of small little pedestrian streets lined with shops and restaurants….we were looking for the mussels and fries and a beer for 10 euro deal that my friends had been seeing during their time there (apparently that’s a big thing there)…when we walked by a guy selling it, he asked us if we wanted dinner, we told him what we were looking for and after a bit of confusion and more talking, my friend Bryan somehow got us the deal of an entrée off a special menu of about 4 different things (one was mussels), dessert, and a drink for 10 euros J….it turned out to be pretty good, I tried someone’s mussels but I got a really good steak actually J…and then a beer, again pretty good,….and finished with a Belgian waffle…filled with sugar (literally) and totally delicious J J J….

            …after dinner, the rest of the group went out to a disco or something, they were just heading back to Torino the next day so they just stayed up all night (we were all getting up at 3:30 to head to the airport at 4), but since Nat and I were going to Prague the next morning, we decided to head back….after first taking me to the city center so that I could see it….really cool, all the buildings around the main square are all lit up with colored lights, really beautiful…..and then we were off to buy some chocolate…and finally to the hostel….

            …literally, a few hours later, we were up and on our way to the next country…..  

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