February 16th, 2014

So, I have now officially been to France, finally! The ESN group here in Liege organized a trip to Lille, in France. Named Lille because it was originally an island (L'isle), the city of Lille became part of France on the 17th of August 1667. King Louis XIV personally directed the siege of Lille and triumphantly entered the city after only 15 days of resistance, after which Lille became the capital of the Northern Provinces. 

Our trip started yesterday morning at 5:30 am when we had to meet the bus at Place du Vingt Aout, which, luckily for me, is right outside my front door. We drove for 3ish hours from Liege to Lille where we went straight to the hostel to put away our luggage. I was with Franny (Canadian) and I believe her name was Justine (Latvia). We were on the top floor, up several sets of staircases. We had a couple minutes for lunch (they passed out huge tuna sandwhiches, with the works on them!), then it was outside for a walking tour of Lille. I must say, I wore my parka, and it was still pretty chilly out. 

The walking tour was really cool. They separated us into groups of 20 and the heads of ESN in Lille showed us around their city and all the highlights. For example: 
The gate to Paris

City Hall

Palais des Beaux

After the walking tour, we had a couple hours of free time. A few of us went shopping at the mall near the train station. No word of a lie, it is shaped like a boat!

At 6 we all met back up at the hostel for a pre-party before supper. Chips, beer (all included in the 65 euros we paid to go on this trip), socializing. Then we walked to supper. Oh my goodness did we have a wait! They knew about us ahead of time, we had tables waiting but apparently they didn't start cooking until we arrived, if then! We arrived at 7 ish I'm guessing, and it was 9:30 before we saw any kind of food. I swear, some of the other students looked like they might eat each other. In an attempt to appease us, they had a gentleman play guitar and sing for us. He was very talented! Supper was ham and french fries. 

Once we finally got out of supper, closer to 11 than 10, we went to the local student bar for a party. It was waaaaayyyyy too crowded! But the bar was cool. It was called La Plage, which means the Beach! It was all tiki themed, they even had sand under the tables! Anyways, so we hung out there for a few hours, dancing, having a wonderful time! Until the bar tender decided to be a jerk. They had a small tiki bar upstairs where we were dancing, and I feel a tap on my shoulder. The bar tender asks me to take the glass that someone put on his bar and move it. Not my glass, not my problem. He started yelling! So I grabbed it and basically threw it on the table, didn't break, but seriously? You work at a bar, if an empty glass is in front of you, put it behind your bar... Cultural differences I guess! 

Around 1 am, Franny and I decided to walk back to the hostel, and, being Canadians in a foreign city, got lost. Not very lost! We were just turned around for a few blocks, no big deal. Once we got back to the hostel though we basically collapsed onto bed and fell asleep, not even waiting for our other roommate to get back. We were two of the first people back as well!

At 8 am, we had to be downstairs for breakfast, cereal and baguettes. Then we had to pack up the rooms and put our luggage back on the bus. After, we all walked to the Covered Market. It was such a cool experience, vendors all over the place selling everything from fruits and vegetables to tea sets and underwear! It was super crowded, super busy, and super cool. I bought an infinity scarf, which is a scarf that is sewn together at the ends, for 2 euros, and a really pretty watch for 5 euros. I think they were both good deals.

Then it was time for lunch. The girls I was with decided they wanted to eat closer to where we had to meet up later on (to go to the Art Gallery as a group), so we walked to La Palais des Beaux Arts, which is the square in front of the gallery. Two girls went to the health food cafe while I and the other girl, from Poland, went to Subway. I love subway so much! I'm sad that there isn't one in Liege, but it did make for a nice change. The line took forever though! 

The art gallery was amazing! They were having a showcase on Jan Fabre who is a really famous Belgian artist. He works with beetle shells to make is pictures. The exhibit was all about the atrocities that slaves went through in the Congo. It was definitely an exhibit for adults, but how he does his work is amazing. These are all beetle shells:

After the gallery, it was time to get back on the bus and drive back to Liege. I'm pretty sure everyone slept on the bus, including myself. 

February 10th, 2014

So it has been another interesting week here in Liege. I've now been to the first of all of my classes and let me tell you, it's going to be a LONG semester! My shortest class is 2hours, which means that they are throwing a lot of information at us with very little time to absorb it before moving on to the next topic. Also, over half of my courses are "Master level" here, so there is a ton of course work for very little credit. That being said, aside from my evening French course, I only have classes regularly on Thursday and Friday. I say regularly because my Diversity Management is only on 4 Mondays of the entire semester. That is the whole course. 4 classes, 3 1/2 hours each... Lord help me!

Probably the hardest part about being on an exchange semester is you have to start from scratch. Back home, I have a TV, blu-ray player, dishes, pots & pans, printer, car etc. Here, all I have is clothes and my computer, meaning I have to buy all of that again or make do without! I had to buy a printer today, because the nearest printer to my apartment is a 20 minute walk, and they charge roughly $0.50 a page for black. In the long run, with all I have to print for my Finance class, it's roughly the same prince as buying one, plus having my own is more convenient, and I can sell it at the end of the semester (hopefully!).

Another huge sticking point here is that everyone drinks. And I don't mean, its Friday lets have a good time drink, I mean, the sun went down lets drink until it comes back kind of drinking. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is, if its night, everyone is partying. And I'm the complete opposite. I prefer to hang out with friends and watch movies or play pool. Apparently here, I'm alone in this sentiment. Oh well, the good part is that if I do ever need to blow off steam, there will be someone I can go out with.

Also, the faculties here are not very helpful. Nothing is marked properly to figure out yourself, and people aren't really interested in helping you. I had a class on the Sart-Tilman campus today (10km south of my regular campus) and it's huge! It's basically the size of the U of A, but with forests everywhere. I found the correct building right away (I had a map thank goodness!) but it took me an hour to find the right classroom. I asked EVERYONE and no one knew where this classroom was! Finally I just started opening doors and checking inside until I found the right room! Thank goodness that's my diversity management class so I only have to go 3 more times.

This weekend I'm going to Lille in France with the Exchange Students Network (ESN) here at the school. We leave 6 am Saturday morning, stay in the youth hostel overnight, and come back by 8pm on Sunday. It's 65 euros and that includes transportation, accommodation, two meals and entrance into the museum. Which is not bad, its roughly $100. It's my first trip since arriving and lots of my new friends are going so it should be a lot of fun.

February 4th, 2014

So today was a ton of fun! I started classes yesterday, well, I've really only had one class, Strategic Stakes in Globalization, and it seems pretty straight forward.

Today my new friend Natali (from Ukraine) and I went to the Aquarium in the Sciences building on the other side of the river. It was a lot of fun, looking at all the little fishes. They even had a shark! Plus Dori and Nemo (there were even signs saying as much) were in one of the tanks. Upstairs, they also had a museum with stuffed animals and animal bones. They had everything from guinea pigs to a couple of whale skeletons.

Natali is really cool. She's done a couple of exchange semesters so she had some good tips. She's also a huge Harry Potter fan like me! So we've made tentative plans go to Potter World in England in a few months.

Natali is an Economics major, also at HEC so I'll get to spend a lot of time with her, in class as well as outside. 

Tonight was the Sports themed party at one of the local bars for all the International students. I'm not a big sports person, so obviously I didn't bring anything really sports related. But I have my Olympic Canada hoodie and goggles for swimming so I figured that would be good enough. I met up with Camille, from Montreal, at the bar and we hung out with all the extremely entertaining drunk exchange students for a few hours. 

January 28th, 2014

So, I've been here over a week already and things are going pretty well. I've opened a bank account, got a phone, registered as a temporary citizen, enrolled in classes. The down side? Classes still don't start for a week, and I have a TERRIBLE cold! Like sinus headache, watery eyes, sneezing fits, and a wicked cough. My solution? Lots of sleep, lying in bed watching movies, and lots of fruit juice!

So I haven't been able to travel yet. Oh well! There is an Erasmus group here (for international students) who plan outings, group activities, and travel opportunities. I've signed up for it and the first event is a meet and greet next week at the students bar. So I'll get to meet lots of people. There are also two welcome days this week. Friday is general international students at the University, and Saturday is specifically for students at the HEC management school.

Last Friday I got to meet my tutor. Her name is Alexa and she's a first year at HEC. Her and her best friend picked me up at the school and gave me a walking tour of downtown Liege. Showing me the stores and local hot spots. Also giving me directions to school and the close grocery store. They also helped me get a phone, so now I have some form of portable communication device, thank goodness.

Aside from that there's not much going on. I wanted to get out and see the city, play the tourist and take photos but I woke up a few days ago with this cold and decided getting better was more important before classes started.

January 22, 2014

Hello everyone! Apologies for the hiatus! School and life were absoluely crazy last month! Christmas was wonderful, I got to see almost everyone, which was nice. But y'all don't really care about that. You're more interested in where I am now!

I, ladies and gentlemen, am an international student at the Université de Liège, in Belgium! I've been here a few days now, getting things settled. There's still a few other things I have to get done, paperwork mostly, but aside from that I'm settling in well. I have dishes, and I know where the nearest market is so I can get food. It's been a stressful few days but I'm making do. They say the first month is the hardest.

My building is beautiful! It is right across the street from the University.

Unfortunately none of my classes will be in there, but the Housing office and the International Students office are both there which is helpful. My classes are on the H.E.C. campus, which is less than a 10 minute walk away, closer than where I lived in Lethbridge.

My apartment is gorgeous. I think it is the perfect size for one person. I have a private bathroom, desk, bed, kitchen. Its super cute.

I did have to buy my own pots, pans & dishes, but there's a cheap department store nearby and I got everything for 30 euros. 

Liège is beautiful. All the old buildings, the cobblestone streets. It's like another world. I'll post pictures later. The past few days I've spent trying to get my bearings as well as enjoy being in a foreign country. Once all my paperwork stuff is completed I'll play the tourist and go snapping away at pictures. 

Today I went to City Hall to be registered. The walk was gorgeous! I was along the river so all of the buildings were at least 200 year old, as well as the bridges. It was a beautiful morning so the walk was lovely. It's spring here, green grass poking up between the cobblestones. I can't believe there's four feet of snow back home! 

I think the most difficult thing about being away is the time difference. Everyone back home is typically awake between 3 pm and 6 am my time. It's hard to keep in touch, especially keep a Skype conversation going, when I'm about to go to bed or they're just getting up, getting ready for school. 

December 3rd, 2013

Hey Everybody!

Sorry for no posts for a while. Life has been super busy with school and when I don't have school, it's sorority stuff, and in my rare moments of free time I'm usually with Loring. Right now however, it's a snow day here in Lethbridge and classes have been cancelled.

So an update on what's been going on! I've sent off my Entry Visa application to the Belgian consulate in Montreal. I've purchased my plane ticket (for a decent price too I might add, before tax, a round trip flight with only one stop from Edmonton to Brussels is $450!). I'll be taking 6 classes over in Belgium in order to qualify for 4 courses back here. It's not too bad but I'd rather they all transfer back. Because of this I'll be 2 courses short of graduating Spring 2015 (which was my goal) and if I take a Co-Op Internship to get some work experience before graduation that'll push that date back a bit further. So I think I'm going to aim for Spring 2016 now; completing a 4 year degree in 5 years isn't that bad and that way I'll have work experience and international experience. Plus I goofed 2nd year on my TD loan and can get another $10,000 for that "5th" year as well.

Right now I'm beginning my finals so I've been attempting to study when I can. Although my marks throughout the semester have been so good that I can basically just show up (only write my name) and pass the courses with a minimum of 62% (which is all I need for it to count in my degree). This takes away from my stress load immensely! I'm still studying, don't worry, but I'm not freaking out about it as well.

I've started packing up my room. I'll be moving out on the 19th of December. I have a storage locker in West Side Storage waiting for me so that's wonderful, I won't have to lug everything back up to Stony and attempt to find a place to put it all there. It's weird because there is now nothing on my walls or my shelves. My room feels very empty.

I'm sorry to say but Ashley (my biological little sister) lost her rabbit a week or so ago. Butterscotch was 9 and she was a lovely rabbit; although little skiddish. Ashley also turned 18 November 18th. It was her champagne birthday (turn the same year as the date you were born) but I doubt anyone knew.

My friends and sorority sisters are having a "going-away" party for me this Saturday. We are going to Moxie's for dinner then to Essies (one of the clubs in town that play some country music) for some dancing.

Loring was down last weekend. We went to Catching Fire (the 2nd Hunger Games movie), and we watched the 50th Anniversary Special of Doctor Who 3-D in the Cineplex. He is coming down for a final visit here in Lethbridge December 15th. We're going to celebrate his champagne birthday because I'm going to be missing it. I'm going to make him a nice supper and dessert and then we'll probably go dancing or watch movies or something. We'll be celebrating both our birthdays together sometime early January before I leave though. He's also coming up to Stony Plain on the 20th -24th for an early Christmas and I'll be driving down to Medicine Hat December 27th - January 2nd for New Years. Unfortunately I'll be missing Uncle Les & Auntie Jean's Christmas dinner again, which I'm upset about.


Nothing much aside from all that really. Life has been super busy and I haven't really had a chance to do anything.

November 9th, 2013

So this weekend I'm in Medicine Hat for Loring's grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary and his grandfather (same one)'s 90th birthday. This is also the grandfather he was named after. It was a busy weekend and I was only too happy to help out (which apparently made a very good impression on the family). We all went to the church to set up the night before, then Loring, Victor (Loring's younger brother) and I met up with one of Loring's friends from high school and his girlfriend and we all went to Thor 2:The Dark World. It was opening weekend but we got good seats and didn't have to wait too long in line.

His grandparents had a "come-and-go" tea for the Anniversary. We served sandwiches and squares for lunch, and ham and scalloped potatoes for supper. There was also a beautiful cake! I met most of the family that I hadn't up to that point which was nice, but basically after introductions it was obvious that everyone wanted to know how Loring & his siblings were so I went back into the kitchen and started on dishes with Rachel (Loring's cousin). I also made sure the square trays were well stocked. Apparently this made a really good impression on his aunts and the rest of his family, including his older sister who never fails to make me feel included.

When they were taking the photos, Loring's older sister Jen (who's going to be having a baby here shortly), came into the kitchen and basically told me I had to be in the family photos and she wouldn't take no for an answer (and I'm smart enough not to argue with a pregnant woman).

Overall, it was a beautiful Anniversary Tea. I got to meet a lot of family and I was able to help out without being told what do to. Their church is set up a lot like ours so I felt comfortable in the kitchen and clearing the plates and cups with the carts. It was a lovely day and I was very honoured they invited me.