We went to Brussels the weekend after Valencia to go to the Christmas markets!! god it was cold!!! But it was also awesome. Hanna and I left on Thursday and came back on a Sunday, and it was a long weekend, so we had a few days there.
Belgium is basically four things: Beer, Waffles, Fries, and Christmas Markets. I kind of knew this going in, but our travels confirmed it completely. Also, as you can tell I don't remember a ton of this trip lol because so much has happened since, but I also think we really just drank and had a nice time.
Brussels:
our hostel was super cute and cozy
somehow we were always running to different trains/busses and always made it except for one time at midnight we totally failed getting the subway
pro-tip for people headed to Brussels: the airport shuttle bus lines are LONG! go EARLY!
watched the world cup games
I dared Hanna to make friends because she gets nervous going up to people and she did it!
got drunk and made friends from Venezuela (?) who were a bit too touchy and the guy who kept trying to dance with me knocked over an entire table of empty beer glasses and broke them on the floor so we ditched them
then met some cute Belgians in the smoking room but we ended up smelling like cigarettes for the rest of the trip and I don't even smoke tobacco
Boo France!
saw the Atomium thingy that was neato
we didn't want to pay to go up into it so we just laid on the ground under it and totally got the giggles it was funny
Christmas markets were so cute
lots of mulled wine
also hot chocolate
went ice skating
went on the ferris wheel and overlooked the city at night
we did Belgian beer flights at one restaurant but didn't want to buy food because it was too expensive so we got a good buzz going lol
cooked dinner in the hostel which was yummy and nice
went to an awesome thrift store that charged 15 euro a kg so I got great jeans for 10$
felt very Christmassy because it was so cold out, which was really nice because Alicante was super Christmassy decorated but not at all in terms of weather
vegan waffles
saw a cool lights show on the town hall
one thing I didn't love is that the people could be a bit abrupt and cold, kind of german-frenchy (makes sense geographically lol)
this did make me feel less insecure about my interactions with an old astrobiology advisor who is Belgian though, I always thought he didn't like me but now I think he's just... Belgian
wore my hats and gloves and scarf and felt very cool-wintry-European
it snowed on us a little bit!! so cute!!
I am trying to remember what we did but honestly we just wandered around eating and drinking and being merry in the markets... it was kind of fantastic
Bruges:
We did a day trip via train to Bruges which is a nearby town that Hanna had seen online and we thought would be cute!
we wandered around the city for a while-- it was beautiful and had these nice canals
lots of fantastic moss and rocks
very crowded and touristy
Hanna had to buy chocolates because the lady didn't like her just taking pictures
they were SO TASTY THOUGH
vegan waffles part 2
we struggled to find places to eat because it was full of tourists and everywhere was booked
I bought a beautiful crochet tote bag from these lovely ladies in a female-led cooperative pop-up store (sounds very LA tbh) and I love my tote so much
there were randomly a lot of Boba shops but we didn't have time for me to get any RIP
lovely train ride to Brussels again and an easy flight home!!
PHOTOS!
Also, updates from the most recent form!!
Thank you guys for providing me support and cuteness and music during the stressful application cycle!! I'm officially applied to my PhDs, and I'm going to see how that goes before I apply to any Masters abroad.
Winner of the cutest baby photo goes to Ric, specifically for these toes right here:
Winner of the cutest animal was tough but I really miss Ranger and so getting photos of him from Spilder was so lovely. Here's one that Wilder texted me where he looks super majestic:
I have also made a playlist of all the song recs and will be shuffling them :)
Updates on your lives:
Oslokate does not know what "que pasa?" means... someone tell her she lives in LA... literally two hours from Mexico...
Riccy is moving to NYC (miss n love you too <3)
Taco is going abroad!!! will be seeing her in Italy maybe!!
Mitraclover is on the MCAT grind, we wish you luck soldier
many of you Midas girlies went skiing and snowboarding and I am super jealous and I have lots of fomo
Michael is back job searching but he's gonna crush it because he's super smart and awesome and any of those non-profits would be lucky to have him change the world and not profit from it
Cousins you need to do better and filling out forms what is this
None of us are good at math because I got a huge range of responses on my application math question, so let us all pray to the Gods of The University of Washington that they may let me into their Astrobiology program
Amen
but also thank you for the kind words <3
Love and hugs!! The next upcoming blog post (on my Christmas and holidays in Alicante) will have the next form link I promise <3
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