Hugs and Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day :) I hope everyone had a cute one :)

Soooo I hate this blog officially. It won't let me publish this post I wrote on Wednesday. Cool. I have rewritten it and still it won't let me. Just when I was starting to actually enjoy it ... !

So I have a nice little paragraph on Wednesday. It was so nice :) The sun was out and shining and it makde me even happy after a boring Wednesday. After school, I went for a run since the sun was haunting me. I think I am getting better at running now that the weather is nicer. I don't think it has helped in the losing weight department (10 pounds to go until pre-Belgium chocolate and fries) but it makes me less stressed and just happier in general. The other day I was sitting in German class like normal and the teacher turns to me - after the other students had started working on the exercises and I had started working on getting out of day-dreaming - and he says, "Do you ever get stressed here?" (said in English since he is also the English teacher) I was taken by surprise and said, "Well, in the beginning ... yes. But now? No, it really isn't my thing anymore." It made me smile. I doubt he was asking because it was a good thing... but it made me happy regardless because I'm getting one step closer everyday to one of my goals. :)
Last time we talked it was Thursday... so on Friday I went into town with friends and nothing really went down. It was nice to be with friends after a long week ... :)
On Saturday, I moved back in with the Brans since Isa and Alain came back from the Alps. It was a bit weird moving back in after being gone for such a short period... but I am happy to be back :) Delphine picked me up around 7 and we went to a party hosted by the school to raise money for our Rheto (senior) Trip. I'm going to be going to Greece the last week of April! I'm sooo excited. It is a bit expensive for just a week away so our school has been doing little parties through out the year to raise money. They had this idea to have a "Blind Test" - which is where you have to guess the artist and title of all these different songs in a certain amount of time. To say the least... I was a train wreck at this game! We were all on a team, and my friends were like, "You have to be on our team! You will know all the American songs!" I have never been more of a disappointment. The "American" songs were not songs that I listen to at all but are more popular in Europe than in America - so I was a failure. Then on the other hand, I would know the song and be able to sing it by heart - but not know the title or artist! The Belges were very disappointed in me. So not my game! Haha Then around 10:30, Francois picked me up after leaving his girlfriend's house. This was a big deal because he has only had his license for 3 months... which is funny considering that now I'm 19, I have had my license for 3 years!! Bizarre. Sunday I slept in while the family (except Benoit) went to tennis practice. Around 2, I went for a run and then did some homework. As in - I attempted to do a German essay but it turned into me asking my German friend from my French course at the University how to say all these things in German. To no surprise, my German teacher called me out in front of the whole class this Monday for not writing it myself... since it was a higher level than students he has been teaching for 6 years. I told him I had a nice bonding moment with a German friend and that I learned so much more vocabulary blah blah blah. Turns out he was not mad at all - just wanted me to learn something. I'm that girl that the teacher doesn't even care if she cheats ... just as long as she learned something and tried her best. Not being an exchange student next year is going to be a rude awakening.
Monday was Valentine's Day Valentine's Day... maybe too much? All day I went around telling people "Bon St. Valentin!" with the response of a laugh and a comment about how it is the worst holiday... So sad. Valentine's Day here is not even really considered anything more than stupid. I'm not really surprised that with my two favorite holidays (Halloween and V-day) nobody celebrates or likes them here. Such a let down. Ever since I was little, I loved this day. I love how close it is to my Birthday, how everything is pink and red everywhere you turn, all the flowers that pop up where you didn't even think they sold flowers, all the cute little cards with hearts and cupids (that my Mommy would put in my lunch box when I was little), how even if you aren't in a relationship you still get candy (and more if you are), how you got a free Burrito from Chipotle (shout out to my Rockhurst boys and Sion girls), how their is snow on the ground and the cold air makes your cheeks red, how it is the one day out of the year I actually want to go ice skating, how for that one day everybody is a little more lovey-dovey towards the people they care about... Maybe it is only me who appreciates it or maybe I have been brain washed early with the mass marketing in the states or maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic... either way, this year it was just depressing! I miss my commercialized holidays!! I guess I will just have to wait until next year to appreciate and respect my dear St. Valentine (that goes for Halloween as well). So sad... Tuesday was rainy and went perfectly with my mood after a depressing Valentine's Day. I made myself got for a run... in the rain. When I got home, I checked my e-mails and I officially have a day I will be back in the Midwest. July 25th! So weird! July 25th, I will be back in America and only a few weeks later I will be starting college... I can't even picture my life like that in about 6 months. I have just over 5 months left in this country I have come to love and call my own. It just too me by surprise that I actually will be leaving and that I am now officially halfway through. Is it just me... or is time just the most mysterious thing ever? Why does it move so fast and yet slow at the same time... and how can it make a million years feel like a moment and a moment feel like a million years? I think I will always be amazed by how time works... coming from the girl who just now figured out how to do military time... :)
We already spoke about Wednesday... so this past Thursday was nice and sunny. I enjoyed eating outside with my friends and actually for a half-second being worried if I was getting sun-burnt.... but no. I have started up my French course at the University again and somehow missed the notification that it started this week... so I missed the course on Tuesday, but went this Thursday. I did pretty well on the test but because I didn't do the online courses it lowered my grade a bit....I didn't think it was obligatory, but it was. Haha! Either way, I am now in a higher level class but I think it still may be too easy. I will give it another day before I ask to be moved up...
Then yesterday was a very long day. I woke up a half hour early in order to get to school to catch a bus with my class to Brussels. Since, it looks like Belgium won't be Belgium in the next few years (mainly because the Flemish people want more rights, representation, and are sick of paying the taxes for the weak south - which is the french part - and want to split to form their own country which leaves the french part of Belgium possibly joining France) the school decided to take a trip to the capital and visit the parliament building (consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives). I have already been with Rotary back in September - so it was a bit repetitive... but still interesting. There were a ton of student groups visiting ... mainly Flemish groups. It was interesting to me ... Brussels is a big deal right now because it is considered a French city but it is in the Flemish region... so if Belgium splits up then Brussels would not be in the same part as the rest of the French speaking people. It is just really complicated... and since Brussels is such an international city with the European Union and such, things are starting to get a bit messy. I has now been close to 300 days that Belgium has been without a national government. I think that is crazy, but at least things are attempting to be sorted out in a diplomatic way instead of how things are going in other parts of the world. I know I said I wouldn't talk about politics but this is a really important issue and I'm actually living in the middle of it. Why not talk about it a little? At the most, people at home can try to comprehend what is going on with my little country. (Somebody sent me this link - I think it is really interesting to understanding Belgium better) But back to my day, after parliament we ate then went to the Magritte Museum. Rene Magritte was a famous, surrealist painter (and poet) from the mid 19th century. He was Belge so he has a nice museum in the middle of Brussels. I learned a lot about him in my AP European History class, so I actually found it really interesting. We had a great guide as well so I think I got a lot out of it. I like how it made me look at things differently and think... I like when art does that. Then after the museum, we all went back by bus to the school and I went home to eat dinner with the family (minus Francois and plus Benoit's girlfriend). Around 8:30, I took a bus into town and met up with Delphine and then we went around 10 to a birthday party for our friend. It was pretty far away so not very many people went to the party... but I still managed to have fun. I met new people! Then around 2, Delphine's mom picked us up and dropped me off at my house. It was a very long day and I am exhausteddd!!

I'm sorry things with the blog have been weird... just for the record I had it written on Wednesday!! I'm so dedicated :)

I know, my faithful followers, that you have been missing my closing off quotes on life... so I have found a few that I really like...

For centuries, man believed that the sun revolves around the earth. Centuries later, he still thinks that time moves clockwise. - Robert Brault

Nothing endures but change. - Herclitus

All for now!! Talk to you soon!!
Mallo :)