I Amsterdam

En fin de compte, nos plans grandioses pour un voyage en Suisse en voiture ont tombé à l'eau. Pas de problème, nous sommes en Belgique! L'Europe entière est à notre disposition. Et il y a t'il une meilleure façon de celébrer l'arrivée de l'automne qu'un voyage à Amsterdam?

We (the 8 of us!) left early Friday morning and a little over two hours later, we were in search of our hostel. Hostel. How very backpacking-through-Europe of us. Personally, I had never stayed in a ten-bed room before. I kind of liked it, it was like I was back at camp, but without a curfew.

It took a day or two for Europe's City of Sin to grow on me. We explored the city by foot (a coy euphemism for me getting us lost, despite my Bible of a Lonely Planet), found the cafés and the cheap Heineken. After night number one, we were exhausted but managed to find the sight that made Nick From Venezuela exclaim "That's it! I've seen what I needed to see, I can go home now!"

Can we just pretend that it's an "O"?

We accidentally stumbled on the I Amsterdam sign by finding the Van Gogh museum (which, for 14 euros, is pretty much overrated). Apparently Commerce is getting to me - my first instinct upon seeing the sign flocked with tourists was: That's an amazing marketing idea. Think of the return on investment!

On night two, to our delight, we met Hugh From Australia, 19-year old high school graduate on the second leg of a five month solo trip through Europe and South-East Asia. Quand j'ai réalisé qu'il est du même âge que ma soeur, j'était d'autant plus impréssionnée par son attitude positive, son indépendance et sa détermination. Here I'm thinking that I'm rockstar on exchange and I meet someone who just blows me out of the water!




Best of luck on the rest of your travels, Hugh!

 By Sunday I had relinquished my tour guide crown (or rather, it was unceremoniously taken away from me). We found the Anne Frank House, but having not read the book, half of us decided to try something different.

In Canada, pedestrians rule the road. Hitting one is bad. Amsterdam works a little differently, which we found out as soon as we stepped off the curb. Bikes rule here. And in a city where there are trams, busses, cars, over a million bicycles (more than one per citizen) and thousands of tourists, that's saying quite a bit. When we finally figured out that we couldn't beat them, we had to join them. 




Look ma, no helmet!

The cliché is true, there's no better way to see Amsterdam. The paths are wide and plentiful. Where there are no paths, motorists yield to the bikes. As if I needed further proof of this mode of transportation's dominance, I saw girls arriving at the opening of a club on two-weelers - wearing stilettos. A tour of Amsterdam's park (which puts Central Park to shame) made me fall in love with the city. And there's something about peddling that made the Red Light Destrict seem positively picturesque.

Soon enough, we only had hours remaining in the Netherlands, which we filled with a walking tour of the city (free - unless you tip). Despite the rain, I thought it was great value... informative and funny (if not, a little cheesy). I recommend to anyone that they try one of these out in most of Europe's major cities.

A few hiccups later, we were back in Louvain-la-neuve exhausted and happy to be back home. Home... it's only been two weeks. How quickly time flies!

Hi, I'm Olivia from Canada

"Ahh! You're Canadian! I love meeting Canadians, so I can tell them how much I love Neil Young!" - Vincent from Italy

Question 1: Where are you from? This answer, obviously, varies enormously: US, New-Zealand, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, France, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia, and the best answer of all: Canada.

Question 2: Why did you choose Belgium? Mes enseignants du secondaire seraient particulièrement contents d'entendre celle ci: To learn French. (The irony isn't lost of anyone that this conversation is going on in English).

This will be a short post, as my Internet access is scarce. My first week at UCL (well it hasn't really been a week yet, hard to believe!) has included meeting an enormous amount of international students and my two Belgean roommates, travelling to Namur for les Walloniade (festival celebrating Wallonia) during which we attended a Belgean punk-rock now, a spontaneous afternoon trip to Brussels (the most beautiful and typically European city in Europe), and last but not least figuring out class schedule for UCL (ensuring four day weekends, of course).  Best of all, I have found such a close core group of friends that I can refer to us as "we". And we are roadtriping to Switzerland this weekend.

For those coming for the winter: prepare to be confronted with Belgian bureaucracy, but also Belgian friendliness, Belgian beers, Belgian parties, Belgian architecture and some amazing Belgian days and nights.

More soon!

À la prochaine,

Olivia

Praha!

Hello from Prague!

I didn't think I would have any trouble getting around to achieving my once-a-week objective for my blog since it mostly involves talking about myself. But it took a swift kick in the butt (thanks Gregg) to get me going. Goes to show how much there is to do in Prague.

Despite its 1.2 million citizens and its public transportation system that puts Ottawa to shame, Prague feels like a town more than a European tourism hot-spot. All the streets and sidewalks are made of coblestone and the few skyscrapers to speak of dot the skyline many miles from the centre of the Old Town.

The first thing I noticed when we woke up Friday morning was the architecture. Each and every building is gorgeous and so detailed. Even McDonald's, Subway and Starbucks are nestled in beautifully restored structures. It's like this all over the city.

This is right outside our place!

We have spent our days in Prague visiting as many attractions as possible and walking to each of them. Apparently, the city is more popular with tourists than I had imagined. There are people from anywhere everywhere; parents with young children, school groups, backpackers to middle-age couples wearing white pants and pastel cardigans draped over their shoulders. Western Europeans mostly, Asians from all parts and my ear was tickled a few times by the sound of a North-American accent. The major streets are packed with all kinds of people. Which brings us to...

My mom's worst nightmare

 The tour group! There are literally hundreds of these. Groups of 40 or so individuals following like cattle a chipper guide holding up a colourful umbrella. In this particular example, our friends are wearing bright orange scarves in case, you know, they get lost.

One Day 1 (Saturday), as we recovered from jet lag, we crossed the Charles Bridge, visited the Old Town Square, marvelled at cathedrales and then toured Prague's most famous attraction: Prague Castle. There's so much to see here it takes more time than one afternoon allows (St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George's Bassilica, the Old Palace).

Prague skyline, Prague Castle in the distance

Day 2 (Sunday), when we visited Loreta and also assisted a concert in St. Nicholas Church. Concert is a strong word... it was two trumpets and an organ. Nonetheless, the music was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I fell asleep. To my credit, I think this speaks to the peacefulness of this magnificent church.  

View from Prague Castle, scarf slightly askew

Today, Day 3 (Monday), we climed Petrin Hill to Petrin Tower, which was built in 1891, two years after the Eiffel Tower. So it doesn't really score points for originality but it did offer a fantastic view of the city. The park around it was also gorgeous and includes a rose garden, a restaurant (complete with Frank Sanatra music) and a Mirror Labyrinth (less cool than it sounds). 

Were totally onto you

In the afternoon I totally impressed my mom with the knowledge acquired from my Jewish History (told you that would go to good use, Elise) when we visited a few synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery. Also we ate these:

Czech version of beaver tails.

Tomorrow is our last day is this lovely city. I'm going to miss the fantastic views and friendly waiters. On Wednesday, this whole exchange business actually gets going.

'till Belgium,

Olivia

P.-S. Comment! It's tough throwing yourself out into cyberspace. Leave a little hello.

une semaine

One week... Une semaine...



When something is greatly anticipated, one week can seem like an eternity (say, waiting for my 19th birthday). On the contrary, when an event is dreaded or anticipated with anxiety, those seven days waiting for its arrival seem to fly by (waiting for my 20th birthday). One week from today, it all begins. Exchange, living abroad. It seems kind of HUGE. So I'm trying to hit the brakes on time because a) I am NOT ready b) I confess, I'm rather anxious.


On Sunday, family, friends and boyfriend threw me a fantastic birthday/going away party. Mother Nature was kind... we basked in the sun and cooled off in the pool. Thank you to everyone - I'll miss you terribly. Votre présence était tellement appréciée... J'espère que vous vous êtes autant amusez que moi. Pour ceux et celles que je ne verrai pas avant mon départ, on se voit à Noël!


Since then, I have finally gotten my act together. First, my visa arrived in the mail. To those travelling abroad in the winter, get on this... now. And get your mom to help. Next, I hit the stores to complete my toiletteries. Also, I lugged the two large suitcases from the basement into the guest bedroom to size out the situation. Operative word: large. One of these could contain my books and shoes and nothing more. I feel we have a problem on our hands.


To make matters a little more real for me, I found out yesterday (Merci maman!) that my residence accommodations are apartment-style with two other people. Two other people. No names, no gender, nothing. These will be my two best/worst-friends for the next four months... and I can't add them on Facebook to do the require creeping? (A fun Elise-finding-out-Emily-likes-rifles anecdote comes to mind)


On Monday, I’ll be making the mandatory trip down (or up?) to Kingston. Mandatory because I told everyone and their mother that I would see them before I left. I’m only staying one night, so I don’t think I’ll make all of those a reality but at the very least I will be able to see Roham move into my pretty pretty room.


And then Thursday… c’est le grand depart! My mom and I are flying a week before move-in day to Brussels and then heading straight to Prague and wherever else tickles our fancy.


To everyone else on Fall exchange (Logan, Ola & Kelsey who I know are already there) – I can’t wait to catch up on the other side of the pond!


The journey of a life time begins! Yes, I’ll be posting pictures once I take one of something worth seeing. Yes, I’m back from Christmas (December 22nd). Yes, I’ll have a crazzzyyy Belgian French accent. I will come back bearing gifts of chocolate and beer.


One week!

Olivia