Thus far..What a Week?!?

I am starting to think that there needs to be a running tally of how much I lose in Belgium. For you all understand this, let me recap my Monday.

MONDAY:

You now know Eleah's and my drill for Mondays...be lazy. Which we were doing, however we were attending the "Love Boat Party" that night sponsored by Liege's Erasmus. In other words, I did not heed the advise of my mother in packing one of my dresses from home....and well.....I had to buy a dress or something "nice" to wear to this party.....GREAT?!?! So off to the mall Eleah and I go. Upon finding this wonderful dress at H&M (side note....I will probably be a walking/talking H&M add when I get home) that I have been watching since I left the States. So needless to say after trying on 4 (yes FOUR) dress, I picked the one I have wanted for a while. Okay, deed one is done, now to meet up with Heiny and Kaite to buy our tickets to: the Love Boat Party, Beer Tasting Extravaganza, and a weekend trip to Berlin. So after about an hour Erasmus and convincingly taken a lot of my money. However, I have and will make memories that I will never forget (good or bad). So meandering around town buying little things that will finish out our outfits, Eleah and I decide it was time to go home for a much needed nap. Deciding it would be easier to get ready at City Living (plus we still did not have internet) we packed up our equipment and lugged our way to our Mecca. Wasting time skyping and just being lazy, we start to enjoy our evening. To throughly describe this evening, I will explain it like a roller coaster ride. I was climbing the big hill, so sooner or later I will eventually hit a major slump. After a couple of hours, we start to get ready. You all know the drill, curling the hair, applying our goop to the face and checking ourselves out making sure there isn't anything too bad staring back at us. Once through the ordeal, we start pre-gaming downstairs. I was splitting a bottle of good red dry wine with Zsussy. Again documenting the night, we all do the signature "beginning" photos. Clumsily carrying a roommate to the boat (in high heels on coble stones - please insert applause), we finally arrive at the party. Okay, in my mind I was imagining a bigger boat like the Casino Queen in STL, but no it is more like a converted shrimp boat - strike one in my book. But still enjoying the evening, I play on.

Throughout the night, my group start to disintegrate around me - not cool. Apparently Katie was not even there for more than 30minutes (I am sure you can guess why). Eleah flitted off with a couple of guys and unbeknownst to me, Heiny lost her keys (she went in search of them without telling me). So, when I was more than ready to leave, I had no one around me. NO ONE!!! I found Eleah's shoes and coat, but no Eleah and I had no idea about the other two till later. So, needing to get out of the sardine can called a club, I sat topside on one of the "seats" available to drunks or people like me. Calling and calling people, I finally get a hold of Katie. Who now tells me at least one piece of this seriously disturbed pie. About 25minutes later I see the other two come wondering back to the boat. By this time I was a little panicked and when I finally saw them - I loosened my grip on my phone and yes you can guess what happened. My phone took a nice dive into La Muese. (PAUSE - CRY with me please) Yes I said it, my phone is gone. All I wanted to do was dive into the water; not to get my phone, but just to feel numb. I just wanted to be in the water. Through this experience I have realized that being by water when I am pissed, makes me feel better. But now I am on the river, so logically (at the time) I wanted to be in the water. Yeah, thank you Lord I did not go in.

So feeling less than stellar, our friend Reuben offers to drive Eleah and I back to City Living. Thank you Reuben!!!

Somehow I got back up to Katie's room. Then the two drunkies went out to get food and I literally balled to my mother via skype. I have to say that losing two important/expensive technologies within one month (and put the regular class stress as whip topping) why wouldn't one cry like a baby to their mother, just want to go home. I am not ashamed to say it, I felt like crap...and worse.

So feeling depressed yet again, I rally Eleah back home.

End Monday.

TUESDAY:

I bet you can guess what happened that day....I slept and slept. Then I skyped my dad to talk and help me with a major computer problem, and attempted to do Advance Operations Research homework. So the computer problem took over 4hours on skype not to fix it, thus a fried brain does not help when doing homework.

End Tuesday - very unproductive and I am very okay with that.

WEDNESDAY:

Waking up as early as one can without an alarm, I start on my homework. Only to find out that I had to be at school early and had to do the homework in a group of 4. I was doing it by myself...fml! So this homework and subsequent class will probably be extremely homework and self study intensive - WONDERFUL!

Remember that computer problem I was having, that problem is a result of my Windows Installer not working - thus I do not have the program I need for Adv OR. Again not at 100% I grovel my way to the GA office to help me with my homework. And YIKES!! was I not prepared for the math intensity of this class. But I will overcome this class!

After class I go upstairs to find the elusive IT Department that Liege has..go figure. Wasting more than a few hours of them attempting to solve my problem. I leave feeling exactly how I was on Tuesday. Crawling home to lick my proverbial wounds, I settle in for an evening at home. (Remember I still do not have a phone yet.) Watching some American TV shows, buying my ticket to Paris, and making dinner just about wraps up my evening.

End Wednesday.

THURSDAY:

OOOO goodness its German class today and I still do not have the books needed for class. I would like to give my thanks to the European Post service and Intercopy on Sart-Tilman's campus for making me look like a baby. THANK YOU!

So German class, about that....I did participate thanks to another student that let me look off of her book. But I still am not sure on the homework. And on top of that I still have last semester in that class to make up so I can get all of my ECTS credits to transfer. Yep, isn't my life easy. To top off the self-pity, Eleah tells me the other day to drop all of my hard classes so I can entertain her. If anybody knows me well enough....I am attempting to let it slide. I know it was made in jest, but my college career is not funny....yes I am a tad serious on this point...so shoot me. But at the end of the day, Life is what you make it, and I am blessed with a good Heavenly Father to give me the Life that I can handle and excel in.

So, what am I going to do today?? See if the IT department can give another shot at my PC, maybe get a cell phone, French Class, beer thingy tonight and review International Logistics for tomorrow. OOO YEH, I am living the dream! :)

The Week that didn't end

WOW…what a week!! Well I will do a brief recap of the week (Sunday to Sunday).

****Eleah and I do not have any internet at our place the entire week! ***

Sunday (2/6/2011):

The day started out with a blissful morning of sleeping in till mid-morning. Slowly we pull ourselves out of bed and make some coffee to enjoy the morning. This is starting to be more common place now because last semester I was at work at 10:30am – 6pm. Waking up to our Ethiopian coffee, we decide it is time to explore our side of town. So getting dressed, we put on our exploring faces and head out into the mild February weather. Basking in the slight windy weather and scouting out places we wanted to frequent on our side, we stroll down the street till it becomes less than desirable. With our stomachs complaining of the lack of food, we put our noses to the ground to sniff out some good food. And what do you know; we found a Pita place we like... (double whammy) we meet some Americans! I know it sounds great, but these three men we some of the most ignorant people we had ever met. They stroll into the place acting like the own it. I know we Americans tend to do this, however on top of this they treat the owner with distain. Apparently these men were never taught the lesson of respect. Respect for another’s customs and culture and attempting to speak (albeit broken) the language of the country. To finish it off (after introducing ourselves), these men turn their noses up at us for whatever reason. I know I was warned about the change in my attitude towards Americans, but this was insulting even to me. How rude can a person be to belittle another person (whether or not they are of your nationality)?

Question: Do all Americans do this??
Answer: NO!! It is just the stupid, insulate **wholes of the people who are not taught to be kind and considerate!

Okay, enough of that! Anyways after getting our pitas, we stumble upon this interesting looking bakery. So like any female, we crowd around the chocolate baked goods. Upon spotting a chocolate covered waffle, we purchase it. However to our dismay, it reminded us of a chocolate Hostess cake….YUK! But still being girls, we finish the chocolate waffle while we watch “V for Vendetta” back in our flat. After being little fatties and watching our movie, we decide to meet up with the girls at City Living. Hanging out for a while creating our school schedule and whatnot, Eleah and I decided to head home. And that is the end of our lazy Sunday.

Monday:

Since I just put my schedule together the night before, I decided Monday morning is my sleep in morning (again). Having no class on Monday, Eleah start to repeat our Sunday process. Enjoying some coffee, our new theme song (Dog Days Are Over by Florence and the Machine), and staring out our window (over looking the river) Eleah and I start our day. ****Pause, you may now be jealous! ****
After some time has passed, we get dressed and go shopping at our mall. I have been keeping my eye on this shirt dress at H&M for a while…and I just wanted the dress. So making that one of our stops, we pick that up and enjoy walking around the mall for a while. As the hours pass, Eleah starts to not feel that great. So walking to the grocery store inside the mall to pick up something to settle her stomach; we go home to munch on our “lunch” before we go to City Living to steal the internet. During our down time, we read our books that we brought with us or just sleep. Hours later, we are desperate for some internet. So packing up our gear, we head out for our beloved connection to the world.
Finishing our trek through the concrete jungle of Liege to reach our Mecca, we hop on the internet and surf to our hearts content. Once I put on my cyber bathing suit, I hop onto Facebook and Skype (my local crack currently) to see what is going on. And what do you know; I have received a nasty gram from someone close to me. So taking a tailspin right out of Happy Land and straight into Depressedville, I make a Skype call to my mom to discuss the situation. Upon finding myself setting residency in my new home, I decide it was time to get off of the internet and head over to ULg for our French test (this one is to place us into French classes for the semester). After breezing through the test (I wonder why??), I boot up my computer to find one of my best friends on Skype. So naturally I complain about my problem, getting all of my pissed off feeling out. (Yes later I understood the situation and respected what was said, but not at that time.) Feeling like I have a kindred ear miles and miles away, I start to feel a little less hurt and…well more mad. Trying not to let it consume me as Eleah, Katie D. and I walk back to City Living, I decide it was better just not to talk.
Letting my new besties get my mind off of my anger, we decide to go out. We went to Cuba’r again (ugg!) and Pot au Lait. I had a good time, but I believe I would have been more fun if I was not on edge from my anger. But life does not always go “Hunky – Dory” so I picked up my toys and went on home with Heiny. Waiting for the younger girls (Eleah and Katie D.) to get outside, Heiny and I just talk. (I think that was probably the best thing I could have done…just talk the hurt out.)
Guiding our little drunkies back to City Living, Heiny and I continue to bond. To end the night yawning and wishing for my own bed, I drag Eleah out of City Living and back home. OOOO!! Not to mention I have an 8am German class the next morning!! Can you say…SLEEP!

Tuesday:

Waking up to a blaring alarm, I roll out of bed and drop to the floor. Haggled, is an understatement to how I felt. Slowly coming around, I start to get dressed and packed for school. Stumbling into the bathroom to scrub the sleep from my face and apply very minimal amount of makeup to the face (so I do not scare people), I run smack into Ben. Ben is the guy Eleah and I share a flat with. Remembering that we both have German class today at 8am (two different classes), we get ready together. Run a tad behind on my schedule (meaning we were early on Belgian time) I push Benngy along. (Benngy is the nickname we have for him...Sorry Ben.) Rushing along, we cross paths with Benngy’s friend named….well I do not actually know…he will now be referred to as Mr. Awkward. Apparently Mr. Awkward and I have class together. Okay, that is fine. But I have one slight HUGE problem, unbeknownst to me my German class is a yearlong class…WONDERFUL! So sitting through a bit of it, the teacher pulls me aside and we start to talk about what I am doing here, why I need this class, and whether or not I should talk to Muriel (my coordinator over here) about me dilemma. Right at my breaking point, my phone rings! OO yeh, apparently my phone is trying to inform me that I have to wake up…convenient right?!?! So feeling terribly awkward and out of my element, the teacher mentions if I wanted to go see Muriel. Naturally I jump at the opportunity to get out of there, but again I did not know that Muriel was not in yet. So sitting around upstairs waiting for her, I start planning out a solution to my problem. On the bright side, I am now out of the room. Twiddling my thumbs for a good 25minutes, I finally see Muriel. And guess what….I continue to sit for 15minutes as I listen to rapid fire French from Muriel on the phone with whoever. Thoroughly tired (mentally), I start to explain my problem about the German classes. Upon finding a solution to that, we move onto the other classes I had chosen to take (Advanced Operations Research and International Logistics)…ooo yeh I am so BA! However, Muriel does not share my same opinion. Informing me about how many international students fail Advance Operations Research, she sends me over to talk to the Assistant for the class. Quizzing this poor man about the class, it sounds like a class I can handle. Knowing that I will probably be putting in a lot of hours to prove I can do it, I decide to stay in the class. Now completing one thing, I have to wait around for the German class to end so I can talk to that teacher. Discussing my issue and the proposed solution to it, the teacher accepts and gives me the homework and book titles that I will need for class. Okay, want to hear the solution…you will just love it…I have to do last semester’s course work along with this semester’s in order to receive full credit for the class on top of the two business classes I am taking. Can you say, CRAP!!!!! Yeh, I started to feel a little depressed.
Leaving HEC with my head hung, I decide it was time for Heiny to get to know the city a little. But when I got to City Living the little lady did not answer my 3 calls up to her room. Tired of trying to be nice (about anything at this point), I go to Delifrance for breakfast, where not only am I identified as being Dutch or German, but the electricity goes out on me while I try to pay and while I am eating upstairs. Already not in the best mood ever (because of all the details thus far this week), I leisurely walk around the cathedral until Heiny texts me. Picking her up, I start walking around showing her the city for a bit. By this time it is around, we both found a cheap place for lunch, a couple of cute clothes, and finally found ZARA where I got some adorable heels for 10Euro. After compiling our trophies, we head over to ULg to do our speaking test for the French class placement. Completing this, I meet up with Eleah and Katie D. at City Living to bum some more internet. Sending out some emails and researching BJJ classes in and around Liege, Eleah and Katie go out to see a friend of ours practice their upcoming show. This friend is actually Heiny’s buddy (a buddy is someone who are given to incoming international students to help them get around and situated in Liege), Pauline, who runs a chorus of 10-15 people. While they are enjoying the impromptu performance, I am attempting not to fall asleep on Katie’s bed back at City Living. After texting Eleah to find out they will not be back for a long time, I decide it would be better if I just headed home with our stuff.
Back home safe and sound, I get ready for bed…I tell Eleah to call me when she needed in (we still only have one key) because I was going to take a nap. Yeah right a nap?!?!?! No I went to sleep and literally jump a couple of feet off of my bed when my phone rang. So groggily I stumble down the steps to let Eleah in; then proceed to fall back into bed. Good night world!

Wednesday:

Starting off another day like Sunday and Monday, Eleah and I listen to Louisiana Gumbo and try on our new clothes. Wearing my new shirt dress, I head out to Advance Operations research (a three hour class). Heading to HEC early to jump on the internet, I receive another unpleasant gram…wonderful. Deciding it would be better to save that for later, I do a little more research on classes and send out responses to other emails. Going back downstairs early for class, I find a locked door and on the schedule outside the door I see the time for my class has changed. Panicked that I am not 20minutes late for class I run upstairs to Muriel’s office for help. Stressed out, we find the time on the HEC website. There has been no time change online. Calling the teacher’s office, we confirm what the website said. And what do you know, someone at HEC had put the wrong time of the sheet outside of the door. GREAT! We will now deduct one point from me and give it to HEC for making my life crap this week.

Score: Bekah = 0 HEC = 2.

Sitting through the first lecture of Advance Operations Research, I feel a little over whelmed but not enough to drop the class. However as the evening goes on, I take a hard look at my class load. After debating with myself for hours, I decide it would be better to drop the level 3 German class Tuesday mornings at 8am. I knew International Logistics would be hard, but attempting to do these two hard Business classes, learning a new language – French, and relearning German and making up fall semester in two German classes, I just felt dead already. But I did not want to make anything final till after my German class on Thursday.
So the rest of the night was obviously spent at City Living doing something, but I do not remember. However upon closer inspection, I am pretty sure we enjoyed a slight burnt cake. While doing this, I Skyped my brother about a computer problem and watched a couple of TV shows. But overall, Wednesday was the day that I started to get over any hurt or overwhelmed feelings that I was having at the beginning of the week.

Thursday:

Another bright and sunny Liege day! Okay it was slightly cloudy and breezy, and I had another German class (without any material because I could not get a hold of anything yet!). Sitting through German level 2 class and understanding everything felt wonderful, up until the point where the person next to me would not share his book. So needless to say I was lost, but I understood everything. Just not in the right context. And since I could not follow along (thus keeping my mind on the subject) I started to day dream in German…something I have not done since high school. At the end of that class, I tell the teacher my situation about classes and inform her that I will be dropping the level 3 class. Feeling better, I head upstairs to meet Eleah before we go shopping with Pauline and the girls. Attempting to reload our phones and failing miserably at it, we decide to go on ahead and get the girls. Waiting around for the girls to get pretty, I rack my brain to remember where the “Center” is located. Let’s just say we could not find it after 15minutes and decided to get lunch (it is about 2pm at this point). Now that we have found Pauline, we all meander around the city and shop. About 3-4hours later, we all are getting tired of shopping and how convent that we all need to go to ULg. Heading there, we all get lost from one another. Heiny and I tried to wait around to find the other but gave up 15minutes of not finding them. So walking back, I start getting chilled. All I am wearing at this point is a long sleeve shirt and a sweater (because it was nice that morning) and now it is misting, windy, and just plain nasty. So popping into a store to find a cheap jacket, Heiny and I move on to City Living. Both of the Katies were not feeling that great, but Eleah and I desperately need some of our crack. So deciding on downloading movies while we had internet then going home to watch them sounded like a plan made in heaven. But there was one problem in that plan…the download takes a long time. So catching up on some shows or skyping we settle in to be there for a while. Finally tired of sitting there, we head home. But before we roost, we had to get food. So trekking home in the misty nastiness, we find some pitas and get our butts into bed for a movie. Enjoying our Girls Night In, we slip into a very relaxed state, and then sleep…yum.

Friday:

OOO lordy it is finally Friday!! Starting off our morning like Wednesday, Eleah and I get ready for our 1pm or 1:30pm class. Leaving for City Living early we find out that Eleah actually has her class at Sart-Tilman, which is a 20-40minute bus ride away. Deciding that she was going to skip class and email the professor and Muriel about the mistake, we part ways (Heiny and I to our 4hour International Logistics class and Eleah back home).
After our brains are mush, Heiny and I head home…or rather in search of some food. We found CHINESE!!! Granted we have still not found Crab Rangoon yet, but we found a cheap priced place that tasted wonderful! Now full and ready to be lazy, we head back to City Living. Enjoy my dose of crack, I skyped my daddy bear. Talking for a while about…whatever and watching Heiny and I MacGyver a wine cork (we are all going drinking) dad and I had a great 2 hour chat. This is something we have not done since the first couple of days that I was here. Hours later of skyping and being lazy, I finally (mentally) prepare myself to get dressed. Why can’t people wear “fat pants” to go out??? Anyways, I shimmy into something cute that I had Eleah bring from home and having a couple glasses of wine from Portugal Heiny, Katie, Eleah and I get ready to go out. Enjoying some “pumped up music” (like songs from the Burlesque soundtrack) we drink and have some fun.
Finding Reuben (a guy from our French class) and Paulo we head to an Irish pub to enjoy some drinks. Talking and taking pictures, we all enjoy one another’s company. Getting a little tired of being in one spot, we move onto a bar with swings instead of stools. Again taking incriminating evidence, we enjoy each other’s company. Then finally the last stop (as always) was Pot au Lait. However, something interesting happened here (yes we still took pictures), but Paulo (quite out of the blue) asks me about what type of guy I like. Totally blown off kilter by the question, I stumble through my answer. And wonders of wonders, he looks hurt (why I do not know) then he claims he will search out for the perfect guy for me. Point: Has the search to find me a guy gone transatlantic…YES!! I cannot help but be completely flummoxed and… (Insert eye roll). Still taken aback about the question, I attempted to move away from the subject. But bless his little heart; he just would not give it up. Just like all of my friends back home when they proclaim this fact, I get a little pissed. But what can a girl do??? Ask the guy about his girlfriend back home??? Yeah, I thought so too.
Moving on, Eleah asks Heiny and I if we are ready to go home (this is a first). Obliviously I was ready to go; we head back to City Living (to change into something more comfortable for the walk home. Watching my surrounding, Eleah and I make it back home safe and sound, only to get up Saturday morning early for our day trip. UGGG!!!!

Saturday:

OMG why must one wake up early after a night of drinking to a very bright room?!?! Anyways, Eleah and I hurry to get dressed and packed for our day trip to Mastrick, Holland. Texting the girls to make sure they were up and to know that we would be late. Eleah and I inhaled some food and coffee.
Dashing to the park to get the girls, we sprinted to the train station, brought tickets, and then climbed onto the train seconds before it left the train station. Tired, thirsty and no room to sit, Heiny and I end up standing on the train watching the country side pass us by. Once in Mastrick, we hit multiple little outdoor markets. All I can say is I LOVE Mastrick! Not only can I actually understand more of what is being spoken, but the city is much more organized and cleaner than Liege.
Around 1pm, we are all starving. Deciding on making lunch our big meal of the day, we stop into this restaurant. Not only was this place cozy and quaint, it was perfect and the food….yum!!! I give this place 2 thumbs up and a very satisfied smile. After feeling like we all gain food babies, it was time to pay and move on to better things.
Somehow we stumbled upon this wonderful looking cathedral, taking pictures like any good tourist we start exploring the tastes and smells of Mastrick. After a while, we decide to shop more (plan was to find an outfit for Monday’s Boat Party). Getting some munchies, we pick up some waffles. Discussing the obvious difference between Liege waffles and Mastrick waffles, we move one. After goodness know how much freaking shopping, we go in search for the grocery store (this was one of the main reasons for going there – cheap groceries). Walking and walking some more, we finally find this place. Picking up food (all this week Eleah and I have not had food in the flat) for a while, we all crawl back to the train station on the other side of town. Upon finding that our train back to Liege is leaving in seconds, we make a mad dash for the train’s platform in time to watch the back of the train leaving the station. If you are thinking ahead, the next train will not arrive in Mastrick for another hour.
So making ourselves comfortable, the girls start reviewing pictures from the previous night. So say that Eleah and Katie have some interesting pictures is an understatement (I do not have any incriminating pictures – Point for me). While cringing at their picture the girls start munching on their food, while I inhale an energy drink. Thank the Lord, when the train finally pulled into the station. I must say a cushioned seat is very nice, especially being able to put your feet up – sheer bliss! Well minus the fact that a guy who was seriously tweaked out sat down next to me and perpetual kept asking Heiny questions. Naturally I switched to speaking German (thank the Lord this crazy guy did not know the language).
Want to hear some of the crap this guy pulled – I knew you would. Okay this guy basically stripped off of his shirts to change his top, showed Heiny and I a pamphlet of marijuana, offered us Kit-Kat bar (three times) and wanted to know where we were from and why we went to Mastrick. Naturally I give Heiny a death stares so she would not answer any question, but instead put him off in French. (My knee-jerk reaction was to let him have it in English and maybe something else. But using my head, I realized it was better to ignore him and give him the stare – one that says leave me the hell alone. Needless to say he did not bother me on bit.) So here I would like to thank my mother for teaching me this stare, because it just got some practice and it worked beautifully.
Finally off the train, we all head back to City Living, thinking that Eleah would be on the computer for a bit, I put in some laundry. Well I thought wrong about that, ooo well. After waiting around for the clothes to wash and dry (dry to the point where I could let it finish drying at home). Finally my clothes decide to get dry, we pack up and boot scoot on home to a wonderful, comfortable bed, a beautiful end to a wonderfully long day.

Sunday (2/13/11):

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep and sleep some more. My alarm for 10am woke us up, but instead of getting up we lay in bed a bit longer. Finally pulling our lazy butts out of bed, we fix some coffee and listen to Louisiana Gumbo again. The game plan of the day, Eleah and Katie were going to go to the market and I was going to go for a run/walk. But what actually happened. Eleah did go to the market and got a sensory overload then got Chinese (at the same place Heiny and I went to on Friday) and I worked on my BJJ technique and worked out, cleaned the flat. Shower and some lunch, I sat down to write this very, very long blog post. Just to give you an idea how long I have been sitting on my couch listening to music and writing this guy, I started around 12:30-1pm and it is now almost 4:30pm here in Liege. Yeah that is a lot of writing and to top it off, this will probably not be posted till Tuesday or Monday because I do not have internet still. I heard a nasty rumor that I may not get it till Tuesday, but we will see. So this blog post takes up about 8pages on Microsoft Word. OOO Yeah, I am just that good…and tired. So what is the plan for Sunday night…reading?

So until this get posted, good night and farewell.

Welcome to Liege!

So that past couple of days have varied so much (like a menopausal woman), I can hardly keep track but here I go.

After I last posted, I had a couple of days where I did not feel quite whole. Some are welcome to say that it was self pity that made me sick or that I am not adjusted to the variety of food, but whatever the cause I just did not feel well. So on comes Wednesday afternoon, the group decides to skip the second half of French class to study by ourselves (insert nap time in between). However, things did not go according to plan for Eleah and me. After dragging my tired butt over the bridges and to the grocery store, we debate about what food we should get and what milk we should try. Fact: The milk is not in the refrigerator like the USA, it is on the

shelves at room temperature. Interested??? Yay, I was too. Anyways after hauling our loot back to the apartment, unpacking and putting on the fat pants (really large comfortable pants) we finally sat. What time was left for napping was nonexistent for this kid; instead I study French and German. Upon making the decision not to go out that night with the girls and after we all "studied," the girls leave for some more shanagans while I enjoy a nice bed and German. Come that morning and still feeling like some lovely puppy presents, I snooze the alarm and roll back to sleep. Thursday was wonderful even though I could not focus at all, it was nice to watch some

American show and just relax. During my "me time,” Eleah rushes home declaring she is going to Mastrick, Holland for the day to help a friend move his belonging to Liege. Fact: Mastrick is only a 20-30 minute train ride from Liege and they have SUN!!! (Sorry, I am in desperate need of vitamin D.) And again I go back to enjoying being lazy.

Friday

Friday, yes I was planning on going to the last session of the French class till my appointment with Liege's Exchange Student Coordinator ran later than 30 minutes past the hour. So what is a

girl to do in Liege in the morning???? I don't know, eat breakfast!!! I go to Eleah's and mine breakfast join - Delifrance. The first of many memorable moments to come, the power goes out while I am trying to pay at Delifrance. Since I did not have exact change thus needing to break a bigger bill, I waited till the power turned on. All of 10 minutes later, the power turns on again till I get upstairs and it turns back off. One would wonder why the power kept getting switched off, until one looked outside to see City of Liege van parked outside. Apparently they need to work on that side of the streets power, however they could not see that Princes Bekah was hungry and requested a quite time. Hmmm....I guess not. My diligent secretary must have forgotten to send that. Oh well, life goes on and it leads you one amazing clothing sales block away from breakfast. So I will not complain, because I found I good sale, got an amazing waffle and a good jump start with espresso.

Getting tired of clothe shopping (about 15 minutes in and because I knew I should not be buying anything), I start to shuffle my feet towards the University. Once I found the room where the Erasmus Welcome Day would be held, I finally meet Kaite H (here on called Heiny) for the first time. (I am going to lightly touch on all of this section because A LOT of information was given to us in French and I was not paying attention and you do not really care what is was.) So Heiny

and I are gabbing away waiting for the other girls to get there, the show to start and when to get out. After a lot of French and one headache later, we all leave for a "Traditional" lunch and waffles. At this point, Heiny is disgusted at the food; Katie, Eleah and I are just cautioned. Knowing that we will be going on a walking tour of the city, I eat enough to fill the stomach (and not be to sick from the food). Number Two of interesting points, my French teacher comes to our French group and starts asking for me. Okay that was weird, however it is weirder that when you go to stand up he is there looking at you. A little creeped out, I ask him what he needs. Apparently, he sought me out to help him learn English and in return he would help me with French. Sounds great, right?!?! Yeah I thought so too, however I made sure he know it would have to include my friends or it was not going to happen. What college girl in her right mind would agree to meet up with a teacher (who actively sought you out) to study with him on a weekend (evening), think about it...not many. Moving on, the massive collage of students got broken up into different groups for the tour. The English speaking people got into my group and off we went with our camera happy

photographer. Point Three, I now have a camera happy photographer who stalked my steps on the tour....literally. Every time I turned around, he was there snappy

another photo. It got to the point where I would purposely stand behind everyone and would not move till the group had disbanded. (I have to ask...WHY ME!!!) Why do old men feel the need to attach themselves to me in a slightly inappropriate manner? I just do not understand. I know Katie D. mention she get a lot of "Creepers" back at her home university; did she pass off the disease? Because if that is the case, Katie D. is more than welcome to have it back!

Anyways, on the tour we see a lot of the sights Eleah, Katie D. and I already know about, except

for a few. Point and Case, the famous Belgian Stairs (Mountain of Bueren).

I made it up in about 15 minutes with my knees about to give out. Personally I thought I did well, all things considered. After completing the hike (literally) we sit, breathe and take in the sight. From the top, you can see almost all of Liege. Beautiful!! It is well worth it but I would probably not do it in a St. Louis summer though - OUCH! Even though it was beautiful, we all did not want to go back down the steps because all of the steps are slanted down, are not even (or broken), and we just did not want to. Begrudgingly the tour guides inform us that we are going down a different way. This was nice even though the steps were just as bad, it was nice to see a different section of the city.

Finishing out the tour, our group head to the rendezvous point for free drinks before the movie. (All this time we are about 45 minutes ahead of schedule.) So we just sit and talk for a while till we can drink for free. Upon deciding what to drink Zsuzsanna (new friend from Hungry) and I both get a cappuccino and Peket (which is a shot). Enjoying the good cappuccino and a shot of Peket, the group settles in and we begin to chat. Feeling antzy and ready to leave, I join Zsuzsanna outside while the girls chat it up with our new Greek friends. Again, enjoying new friends (from Italy, Germany, and Romania) we stand around and chat about ourselves and our families. It is starting to become a known fact that my parents are envied after parents. (I like having this Ace in the Whole...just in case I need brownie points withe the parents.) After years, centuries even, the girls are finally ready to leave. The Gang with Zsuzsanna travel to get 3Euro subs and beer for later tonight. Munching on a Curry Chicken baguette sandwich, we go pick up our pre-game items. Finally I start thinking; I can finally get in a shower! From hiking those stairs to being around smoke for a while, a girl just needs a shower.

Once dispersing from our location, Eleah and I start our trek back. Taking a few touristy pictures (Eleah) while I stand on alert for strange people (it is late, dark and we are walking in an unlit section along the river). We get back to the apartment. Cracking open the computers for some business emails and talks with friends and family, Eleah and I get ready. Question, what kind of hair style does a girl do when she is in a time crunch???? Of course, wavy curls!! I braided the hair and spray the crap out of it with curling spray, only to complete the first round by blowing dry the braid. Intermission was doing the bangs. And finishing out with round two, I undid the braid to blow and scrunch the hair into curls. And what did I get one big wavy/curly hair that had some volume to it. It works, right?!?! Well it had to at this point because we were already late and we still have to find the landlord to pay rent. Upon completion of apply our respective goop to our faces, we set off to find our landlady. Who would have thought, that two girls could not find the landlady when there is only so many rooms in the entire building - hint she was not there. Hmmmmm?!?!?! Seriously! So tramping back up the stairs to replace the money, Eleah and I dash off to City Living. Booze walking there, yes I know. I probably broke a couple of laws, but it was all for the sake of having a good time. Point about the beer (few many enjoy), it was 12% alcohol! Seriously??? You ask, yes and it taste nasty (label states "XXX-strong blonde beer.") It was under 2euros, how could I go wrong??? By mixing a very strong red wine that our resident Italian brought (yes the wine as wonderful!!).

Realizing that we are all late to our party (Erasmus party for the exchange students), we leave City Living for the bar. Enjoying the crowds of people (or the mass horde of dance college students), we nudge our way to the back of the bar. This is where our group spent out time for the night. After a while of dancing and drinking, some of us decided we should stand on the chairs so we could have more room to dance. (Chairs were similar to a wooden box.) Again after a while of dancing on unsteady ground, my body ate major bar floor. And like any other professional clutz, I jumped right back up and continued to dance my heart away. Hours later (of having fun), I start to realized the Katie D. and Eleah were no longer at the bar. This was confirmed when I realized my pants were vibrating - from my phone. Stumbling out of the bar, I set off to find the girls at another bar a bit away. But thanks to my dad for making me studying roads and land marks to make sure I do not get lost, I made it there safe and sound (well minus my old sweater I wore over my shirt - I remembered that the next morning). Gathering the girls or vice versa, we get off to get food. The girls went to this pita bar (it is a sandwich bar) and a road side vender for frites (locally loved - fries). Graciously accepting one of the frites, we head off to City Living so Eleah and I can deposit Katie D. (Heiny was walked home earlier by a new German friend). Depositing Katie D. Eleah and I clumsily make our way to our side of town, only to drop (literally) into bed for the night. (I am being evasive with the night because I know some people do not want to know and to keep myself in check.)

Fact: It is now a game to write down (during the semester) how many things Bekah will lose when drinking.

Saturday

After waking up early to crusty contact eyes, I wash my face and am relieved that we are not late for the HEC Welcome day. In fact I had woken up before my usually alarm. Finally I am starting to adjust - with the aid of late night wake up juice). Checking my emails to confirm the time for the HEC day, Eleah and I go back to sleep (or just Eleah). I do not know why I could not go back to sleep, instead I just enjoyed my cozy cave under my comforter (sucking down water as I go). When I could not stay the agitated feeling any more, I got up and took a shower. I had so much "crap" in my hair from the night before (curl spray, sweat, probably beer, sweaty bodies, and just generally bar crud). Needless to say a shower was needed and a few shampoos to the head.

Feeling refreshed, I congratulated myself on standing by my roots and dressed very American...big college shirt, jeans, and comfy shoes. I know I suck out like a sore thumb, but I have been dressing the European part for a while, and I just need some American college grunge dress for a while. Revisiting the mirror for a lighter layer of our goop, Eleah and I run out the door for HEC (we were already late). Getting to the HEC campus later then I would have wanted, we wait for the massive decent of information to begin. Did you know that I am currently not registered for classes? Yeah, it freaks me out to...AND I can only (currently) find HEC classes. Ummm not all of my classes are through HEC. For a control freak or a girl with such tendencies, I started to flip out about orientation and the fact of how little I know of this school. Fact: HEC is a hard business school, their building designer was on crack when building the structure of the building, and in the cafeteria there is a bar. I personally do not understand how European college students can handle this much partying and drinking and still maintain their grades....HOW?!?!?!?!

Anyways, about half way through the information session, tour, and lunch, I start discovering aches and pains in my rear, knees, and shins. What do you think that is from...falling off of the chairs last night? OOO yeah, I have a running tally of two on each leg and a very sore rear and lower back.

City of Liege = 2 points Bekah = -5 points

Back to the point, after the presenters finished their song and dance and feed the wild pack of hungry college students, we opted for going home and meeting late to buy Heiny a straightening iron (she blew out her chi last night....lol). Once home, I attack my computer with vengeance to figure out what classes I need and how it will transfer back. And wonders of wonders find new classes and hope they will transfer back to my hopefully selected class. (We will see about those ones in a year..uggg.) Sorry off track, while Eleah and I are doing this, Eleah is perpetually distracted. And being the task master that I am, I yell at her to focus on her stuff so she can get the right classes and get into them. I do not believe I have ever roomed with a more ADD person, but I give her points for putting up with me and my task master personality about homework and school. She lets me yell at her to focus, that is roomy love right there! :)

So here we are picking classes, skype calling parents, waiting for the girls to show up to shop. While I waited and waited for the little dears to show up, dad skyped called me while I was sending out emails back home. Blah Blah Blah, family talked, I jested (made dad pissed and wish he could come get me and lock me away :), the girls show up. Talking and skyping a bit more...we finally leave to buy a straightener and window shop. While at the mall FOREVER!! Heiny and I decide dinner was in order - noodles in a Styrofoam cup. Katie D. got Haagen Dazs ice cream and Eleah an espresso from there also. Munching/sipping on our respective items, we chat some more - go figure. Finally complaining too much we go back home, the Katies to City Living and Eleah and I to our apartment. After lounging around, Eleah starts to get ready for her "date" with her sexy Canadian friend. Sneakily asking me about safety tips (because I was not going out with her..ice the knees), I crawl out of bed to show her some very basic self-defense move that I was taught late last month. Enjoying the light come into Eleah's eyes, knowing that she could now "kind of" defend herself if need be (or at least scare them), Eleah proclaims that she wants to take Ju Jitzu with me. Excited to have a buddy to practice on, I start describing some other moves that I could show her later. Describing some of the flood moves, I saw Eleah become a little be more apprehensive as I go. I started to think, "Well crap, there just went my grappling partner...crap!" But I swiftly changed her mind, by telling her I would attempt rock climbing with her. We will see how that goes..mmmmmmm.

So now here I sit, writing this massive blog to my friends, family, and readers for a couple of hours now. And I do hate to say it, but my delicate, little fingers are tired and my eyes are crying for some "good" sleep. So I wish you all a good night!

See You all Later!

Continuation of the previous

Today, was just not my day.

I will continue where I left off so you will understand.

Getting re-situated back at my desk for French class, Mr. Creeper again sits in his seat (there is currently a desk between us), until his friend who could not make it in the other French class sits next to him. Okay natural human instincts suggest that once one picks a chair to sit in for hours, one tends to continue staying in that location until the end of the designated time. Apparently Mr. Creeper suggest his friend to take his spot - how nice of him - until he is about to sit on top of you. This man leaned into my "bubble" and positioned his chair right next to mine. So I following the principle just stated (and I was already sitting) just readjusted my things to be as far away from him as possible. As time goes on and I try not to focus on him, Mr. Creeper stands to state that he must leave to keep an appointment. I begin to sing a Thank You, when I feel this hand on my side and someone whisper "Goodbye" in my ear. I wonder who that is?!?! Thoroughly unnerved at this point, I cannot wait to leave the classroom for the day.

Since my class got out later than Eleah's class (Katie D. is registering at this point), make a break for the door in order to seek solace in a friend's arms. And what do you know, I cannot find her anywhere! Dragging the phone out of the pocket to call Eleah, I find her outside with a group of girls from her class discussing the idea for drinks later that night. Of course I jump at the idea because of the day I had to this point. A little social drink (a beer or two) with new friends sounded like the prefect cure to my blues. So plans are made to meet up later at 7pm that night (which is why is signed off early yesterday).

***** ***** ***** ***** ****** ***** ***** ***** *****

Running late to meet up with Katie D. and the rest of the group, I thought it would be a good idea to bring the camera so I could again post pictures to the blog. Good idea right??? Well you decide after I finish my tale.

At the Cathedral, we all decide to walk around till we find a bar. Well the feet took us to this bar next to an Irish pub. Asking for the darkest beer, I baby the bottle and talk a while with my new friends. After a couple of hours, I got the feel that we were about to move to another bar. Wanting to document the night, I pull out my camera for a few photos. Slipping my beautiful, black, Sony camera back into its case we move onto Cuba. Finding out that Cuba has four Euro wrist bands for girls on Mondays (which allows us unlimited Free drinks), we horde to the bar. Again, a few more social drinks, we all get to know one another a bit more. Well somewhere along the way a few social drinks became just drinking drinks, which was not my plan for the evening. Enjoying the music and now good friends, we all vote to take some pictures. Now here is where my bad day starts. Walking home (speaking fluent German), I either lost, got pick pocketed, misplaced my camera. I just do not know where it could be. I happen to figure this out when I wanted to take a picture of Eleah and I on the bridge. I do not know what I was thinking, "I will find it tomorrow " or "I have it on me, I just can't find it now," we walk on. Well apparently the next morning it was not in my personal items I took out the night before. It is nowhere to be found! Feeling slightly stupid and numb, I get ready for class. Walking out the door this morning I also forgot my purse. This could be a symptom that I am VERY stressed out over my camera. Well French class....I will continue. *Insert very depressed girl as I continue please.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arriving late to class to class because of my forgetfulness, I once again am reminded that 5 minutes late does not mean anything here. I was early for my class by 40 minutes. Today's plan of attack for the seating situation, was to have the other guys around me. And what do you know, all we quite helpful in doing so (Italian to my left, and South Korean in front). Again going through the motions to learn French, I am worrying about my camera, getting registered, and paying my rent. Perpetually watching the clock till noon, I am trying to recall the French words I need to inform my teacher that I will not be there for the rest of class. Since I failed at knowing that much French, I opted for speaking English slow enough to get my point across (I wanted the handouts that I would be missing when I was gone).

After getting lunch with Katie and Eleah, Katie heads back to campus and Eleah and I set out for a leisurely walk to find the city hall. For Liege, people who will be in residence for over 90 days must registered at the city hall. And to do that, one must pay a total of 16Euros for the FIRST visit there. Point of Fact: I do not want to drop that many Euros to begin with and the photo machine "ate" 2Euros on me and it takes over a hour to complete the process (International Student Office workers at Liege said it would not take more than 30 minutes). Now that is past 3pm, Eleah and I make our way to Cuba. Along the way we run into Eleah's Liege student contact here. Which is a blessing because she was able to communicate easily with the bar tender about my lost camera. Upon hearing some depressing news, Eleah and I ask her contact if she would take us to see Liege's Main Campus (Start - Tillman). After a 10 car ride, we arrive on campus. Eleah's contact gives us a personal tour of our new campus and answers a lot of our questions ranging from classes to sports to her family, likes and dislikes. Back in the "City Centre" of Liege, Eleah and I run a few more errands (one of which I find out my bank card is being hormonal) then head home in the frigid weather. On way home we check out a few more places where my camera could be and again no shouts of joy from me. Dreading going home (because this mean I need to skype my mom and tell her what happened) I started dragging my feet. What would you choose, cold and windy Liege or one very angry mother? I will let you guess which one I choose.

Now is the time for a girl to grow up and be a woman and cower to the mother to tell her that she messed up. Needless to say, I was not happy with myself. And to add to that, I am being told how irresponsible I am by my brother thousands of miles away (via Facebook). So again I ask, how do you think I felt about the call I was about to make?

It is never fun breaking bad news to mothers, but it is like a band-aid. Just rip the sucker off and get the pain over with. After the initial shock, yelling, crying (you name it) we came up with a plan. Ask the Lord for prayer, that He would give me "eyes to see." I have to tell you, for a control freak (in certain areas) this is probably the hardest thing to do, giving up your problem to the Lord.

(Pause here and breathe)

After the bombshell, mom and I talk about the crazy weather in both cities. Enjoying just talking to mom and hearing nonsense help to alleviate some of the stress I had. We talked right up until my schedule "Skype Date" with two of my best friends from school. Again talking to them for hours about what is going on in my life or just random things, we part ways. (Thank you Ashley and Kelsey!! I miss you two!!) Again I begin to study my missed material, but let us just face the music on this. I cannot read, see, or acknowledge any more French currently. Realizing my dilemma, I start to stalk my friends on Facebook.

ENTER Stage Right Eleah: Finding ourselves devoid of any motivation at all, we start talking about my time in a sorority and its bad break-up story. Informing Eleah about some of my best times in the sorority and why it hurt so much to leave, I came to a mini realization that not all people are truthful. Some people will search out other people who have a caring heart. The kind of people who will go out of their way to ensure that the other is doing/feeling better. Needless to say, I was that person in my sorority. And you guessed it, a lot of the girls I thought were my best friends used and abused me emotionally. Except for a select few who are my support system back home, I realized how hurt I was about the entire thing (because I have not had time to think about it). I terminated from my sorority because I wanted to save money for Europe and my "friends" ha completely agreed with me. However these "friends" did not realize how far I would take that concept. After searching out every possibility and coming up with no solutions except to terminate, I bravely (while crying) signed those damning papers. At the time I was under the belief that letters do not make friendships, rather they provide the means for formation. Well I stand here to prove that this concept does work, but your friends have to be true friends (not fare weather friends). Anyways, after showing Eleah some of my pictures and the dynamics of what I had dealt with, I continued to just sit at my table until my mother skyped again. A special thank you for all mothers, sometimes you just know when your kids need you. Listening to mom prattle on about something, I decided it was time to finish the blog post from the night before.

So, does this explain why today was just not my day??

And if anyone in Liege finds a black 2010 Sony camera laying somewhere, please post a comment and let me know. Thank you!!

So until the next post, I wish you all Au Revoir!