My Year by the Numbers (Last Post)

It’s becoming so hard to believe that I will be leaving tomorrow morning. This year has been unreal and the past 302 days have just become a memory. I think I’m in denial because I’m doing everything but packing. We arrived back late last  night from Croatia (where we had a great and relaxing trip) now it’s time to pack up everything. For my last post I’ve been collecting numbers that I thought were interesting. So here it is, my year by the numbers:

 

0 manipedis 

4 continents 

6 new purses

7 currencies

11 new pairs of shoes

18 countries

18 volunteer hours

21 passport stamps

26 new drinking glasses (mostly stella)

31 trips

32 flights

162 postcards send

6,080 pictures uploaded to facebook

 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my travels but as of tomorrow the princess will no longer be abroad so I am done writing.

xoxo tiss

 

And the packing begins….

It’s been 295 days that I’ve lived in this amazing fairytale and it’s so weird to begin the packing. I’ve emptied my closets and taken everything off the walls. I still have 8 more days in Europe but we’re going to Croatia so I only have two more days in Leuven.

I’ve only just begun the packing but I know it’s going to take me forever. I need to pack for Croatia, which will just be sunscreen, dresses, t-shirts, and shorts. Literally it will be easy but I have no motivation.

I also realized that I focused on things that annoy me so here is part 1 of 1 (just to name a few) of the things I love about Europe/Belgium.

-Gingers: yes, they call red heads gingers. No, it’s not considered an insult…unfortunately.

-Public hazing: to get into a faculty (basically a frat based on your major) you are put through some public hazing (that is legal). Some of the best were when we would be walking around and we’ll see people covered in food, dirt, and random gross things that the older members had put on them. They also tend to bow down to us when we walk by…I don’t hate it.

-Asking for the check: at a restaurant, when you’re done eating they will never bring you the check to pressure you to leave. You’re welcome to stay as long as you want and when you want to pay they’ll bring you the check only when you ask.

-Of course I love almost everything but those are some I find funny and had to point out

And last but not least the final installment of things that annoy me:

-Missing steelers games: It’s just too hard and I need my Steeler fix.

-Everything is (what we call) funsized: coke, shampoo, lotion are all sold in such small sizes. It is so annoying because I use a lot of shampoo and conditioner and I have to buy new bottles every few weeks.

-When people insult America in front of me: enough said.

-Milk: they don’t refrigerate milk here. It’s just too weird for me to ever get used to.

-Libraries: There is no library etiquette here. KULeuven is such a big school and there are so many libraries but they’re always filled up. The students tend to take up like three places at a table and don’t share. And of course since they’re European they have to go on smoke breaks (and other breaks for meals) and they just leave all of their stuff sitting out for hours. It’s beyond annoying.

I’ll have one last post after Croatia and then the year will come to an end. America, I’ll see you in 8 days!

Oh, the end is near…

25 days and counting. 25 days. How can I express how much my life has changed in the 9 months I’ve been living here? I really can’t. There are so many familiar faces and places in Leuven that will always be close to my heart.

Theres this little coffee shop here called Mont Cafe. Although I’ve never been a big coffee fan this year has made me love it. The atmosphere at this places is so inviting. The head barista is the cutest little asian woman who always greets us with a smile. We go so often that she knows all of us and our orders (except mine because I change it everyday).

Then theres this one little lunch restaurant that we go to every tuesday between class. It’s owned by this cute little family from Naples. The wife does the waitressing and the husband does the cooking. It’s fantastic and inexpensive. There are about 24 sandwiches on the menu and we’ve tried 15 or so (we split each time) and we want to try them all. Who knows if that will ever happen.

Then theres this pizza place we always go to. Our favorite pizza has ham, bananas, and grapes. It sounds weird but it’s fantastic. There’s also this super cute waiter that we love, except we just noticed that he wears a wedding ring…huge let down.

Then theres the chocolate. I’m a chocolate addict and I’m literally in heaven here. There’s a dessert place that we call the chocolate bar and you can order an ice cream with brownie and homemade chocolate sauce that hardens when it gets cold.

How am I going to part with Daisy? (my bike in case you forgot!) She’s become my main mode of transportation. I mean my car (named Sassy, in case you were wondering) is probably extremely jealous that I’ve been cheating on her but Daisy is just too perfect for words. The only good thing is when I return her I get my 50 euro deposit back to go splurge on something fun.

Living abroad has been a life changing experience. Looking through all my photo albums it’s hard not to be envious of the life I’ve lived and is now ending. I’ve done so many fantastic things and met so many amazing people that I know the coming weeks will be the hardest goodbyes.

Forever, i will miss walking down Schapenstraat to our ‘huis,’ hopping on my bike to run errands, shopping on the ‘main shopping street’ because we never learned it’s name, figuring where I wanted to go next, the friends I’ve made here, my constant search for a good peanut butter, the consistency of the people and this wonderful belgian haven, and my belgium family.

Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind.

PS- I went to Nice, France last week. It was nice…get it? Only one trip left where most of us are going to Croatia for one last hurrah.

Loyola in London!

Our LOYOLA picture on the London Eye!

I’m not ready to leave

“It’s hard to deny that the act of living in another country, in another language, fundamentally changes you. Different parts of your personality sort of float to the top, and you take on qualities, mannerisms, and opinions that define the new people around you. And there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s often part of the reason you left in the first place. You wanted to evolve, to change something, to put yourself in an uncomfortable new situation that would force you to into a new phase of your life.”

“But there are the fears. And yes, life has gone on without you. And the longer you stay in your new home, the more profound those changes will become. Holidays, birthdays, weddings — every event that you miss suddenly becomes a tick mark on an endless ream of paper. One day, you simply look back and realize that so much has happened in your absence, that so much has changed. You find it harder and harder to start conversations with people who used to be some of your best friends, and in-jokes become increasingly foreign — you have become an outsider.”

“So you look at your life, and the two countries that hold it, and realize that you are now two distinct people. As much as your countries represent and fulfill different parts of you and what you enjoy about life, as much as you have formed unbreakable bonds with people you love in both places, as much as you feel truly at home in either one, so you are divided in two. For the rest of your life, or at least it feels this way, you will spend your time in one naggingly longing for the other, and waiting until you can get back for at least a few weeks and dive back into the person you were back there. It takes so much to carve out a new life for yourself somewhere new, and it can’t die simply because you’ve moved over a few time zones. The people that took you into their country and became your new family, they aren’t going to mean any less to you when you’re far away.”

“To live in a new place is a beautiful, thrilling thing, and it can show you that you can be whoever you want — on your own terms. It can give you the gift of freedom, of new beginnings, of curiosity and excitement. But to start over, to get on that plane, doesn’t come without a price. You cannot be in two places at once, and from now on, you will always lay awake on certain nights and think of all the things you’re missing out on back home.”

36 Days.

To read the full article and to give them credit: http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/what-happens-when-you-live-abroad/

Florence!

So backtracking a little back to right after Rome our school took us to Florence! We hopped on a coach bus over to Florence and got started right away. The first place we went was the Uffizi Gallery and saw a lot of beautiful artwork. That night we had dinner at Acqua al 2 and had the pasta sampler. It was so good! They brought us small orders of five different types of pasta and they were all amazing.

The next day we went to see the David! Yes, like the beautiful naked statue of a gorgeous man. He was massive, in height I mean. Our director’s wife made sure to tell us to “walk all the way around” so that we wouldn’t miss anything. Oh and of course I took a picture! Right after we went to the Duomo museum to see a lot of older statues and church decorations. For lunch we went to Trattoria Mario. If you go to Florence this is my number one suggestion of where to eat. You have to put your name in because they don’t take reservations and they’re always full. However, it’s 100% worth the wait. The food is so quick and DELICIOUS, did I mention it’s also really inexpensive. So good. Then we had dinner at another place,  I have no idea the name but the appetizer was baked brie with grilled veggies and then I had pasta with clams.

On Easter we had lunch at a sandwich place called I Fratellini. All their sandwiches are made to order and served from a little window. You can get a sandwich for 3.50 and a glass of wine 1.50 each. The food is delicious. We went shopping for the rest of the day and it was so cute!

Our school paid for us to do a Chianti Country Wine led by Todd Bolton of Tuscan Trails. It was so much fun and Todd was so entertaining. The wine was delicious and we really learned a lot of what was going on in making wine. That night we had dinner at Trattoria 4 Leoni and I had delicious pear ravioli. We had gelato at Perche, no? It’s amazing!

Our last day in Florence was so sad. We went to Capella Pazzi and S. Croce. Our director gave us one last lecture and we all ended in tears. It was such a great trip and we were depressed that it was over.

London!

We arrived in London on Thursday afternoon so excited to see the city! We casually stumbled upon (aka we ran to find it) platform 9 and 3/4. Obviously we had to take a picture. Then we decided to check in the hostel. It’s actually pretty nice and were down one floor while our friends are all up on the 6th floor, did I mention it’s a walk up? Yeah, so after that we went to evensong at Westminster Cathedral because its free and beautiful singing and if its not for a service you have to pay 16 pounds to see the church. That night on a whim we decided to see if we could get last minute theater tickets. We ended up getting tickets for Billy Elliot 1 hour before the show started. I’ve seen it before in New York but it still took my breath away.

The next day was a day I’ve been waiting for since october (or since i was 11). Finally finally finally we were going to be able to see the Warner Brothers Studio Tour of The Making of Harry Potter!!! If you know me at all you know I’m slightly obsessed with Harry Potter. Just kidding slightly is not the word to use. The best part was that we missed the train we meant to take and there were so many jokes made about the platform closing an if anyone had a spare ford anglia around. But that wasn’t the best part of the day. It was the most magical day of my life. The set tour began with a video of Emma Watson, Dan Rad, and Rupert Grint welcoming us and talking about the tour and then once the video ends the screen raised and the door to the great hall appeared! Twas magical. We were welcomed into the massive great hall before the real tour began and then walked through the stage “j” (the two stages are named j and k, how cute). Stage j was filled with inside sets, props, clothing, wigs, etc. it’s too hard to explain it all so for those not Facebook friends with me here’s the public link to my album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3411228727711.2137174.1479780111&type=3&l=8619d5ff82

Then afterwards we went outside to the backlot which had the knightbus, a ford anglia, hagrids motor bike, the massive chess pieces, numbers 3 and 4 of privet drive, the Hogwarts bridge, and the Potters house in Godrics Hollow. There was also a cafe where we were able to eat lunch and get butterbeer, which was fantastic. Afterwards we went stage k which had the creature shop, DIAGON ALLEY, illustrations of the set, and a giant Hogwarts model which they used to film the flyovers of Hogwarts castle. It ended with a room of wand boxes that had the names of anyone who was in the credits of the Harry potter movie.it  also had a quote that said “the stories we love best do live in us forever so whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” I’m not going to lie, that’s when the waterworks began. It was a great tour and I’m so happy I had the opportunity to go. That night we went to get fish and chips for dinner and then did a pub crawl, nothing could have topped that day.

We didn’t do a whole lot of sightseeing on Saturday because we were decided to go see Les Miserables matinee. However, in the morning we went to Harrods and shopped around. It was so exquisite and grand. Les miserables we fantastic and the voices were so beautiful. For dinner we went to soho and had Chinese food. Funny thing: we got priority seating because one of our friends is chinese.

That night a beautiful Argentinian couple moved into the hostel room with us. That’s not really important but when we were at breakfast the next morning he winked at me…true love. We woke up early to go stand in line for 5 pound tickets to Matilda for two hours. They only have 8 tickets for 5 pounds each show and we were lucky enough to get two. After getting tickets we went to see buckingham palace, the national galley and on the London eye!! We took a great loyola picture on it. After we went to see matilda which was so fun! Then one last dinner in London and bedtime.

After this trip I’ve completely fallen in love with London and I could 100% see myself moving there one day. If anyone wants to move with me I’m currently taking roommate applications. Key issues: you can’t smell bad and you must know how to cook. Also, you have to have only blue or green bedding/decorations because mine is all pink and we clearly have to coordinate.

Update

So I just got back from London today. It was a fantastic trip and i’ll try and do a blog about it before I go to sleep tonight. However, sorry for how long it’s been taking and now everything is a little out of order! I still have to write a blog on my trips to Florence, Rome, and London.

After this weekend I only have 2 more trips planned. We will be going to Nice, France at the end of the month and then towards the end of June we’re going to Croatia for a vacation with a lot of our group. I’ll try and do some more but this year is quickly coming to an end. I fly out of Belgium in 44 days and it’s going by way too fast.

I have a few more weeks of class (Did i mention I only have class on Tuesday and Wednesday). Then my finals begin June 11th.

I’ll try to keep up! Byeeeee

Slovakia and Vienna!

If you didn’t know, my roommate from last semester is from Slovakia. Her name is Dominika but we call her Dom. So when we had a free weekend available we decided to book a trip to visit her and her family!

We arrived in Bratislava on a Friday after a long flight and a weather delay to Doms smiling face at the airport. She took us into Bratislava to our hostel and we all took a nap. Just like the good old days! For dinner she took us out to a traditional Slovakian dinner! Cait and I had perogies and Dom had haluski.

The next morning we boarded a bus to Doms village to meet her family! I can’t even express how amazing they are! Doms mom picked us up at the bus station and and took us back to their home. Once we arrived we met the whole family! Dom has two older sisters and one younger brother. She also lives with her mom, dad, an maternal grandmother named Babka. Babka has become my favorite woman on the planet. She was so sweet and adorable and reminds me of my Nana. For lunch they prepared us a beef stew with beans and rice, it was delicious and great to have a good home cooked meal. After lunch Doms mother took us to go get ice cream and a walk in the botanical gardens by their village. It was so beautiful! When we got back, Doms family had a barbecue for us at a neighbors house and we were as to watch the US vs Canada hockey game!

The next morning we had planned on driving with Dom and her boyfriend, Peter to Vienna! But of course we had to have one last big meal with the family. They were so generous and it was sad to say goodbye! But it’s okay because we’ll see them in a few years for Doms wedding. So Peter came to Doms village to pick us up, he’s an angel. He drove us all the way into Austria. We went straight to St Stephens church which was so pretty but kind of odd because it has like plastic sheets over the windows which then makes the light shining in all different colors. Regardless it was pretty. Next we went to some gardens in the back of a palace and they were massive and beautiful. Lastly we  went to Wiener Pratal Amusement Part and although it rained for most Of the time we were there we had so much fun.

Monday we decided we should see some of Bratislava so we went to see the blue church, the Bratislava castle, and old town Bratislava. We had one last lunch with Peter and Dom and then Peter drove us to the airport.

Many thanks for to Dom, Peter, and her family for making our trip to Bratislava a wonderful one!

The Buongiornos in Europe!

I was lucky enough to have my parents come and visit me in Belgium and then take me on vacation to Italy! They first came to Leuven and we toured around and had some fantastic meals.

We also took a day and went Brugge. It rained almost all day but it was fun. We also took a boat tour which was really fun!

We also spent a night in Amsterdam! I love Amsterdam and my family and I went to the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Anne Frank museum. We had dinner at Kantijl & de Tiger which is a delicious Indonesian restaurant. The next morning our hotel made authentic Dutch pancakes before me left to the Aalsmeer Flower Auction. What it  is is a huge showroom where they send flowers to be auctioned off to different dealers who work for companies like Giant Eagle and Whole Foods. It smelled fantastic and we saw so many beautiful flowers. My parents also decided to order some tulip bulbs for our house. After that we went to the keukenhof! It was so beautiful, I loved it. The pictures from it are so fantastic here are a few…

Our last day in Leuven my parents were able to meet our director and o course we went shopping. While shopping they randomly had a carnival type thing in the library square with tons of free products and they even had a zip line from the top of the library tower into the square. 

The next morning we got our flight to Naples! We stayed in Sorrento for the trip but took a few day trips. We saw Pompeii which was nice because I had written a research paper on it while I was in high school.  We also rented a car one day and drove along the Amalfi coast. We stopped in Positano for lunch and went shoe shopping! We ate our sandwiches along the water with a beautiful view. We drove through Praiano and Amalfi and had our last stop in Ravello. While there we saw a beautiful villa on the top of a cliff.

We took a boat tour of the island of Capri. We had lunch and took the chairlift to the top of the mountain in Anacapri. The views from up there are so pretty! Below is me and my father on top of the mountain. The boat trip also took us to the blue, white, and green grottos.

The best part Of the trip is the day when my mom and I had cooking lessons with Chef Longo. We prepared eggplant parmesan, homemade pasta with zucchini, shrimp, and clams, lamb with potatoes, and a dessert of sponge cake with pineapple. We had so much fun and the food was so good. The school was also a restaurant so we were preparing dinner for not only ourselves but all the people that came to the restaurant that night.

Our last day we jut laid low in Sorrento and had a fantastic dinner facing mount Vesuvius.

Here’s a list and overview of the restaurants we ate at:

-Trattoria Emilia, very authentic restaurant owned by a sweet italian family. The food is inexpensive and basic but delicious and fast.

-Donna Sofia, this restaurant was really hard to find and if we hadn’t called and asked for a ride there we would never have found it. However the food was exquisite and the place is all Sofia Loren themed with the walls covered in her pictures.

-Vini e panini, We grabbed sandwiches here while in Positano and it was so delicious!

-Ristorante da Gigino,  had dinner here and split two pizzas and salads. The pizza was fantastic and the salad was the perfect complement. Also people raves about

their seafood and pasta.

-Ristorante o’ Murzill’, this was probably my favorite restaurant. The entire restaurant had 6 Tables and was reservation only. The food was fantastic.

-Ristorante Bagni il Delfino, this was our last meal in Sorrento and we sat out above the water looking at the sunset and mt Vesuvius. It was delicious and I had a really good seafood risotto.