21/4/2013

Woah, so it's been just a little over three months since I wrote here. It's been a while so grab some popcorn and a coke, because it's going to be a long one. So the week after I last updated I made a trip over to Brussels with my friend Henna. There we went and checked out the Grand Place, which is a large square that was the center of Brussels and has very old buildings from the Middle Ages. Located there is the old city hall and an old church that is very cool to see. Afterwards we went and saw the Atomium. The Atomium was the pavilion for Belgium back when they hosted the worlds fair in 1959. You can go inside and walk around in the spheres and use the tubes to continue to climb higher. It gives a good look at Brussels from the air. Inside they also have models of the pavilions of most of the other countries that were there. A while after my older host brother Mathieu went to California to visit the Google Headquarters and other firms like that. While he was gone I ate a thing that when literally translated turns into "Headless Bird." As it turns out there's absolutely no bird in it, headless or otherwise. It's actually a type of beef wrapped in a thing like bacon with a sauce native to Liege. I also started going to the scouts with my other host brother who's the same age as I am. He is one of the chiefs of what they call the Balidain, (pretty sure I spelled that wrong). That means I became on of the chiefs of the group of 6 to 8 year old kids. That was a new thing and was really funny because although I would speak to them in French they would thing that I was still speaking English because they couldn't understand my accent. It gets better with the older kids but it's still kind of hard sometimes. Sometimes I have trouble understanding them too, but that's normally because I can't hear them (it might be worth noting that I used the wrong "hear" just now. English has kind of gotten a little worse.) I also volunteered to help give a tour of Brussels to the Romanians who were coming to visit (Most of them speak English so I was translating.) So the next Wednesday I found myself in Brussels again and was learning how to navigate and what to show them while they were here. Also with my second family my host aunt really likes climbing so I started climbing as a sport with her here. I really enjoy it and I hope to continue that in the US. I also started going to a volleyball club with my host brother once a week as well. The next weekend I had what they call here a Hike but it was really more of like a mini camp out for a weekend in a building. It was there where I was given my "Totem." A totem is like a nickname that you're given when you become a chief in the scouts. My totem is Sajou. I'm not entirely sure what it is in English but it's the monkey that looks like it has sideburns. That week I had my vacation for Carnival. Monday I saw the carnival parade in a German speaking town called La Calamine. They had tons of floats and everybody had costumes on, it was really cool to see. Tuesday I went cross country skiing, which apparently I'm pretty good at. I was able to keep up with my host aunt who actually taught people how to cross country ski and she was going at her normal pace. That Wednesday I was at Bastogne where we saw a few American memorials and a couple museums. Thursday I went and saw the battle field of Waterloo and climbed the hill and saw the lion at the top. I couldn't stay up there long though it was a really windy and cold day so it was freezing. That Friday I spent all day teaching myself the calculus that we were doing in math class that I had never seen before. That Saturday I went saw the Boucle de Spa, which is a race where they have a speed limit and have to arrive at the finish the closest to a certain time that they can. The race was done all by old cars from 1964 to 1975ish. It was really cool to see all the old Porches and Lancias racing. We managed to get a spot right at a curve and saw a few cars actually spin out at the turn. The next weekend I participated in what's called the Franchimontoise, which is basically a giant game of hide and go seek tag. (most teams end up traveling 20 km to avoid getting tagged)  Most teams had about 5 people. The scouts between 13 and 16 had to try to avoid getting tagged and the scouts over 16 were the hunters and had to try and tag the other teams. This involved quite a lot of running. Since most of it was through the woods it was kind of hard when we saw a team and tried to chase after them because we had to chase them and avoid the trees at the same time. That Wednesday we went and visited Luxembourg a little with the rotary, and the next weekend I ran a 10K at the Jogging de Theux. My time was 66 minutes which I think is pretty good being I've never even ran a 5K before. It was really fun to do and we actually ended up running through the center of the town I live in. It was really cold though and it actually snowed while we were running. That Wednesday I went to Namur and saw the Citadel there it was still really cold and there was actually quite a bit of snow still. The next weekend my host family took me to see Paris for the first time! Paris is probably one of the coolest towns I've ever seen. While there I saw the Arc de Triomphe, a little of the Louvre, the Eiffel tower, The Montparnasse tower and the Rue d'Elyssees. We also saw this modern art museum where the building itself was one of the works. It was called the Beaubourg and the building was really a collection of pipes of varying sizes and colors all put together to make a building. When we got back the Romanians came to visit and so I made yet another trip to Brussels and gave the tour in English so everyone could understand. After they left we got our grades again. Most of my grades went up but I'm still failing Religion and Physics, but I'm failing a little less now. The only grade that went down was my English grade. (physical proof that I'm getting worse) Then we had our two weeks of Easter break. After the first weekend of break I left for the Rotary trip to Spain. After a great 24 hour bus ride we finally arrived Salamanca. The next day we saw The University of Salamanca and the buildings around it. All over the place were paintings of funny symbols, our guide later explained that they were symbols from the doctorate graduates who had passed and were allowed to write their names on the walls on campus saying they passed. Interestingly enough though, it was originally written in blood. The graduates, after having passed a very difficult oral exam had to then fight a bull to actually get their degree. And if they failed their exam they had to walk out a special very small door and the people in town actually threw pumpkins at them if they came out that door. I also went to Madrid, Sergovia, Toledo, and Barcelona. Along the way we saw mostly Cathedrals and Monasteries and a couple castles. While in Barcelona we all went to the beach and swam in the Mediterranean sea. It was very very cold but totally worth swimming in. Even if we couldn't stay in more than 5 minutes at a time. While there I also saw what was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life, and that was the Sagrada Familia. It's a church that is currently under construction but its not like any other church out there. The inside and the outside are completely different than a normal church or even a normal building. I don't have any pictures because I managed to break my camera walking in, but I recommend looking it up. We then left and made a 20 hour trip back home and when we got back I slept most of the rest of the day. (Can't sleep well in buses) The next day I went to Ostende again and put my feet in the North Sea. (This was a tad colder than the Mediterranean) and the Sunday after that I went to the last activity with the rotex and we went to Walibi (my third time there) and that evening I changed host families for the last time and went to a birthday party with my host parents. That brings us to this week where because of being super busy over break I didn't study at all so I took 5 tests in 5 different classes and the only one I'm sure I passed was my test in English. Aside from that I'm pretty sure I failed the others. Wednesday I took a nap outside in the sun. (ITS FINALLY SUNNY HERE!!) and yesterday I really didn't do much. I played the cello for a while because I have a show for school and the rotary that I need to practice for. My Religion teacher gave me some songs that he'd like me to play but I need to listen to them and figure out what to play by ear so that takes a little longer. Today my host dad asked if I wanted to go for a bike ride and I said sure. We ended up going 30km and afterwards we went to the pool. (indoor, it's not that nice outside) When we got back I took a nap because I was exhausted. That's pretty much all I got. This for sure was not one of my shorter ones. Hopefully my next few will be a little closer together.

19/1/2013

So it's been a little bit more than a month since the last time I posted here. And since then I am positive that my English has gotten significantly worse. It's not super noticeable all the time but often when I say something in English the wording is really weird and hard to understand. Anyways, the last time I posted I was getting ready to take my exams. Well I am proud to say that I more or less passed. I passed all of my classes except physics and religion. We only took two tests in physics (both of which I failed) so even though I actually passed the exam for physics I still failed the class. And for religion we haven't taken our exam yet so I don't know exactly why I'm failing, but all my other classes I passed. And for many of them I was actually among the average grade. Then I had winter break. A whole month off from school. The first days I went around with my host family and we did some shopping for Christmas and things like that. I bought my self a warmer coat for my upcoming trip to Romania. Soon after we had Christmas, for presents I got a card game based on important places in Belgium and a Vocabulary game, and even though it's the junior version I still find it very difficult to play. Soon after was New Years where I went with my host dad and host siblings to their friends house where we played games all night. I pulled an all nighter to watch the ball drop in NYC and soon after went to bed. (I was tired). The next day I had dinner with my host family and brought all my stuff over to my next host family's house. And that day was also the day I left for Romania. We left at 9:30 pm and drove through the night and the next morning we were in Prague. While there we looked at the buildings and saw the big astrological clock there as well. We waited for 15 minutes to watch it ring on the hour where I learned it is like a giant coocoo clock. They had statues on the sides of the clock that actually moved around when it rang which was pretty cool. We slept at Prague that night and the next day we left for Poland and we arrived at Auschwitz in the afternoon. We walked around the smaller part of Auschwitz for the afternoon. That night we talked to some volunteers who help manage the place we stayed the night. (It was like a youth service camp) The next morning we were at the larger part of Auschwitz. There it is so big you can't see where the buildings end. The whole view was pretty somber. I didn't take any pictures, I didn't feel it was exactly right to take pictures of all that. That afternoon we left for Zakopane. We got there later in the night where some friends and I decided that we were going to go skiing the next morning because we had a free day. So that evening we went out to go find a place to exchange some cash (up to that point everyplace had taken euros). But first we had to figure out how much would cost. And since nobody from the group spoke Polish and not many Polish spoke French I was elected to ask in English. After finally getting the information all translated for everyone we went out to find a place to exchange. After about a half hour walk we found a place to exchange and after we all got our money for the next day we went and hung out at Mcdonalds for a little bit then we all went back and went to bed because we were told that the ski place opened at 7 and we wanted to get there at 7. So the next morning we all got up at 630 and went out to the ski place (about a 10-15 minute walk) and found out that it didn't open till 9 at that point it was about 815 (we lost some time because we got lost on the way there). We decided to head back and eat a little bit more for breakfast with everyone else and we left again at 915. After getting there and all our ski stuff sorted out. (we had some mild problems with the language barrier) and learning the polish word for helmet (I wasn't going without one after the incident with the ski lift last time I went) we finally got on the slopes. I quickly discovered that the ski lifts there are very different and instead of chairs they have metal poles with little plastic seats that you stick between your legs that pulls you up the hill. After falling off of that about 4 times I finaly figured out how to get to the top of the hill without falling down. I then started to go down the hill and learned quickly that skiing in Iowa isn't really skiing. It's more like sledding on skis. Here I had to relearn how to ski and I couldn't race people like I had done at home. After falling a lot I was glad the coat I had bought was leather, that way it was waterproof and it softened my fall a little bit. Then in the afternoon we went to the top of one of the mountains and had a snowball fight and went sledding. After we got back it was around 6 at night where we ate supper at the hotel and some people went out afterwards but I hung out at the hotel and talked to people. The next day we left for Deva, Romania which took most of the day. The Romanian border was the only time on the whole trip that I had to show my passport. After finally getting into Deva we were divided up and introduced to our host families for the three days we were there. I then went back with mine and we talked about the traditions of Romania and what they like to do. I then went to bed rather early being tired of sitting in the bus all the time it was nice to have a real bed for once. The next morning we had to be at school at 8 so after waking up early and eating breakfast (which is very big in Romania) we took a bus to school. In the morning we learned about the different parts of Romania and how and why they are divided the way they are. We then played a game that was to teach the Romanians about Belgium. For a large part of the Belgian part I had to translate what the teachers said because most of the Romanians spoke English better than French. Afterwards we had lunch (at around 2) and after lunch we went back and wrapped things up and talked about the next day a little. We then went home and ate supper where I tasted some traditional Romanian dishes which were super good. I went on Facebook for a little bit then headed to bed because we had to be up early the next morning to go visit other towns. The next day we visited two towns one was Sibirie and the others name escapes me. One town was where the Romanians gathered to protest and finally change from communism. The other had a few museums but we went to go eat and looked around the town itself for the time. then we had to go because it was a 3 hour trip home. That night my host taught me some Romanian (its really hard) they have two other letters and several different types of the letter a. The hardest was that the letters all sounded like a different letter in French or English. The next day I slept in and then went to a national park where they had plants from all over the world (a few trees I recognized from home) and in the afternoon I went to town to go shopping because I was told good quality stuff was much cheaper there. Many of the things were cheaper but I didn't buy anything because nothing really interested me. My host though did buy me a Romanian to English dictionary which will probably be useful again when the Romanians come here to visit. That evening we had some sports teams to play against each other. We won in basket ball and indoor soccer but we lost in volleyball. The next day we left early in the morning for Budapest. When we finally got there we walked around a little bit and saw a large cathedral. That evening was the best part. Before supper we all went to the spa there which was outside. The water was heated and steaming and while we were in there it started to snow! The only bad part was that we had to make a freezing run in just a swimsuit outside to the water. Afterwards we went to a rather classy restaurant and had some chicken and french fries (I think many belgians missed that) and then we all got back on the bus and drove through the night to get back at home at 3pm the next day. That day was the real day I changed families and I spent most of the day getting my things sorted out. The very next day we had to go to school. It wasn't very fun that day because I was kinda sick and still tired from the trip. but I got better by Friday. On Friday the daughter of the very close friends of my host family came and spent the weekend with us. She's originally from France and she studies here so she stays with my family once a month because it's easier than going home every weekend. That weekend there was also a little dinner with the Rotary for a fundraiser which I went to. It wasn't super exciting but I was glad my host family came with so I had people to talk to while there. Monday I went to the Rotary and gave my speech as normal and today I went to school and actually managed to answer a question in history which normally doesn't happen for me so I was pretty proud of that. And I finally have all this written. I think this is my longest one yet. And it's just about supper time now.

02/12/2012

S'up friends! So its been a little over a month again. Um first for the holiday I went to Walibi again, and I had  my first french dream as well. My host mom was upset with my host brother for not doing his homework. (I found this rather funny) I'm proud to say I am actually starting to understand what is going on during school and I have actually started passing tests. On most Wednesdays I either do homework with friends (which they help me understand) or we watch The Big Bang Theory. Thankfully they have the seasons on DVD and we can all just watch them whenever. (and in English!!) For Thanksgiving I went over my friend Henna's house (the Saturday after) where we and Keegan (another american exchange student) spent the whole day cooking chicken and stuffing and making a type of jello that was very good. The chicken was alright but it was a little undercooked. We had to use the microwave to bake everything so it wasn't easy. Her parents didn't actuallly have a stove so it was that or nothing. The next day was the exotic dinner with the rotary where I made strawberry jello with bananas. All the food there was really good. To go home I took the metro for the first time alone and so that was interesting and from there I took the train with out any problems. This Friday we had the school wide party for Christmas they have every year. We had class for the first two periods then the seniors (my class) had to go set up for a school wide assembly where they had music playing and called up several students from the crowed to compete in contests on the stage. After all this we had to put all the things away as well so in all we finished school at around 2:30. Then we took the bus to town and after getting there we went to Mcdonalds (amusing how I end up there when I could just as easily eat there at home) And after eating there I had to go to Brussels where I spent the night at a friend of our friends house so I could take the two subject SAT the next morning. It was there talking in English with him that made me realize how much English I have already forgotten. And today I did very little (partly because I slept in to 11:30) and I am glad to have a break today. Tomorrow I have school and next week are exams. but after that I have almost a month off of school for Christmas.

28/10/12

Hello! It's been a while again (I really need to get better at this). Since I last updated I've done quite a few things. The weekend after I updated I went the reunion where we played games some in side and some outside. It rained all of saturday so we spent half the day outside (I got soaked) :D and the other half inside playing cards. That night I taught everybody how to make s'mores (they loved them!). the next Wednesday I went to fort Eben-Emale (Not sure if I spelled that right) This was the first fort Germany invaded at the start of World War II. That Saturday I went to Namur with the Rotary and we learned about the Parliment of the Wallon part of Belgium. Afterwards we went on a tour of Namur by river where we ate lunch on a boat. The next Wednesday I did more with college stuff (It never seems to end) and that saturday I went shopping for Christmas presents with my friend Henna in Charleroi. (I also bought myself some new shoes and a watch. I needed a nicer pair of shoes and I really needed to know what time it was). This Wednesday I finished my essays for college (Finally) and after I got my first report card here. I got good comments from all my teachers but my grades weren't awesome. My lowest grad was a 5/20 (failing) and that was in physics. My highest grade was a 20/20 (English of course) Fortunatly I was only failing Physics, my other classes I passed (Barely). The grading is different here and everything is out of 20 and to fail you must drop below a 10. This weekend We went bowling (I won) :D  and today we celebrated my birthday (Its not till thursday) and for my dinner I had belgian fries and a steak (The steak isn't quite the same here but its still good) and for dessert we had a birthday souffle! :D and for my birthday present we are going to brussels on wednesday and my host partents are going to buy me something I pick out.

4/10/2012

Hello! It's been a while since I last updated this. I've been rather busy, so I'm going to try to summarize last week in a few (hopefully) brief statements. In my french class we started homophones, that was rather interesting because of my difficulties pronouncing some words and my smaller vocabulary, but I found it rather fun. In English class we started talking about American Highschools so I am answering several questions the students have about it. Wednesday after school I started on my long list of college essays to write and Thursday I did'nt have school so I worked on the essays all day. Friday we started derivatives in math, well I started at least. Everyone else had two months of derivatives last year so I was totally lost. Saturday I went to the sea with the scouts here. It was rather cold but very fun. I waded in a little but but got cold (that and I was wearing jeans). We also played a game of tug of war and built a large sand castle. Afterwards we rode around on these pedal cars that were like two tandem bicycles stuck together to seat 4 people. That was very fun and I got to see a bigger part of the coast like that. Sunday I worked on the essays a little more and did some homework. Monday I learned about the class trip that the class takes every year around eastern Europe and I intend to go. Also I learned about a trip my science class is taking to the university at Liege to see some experiments and displays. Tuesday there was a political debate at school that I attended. Unfortunatly due to the language issue I didn't get as much out of it as I would have liked. Wednesday I took a Biology test (that I think I did pretty well on) and started learning about soaps in chemistry. Today we had open hour where the teachers of our class talk about a project that we will be doing all year. Afterwards I got back the first chem test I took here. I got a 25 out of 90. At least now I have a better idea of whats going on. Also I had some issues understanding the questions. I then had Math class where we took the test on derivatives. The night before I asked my host dad to help me with them and I now understand them but I still found the test very difficult. Afterwards I had history where I actually understood everything the teacher talked about. This weekend I am going to a reunion of some sort with my family where there will be lots of games and other things to do so I am very excited for that.  

23/9/2012

Okay, I haven't updated in a while so brace yourselves this is probablly going to be a long one. So I leftheit off on what I believe was Thursday night. Friday was just a normal day so I'll  skip over that. Saturday I played games with my host brother and made plans to go to La fete de Wallonie t他和he next day. This included my host mom teaching me how to use the train and telling me where I had to switch trains. Not to complicated but a little scary when it's your first time alone. So Sunday before I left we had dinner with the family of my host mom. There I met her brothers and their kids. (host uncles and cousins?) After dinner there was dessert and I had what was called a Brazillian (I have no idea how it got its name) But it was delicious, it was like a mixture of a cream pie and a cheese cake! After dinner my host mom drove me to the train station where I boarded the train to Liege. When I got to Liege I had to find where my next train would stop so I could get on. I very quickly learned what that number my host mom wrote down next to where the train was going. It was the platform the train was on. So after roaming the train station for a bit trying to find out which platform was which I finally found the right one. Oh I forgot, before the train stopped at Liege there were other stops and so when the train got to Liege I decided to talk to the person across from me to make sure I was at Liege and didn't get off in the wrong place. Well it turns out that I appeared to have picked the only person on the train who spoke only Russian! Luckly the girl on the other side of the isle assured me that this was Liege. So fast forward a bit and I am finally getting on the train to Namur. The train ride from Liege to Namur was about an hour so I just kinda hung out and listened to my ipod the whole time. When I arrived at Namur I met up with my friend Henna (who's an exchange student from Ohio) and her host family. Her family took us around the town and showed us the fete. The best way I can describe the fete would be like a mixture of the farmers market and the state fair. There were several smaller concerts and lining both sides of the street were people selling various things. Fries (some of which I bought because I never got supper as a result of the train ride) and clothes and shoes and even intricate wooden carvings. After a while I had to return to the train station and go home. I ended up getting back home around 10 that night. The next day I had a meeting with the teacher who manages the exchange students to discuss my final schedule. (She's the english teacher so it didn't take very long). Afterwards I had my last French class with the kids in my grade because the next day I moved to french with the deuxieme class (I think they are about 12 years old) It is easier for me to understand and they work on vocabulary and grammar instead of philosophy so it's better for me.That day she only had half the class so we all made acrostich poems (did I spell that right?) I discovered quickly tht acrostich poems are much more difficult in other languages. Especially when there is a W in your name. I looked in my dictionary and there were only 7 words that started with W. 3 were parts of trains and one was the french word for Wiskey. I ended up using the word western.  So Wednesday because school ended at noon I went shopping for some warmer clothes (which is good because it is freezing here all the time.) So two sweatshirts one coat and two shirts later I am now much warmer. So the next day before I left for school I checked my schedule to see what I had first. I had English so I went to English first. I later find our that I missed my first day of real French class because me being the genius that I am looked at my old schedule and not my new one. Whoops.   The next day I had french again and there I was given a homework assignment where we were given a short story and had to come up with a title and cover and back page for the story. Me being me ended up spending almost two hours on the front cover. I'm pretty sure the other kids in the class spent about 10 minutes on it at the most. I then had my first real math test which I am pretty sure I passed. Saturday was an awesome day. I started by playing a game with the scouts here where I was a "thief" who had supposedly stolen several things. In reality I was given several objects and told to go and hide them around the whole city, but keep the ring that I was given and wear it. After hiding everything I returned to the little prarie that the scouts use as like a base. When all the groups returned and had found everything they were told that I had the last object. At this point I had to run and try not to get caught by the groups. Whats cool is that I was allowed to run anywhere in the city to avoid being caught. So after about an hour to an hour and a half of running. (or what seemed like it at least.) The groups worked together and cornered me in an allyway and finally caught me. At that point I was exhausted. Later that night was a concert. The singer apparently was friends with Bob Dylan and had actually translated several of his songs into french. Some of which I recognized but not all. I then went home and went to bed. Today I finished the rest of my homework and went and atee dinner with my host moms family again. There I had rabbit (which I'm pretty sure is a first). What's funny is that I didn't know it was rabbit until I had pretty much finished it. I figured the chicken here just taste different than it does at home. I suppose I was a little off. Afterwards we returned to my host dads house and played a board game. After the board game I skyped my little brother while he was at church and said hello to all my friends. I then skyped my parents and now am updating this blog.

13/9/2012

So this monday was my first at the new school. I started with the upper level English class. Here we talked about American steryotypes. The one that came up frequently that I did not expect is how we all drive big cars. It is somewhat true, compared to the cars here our cars are gigantic. But our cars are getting smaller. Afterwards I had Religion class. I understood very little in that class because the teacher talked really fast and had a deep voice which was hard to understand. Afterwards I had Social Sciences. Which turned out to be to Psychology. I didn't really understand what was being said but what was written on the board was pretty funny. One of the sentences said "I hide my self in the toilet." I don't know why it was there but it was and it was pretty funny. After Psych I was supposed to have gym but instead there was an informational meeting on an end of the year project that I am not required to do because I am exchange student. Afterwards I had French again. Which I still didn't understand very well. But I was able to write two paragraphs for the class and the teacher was impressed that I was trying to write them. Next was physics where we talked about magnets and how they worked. Then I had the lower level english which was quite fun, and afterwards Geography. Geography was quite fun and the teacher is really cool. After Geography I went home and at 7:00 I had dinner with the rotary. For dinner we had the closest thing to steak that I have had for quite some time. It was delicioius. The next day I had english once again and we talked more about the Belgian and English school systems. Afterwards I went again to the higher level english class where we talked more about steryotypes. And then History. History that day went much better than it did the first time and I actually have quite a bit written down for notes. (However the notes are written in Franglais) I then again had english (I like Tuesdays) and then Geography. Geography was still quite fun and we talked about an upcoming project. I then had French again and it was difficult this time because she talked about the renissance and wrote very little on the board. At the end of that day I had a 2 period version of gym called sport. There I played floor hockey and volley ball. The next day I had Biology where we talked about genetics and the reasons why anti-biotic resistant are resistant. (Thanks for the background Mom it helps me understand whats going on.) I then had religon where we watched a movie (unfortunatly without subtitles in any language) I then had Chemistry were we played a game and I think my team won. I wasn't much help though because by the time I came up with the french to answer it was too late. Ensuite I had the Upperlevel English where we finished up our discussion about steryotypes. I got to go home after that because school on Wednesdays here ends at 12. So I went home and ate lunch and soon after we left for the Belgny Mine which was an old coal mine that they now give tours through. It was pretty cool and I got to see all the machines and the elevators they used to go down. After wards on the way home we were on the bus the AC units fluid thingy exploded causing the fluid to pour out of the AC so as a result we had to pull over for about 10 minutes and hang around until a new bus showed up to take us back. We then got home where we had dinner and I went to bed. Today I started the day with what was supposed to be english but it turned out to be another informational session. This ran over into the specail open hour afterwards and so my first actual class of the day turned out to be chemistry again. There I learned about how to name certain things (Organic Chemistry is rather new to me as I have discovered) I then had english where I found out that not only do belgian students just have to turn in their diplomas to get into any college they want they only have to pay 800 Euros for it!!  After lunch I had math which I discovered is taught somewhat different so half the stuff they teach I know and can do and the other half I have never heard of before. I had math for two periods and then History. Today in history I was able to understand even more and the person sitting next to me pointed out that I had written even more than I had the other days so I was quite proud. After history I went home where I did my homework (which isn't near as much as it was at home) and started on this huge blog update. I think I need to update it more often so they don't get this long.

9/9/2012

I've noticed that it gets really cold at night here in Belgium. Friday morning when I stepped outside to head to school I could again see my breath. After my walk to school I went to gym class, which is now one of my favorite classes. There I played floor hockey and the only bad thing about it was the fact that since there is a dress code for gym it is very difficult to tell who is on your team because everybody is wearing the same type of clothes. After gym I had science 6. It is only labled as science 6 on my schedule and as a result I don't know which science it will be. It turned out to be what I think is Nuclear Physics, which is awesome given that my dad works at the nuclear plant back in Iowa. Afterwards I had science 6 again but with a different teacher which meant a different type of science. Turns out I ended up in Biology, which works out well because mom teaches that back at home. After science 6 I went to French 4H (the 4H means I have it 4 times a week). This turned out to be what I think is a philosophy class. It is rather hard being it is all in french and requires some writing of your own thoughts about a specific topic in french. It is somewhat difficult to understand but I think I am going to stick with it. It will help improve my french and what I do understand of it I find rather interesting. So after French I had lunch where I had a sandwich and some mini cookie things. After lunch I had Math 4. I asked a kid where to go and he said he was going to Math 4 as well. Well it turns out there are two Math 4 classes at the same time and I ended up in a different on than the one I was at the day before. I was told to stick with the most current one so that is what I am going to do. After Math 4 I had French again and we continued the discussion from the previous class. After French again I had Math again. Here we continued learning about the stuff from before. Afterwards I went home. I had to walk home by myself for the first time because my host brothers were in class still. So I am proud to say I can now get to and from school on my own without getting lost. Afterwards I worked on some stuff for school and we watched a movie. The next day we went to a castle, which wasn't castle ruins like the last one was. Inside there were many interesting and old things, but you weren't allowed to take pictures. There was a tour guide but it was difficult to understand what she said because she talked kinda quiet and fast. After the castle We went to a hydroelectric dam (which was very cool to see) and after that we went to the highest point in Belgium which is apparently 700 meters. After standing up on top of that we went and saw another dam. This time on the dam was an incredibly large statue of a lion. After looking at this dam we went home. After we got home my host dad went to go get supper while we relaxed. When he came back he started putting plates and silverware on a tray and handed the food to my little brother who walked passed the dinner table with it and started walking upstairs. He handed the juice to my little sister and she did the same. At this point I was incredibly confused as to why we were taking our food upstairs. He then hands me a jar of mayonaise and grabs the tray and tells me to follow him. After walking up two flights of stairs we came to what looked like a closet. Inside the closet was a step ladder that led up to a trap door, and on the other side of this trap door was a flat roof that actually had a picnic table!! So we ate our supper of special belgian fried fish an sausage and fries on the roof of my host dads house. After supper we went back down stairs and we watched Back to the Future in french with english subtitles so I could understand everything still. Afterwards I went back to my room and went on Facebook, Skyped my parents and then went to bed.

6/9/2012

Well today was my first day of school, but before I tell you all about it I'll take a few steps back. After my last post I ate supper and decided to go to bed. The next day we went bowling and shopping for things for school. Bowling here is pretty much the same as it is at home. (the weights of the balls are even still in pounds). For school I had to buy gym clothes. The only dress code for school is the clothes you wear for gym. Plain white shirt, plain black shorts, and plain white shoes, absolutly no brands on anything. So we had to shopping for things for gym. Afterwards we went to a store called Trafic. I have decided that this is the Walmart of Belgium. They have a little bit of everything there for really decent prices. Speaking of prices although clothes here are really expensive I've noticed that all the shoes I have seen have been rather cheap. Anyways, while at Trafic we bought me a binder (the binders here are wayyyy better than they are at home, two or four holes and super easy to open and close, and they have niftly little thingamagigs on the rings that slide down and lock in place to keep your papers from flying about) and a pen. Apparently the fountain pen is way more popular than the regular pen (which they call a bic). After sitting there on google for about 15 minutes trying to figure out how on earth one actually gets the ink to come out of the pen I finally gave up and asked my host mom. Turns out you gotta like pop a hole in the end and scribble with it until ink comes out. This occured at about 9:30 last night as I realized I oughta figure out how it works before I go to school. So on to school today. We left the house at around 8:10 which means we had to book it to school to be there on time. The strangest part about this morning was the fact that when I stepped outside I realized I could see my breath!!  It was freezing outside. So after arriving at school (on time) I went to where I was supposed to meet the other students. After a brief meeting with the english teacher she sent me to a room. I believe it may be the same as like a homeroom at school. I am not entirely sure being I did not understand most of what was said in the room. Afterwards we actually walked up to the castle that I talked about earlier and we took a class picture there. We walked back down and took a second picture. More things were said that I couldn't understand and then we made our way to class. It is more difficult to understand people in large groups because of all the background chatter going on. I signed up for science 6 which is the hardest one. I believe this was the right choice because during class we played a game with several chemistry questions. I remember more than I thought I did from chemistry and am rather proud that I was actually able to participate. The hard part is the notation is different here than in America and it took some time to figure out what the question is asking for. After chemistry I got to go to what is probably my favorite class so far, English. Not like English writing but like as a foreign language. Its a pretty easy class and the teacher is super nice. For right now we are comparing the education systems between America and Belgique. After English is lunch. For lunch one has to either bring their own food or buy it from a local sandwich shop not far away. Except on Tuesdays, where one can get fries and spagetti.There's no cafeteria so everyone eats ouside either infront of the school or in the courtyard. After lunch I have two periods of Math. For the first period I was in Math 6 which is the most difficult math. After about 5 minutes of that I realized that I had no idea what kind of math they were even doing. I decided that I was in way over my head and my first thought was that it was like they were speaking another language. (which they obvoiously were) and I didn't even think about how funny that thought was until later when I got moved to math 4 the next period. Math 4 was much easier and I can handle what they're doing in both languages. After math is History. History is really hard. The teacher only talks and you are expected to write what she says and take notes. I personally didn't understand most of what she said. She talked so fast!! I wrote what I could but it wasn't much. Afterwards I had Math + which is like math six but harder. Fortunatly I don't have to take it after today. So after all of this I returned home and the weather was much nicer. Today school ended at 4:30 but tomorrow I can go home at 3:30. So That was my first day of school and the two days leading up to it. I feel like I just wrote a book so I hope it's not to long.

3/9/2012

Well today I finally caught a bit of a break to update this. The day after I last posted I went and signed up for school. There I was given a rule book, but the book is all in french so it takes some time to actually read and find out the rules. Turns out St. Roch is a Catholic school. I'm not sure what that entails but I guess I'm going to find out. Students thre are required to learn two foreign languages so now I'm learning not just french but german as well. I also intend to take calculus, which could be rather difficult in a different language. The next day I left for the orientation in Brussels and Huy. There I visited the Grand Palace and the Parliment. Both were very large and ornate. The next day we toured Huy and looked around a very large, very old church. Afterwards we had a few powerpoints that explained the rules. These took some time because translators had to translate every slide from french to english and spanish and portuguese. There were many other Americans there and it was nice to speak some English for once. The next day we returned home and I relaxed for the rest of the day. Yesterday I visited the Chateau de Franchimont, which are ruins of a very old castle and the surrounding area. The castle is actually within walking distance from where I am living and I am pretty sure if the trees weren't in the way I could probably see it from my bedroom window. Today we aren't doing much My host sister Line started school today and tomorrow I go to school to tour and sign up for classes. Fortunatly the person giving the tour is also the english language teacher at the school. Wednesday we're going bowling so I am rather excited for that as well. Oh, and please excuse any of my poor grammer and spelling. It is rather hard to switch back and forth between languages for me right now.

28/8/2012

well here's my first blog post. Today I went to an amusement park that was quite a bit like a miniature disneyland. The park was called Walibi. I think its the french word for walaby because the dancing guy out front looked a bit like a kangaroo. While here we road loads of rollercoasters (montagnes russes) and a few water rides.  I got a bit wet (mouillé) but that was alright because I dried quickly. Afterwards we went out to eat supper. Here i ate my first Belgian fries. They were delicious!! Here they dip they're fries not in ketchup or ranch but mayonaisse which turned out to be quite good!  After that i was exhausted so I went to bed.