brussels, belgium

After spending the week resting off my always inevitable post-travel illness (okay, & some homesickness), I traveled to Brussels, Belgium. Appropriately following my turning legal, I had my first experience traveling alone. At first, I'll admit, it was pretty fun & I felt very responsible. After the shuttle to Pisa, flight to Charleroi, shuttle to Brussels, & then finding my way through metros & mazes of downtown streets however, it was no longer fun. I had no one to complain with! Of course, I did finally make it to Smag's aunt's apartment in downtown Brussels late Friday night, ready to see what Brussels had to offer.

tons & tons of local teens hanging out in Grand Place at night

Brussels was way too eager to offer. Walking through the streets of the popular area, there were men screaming at us from every direction, trying to get us to eat at their restaurant. Mind you, every restaurant was offering the exact same deal of the exact same menu. We finally gave in to one man, who smartly offered us a free first round of drinks, receiving actual ridicule from other restaurant owners. It was annoying! But our mussels, french fries, & of course a waffle for dessert were well worth it all. 

brussels' mussels for one

After dinner, we sat outside what we thought was a well-known bar, Delirium, to have a few Delirium Tremens, a famous Belgian beer. When we realized it was in fact not the bar we were looking for, we snuck out a really cute beer glass with the delirious pink elephants on it Smags, Julia, & I made our way to the real Delirium Cafe, a huge 3 story bar with over 2,000 different kinds of beer on tap (a Guiness World Record!). Due to the popular concert we were in town for the next night, along with 49853 other American study abroad students, it was packed. But it was still awesome to check out.

we really liked it

not outside delirium 

outside delirium

inside delirium!

On Saturday, we met up with Nug, Haben, & Anne (!!) in the main square, Grand Place. Julie, those three, & Julia went off for some authentic Belgian french fries (onions, mayo, ketchup), while Smags & I went off for some Belgian Subway. It was sadly a letdown, but exciting nonetheless. 

disappointing Subway

& those 

hi anne!! 

the one person who would enjoy them

Ready to move on from our failed lunches, we were naturally drawn into Chocopolis, a huge Belgian chocolate store. This place had all the chocolate anyone could want - huge pyramids of truffles, bricks of different mixed chocolates, chocolate drinks, everything. Plus free samples! We of course all left with bagfuls.

Nug, Haben, & Anne went back to nap before the show & Smags, Julie, Julia, & I walked around some more to explore Belgium. While Grand Place featured amazing architecture, the rest of the city seemed almost American, with lots of shops, malls, & tourists. But again, the thousands of other American students there could have had something to do with it. We walked around, stopping for an impromptu photo shoot every 2 blocks, then went back to get ready for Sensation.

guildhalls in Grand Place 

town hall, also in Grand Place 

more buildings along the way 

the triumphal arch in parc du cinquantenaire 

walking near smags' aunt's apartment 

pretty graffiti 

look! you're here, too!

Until that day, we were unaware that the concert was an hour train ride away in a city called Hasselt. We figured the trains would be super crowded, so we planned to take the first train. This turned out to be a great decision because I've never seen a bigger, more anxious crowd, all trying to get through the same tiny doors of this train. Also, the concert had a dress code: all white. It was quite the sight. 

We finally made it on, only to learn that the last three cars of the train (including ours) split from the rest of the train & went somewhere else. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this train had thousands of white-clad kids just stuffed into it, blocking every aisle & stairway. We finally made it to a door, & quickly decided we really only had one option: running to the front cars. We were kind of laughing about it, thinking it was ridiculous, what if we didn't all make it, etc. But as the train & our nervous laughter slowed, the doors opened, & I have never seen Nug run so fast in my life. I only followed Julia's red hair in the massive sea of white, trying not to laugh as Haben almost plowed through a very stunned old lady. I could practically hear 'Run, Run Rudolph' playing in the background. But we all made it. Just another moment I wish I had on tape.


We met up with a bunch of other U of I kids who were staying at a hotel in Genk, the town next to Hasselt. It was so good to be with so many familiar faces, all touching on the John Lennon Wall-esque fact that we could not believe we were going to Sensation - it was our turn!

got a little restless, which of course led to makeup & selfies

ready to gooo 

finally let smags do her thing.. i don't hate it! 

reunited seeesters!

The show was unlike anything I've ever seen. There was a huge flower-meets-artichoke set up in the middle, with a ring of water falling into the middle from the ceiling. The DJ table slowly spun around this all night. There were also a bunch of smaller flowers around the floor, all shooting water in time with the music. Huge glowing balls hung from the ceiling, changing colors & dropping/raising to different levels throughout the show. Dancers even came down from the ceiling at one point. Plus, everyone in white definitely added to the affect. The lineup consisted of Mark Knight, Afrojack, Sander van Doorn, & Dada Life, & from 11pm to 5:30am, all we did was dance. By the end, we were right in front of the DJs.I was definitely missing my usual concert crew, & I wish they could've seen this! But it was a blast.

before going in! 

If the show wasn't so amazing, I'd be a whole lot more bitter about my travels home. Julie & I left the show a half hour early to make sure we were on the first train back to Brussels at 6am (= madness). From there, I made my way straight back to the airport to catch my 10:30 flight. & yes, I went through security in my all white get-up, glitter eye-liner & all. It was exhausting, but mostly the kind of exhaustion that comes from having spent an incredible night/morning with friends. Plus, knowing I had mac & cheese waiting for me in Florence got me through. & Taylor & Muzz were coming to Florence, too! Can never get enough visitors!

best spring break i'll ever have

With my roommates off to Dublin, Sorrento, & playing with visiting parents (thanks again for dinner, Mr. & Mrs. Knecht!), I was stuck waiting for a very disappointed boy who was delayed in Munich, Germany. I obviously had an easier day of waiting, & even got to see Carolyn & her friend Emily & show them around a little bit! We may have ended up just talking for a couple hours in the apartment, but that was just as great. & longgg overdue.

hi!!!

After spending another hour just basically pacing the apartment, Colin finally got here! It was already around five so, with the first day of planned activities passed, we set out for an abbreviated tour of Florence. We quickly ended with Il Gatto e La Volpe for Colin's first authentic meal. Gets better every time. After dinner, we got more wine & sat on a little platform off of one of the bridges. I had passed by this spot often & finally found the perfect reason to sit & enjoy the Ponte Vecchio at night.

welcome to florence!! 

getting artsy 

liked it so much, we came back with our GustaPizzas the next day!

On Sunday, after a day of some more walking around & pizza, we decided to go up to Piazzale Michelangelo. We stopped at the grocery store for olive crackers, Brie, tomatoes (official snack of the Continental Congress) & wine, & made our way up the 58386 stairs to the top. Well worth it. The view of the whole city at sunset was incredible & I'm so bummed I hadn't been up there yet, especially with my family! (Sorry, guys.) We sat on the stairs & took in the views until it was well past dark.

you made it!

& then the fun started. Colin decided there was no way I could skip a midnight birthday celebration so we planned to go to The Old Stove for a few drinks. We had to catch a train around 9am & I hadn't packed, but even I knew I couldn't not go. We recruited Julie to come, who had to meet her parents around 6:15 the next morning & also hadn't packed. You can guess where this is going. In true 21st birthday fashion, the pictures do a better job recounting the night than we can...

thanks friends!

 

just two 21 year olds..

me & julieson! 

 + our friend the bartender, who really had a thing for midori sour shots

hey there

you're alright 

okay 

just friending locals 

ciders to go

 okay, i'm done

the start of silverware shots. pictures that we literally could not explain 

later that week.. me: julie, why did we take pictures with silverware? you seem pretty excited about our silverware..

julie: i have no idea. colin, do you know?

colin: uhh no, no clue

it was not until back in florence, upon noticing we had two different kinds of silverware, that we realized we stole it from the old stove on the way out.. we're blaming colin. but we did only have 5 forks for 5 people prior to this incident, so thanks!

lookin' real good, especally julie's ghost hand.. 

peace, guys

bed? no. mac & cheese birthday feast!

Fast forward past Mr. Knecht pounding on our door at 6:45, to me waking up at 9:11. I quickly checked our schedule to see our train left at 9:12. Of course. Moving a little slow, we got ready, packed, & walked over to the train station to buy new tickets to Rome. We later realized it worked out because our other train was 3 & a half hours long & we probably would've missed our flight. Like Caroline almost did. But at least we didn't book it for the wrong week, like Smags did.. This is basically how the week went for all of us, but more on that later.


After getting to Amsterdam, we checked into our hotel & then went over to The Flying Pig hostel to reunite with Mullen, Alyssa, Hannah, & Emma, who had been in Dublin. We found them all lounging in bed. Welcome to Amsterdam! We ventured out to find a place for dinner. Surprising to no one, we unanimously decided on Hard Rock Cafe for an unhealthy amount of nachos, mac & cheese, burgers, & more American goodness. Top 3 birthday dinners, hands down.

before alyssa & caroline tag-teamed the dream team on the end, leaving colin & i to finish in a close third

Feeling full & still a little beat from the night before, we decided to stop in a coffeeshop to see what the hype is all about, then headed back to rest before our first day of exploring Amsterdam.

First on the agenda for Tuesday (the whole trip, really) was getting pancakes. Bacon & banana pancakes with maple syrup. Really.

definitely going to have to recreate this guy

for you, mr. mayo! every time

Afterwards, Colin & I decided to go to the Anne Frank house/museum. Stepping behind the actual bookshelf & walking up the stairs to the secret attic was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. The pictures were still glued to Anne's bedroom wall, & there were quotes & pictures on the walls from the diary & what the rooms had looked like furnished. At the end, there were videos of her dad talking & one of her friends from the concentration camp. Usually her real diary is there on display, but of course that day there was a replica due to 'preservation purposes'. But still, it was unreal.


After the museum, we were wandering around Amsterdam taking in the sights, when we saw a big crowd of people, a crazily painted double decker tour bus, & some film equipment. We got closer & saw that it was a music video filming for LMFAO. The scene was supposed to be like a flash dance, with onlookers taking pictures & videos on their phones. Those onlookers included us. Not sure how I feel about it, to be honest, but we'll see!

stopped & took this picture on every bridge, but i'll spare you

made colin get in some too, so fun

awesome

mom, it's your restaurant!

gotcha

still strange

Amsterdam impressed us yet again with the Heineken Experience. A two hour self-guided walking tour with pretty interesting historical stuff, including huge vats they use to produce the beer, a “Be the Brew” simulation ride, a lounge room with a glass bottle display and Heineken commercials from all decades, another lounge room with sweet chairs, and a bar at the end where we got two free pints each (in addition to our sampler earlier in the tour).. Yes please. We also learned that the cleaner your glass is pre-pour, the more foam sticks to the sides as you drink - a fact we've wished we didn't know many times since. 

had to pick up a souvenir for one of the biggest Heineken fans we know

sunset canals

That night, Colin & I explored Amsterdam some more, ending with a ride on a bike cart (excellent decision) through the Red Light District. 

whoa, is all i can say about that

Unfortunately, the next day was rainy & pretty cold, but we still walked around & saw what we could for our last day. I had been loving Amsterdam's quiet & calm atmosphere, & it was even more so during the rain. We went to a restaurant on the top of the local mall for some coffee to warm up and an awesome bird's eye view of the whole city. Then, we walked some more, got lunch at 3 Sisters' Pub, & went back to hang out with all the girls before our flight.

just hangin' at the Flying Pig..

It was pretty late when we finally got to our hostel, Sir Toby's, in Prague, so we hung out in the quaint bar in the basement of the hostel, enjoying our first taste of Czech Pilsners & playing cards. 

these cost 45 czech koruny (crowns).. aka less than 2 euro. taking 6000 out of the ATM was just as cool as it sounds 

couldn't play cards without riding the bus.. someone was unlucky

On Thursday, we ventured out to tour Prague. First we went up to the Prague Castle & saw the castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George Basilica, & a little street of shops called Golden Lane. Everything was very medieval with knights, armor, swords, etc., keeping one kid pretty entertained. It was also really cool to stand on the steps of the castle & take in the classic view of Prague's red roofs. Although it was rainy, the city was still so picturesque. & now I can finally look at that pin on Pinterest, knowing I've been there.

st. vitus cathedral 

prettiest, most elaborate mosiacs i've ever seen 

 at this point, colin was just begging for solo shots

praha

outside the prague castle 

the steps!

From there, we made our way to the John Lennon Wall - a must see on every study abroad-ers list. It was another one of those places that I have seen in pictures of all previous people who had gone abroad..a place where it hits you that it's finally your turn & now you are the one signing your name & taking pictures. Slow down, time!

only thing more awkward than two hoods? one of two hoods. 

my favorite

couldn't not sign..

After crossing the Charles Bridge, we stopped to get lunch at a restaurant in the heart of the city. The restaurant, U Vejvodu, turned out to be a Pilsner Urquell Original Restaurant, so it was very lively & authentic. We joined in on the Czech authenticity when I meant to order toasted bread but accidentally (?) ordered steak tartare aka a lump of raw steak/raw egg that you mix spices & onions into & spread on bread. Although slightly freaked out at first, it was finished off along with a slab of ribs, some pasta, & all the pretzels that were so greatly just hanging out on the table when we got there.

lovers' locks along the way 

charles bridge 

one of my favorite restaurants so far, for this reason only 

okay & maybe for the steak tartare

After our first real Bohemian meal, we walked around some more & ended up in Wenceslas Square, the main city square in New Town. It is a giant rectangle of restaurants, shops, hotels, & people, with the Czech National Museum up on a hill at one end. While hitting all the historical spots in every city is exciting, I always love finding the big, more modern, local-meets-tourists places, too. Wenceslas Square is like the Times Square of Prague, very lively & fun.


Later that night, Colin & I decided to go the Beer Factory, a bar in Wenceslas Square that has beer taps built right into the table that counts up how much you have had. Apparently we got there as soon as it transitions from bar to club, with a business party finishing up & a high school field trip showing up. It made for some great people watching, as the business party decided to stay (on the outskirts), dancing & trying to sing to Pretty Lights, Jay Z, & the like, while the kids tried to get as rowdy as they could before their teachers noticed.

might have to open my own place like this

had to take a bad picture just to capture the two scenes

After the Beer Factory, we met up with all the girls at Karlovy Lazne, a five-story club on the river & the largest club in Central Europe. Each floor was a different theme, including hip-hop/r&b, oldies, electronica (complete with a 'Kaleidoscope Room'), a similar techno, & chill-out. Naturally, we ended up on the oldies floor, that really just includes everything but the other genres. & of course the Grease soundtrack. I can't make this up. It also had a light up dance floor, which is all it took to keep us there, dancing all night. 

the kaleidoscope room.. or a little hallway with tons of angled mirrors & lasers 

the dance floor of the hip-hop floor 

colin's dancing ghost was quickly grounded by that guy.. about the time we got out of there 

& went to the oldies floor! where smags quickly joined the train 

& this kid danced all night.. until we were the only 3 left in the room

Friday gifted us with a beautiful, sunny day. Alyssa had had an unfortunate experience with the dirtier (smokier) side of the Flying Pig & spent some of the day with Smags, who was a little absent-minded on the airplane (that Caroline had originally booked for the week later), at the US Embassy getting new passports. (Oh but it still gets worse later.) Colin & I directed Emma, Julie, Caroline, & Mullen to the Prague Castle via bus, then made our way to Old Town Square. 


Prague was definitely the most foreign place I've been, a fact confirmed by Old Town Square. With its gothic/baroque architecture, I felt like I had been placed inside Shrek. & it was just as pretty as that seems. Everything was so colorful & fairytale-esque! 

this band, right here, of course

Old Town Square is also home to the Astronomical Clock, the oldest one in the world still working. We were completely unsure of how it worked, but it still looked really cool. Having now done some research...the clock has three components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the sun & moon & other astronomical details; "The Walk of the Apostles", an hourly show of the Apostles & other figures, notably Death, striking the time; & a calendar dial of medallions representing each month. Cool!

We got lunch at Bohemia Bagel (yum) & walked around some more, slowly making our way back to the hostel before we had to leave for the last leg of Colin & I's adventure - London.

had to. (just wait until paris..)

It's at this point that I should (sadly) flash back to Monday. That really fun morning when Julie stumbled through packing in 3 minutes, Colin & I missed our train, also hurried through packing, & quickly left for the train station. Leaving my passport behind. I don't know if I'll ever be not mad at myself for forgetting pretty much the only thing I actually needed, a truth I'm well aware of, having now traveled here & there a few times. Lucky for me (& my quick crying abilities), I successfully, & fully illegally, traveled from Rome to Amsterdam to Prague. However, in Prague, my luck ran out when we were told that the UK was a different story & would without a doubt send my passport-less self back to Prague. Our only option was to take a train back to Florence. 


I was sad. & I am not lying when I tell you that 'Days Like This' by Van Morrison actually played in the grocery store of the train station. But people watching, eating all the snacks we could get our hands on, & talking in the British accent we wouldn't get to hear in person started to make up for it quickly. The travel took about 18 hours. But, again, we knew it wasn't all bad when we got a sleeper compartment like in Harry Potter, watched the sunrise over the Alps in Austria, & even got to spend an hour in Venice eating lunch by the canals. 

 

hi again, venice! 

it was sunny, we had just traveled 16 hours, had pretty much just lived out of that bag right there.. but had to capture it anyway

With an extra night to spend in Florence, we made sure to make it good. We got dinner with Julie at O'Vesuvio, now finding even more humor in my birthday celebrations. Then, Smags & Julia joined us at our apartment before we went to Naima & then the opening of a new club, Babylon. A bunch of boys from Fenwick/IU were visiting, so the night turned into a giant SJC/Fenwick/friends reunion. Plus having Colin finally experience a Florence discoteca just made it all that much better.


The next day, the entire apartment somehow slept in until almost 3pm. We laughed it off, blaming it on the time change (because 2pm is normal..), until we learned later in the week that the time change only occurred in America & not in Europe until two weeks later. Concerns aside, it was Colin's last day. We walked around Florence a little bit, stopping to eat lunch outside at ZaZa's. Then we went to the San Lorenzo market to pick out some awesome Italian leather for Claire & Mrs. Mayo! We walked around some more & on the way back, we couldn't help but to have one last late-night picnic on the bridge to conclude our amazing week. 

on the ponte vecchio

had to sit on this side this time, you can see why 

We spent the rest of the night watching Shark Tank & Homeland, a pastime I had been definitely starting to miss. Even after such a full, fun week, 1oam Monday morning came way too soon. The whole week was a dream (minus a few setbacks) & I'm so glad I was finally able to show Colin my world in Florence & explore a few new places together, too! 

aaand one more for good measure