There was free breakfast in the hotel's glorious dining room...well, it was free for up to 4 people from each room and we didn't know that the hot sausage & such were not included in the "Complimentary Breakfast" until Saturday morning.
           We started our day by going to the Tower of London and looking through the torture tower, the crown jewels, and an armory exhibit. My favorite things there were a jewel-encrusted sword handle and sheath, and the kings' crowns. 
            It was a nasty, rainy day but we trekked over to Buckingham Palace to meet up with Eddie and Lindsey. We had to arrange buses for the way back, which was quite a hassle. Luckily, once we got to the EuroLine office, they were able to help us get all 13 of us on two different buses leaving Sunday.
            The weather was so dreary, we went back to the hotel. Then all of us ladies went shopping. There's a discount store called Uniqlo and it's found back in the states...they had pretty trendy stuff. We went into another shop and looked at swimsuits so we could get in the hot tub at the hotel. Unfortunately, their dressing rooms were closed since the store was closing soon and they didn't have anything that I would find useful wearing back home, so I didn't get a swimsuit. We went into a huge department store called Harrod's next...they had the most wonderful swimsuits, but for some of the most out-of-this-world price. Back at the hotel, I ended up putting my feet into the hot tub and spent some time in the sauna with a towel wrapped over undergarments.  
             Finally feeling a bit warmed up, we went out and around the block to a locals' bar called Minories. They were really nice and had a 2 for 1 cocktail special. I tasted the Long Island Iced Tea and liked it alot, but they didn't have nearly as much alcohol in it as it normally would. I actually a virgin cocktail of orange and cranberry juice with some fizz. Apparently we were in the business district, because everything was closing. We ran into a study abroad group from New Jersey who led us to a club called Pause...they couldn't get in and assumed the place was closing. However, we saw some other people go in and the bouncers even let one member of our group go in to use the restroom. It turns out they were practicing racial discrimination against most of us. One of the bouncers actually suggested to the girl coming that she should kill herself for hanging out with these white people.
              We quickly made our way back to the hotel.

               Our bus to Brussels was to leave the station at 1:30pm, so we needed to leave the hotel around 11:15am to get some breakfast and navigate the metro system. I ended up eating an Asian lunch at the food court in the Louvre. I thought was getting lettuce and shrimp in a shrink-wrapped roll so I got a place of rice with it…come to find out the roll was in rice paper and also included chicken and noodles on the inside. I was pleasantly surprised. Rushing through the metro, we had to wait a long time for a large crowd of people slowly shuffling off the train so we could board…so long of a time that my backpack got stuck in the train’s doors, one girl’s foot almost got stuck in the outer doors, and the train ended up leaving the girl behind because the doors wouldn’t open. I managed to get my backpack out of the doors before we started moving, but half of our group waited at the next transfer for the girl’s train to catch up. The others went ahead to help us check in at the bus station faster. Once we were reunited, we went up and luckily caught up with the others.
          We rushed to the bus station, which is connected to one of the metro stations, waited in line, and then waited for a while at an abandoned bus with about five other passengers since they told us to go to port 17. We heard an announcement that mentioned 17 and 9, so we hurried halfway across the station to bus port 9 where we boarded to Brussels.
           A little over 4 hours later, we arrived back in Brussels. We changed clothes and went out to dinner for Erin’s birthday at the pizza place on the corner. I got some pasta this time with lasagna noodles, spinach, and ham and it tasted much better to me than the pizza. Afterwards we went to the mojito bar since it was half-price night, then to get waffles, and to the Grand Plaza since Erin had never seen it at night. A few of them went to some bar called Celtica but most of us went back to the hotel. Along the way, some drunk man joined in our pictures. Another man wanted to take pictures of all of us together, but I was not going to give the camera (actually someone’s phone) to him for fear that he would run off with it. As we were walking back, a stranger came up behind us and encouraged us to sing the Happy Birthday song in French…we don’t know how in the world he knew it was her birthday so we ran off. A safe distance away from him and fairly close to the hotel, one girl announced to everyone we came across that it was Erin’s birthday. Luckily they just wished her a happy birthday and went on with their business as we hurried back to the hotel.

             On Friday, we went up through a seemingly endless spiral staircase to the top of the Arch de Triumph and found a gorgeous view of Paris. Then we went to the Louvre and a friendly, English-speaking gay couple showed us where to go to find tickets and the museum. The Frenchman thought I looked a bit like Cameron Diaz, but it must just be because I am blonde. I think another girl in our group looks more like Diaz than I do.

 Anyway, we went through some of the Louvre, looking at the grand halls, antique glassware, some statues, and paintings. We found the Mona Lisa and the portrait was a decent size, contrary to rumors I heard about it being disappointingly small. It was by itself on a large wall, though, and protected by about 4 inches of glass. We only stayed at the Louvre for about an hour because the halls of masterpieces began to feel repetitive. I wish I had known about Napoleon’s apartment being on one wing of the Louvre so I could have seen the lavish way that royalty and leaders lived. I didn’t find out about that until later. 

I’d like to mention that I wanted to join the other group with the professors for Friday’s tours, since I was worried that my group would spend the day looking in expensive shops again, but some miscommunication caused that to fall through. Much to our surprise, we ran into that group several times on Friday. Apparently we saved 4 Eu on tickets to enter the Louvre museum buy purchasing them at the door, but maybe the other group got access to something else. We met up with them at the Mona Lisa and they lingered a lot longer in the Louvre than we did, but I wanted to see more sights.

After the Louvre, we went to the Notre Dame, which was a free self-guided tour. As we looped around towards the front of the cathedral after looking at some exhibits in the back, we heard an Acapella choir beginning their concert. I was able to capture some of it on video, but my hands were not very steady. It gave us a chance to really appreciate the Notre Dame as a very old cathedral. 

               We bought barrettes even though the French don’t wear them anymore and then we had time to go back to the hotel to freshen up before heading out again. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower and weaved through peddlers and magicians who would lure in tourists to be pick-pocketed.  We met up with Fat Tire Bike Tours at the South leg of the Eiffel Tower to go on our night bike tour. For 28 Eu, they took us on 4 hour tour that included a stop at an ice cream shop and an hour boat ride with free wine. Fat Tire Bike Tours is a company started by people at Texas A&M and they have tours in several cities across Europe as well as in Texas. Our tour guide, Max, was a French university student who spoke English like a Brit and could even do an American accent. He showed us all of the major sites and had us ride the bikes in circles around the fountains in the Louvre until we were dizzy. He described the purpose of the mini-Arch de Triumph: Napoleon promised his troops that if they won a certain battle they would walk under an Arch. It was taking so long to build the large Arch de Triumph that he had a smaller one built quickly, and in my opinion more beautifully with pink marble columns, so he could keep his promise. We went over one of several lock bridges, where lovers place locks to show their eternal love, and found a Clemson lock. A boat passed under with a woman in fur singing opera to a couple who were either just engaged or on their honeymoon. We boarded a massive boat and sat on the top deck to enjoy the views of Paris at night. Even though it was cold, we made friends with some Delta flight attendants on their layover and some guys from Texas A&M. We got some good shots of Eiffel Tower from the water and on the way back to the bike shop.

               From the bike shop, we walked to a restaurant and had crepes with the Texas A&M guys. They said that both of their dads are in oil and so the single ladies were really upset when they realized they didn’t get the guys’ numbers or even share last names to find them on Facebook. Still craving food, they went across the street to McDonalds, which was utterly crowded, and a few minutes later the other group came in too. I wasn’t hungry but I was ready to call it a night. It was around midnight. So I went back to the hotel with the professors and one other guy.

           This morning I went with Eddie and Nolan when they went to do their laundry on the next street over. It's cheaper and quicker than  the laundry at the hotel. We grabbed breakfast and I entertained a baby while we were waiting. The mother, a Muslim, seemed not to trust me, so I only gave the baby smiles and funny faces while she wasn't watching. 
           We all went to Brugge this afternoon, pronounced "Brooje", at least those of us who were still in town. About half of our group went to Barcelona, but 19 is still a good bit. We took the train, which cost each of us 10 Eu roundtrip. On the way there, I sat next to an administrator from a secondary school in Brugge. She spoke English to us, telling us where to go. Her sister married a man from Bangladesh and now they live in Houston, Texas. The rest of the train ride I talked with some people from our group and I initiated a game of "Would You Rather...?" to keep us occupied for a while. 
           In Brugge, the city was a lot more modern than I expected. However, there were a good many historical sites with old cathedrals and towers. We had lunch at a place Eddie recommended, but I was extremely disappointed in the price. My meal cost 21 Eu, and I actually got a deal compared to other people. :(  A water was 4.50 Eu! The only beverage I could find that was cheaper was a small 4 Eu glass of wine. Annoyed with most of the girls at the time, I explored the city with two genuinely nice guys from our group. We got some cool pictures, went through a few stores, and got a little lost. I went into a hotel to ask for directions and they helped us find a boat tour. We got on the last boat of the day for that company so it was very nice. About 15 kilometers from the northern coast of Belgium, Brugge is the "Venice of the North." While we were waiting, I stuck up a conversation with a group of people also from the US. One couple was from Florida, another lady was from Minnesota, and her father was from the Netherlands. We bonded as fellow English speakers and then enjoyed taking pictures on from the canals.
          The bus for Paris is leaving at 8am tomorrow, so we have to meet in the lobby at 6:30. I am not bringing my laptop with me, so don't expect any updates until Sunday.

       I forgot to mention earlier that a few of the guys and I went to Nordzee for lunch, which literally translates into North Sea. They have catch of the day fish. I couldn't read the menu b/c I didn't have my glasses with me and it was in a funky handwriting, but I asked one of the guys to tell me the cheapest thing on the menu. Unwilling to try escargots, I settled on a dish that was 4.5 Eu and sounding something like "klipinger." It was some fried fish and very delicious; it didn't have a strong fishy taste or smell which was nice. The fish came with some house tartar sauce, strange lettuce-type stuff, tomato, and bread. We told the guy that we're from South Carolina and he assumed that meant Atlanta, so for the rest of the time he called our group Atlanta. They cooked one extra plate of fish than was needed, so they gave that to us free of charge. Walking through the square, we also received free promotional Coca-Cola.
         Tonight I got the chance to go out at a reasonable time because a group of us were discussing our plans for Paris. One girl's friend in Paris will probably give us an insider tour of the best places to shop and avoid the tourist traps on Saturday, so we will do all of our tourist visits on Thursday and Friday. The six of us congregated at O'Reilly's Irish Pub for a while and they had a couple of drinks...beer or mojitos....I had apple juice. The bartender looked at me funny when I ordered apple juice but that's just too bad because I definitely do not have the taste buds for alcohol right now. We found a comfy booth in the front corner window. O'Reilly's has become to feel like a favorite hometown hangout spot, like the bar in "How I Met Your Mother" and the coffee shop in "Friends", plus they have better WiFi than the hotel.
           Afterwards we stopped by McDonald's and then headed to the Grand Plaza to see the buildings change color at night. It was magnificent. I wish I had brought my camera with me but I was apprehensive about being a target for pick-pockets. We found some other Americans there who were with a few Canadians. The Americans were a couple from University of Texas just staying in hostels and such. We got waffles with them and then headed back to the hotel. I can officially say I've had a Belgian waffle now, with Nutella on it, but it doesn't really surpass the last Waffle House waffle I had a few days before my trip.             No worries...we got in by 11:30 and it really only gets dark at 10.

      Classes today seemed rather brief because everyone was concerned with making  plans to travel  outside of Belgium this weekend. We have done a lot of waiting these past few days, being patient with our professors as they try to figure things out. But there comes a point when we want decisions. Our travel plans depend on prices and the prices depend on how soon we book our trips. About half of the group made reservations to go to Barcelona for a long weekend and half wanted to stay with the professors, where-ever they decided to travel. Initially, that was London, but that turned out to be too expensive to book at the last minute. Our cheaper option was Paris, a 2.5 hour bus ride or 1 hour train ride. Since the train was nearly 70 Eu more than the bus, roundtrip, we decided to take the bus to Paris. We spent a couple of hours looking for hotels because our professors refused to stay in hostels no matter how nice they were, even though we could have gotten a room of bunk beds reserved solely for our group. We were lucky that one of the girls in our group spend almost a year in Paris and so she could tell us which neighborhoods were okay and which to avoid. Just before we had to leave for the day’s outing, Eddie contacted a member of the Citadines ApartHotel chain in Paris and was able to get us a reasonable group rate.
      When we returned from our outing (see below), we finalized plans for Paris. We leave on Thursday and come back Sunday. It was 46.78 Eu for roundtrip bus ticket and 60.40 Eu for the hotel for 3 nights (price per person for my unique situation). We booked 4 rooms: 2 for girls, 2 for guys, for a group of 17 students plus the two teachers. The hotel rooms are actually apartments like what we are in now with either 4 twin beds or 2 twins and a double. Some of us can easily share a twin a bed, so we can cut down on cost. I think the price for one room for 3 nights is about 475+ Eu. There are 12 girls going so most of us planned on splitting the rooms to 6 girls in each. However, most of the girls in one room were not feeling well, so it would be better not to crowd in and spread sicknesses. I ended up moving into the other room so we are now split into 5 and 7. We are paying significantly less per person for our room. It went down 10 Eu, so that’s 2+ meals for me.
         Now for the fun part! We went to a Chocolate Factory this afternoon. Expecting to see Oompa-loompas and a chocolate river, we were a little disappointed that it was a fairly small warehouse. The chocolatier kept emphasizing that they don’t make chocolate; they work with it. Basically, they purchase their own specific flavor of cocoa powder from a supplier, who must mix the cocoa beans from plantations around the world to achieve the chocolatier’s perfect flavor. A team of 3 chocolatiers then mix the cocoa powder with cocoa butter, milk powder, and sugar to create their 3 blends of chocolate: dark, milk, and white. The white chocolate is made with cocoa butter, milk, and sugar, but no cocoa powder. While we sampled each blend, he showed us how they use molds to make “praline chocolates” which are hallow and filled with various crèmes. A couple of volunteers from our group filled some with a hazelnut crème and then we tasted that kind, too. The chocolatier gave us tips for determining a good quality chocolate. Given a flat piece of chocolate, you should be able to hold it with a thumb and index finger on each side and break it into two. If it breaks into more than two pieces, he says not to bother eating it because it is not real chocolate. This is not to be expected of chocolate shells or chunks, just flat pieces.

          Today we went to the Atomium, a giant model of a molecule. It was built for the 1958 World's Fair to symbolize scientific progress and encourage the use of atomic energy. We took an elevator to the top and took pictures of the city, then took a series of escalators and staircases to visit a few other bubbles. The other bubbles were like a museum, but uninterested in taking the time to read (I'm not even sure if it was in English) or watch the videos, I skipped through and took pictures of some really cool stuff. They had a chair made of extension cords, another of something that looked like auto-parts, and one that looked like a shopping cart. They also had some blobs made of batteries and shot-gun shells. I took pictures of some neat architectural designs for my Architecture major buddies back home to get some inspiration. 
        We took the subway to and from the Atomium and every station was totally different. Some were really nice and others were kind-of dingy with graffiti on the walls; several had beautiful pictures on the walls, inspirational words, and encouraging quotes. We took the wrong train for a little while, but it was not detrimental because they move very quickly from station to station. Cultural note: there are alot of Muslims in Brussels, although I haven't seen any veils, just women with the scarves over their head and wrapped around.
        Once we got back to our part of town, a group of us went to get lunch at the Sultans of Kebap restaurant; they are everywhere and fairly cheap. They mainly have wraps and pitas. I got a falafel because it was only 3.5 Euros and I ended up taking half of it back with me for supper. I don't think it had any meat in it, but they put something that seemed like hushpuppies in it. Whatever it was, it didn't taste bad at all. I suppose that as long as it's cheaper, I don't mind being vegetarian for a month. We also went to Quick, which is like a Belgian McDonalds to meet up with some friends there. They got a meal for 3.5 Euro, too, but I think I prefer paying for two meals for the price of one at the kebap place.
         Afterwards, we went to the grocery store which has the same symbol as Food Lion. It was really a bit difficult to find what I wanted, but I got enough to suffice for a few days. I think the bread is actually cheaper at the mini-mart down the street, so I just got some off-brand Nutella to spread over bread for breakfasts. My total bill at the Food Lion (not it's actual name) was about 10 Euros. Culture shock: you bag your own groceries here. Also, chivalry is quite possibly dead here. No one gets up so a lady can sit on the subway and the ladies gave strange looks to guys from our group who held doors open.
         Once back at the hotel, we took a nap...I slept for 3 hours! Later my roommates and I went upstairs, I sipped some cheap wine (I definitely don't want that kind anymore, it was rather off-putting), and played a card game guessing famous mustaches.