Let's go to Brussels for a field trip!

So this whole studying abroad thing is pretty cool. We are learning about the European Union in my political science class, so instead of just reading and talking about it, they decide to go to the actual EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. We left Sunday afternoon and took the Eurostar train to Brussels. The train goes through a tunnel under the English Channel and takes about 2 hours. We got to Brussels in the evening and checked into our hostel. We then decided that we needed to do some research about the local culture, so we went to find some Belgian beer. We found a restaurant in the city center and told the waiter to give us some good Belgian beer because we had no clue what any of the beers were on the menu. The beer was kind of light, and didn't taste much different than any other beer I've had. After dinner, we went to a bar and proceeded to walk through thick clouds of smoke to get to the counter and order. This time, the beer I got was darker and actually tasted good. Anyway, enough about beer, the night was fun as we explored the city, and I even got to speak a little french to a local, asking him "où est les toilettes?" (meaning "where is the toilet?", of course).

The next day, we got dressed in our business casual and walked over to the European Council building. The European Council consists of the heads of state or government of the 27 member states. They have the ability to influence policy in the EU, but I'm still trying to figure out their exact purpose. We listened to a portuguese man speak about the Council. He talked for an hour and basically told us the same things we had already heard in class. Next, we had a break for lunch and then went to the European Parliament. Again, we heard a guy speak about the same things we already knew from class, but we got to see the actual parliament chamber, which looks a lot like the Congress chambers. That night, after Lena and I got our Belgian chocolate waffles, we were feeling European and decided to sit outside at a restaurant and order wine and sit for a while and drink. Two of our friends joined us later and we went to another cute restaurant and ordered more wine. French wine is absolutely delicious, nothing compared to the cheap stuff I'm used to from home, and we had a very relaxing last night in Brussels.

The next day, we went to the Boston University in Brussels facility to listen to an American from NATO speak. His talk was very interesting and I really enjoyed it, especially because I don't really know much about NATO. After that, we had some free pizza (from Pizza Hut, of course) and had a couple of hours to explore before we went back to the Eurostar for our train ride back to London. The city itself is very dark, and the buildings are pretty much all the same dull grey color, but we did find a beautiful square called "The Grand Place" and the area we were in most of the time has a lot of small, cobbled-stoned streets. Overall, it was a good trip, but it was also super exhausting and we slept for a full 12 hours once we got back to our dorms.