This is going to be a longer post because I had such a jam- packed, fun weekend.
The whole crew we have formed here did a trip to Brussels, Belgium for the weekend. There were 14 of us. We headed out Friday afternoon on the bus. The 3 hour bus ride was actually quite fun. We played this game where we write the name of a famous person on a paper and slick it to our heads. You don't know what you have and everyone else can see. You ask yes or no questions till you get it right. It is fun, but a frustrating game.
We all some how managed to stay in the same hostel together. We went out right after dropping our stuff at the hostel. We went to this bar in Brussels that has a selection of over 2,000 beers. It was a super grungy, packed bar. I loved it. I have decided that I am a huge beer person. Wisconsin has trained me well. Particularly though I have an obsession with Belgium beer. It is so flavorful and lovely.
We were all in this section of the bar around one table. We played the some of the best drinking games I have ever played. Some how before we knew it we were well pissed. It was the perfect night. The kind of night were you didn't plan anything but it all worked out so well, and everyone was on the same level of drunk and happy. The amount of candid pictures, embarrassing videos, and laughs we had is what life is about. I made a few bad decisions throughout the night, but hey what happens in Brussels while studying abroad stays in Brussels.
The next day we all woke up feeling a lot like hell. We got some coffee, some food, and some beer to make us feel better. We went to the city center to see the cool buildings, we got chocolate, waffles, we saw the famous peeing boy, we saw beautiful cathedrals, we saw a Japanese festival, and we day drank. By night time I was already drunk. We had round two of rowdy, too drunk kind of night. I cant handle the amount of random things we all do, say, scream, dance, and witness while piss drunk all together.
Alex, and I were the last two girls standing with a few of the boys at the end of the night. I didn't make it home till 5 am.
We had to check out of the hostel Sunday by 10:30. It was so rough. On 4 hours of sleep we all had to lug our shit around the whole day, as our bus was not leaving till 8 pm. I haven't been sober in 20 days so everything hit me with a force. I was having the worse day, BUT then Euan and I decided to go off on our own, because the group was becoming a bit much.
This time with Euan was my favorite part of the trip.
We went and sat on a bench in the sun trying to recover. Then we went to this quaint little coffee shop, on a quieter road. We sat outside with the sun shining on our faces, drinking our espresso. This moment Euan and I shared it was a feeling and experience that I will never forget. Euan brought up my brother, I started to talk about it and started to cry. Euan looked like he had so much sympathy, empathy and love in his eyes while this happened. He was hung over ( which makes him a bit more sensitive) He started to get teary-eyed while I cried. I have never felt this before. Just the amount of sincere love I could feel radiating out of him was insane. After we started to talk about life, our fears, our family. Euan wrote a cute letter to his Oma. We sat on the street admiring the local passing strangers, and both agreed that was a moment that we will look back on. I wish I could capture better the moment, but I think that is what was beautiful about it. It wasn't meant to be captured, it was meant to be felt; a moment just for me and him. My level of appreciation for him is insane.
After that our day turned around. We went to the parts of Brussels that Euan and I are more into. Less touristy, more locals, and more students. We got to see the parts of Europe you think of. Fairy tale parts with cobble stone streets, street markets, and cool street art.
Then we ate dinner and made our way to the bus. I was so ready to be in my own bed. The trip was incredible. I feel so fortunate to be living the life I do. I feel like I'm not wasting it.
