On to more visits to Dutch towns! Just a warning, this post is going to be incredibly short on account of me having one of my busiest weeks here- and seriously, that's saying a lot.
But anyway, the day after Leuven we went to Antwerp. I loved it a lot- the city is known for its port and its diamond trade done traditionally and still mainly carried out by the Hasidic Jews who will sell you tens of thousands of dollars on a handshake. Seriously, this is how all business transactions should be carried out- it's no much more civilized and trusting.
After seeing the daimond section we toured a beautiful cathedral which got us out of the cold for a bit, then had lunch. After lunch we did some more touring and saw some crazy statues and a view of the river. We walked a good but of Antwerp, and the Jerry left us to our own devices. Antwerp is known for many things, one of which is their fashion, so even though we missed the big sales by about 5 days Christina, Shiza and I went shopping. This is where I discovered that while delicious, I should probably be eating less of my homestay family's food. In true "me" fashion however, five minutes after making a diet pledge I ate my first Belgian waffle! It was super delicious. We went shopping for a while and I bought a Zara cardigan for 6 Euros, so everything was good.
After this we were completely exhausted so we had half-dinner at this place that smelled delicious yet had cold soup and then went home, where I got 8 hours of sleep!!
Rested from my sleep MARATHON, the next morning we made our way to Ghent, where all of my energy left me the second we got there. We did manage to tour a castle which had this ridiculous video tour which taught you nothing of the actual castle but weaved this intricate drama of a Jewish merchant falling in love with the Duke's almost-queen Portuguese wife andbeing friends with this old writer he kept calling "pen-pusher". It was strange.
After that we did another tour where we saw some beautiful buildings, and we ended up in the cathedral that houses the van Eyck brothers' "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb"- aside from spending an hour with the painting listening to the audio guide, I also took a walk around the gorgeous cathedral. After this I met up with Catherine, where we made our way home.
Rinske and I decided to try out a cafe on our campus before going home, but we didn't stay long on account of how EXTREMELY exhausted we were and the 974918749817349134 hours of class waiting for us tomorrow.
And tonight I write to you after many hours of class and internship- my internship is getting mroe interesting- I attended a meeting today on Child Protection with representatives from Human Rights Watch and Save the Children, and started writing up Executive Summaries on the EU's Human Rights Guidelines. I have a computer now, but no harddrive. Poco a Poco.
Tomorrow I have my internship, then am off to Luxembourg!
Besitos!
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