belgium = more awesome than I expected

whew mes amis, sorry for the pause. first I was at chartres. then I was studying and taking a midterm exam. then I went to belgium for 2 days. and I just got back. also, my computer charger has decided to be spastic again and not work, so I'm on allison's computer, so my forays into the internet are a little less frequent.

belgium was awesome. first we went to bruges, a quaint little 15th century town. it was full full of people because we were there the day of the procession of the saint-sang, the holy blood of christ. the procession actually reminded me a lot of the mormon tradition of pageantry. it was really cool and clearly a strong part of the community and identity of this town. then we went to ghent, my favorite. hurlbut detailed the van eyck altarpiece for us - it really is incredible and inspiring. and we ate at a most excellent restaurant, hurlbut splurged, and I thoroughly enjoyed that meal. I savored every bite and lingered and talked with richelle and maren (we were talking boys) for a long time after. we spent the night there at a pretty sweet hotel, I was loving it, and I went to a little flea market this morning and got 2 silver rings and 2 records - buddy holly and the simon & garfunkel that mysteriously disappeared from our house a few years ago. we only spent a couple hours in brussels. I ate fries and bought chocolate. that's about it.

it was pretty cool to hear flemish instead of french. I didn't realize there was so much tension between the two sides. hurlbut actually advised us to speak english rather than french to the flemish because they learn english rather than french as a second language, as a matter of separatist pride.

I love road trips, especially in the comfort of a luxury "autocar" (charter bus). wish I'd had a pillow, though. had so much fun on this trip with richelle and maren, those girls are the best. we're going to normandy next weekend for 3 days and that should be equally fun and awesome. I can't wait!

on other matters, I sent another email. and I finally finally got one back. it was almost as wonderful as the first. now I'm waiting again. story of my life.