Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!


Hope your Halloween is super spooky!
Love, the vampires of the College of Europe

Friday, October 30, 2009

Dear Loyal Followers

I am terribly sorry that I have not posted since Tuesday. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I cannot BELIEVE how quickly time is passing! I have three papers due in the next two weeks (one of which I have started) a gigantic hugely important debate to prepare for November 10th and exams start in 3 weeks. Excuse me while I go have a panic attack.
Ok, I am back. So tomorrow is Halloween, but unfortunately, like cake, one is hard pressed to find anything to do with ghosts, goblins, ghouls, witches, and vampires in Bruges. It's quite a shame really. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday and I cannot wait until I can be at home to celebrate it (maybe one day soon). So I wanted to dress up as a really cool vampire this year, and I wanted to find a large hooded cloak for my costume. I searched and searched and searched and came up with nothing. No costume shops stocked with Halloween delights here. I can't really blame them, Halloween is an American thing and Bruges has a lot of other stuff going for it. I am just sad I couldn't find my cloak. But I will figure something out. Anyway, I give my first Rotary presentation tomorrow to my host Rotary Club. I am pretty excited about that! I am glad to be making some more contacts and I hope my presentation goes well. Wish me luck!
Also in recent news, I just found out that I got all of my first choice courses for next term and my preferred thesis advisor! YAY!! The only downside is that my advisor has asked for a thesis outline by November 25. Wait. We're supposed to write a thesis this year? Oh yeah, I forgot. What with all of these other things to do . . . .
But I will just deal with that later. Next semester to be exact. Although, the way things are moving, that is tomorrow. Hahaha. Deliriously funny.
Ok, well that has pretty much been my week. I am now going to make a vain, but hopefully successful attempt to finish one of my papers tonight. Happy Friday.

Peace, love, and waffles.

PS, a huge shout out to Erin who sent me a GINORMOUS package this week. The other American students have been hitting me up for gum ever since. :) And I am not going to lie, I have been eating the peanut butter with a spoon. So thanks, love!

PPS, due to the sudden influx of home-country generosity, I will no longer be in need of candy for quite some time. I will, however, be accepting other donations of non-edible, fun, frivolous goodies that can fit easily in a box. Just in case anyone was interested. :)

Ok,ok, seriously, I'll stop now. Have a good night everyone!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

One Class Down

Today marked a sad day in my so-far short but somehow very long career at the College of Europe. This afternoon I had my last negotiation skills class with Dr. Meerts. I know I raved about it before, but honestly, it definitely ranked in the top five favorite classes of my entire academic career. And that is saying something. To make the class even more fantastic, Dr. Meerts told us not to study for the final. It will all be "common sense" according to him. Wow. I will probably end up studying anyway, but I definitely feel a little bit better. Now there are just those other pesky five courses to worry about. Shoot, I wish my European Legal Aspects professor would say "don't worry about the final." Better yet, I wish exams were voluntary. Why do we need grades anyway? I know this is a question I have posed several times to my family, but it is a valid point. If you want to learn, you will do the work whether or not someone assigns you an arbitrary number/letter for your efforts. In fact, there is a school in Washington that advertises its "no grades policy" and I must admit that it is quite attractive. (Ok, so I probably wouldn't fit in with all of the hippies, but I bet I could manage if it meant no more grades). I learn just as much from thorough debate, discussion, lecture, and research than from cramming for a three hour exam that may determine my entire future. I do wonder why grading persists in the academic world, especially at the post-graduate level. Why don't we just have someone checking up on us every once in awhile making sure we are getting along alright with the assigned work? I mean, at this point, aren't we supposed to be studying things we REALLY want to study? And aren't we basically professional students? So what is the point of asking me three essay questions on an exam and then making assumptions about my total knowledge of an entire subject based upon that? It really is not very logical if you think about it. And the fact that institutions of higher learning have persisted in this practice for hundreds of years only demonstrates a clear lack of creativity and innovation. The only thing an exam does is convince me that I never want to read, see, or hear anything about the subject for the rest of my life. They succeed at beating all motivation and drive to learn straight out of me. So instead of enjoying learning about the European Union in a relaxed and stimulating environment that inspires me to learn more, I am hit with that familiar dread that creeps up on me every fall. That feeling in the pit of your stomach warning you that failure is always a possibility; no matter who you are; no matter how hard you work. And so that familiar dread has begun to settle over me once again as October comes to a close. Halloween may be approaching, but the only thing I am frightened of is my own ability to answer exam questions about every aspect of the European Union I never knew existed. Wish me luck and perhaps write your congressmen and ministers of education proposing the eradication of grades from schools in an attempt to end anxiety disorders and increase student life-expectancy.

Monday, October 26, 2009

BOOTS!!!!

They are wonderful and amazing and absolutely fabulous! But I refuse to say how much I paid for them. Who says there is no market for Shoe Stop, Payless, and DSW in Europe? I could have used one today. Oh well, I love my new boots! Now I can bury the old ones. They served me well.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Token "Pretty Picture" from My Walk Today

It's a Good Thing . . .

That I named this blog "Let Them Eat Waffles" and NOT "Let Them Eat Cake" because I learned last night that, for all intents and purposes, cake does not exist in Belgium. Ok, I will qualify this statement: to my horror, cake is not served at ANY of the dozens of restaurants in Bruges.
This gruesome discovery occurred last night when my friend Oran and I were discussing desserts at dinner in the cafeteria. We arrived at the conclusion that we both wanted a large piece of warm, possibly molten, chocolate cake. So after dinner, at around 8:30, we ventured out on what would turn into an hour-long search for cake. I believe we read the menus of about 25+ restaurants. Each and every one of them serves: creme brulee, mousse au chocolat, and various flavors of ice cream. Occasionally someone would advertise tiramisu or a tarte aux pommes. But cake? Forget about it. Finally, Oran and I were getting so desperate (we refused to give up on our search for at least some kind of dessert) that we settled on a restaurant advertising homemade apple pie. We walked in and saw three empty tables in the front room. One was reserved for two people, the other two were open. The host came up to us and we said we would like to be seated for dessert. The man told us we could not possibly do that. If we wanted to stay, we had to order dinner. I was FLABBERGASTED!! What the heck? You have empty seats in your restaurant, we are paying customers, but you are going to refuse us because all we would like is dessert and coffee?? I am sorry, but if you went into almost ANY establishment in the United States, they would feed you as much dessert as you wanted. And they would have chocolate cake.
Needless to say, I was a bit indignant (if any of you know my mother, just picture how she would react in this situation: not pretty). I told the host that his policy was ridiculous. He proceeded to "wish us luck" saying that we would be hard pressed to find a restaurant in Bruges that would only serve dessert at this hour. AT THIS HOUR?? It was 9:30!!! He then said that most dessert establishments closed around 6:00. I am sorry, but what kind of sense does that make. I don't care what country you are in; dessert comes AFTER dinner. So we left, I yelled a little bit in the street (you've got to live up to the stereotypes when they are appropriate) and we proceeded on our quest. We finally decided to give up on the cake part of the plan and just find someone to prove that incredibly pompous host wrong. After another 15 minutes, we found a nearly empty tapas bar and hesitantly asked the waitress if we could order some dessert and coffee. "Well of course" she said (with a smile, no less). She then apologized for the limited menu. This place was quickly becoming my new favorite place in Bruges. I had a magnificent creme brulee and a GIANT cafe au lait. Perfection. And to top it off, Oran was kind enough to pay. Such a gentleman. I promised that as soon as we found cake, I would treat him. Sadly, I am not anticipating this situation ever happening. Alas, how can a place that is famous for its chocolate and waffles not figure out how to put these two concepts together into cake form? This was a deeply upsetting revelation and I thought it must be shared.
If any Belgian reading this post knows where I can find chocolate cake in Bruges, please inform me! I would hate to spend the next few months of my time here believing that cake does not exist in this part of the world. I would also hate for last night to be the event that formed my opinion of Bruges's restaurant scene.
Anyway, I suppose things worked out. It is just a shame that restaurants refuse customers like that. That is not what I call a successful business model. In addition, it is just a bit rude.
Perhaps I will just have to come back to Bruges after all of this and open a dessert bar that serves every kind of cake you could possibly desire at any hour you may desire to eat it.
That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the rant.

Peace, Love, and for the Love of Pete, CAKE!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Check Out My Loot!

I love the US Postal Service

This post is dedicated to Min and Papa, my lovely grandparents who sent me the biggest package known to man today! It was such a great surprise and it must have cost more to ship than to fill with goodies, so know that it is very very very very highly appreciated! It was full of sooooo many perfect things! I have been searching for a cute, sturdy, colorful umbrella for the past few weeks now to deal with these rainy Belgian days and I opened my package today and Voila, there was the perfect umbrella! I am beyond excited! I also came across more candy than I have seen since the last Halloween I went trick-or-treating. WARNING: many of these items contain nuts! Which is a good thing! Because I have not had a payday in about a year. My word, I ate one right away I am not ashamed to say. It was perfection in packaged-food form. Then I split some of my peanut M&Ms with Angelica and Rita and contemplated ways to spend my iTunes gift card. Every item in the box was a total surprise and each one was exactly what I needed! Everyone in my residence is super jealous because I have gotten like three packages since arriving (thanks to the fam!). But I just tell them to start a blog and start asking their readers to send them things. Hahahaha! But seriously, Min and Papa, you guys are the best. You rock; you are awesome; I love you! (For more than just packages I promise).
The package was very much needed today. I had 8.5 hours of lecture which began at 9:30 this morning and went until 10:00 tonight. Humans are not born with an attention span to deal with such things. Even after 20 years of formal school and hundreds of hours honing my attention skills, I was unable to cope. My notebook pages are sporting some stars, calligraphy, and other various doodles in addition to information on European Union financial market regulation standards. Oops, oh well. So it was a good thing today is Thursday and the student bar was open! I went and had a couple of drinks with my very best Italian, Portuguese, Colombian . . . everything friends, and then came back here to write about my day.
This weekend holds the promise of a paper-writing extravaganza, but I am hoping to have some fun as well. I need to go shopping. My boots, my beautiful brown leather riding boots from Paris, finally died yesterday when the sole separated from the rest of the shoe completely. These cobbled streets are not conducive to maintaining quality footwear. Alas, I guess this just means that I HAVE to get a new pair of boots. Gee, I am so disappointed (please note sarcasm). I would rather not spend the money . . . but then again, yes I would. So when I have them you will see them!
Well, I suppose that is enough information for one evening. I must be up early tomorrow for more enthralling lectures on EU Competition Policy.

Peace, love, and PACKAGES!!!
Ali

Monday, October 19, 2009

Ok So

I debated about posting now as opposed to tomorrow, but I decided on now because I would like to put off homework for at least another 20 minutes.
Today was busy. Four and a half hours of sleep followed by seven hours of lecture required a total of 4 cappuccinos and a diet coke to make it through the day. I had a German test this morning, which I think went alright, but it was also the reason for the lack of sleep. Then there was a tutorial with student presentations followed by my Diplomacy Today course. Wow that was intense. My weekend was semi-enjoyable. The party our residence hosted on Saturday night was really fun, really crazy, and an utter disgusting mess to clean up in the morning. I got up early on Sunday to study but ended up cleaning until 2:00 in the afternoon. After what I dealt with I have officially been declared exempt from cleaning for the rest of the year. I agree with this decision. Nasty.
On a lighter note, I went out to dinner with some friends on Sunday night. It was WONDERFUL!!!!! It was a tiny local restaurant run by a husband and wife with classic Belgian fare. I ordered the croquettes de Herve with a small salad, followed by a wonderful beef stew with potatoes and a baked apple, and I finished the meal with a dessert of white mousse with amaretto. DELICIOUS! And so relaxing. The only problem was we did not get back from dinner until 11:00 and I still had to do some cramming for that German test. Oh, well. It was worth it.
I also almost had a heart attack today. I looked at my calendar and realized that it is October 19th, not October 3rd. When did this happen? I have three papers due the first two weeks of November and I was counting on that being a long time from now. Reality check. So, needless to say, I need to get myself going. Any ideas on self-motivation?

One last thing. If anyone is planning on sending something my way (ahem ahem . . . just kidding, no pressure), would you be so kind as to include several packages of Orbit gum in the Bubblemint flavor? Your contribution to my daily happiness is much appreciated. Like I said, no pressure. Hehehehe.

Anyway, enough rambling. Have a great Tuesday.
Peace, love, and waffles.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Is it Saturday . . . Already?

Hard to believe, but another week has passed! And thank goodness this week was better than the last one! The highlight of my week was having dinner with Paul and Kaatje at there home in Brugge. It was lovely! And it was sooooooo necessary. I came over about 7:00 and stayed until 10:30. We had wonderful conversation and got some dates scheduled for my Rotary presentations. Most importantly, I discovered there is life outside of the College of Europe; real life - with kitchens, and couches, and families, and other things and people that have nothing to do with school. It was refreshing and revitalizing.
It was also very interesting. At one point during the conversation, Paul asked me what I wanted to do after the College (always my favorite question: not). I gave my usual answer of "I have no earthly idea," but then decided to qualify it a bit. I explained that before I came to the College (hereafter referred to as CoE), I thought I might go for another degree afterwards, find a job and stay in Europe working for the EU, do a one year teaching assistantship in France, etc. I then proceeded to explain that after being at the CoE, my ideas had somewhat changed. First, I am most certainly NOT going for another degree right after this one. I will be done with school for a while after this year. The teaching assistantship in France is still an option, but the longer I am here, the more I think that I will be done with Europe after this (at least for a little while). I love Europe; always have. But the world is so big and I would like to see where else I may fall in love with. That being said, a little voice in the back of my head keeps saying "South Africa" and I must admit that I would LOVE to go back to Africa. Last but not least is something I never thought I would want. But I have been away from home for five years now (impossible to believe), and there is a big part of me that would really like to come back to the US when I am finished here. I will never be done with traveling, and goodness knows I am usually not the type of person to stay in one place for long, but there is always that desire to go back to what you know. And even more than that, living abroad makes you appreciate home and living close to your family. It also tells you where your loyalties lie. I love the US. I love what we stand for, I love how we do things, I love American culture and I love that I am an American (I won't start singing, don't worry). But I am serious. Europe is still appealing and I will always love it, but I will NEVER give up my US citizenship (although I might be persuaded to accept dual citizenship somewhere).
So I still don't know what I want to do come June 21, but I do know myself a little better everyday and I suppose that is something.
As for right now, I am looking forward to my weekend and I will keep working hard to finish this crazy idea called my masters degree.

Peace, Love, and Waffles

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Cold Cold

I do believe winter arrived today. I admit I was a little sad to have to break out my mittens in October, but it was a beautiful sunny day, so I can't complain about the cold too much. It is just tough to swallow that it is already the middle of October!!! Time is absolutely flying! Yesterday was Sunday right? So how is tomorrow Thursday? I am telling you, it is crazy. Anyway, happy Wednesday. I am looking forward to Thursday this week because I am having dinner with my host Rotarian, Paul, and his wife at their home. I am so excited to go to someone's HOUSE! And to eat a home-cooked meal. Not that the canteen isn't great . . . let's face it, it's not great. So tomorrow should be relaxing, fun, and delicious. Yay! Then, after dinner is Oktoberfest at the student bar (there is a bar in the basement of one of the student residences that a group of students runs every Thursday. Kind of a different extracurricular activity, but hey, it's Europe). Anyway, we are celebrating all of the October birthdays so it should be fun!
As far as school goes . . . well I won't go into too much detail. But I have submitted my thesis topic, so that is a load off my mind. It was approved by the academic assistant so now I just have to write it. HA! I also finally gave in and joined a reading group. My personal jury is still out on that one, but after last week's emotional debacle, I had to do something. I have already discovered that it is not humanly possible to finish all of the readings on my own (for instance, for this week we had over 700 pages assigned). But I don't usually trust other people when it comes to my academic life, so this was a dilemma if I have ever experienced one. Anyway, I joined a group and we are splitting all of the readings for all of the courses. Everyone reads a few of the articles and then writes a detailed summary to submit to the group. Then we meet every week to make sure everyone is on the same page and keeping up. It should work, I am just really nervous about trusting other people to do MY work. We'll see.
One final note. I had mentioned earlier that I would be posting more photos this week. Yeah, so I definitely have left my camera in my room every day this week. Sorry! Lots on my mind. Maybe tomorrow I will remember to take it! Let's hope. Anyway, long post, I'll let you go.

Have a great rest of the week!
Love

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Happy Birthday Dad!

This is a special birthday post dedicated to my Dad. I have always loved his birthday because it falls on October 13th which means it occasionally falls on Friday the 13th! And I love spooky October days! Anyway, Happy Birthday Daddy! I love you and I wish I could be at home to celebrate with you and to bake you a cake! We'll shoot for next year. :)

As a side note to the rest of you; if you are interested in getting your own personal birthday shout-out on the blog, simply send me an email reminder just before your birthday (ali.pauluhn@gmail.com). Thanks!

PS, happy belated birthday Erica!!!! I hope it was great!

Peace, love, and I am so getting a waffle today.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

It Sounds Like Home Outside

Because there is a HUGE thunderstorm right now! It is so exciting! I love storms! I missed tornado season in the US, so it looks like Belgium is paying me back just a little bit. On a practical note, a couple more hours of reading and I should be ready to face the week, thesis topic in hand. This week should be better than last because I believe we have about half as many hours of lecture. :) YAY! So maybe I can catch up a bit. I hope! Good night everyone! I hope you are having a particularly stormy evening.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Late Breaking News

Ok, so rumor has it that I might actually have a thesis topic. A few more hours of research should tell me for sure. So look for an update soon. This is huge. If I can get this figured out I will feel so much better! So if everyone could just hope and pray that no one has done it before, I would really appreciate it.
In other news, thank goodness for weekends. This was my first weekend without a Saturday class and it was really necessary. I hung out with some quality friends on Friday night and we watched a movie and shared a bottle of wine. I love chill evenings. I am not too much of a party girl, so I always love it when I find people who are happy to hang out in their pajamas with a movie and great conversation. My friends here are awesome!
Today was good. I said "forget reading" and slept in. Then I went to the grocery store and bought stuff to make trail mix. I then spent my afternoon eating way too much trail mix and doing my German homework. See, I wasn't totally unproductive today! After that was a hilarious dinner at the canteen with some wonderful Portuguese and Italian friends (more quality people) followed be a beer at De Garre.
Overall, today was just what I needed. I relaxed; I accomplished a few things; and I had some fun.
Staying positive is going to be my main goal (and biggest challenge), but things are looking up for the moment.
I hope I can get out into town this week and take some more pictures. I have seriously been slacking in that department. I just hate feeling like a tourist! I realize this is silly because I am technically a semi-tourist. And tourists aren't bad. In fact, I met a lovely couple from Minneapolis today in the Markt. They stopped me and asked if I would take a picture of them in front of the Belfry. They were super nice. I also have to remind myself that I like being a tourist (this is why I travel). So hopefully I will have some more pictures to post in the near future. Until then, I am off to bed.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Peace, Love, and Waffles,
Ali

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Not a Good Time for a Blogpost

Fact: You need more than 10 months in order to conceivably finish a master's degree.

Remember that happy post about there being hope for my academic life? Forget it. Miserable day. Overwhelmed. Want to quit. In the words of The Emperor's New Groove:
"Uh, I've been turned into a cow. Can I go home?"
"You're excused."
I would officially like to know if I can be excused. This is not discouragement, this is not a bad day. This is me realizing that this is simply not humanly possible.

Sorry to be a bummer, but I don't have anything else to say at the moment.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

My Brain Hurts

I had eight hours of lecture today. I haven't had that much solid school since high school. That was four years ago. I think that attention spans actually grow shorter as you get older. Someone should do a study. Anyway, it was rainy again today, and, shocker, the forecast calls for rain everyday this week. In addition to a new umbrella, I may also need to invest in a mac and some new wellies. We'll see. Anyway, back to class today. Despite being cooped up for a cruel and unusually long time, class was pretty awesome today. Yes, awesome. This favorable description is due to the fact that our International Negotiation class began today. The professor, Dr. Paul Meerts, is fantastic! And trust me, I know a good professor when I see one. The class itself was so fun! Instead of 200 pages of reading followed be 5 hours of lecture that sounds exactly like the reading (ok, this is a generalization, but still), we actually NEGOTIATED!! Turns out this is a practical course. We have a workbook, we do exercises, have mini negotiations, and actually have the opportunity to participate, interact, and feel as if we are learning some truly practical skills. It was sooooooo much fun! This is what I want to do if I end up in politics. I want to be in the room making the important deals. I love it! It is great! I am actually looking forward to next week's five hour course! That's saying something. So it may have been raining today, but the sun is shining (at least momentarily) on my academic life. There is hope dear friends.
Enough gushing about courses. I'll let you go. Have a great morning, afternoon, or night (depending on your time zone)!

Love

Monday, October 5, 2009

Under My Umbrella

Rainy Day

The magic spell has been broken and rain has returned to Bruges. I woke up this morning to a wet and dreary world and to the realization that fall has arrived. The clouds hung low over the city and by the time I had walked from my room to the library, my boots, tights, and skirt were completely soaked, despite the best efforts of my tiny umbrella. I am definitely going to need to upgrade! Despite the misery of walking around wet, squishy, and generally saddened by the knowledge that these words will probably describe the next five months of my life here, I had a pretty good Monday. It was a busy busy busy day. But I was highly productive. It feels good. Classes are in full swing this week which means lots and lots of reading, but that is grad school for you.
On a happy note, I must admit that I broke down yesterday and bought an iTunes season pass for Survivor:Samoa. After an interestingly precarious history with authority, I decided not to join the masses in illegal downloading. However, I also realized that I simply needed to be able to follow this season of Survivor. It is like a little reminder of home and it is very very good to have. I am currently in negotiations with myself to buy passes for Glee and The Office. I will let you know how they go. After all, I do not exactly have much free time for television. At the same time, my sanity kind of depends upon the blessed mental break watching a show like The Office or Survivor offers. So, really, the lesson here is that, in life, you need balance. And balance I shall. Bring it on.

Happy rainy day from Bruges!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Just FYI

Watching Martha Stewart when you do not have access to a kitchen is TORTURE! Yesterday I watched four segments on cookie making and today I watched her make an awesome plum galette. So the entire day yesterday was spent craving a chocolate chip cookie or a chewy warm oatmeal cookie, and today, all I wanted was pie. It is not that I desperately want to eat these things (although, always a perk of baking) it is that I want to MAKE them!
I am looking forward to the day (which is hopefully fast approaching) when I have my own kitchen and I can make cookies, galettes, pies (apple!), and scones (pumpkin!!) any time I darn well please. That will be the day when all is right with the world.
For now, I MUST stop torturing myself. Alas, I just love Martha.
Note to self: upon graduation and return to the States (or not), buy a KitchenAid stand mixer. Thanks.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Strike that, Reverse It

The last post that is! A ho hum day turned into lots of fun in the end. Too bad I posted before 10:00 p.m. Some exciting things happened after all. First, I GOT A PACKAGE!!! For those of you who do not know me very well, know this, I love getting mail. Any type of mail is accepted. Letters, packages, postcards, emails, comments, even Twitter replies and Facebook messages and wall posts can really brighten my day. So, needless to say, the package was pretty key to my wonderful evening! It contained: Peanut M&M's, an iTunes card (sooooo necessary right now!), gummy bears (my favorite), and . . . a set of really nice markers!!!! I love crafting, and being without my art supplies is really tough. So the markers absolutely made my day!! Thanks Mom and Dad! And in case you are interested, you too can contribute to my happiness. Send me an email, write me a letter, put some yummy American things in a box and send them my way. A gesture such as this will earn you a personal mention on the blog as well as a lifelong spot on my "Favorite People of All Time" list. So think about it. :)
My address is:

Europa College
Ali Pauluhn Room BI-025
Wijnzakstraat, 1
8000 Brugge
Belgium

But seriously, I just like to hear from people.

Another happy addition to my day was attending my first extracurricular activity meeting! We are forming a theater group and I have joined the club. We spent the evening playing really hilarious improv games a la "Whose Line is it Anyway" and then went for drinks at De Repuliek. Fun times. Now it is off to serious matters such as submitting a paper topic for my political economy course. At least most of my day was pretty amazing!

Happy Friday to all and to all a good night!

Ho Hum

This will indeed be the last time in the next few months that I utter that phrase or use it to describe my life. The workload here has been steady but not impossible, and so far I have had more days without class than with class. Next week, that will change as I have been informed that all hell about to break loose. My thesis topic is officially due (yeah, still working that one out) and four more courses are added to our weekly schedule. Yikes! A part of me is really dreading the pace I know I will have to start working at, but another part of me is excited to have something more to do. I usually do better when I am busier (usually :). We will have to see.
Anyway, today was a pretty good day. Not really much to report. I was really excited this afternoon because my friend Sally was talking about visiting this weekend from Lyon, France. But then she looked at last minute train/airfare and discovered that coming to Bruges tomorrow was not such a financially responsible decision. I totally understand, but nevertheless, it takes away a little from the anticipation for the weekend. Now I don't have an excuse to get out of studying. The prospect of a visitor did, however, prompt me to buy another blanket, pillow and towel to have handy. So if anyone is going to be in the vicinity within the next few months, you have a great place to stay! Feel free to drop in anytime; just let me know! (I mean it).

I hope all of you readers, wherever you are, have had a wonderful week and are looking forward to a relaxing weekend. I know I am.

Peace, love, and waffles.