8 strangers picked to live in a house...what happens we people stop being nice and start being REAL...THE REAL WORLD BRUSSELS

Okay, so the title of this one is only gonna make sense if you're familiar with MTV's "The Real World". It was kind of an ongoing joke this weekend living in the Real World House. Messy boys, girls yelling at the boys, everyone fighting over showers, boys sleeping most of the day away, girls having to clean up the kitchen after the boys attempted to make their own breakfasts...see what I mean!? haha There were tense moments, but in the end everyone had a great weekend in Belgium.

The train ride to Brussels was surprisingly fast. It took us only 1 1/2 to get to Brussels. After getting off the train we had to find a metro that could take us as close to our hotel as possible. The guys were a little overly excited to be in Brussels. From the moment the train pulled into the station, they were high energy. Unfortunately, when it took longer than planned to find the metro and then find our hotel, this high energy turned the already way to lively boys into very very angry, argumentative boys. The argument began over the map: who had it, why that person had it, and why the boys weren't in charge of it. The answer to these questions was simple: because you guys never asked for the map. "Can we have the map NOW, then!? We're ready to be at the hotel. We're starving", they said. The map holder got annoyed at this point and walked away from the rest of the group while she figured out the route. The boys never got the map from Pam. The most popular phrase after this: "I don't know...I don't have the map." Lovely, boys, lovely.

After A LOT of walking, we arrived at our hotel and checked in. The apartment we stayed in was perfect! There were 2 rooms with queen size beds, a great room with a kitchen, living area, and dining area, a big bathroom, and 2 toilet rooms. The living area had a pull out couch, so we had 3 beds for 6 people. Pam and Caroline slept in one room, I slept in the other, and all the boys slept in the living room. The fact that I was the only one not having to share a bed or room was mentioned at least 5 times a day. Honestly, though, it was the most logical set up for the beds. ;] hehe It just so happens that it worked in my favor! Oui, n'est pas!?

Kaitlin and her boyfriend Thomas picked Evan, Preston, and me up from the hotel and we all went to dinner. Pam, Caroline, and Ian stayed at the hotel and showered and got settled in. I didn't really pay attention to what kind of restaurant we ended up at, because I was so busy chatting with Kaitlin. Imagine that, me too busy talking to pay attention. You can imagine my surprise when I opened the menu and realized it was a seafood restaurant. Perfect, NOT! Actually, it turned out alright. I ordered crab. Unfortunately without my daddy there to help me crack the claws and get all the meat out it didn't go so well. Luckily for me, my "brother", Evan (we have the same last name, so I've gotten in the habit of telling people he's my brother), helped me out. It was good, but next time I'd choose something easier, for sure. After dinner we met up with the rest of the group in front of a pretty church in the center of Brussels or "Grand Place" as its called. We walked with them to a cafe so they could grab some food, then headed to meet some of Thomas' friends. It was really fun to meet them and hang out, but we were all pretty exhausted from the train and staying up late the night before studying. We ended up going back somewhat early. Everyone hung out at our apartment for an hour or two after we got back. Basically, the guys sat outside on the balcony because they were annoyed by our choice of t.v. show. The girls sat, warm and cozy, in the great room watching t.v. The hotel had 2 English channels: BBC 1 and BBC 2. The rest of the channels were in different languages, so we were stuck watching a British version of "Flip this house". Sorry, boys!

The next morning everyone took full of advantage of the fact we had absolutely no obligation to wake up early. I think everyone slept until at least 10. Ahh so nice!! Pam got up first and ran to the store to get bread, butter, and jam for breakfast. She's the sweetest! Breakfast wasn't much, but it was inexpensive and very good!! Thanks, Pamela! :] By the time everyone got showered and ready to head out for the day it was like 1. Yes, we wasted most of our day sleeping. In our defense, though, we reallyyy needed the rest. We are constantly going in Paris and never have time to stop and rest!! For lunch we had pizza and these amazing chocolate brownies for dessert. Yumm!! After lunch, we walked to the EU (European Union building). Pretty cool, except for the fact that there was a protest going on right in front of it. The protest totally freaked me out. I'm so not a fan of people yelling and holding up signs angrily (especially when I have NO idea what they're protesting or even saying for that matter). They were chanting to a beat that was apparently pretty catchy, though, because Evan proceeded to hum the beat all day long. Haha! We wanted to walk around town more, but USA played at 4 pm and we just could not under any circumstances miss that! You guys know how much I loveeee soccer!! Right... We had Thomas and Kaitlin over to watch the game with us. The girls turned the soccer watching party into a pajama party, because we were tired of wearing cute clothes. However, once everyone had pjs on, all we wanted to do was sleep. Caroline and I napped on and off throughout the game. Don't ask us how the game ended, we were napping. Ooops. Like I said, I just LOVE soccer! That night, we went to a discotheque. Definitely very different than we expected. It was 80's night, so we were all pumped. The only slight problem? It was FRENCH 80's music. They played one MJ song, though, so were were slightly impressed.

Saturday was a day chalked full of shopping!! Thomas drove us to Grand Palace and pointed us in the direction of all the good stores. We were a bit disappointed by the shopping in Brussels, though. The clothes were very "European", not at all the same as American fashion. Let's just say some of the European fashions would not be considered appropriate in The States. haha For lunch, we broke down and went to a Tex Mex place. Yes, I know it was silly to expect the TexMex to be good in Belgium, but we were desperate!! Surprisingly, it wasn't half bad. I mean, it wasn't Larry's or Lupe's or even Taco Cabana, BUT it was good enough for 4 very hungry Texans craving Tex Mex!!

Thomas picked us up from the stores and drove us to his house for dinner. The house was so cool! It was super modern. Kinda like walking into an Ikea catalog! hehe Dinner was unbelievable! Best meal I've had the entire trip. We had steak kabobs, shrimp kabobs, sausage, chicken, and pork as our main dishes. For sides we had: potato salad, fruit salad, pasta salad, and a regular salad. As if that wasn't enough, she made 5 different dips for chips in addition to guacamole and mango salsa for starters!! We ate and ate and ate until we couldn't eat anymore!!

Sunday morning we all woke up very sad to be leaving Brussels. Nobody wanted to leave, and therefore no one was in a good mood. There was a lot of moping around and a lot of snapping at one another. We love Paris, but it was fun to get away. I really think the long weekend brought us all closer. I'm starting to realize how sad I'm going to be in about a week to leave all of my new friends. I'm sure I'll stay in touch with everyone I'm close with here, though. I mean we go to the same school, after all. Its just so crazy how people I'd never met before this have become such good friends of mine. We've had such an amazing time together. Its making me sad even thinking about leaving them. I've got to be honest, I will probably be more sad to leave my friends than I will be to leave my host family and Paris. Paris is great, but I'm definitely getting more and more homesick for Richmond everyday. So much so that I've planned out exactly what I want to do when I get back. Ready for this, everyone?
1. See my family (I miss you guys SO much!!)
2. Eat Mexican Food...preferably Lupe's or Larry's, but honestly Taco C or Taco Bell would do too. I just need some Mexican Food, pronto!!
3. Lay in my Cali King size bed. So over this teeny tiny Parisian twin bed.
4. Relax on the couch and watch American t.v shows in English!!
5. See all of my friends! Miss you guys!!
That's my Top 5 list of things I can't wait to do when I get back!! :] Oh, and Chick-Fil-A should go on there to. I would kill for a #5 with an 8pack of nuggets and extra barbeque sauce!! Sounds so good!!

Hope my summary of our long weekend wasn't too boring for you guys! I know it wasn't super exciting, at all, but we did have a good time! It was very relaxing and slow-paced. Exactly what we needed!! :] Oh, and don't worry, funny anecdotes from Brussels will be appearing in the next few blogs...just not enough time right now! :]