Seeing the Sights

This past week was the dreaded mid-term week. It’s especially awful here because most of the classes consist of a mid-term, a large paper and a final exam. So you pretty much have to do well in everything. Hopefully the tests went well!

Mechthild and I took the afternoon on Friday to go to Leuven, the next town over, and walk around, eat crepes (mine had ice cream and chocolate sauce on it!) and get lost in the city (this part wasn’t planned into our day). The trams were on strike and so I wasn’t able to go into my internship. This time the metro announced that they were going to be on strike so we could be prepared. I think the fact that they announce when they will strike is kind of an oxymoron. The point of a strike is to kind of say that the workers have the power to be in control if they don’t change what the workers want. I think it’s meant to be unexpected and be a nuisance so they have no choice but to agree to your demands. The metro not running is a nuisance, but the fact that they alerted us prior to the strike makes it far less a nuisance because there is time to plan ahead. Also, they are allowed to strike, but only for one day. This, too, coincides with the whole oxymoronness of it all.

I finally made it to the Atomium! It’s one of Brussels main tourist sights. It is an impressive and unique structure. It’s way far away from anything else in Brussels and it’s pretty much the only thing out there worth seeing. My friend, Kelly and I went, took pictures, sat in the warmth of the restaurant and left. We can now check it off the list though.

We then went to the Museum of Music, which was really cool. You get headphones and when you step in front of an instrument in the museum then the music that it makes plays through the headphones. There were so many different kinds of instruments- most of which I have never seen before. They usually resembled something that I was familiar with, such as a guitar or a trumpet but there were so many different variations from different people groups and time periods. I was amazed at some of the instrumental creations! I don’t know how people came up with some of them! I realized how limited my knowledge of instruments is. When I think of instruments I usually think of the basics- the ones I’m familiar with, but there are so many other things that make music! All shapes and sizes and sounds. After my eyes were opened to the various types of instruments that I never knew existed I was briefly inspired to create a unique instrument of my own. That inspiration has faded now...

Mechthild is in Berlin for the week visiting a friend. We’re on our own! She cooked and froze a bunch of food so I think we’ll survive!