Bonsoir à tous et à toutes!
I’d like to say that the past few weeks have been filled to the brim with exciting things to tell you all but unfortunately I would be lying. All of our contrôle continus (pieces of coursework which are worth 50% of our final grade) are due in the next couple of weeks so I’ve been working hard to try and get those done to a good enough standard. I was meant to have an exposé today but I think this must have been my week and it was postponed until next week so I have plenty of time to write a detailed script and practise it thoroughly. Every one has been pretty stressed so not much partying has been getting done as of late but only a few more weeks until I’m home for Christmas and I can party as much as I like. On a more positive note I finished filming all of my interviews with French people on their impressions of Scotland so when I have time to edit the footage I will get it uploaded on to here so you can all see (and have a little giggle!).
However, a few friends and myself did manage to find the time to go to Brussels last weekend which was definitely worth the visit. Despite the fact that it was absolutely freezing we all had a ball! The buildings are stunning in the city centre and although the physical distance between Paris and Brussels is not all that great, they may as well be worlds apart! They’re so different! It was very bizarre for me to see some roadsigns in French and then round the corner billboards in Flemish. You’d think they would print them in both languages but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Even though Brussels is French speaking I was scared to speak French sometimes for the fear of really offending someone!
I would definitely recommend visiting Grand Place. You are surrounded by stunning building on four sides and it is always swarming with people bustling about.
We had some amazing lunches including some traditional moules frites, Belgian waffles and of course some Belgian hot chocolate. I think I might have over indulged a little but owell, I’m eating enough goats’ cheese here as it is! We couldn’t visit Brussels without visiting the national statue of Belgium which is, as one may or may not expect, a little boy peeing! He’s called Manneken Pis and along with Tintin, he’s probably one of the most famous boys in Brussels. He has his own personal tailor and wears a different outfit every day – not bad! The day we visited he was dressed as a little painter.
We also visited Delirium bar which was AMAZING! It holds the record for having the most number of beers available in the world – literally thousands and you can get loads of strange flavours! I tried the Belgian cherry beer which was quite good! 😀 The atmosphere is really electric as it’s a top tourist spot and you can meet people from all over the world. A little bit crowded though as a result and a lot of jostling was done in order to get to the bar but we eventually found a seat! Word of warning though – I have no idea whether there actually is a smoking ban in Belgium but if there is no one adheres to it! I came out of the bars absolutely stinking of smoke – disgusting!. I thought that the chief European city would be a bit more strict!
Anyway, I better get back to work (or back to procrastination)! Until the next blog.
À plus
PS. I can’t believe I’ll be leaving France 3 weeks on Monday 😦 The time has literally flown in!
Lesley Roy's Year Abroad Blog 