So while I think this "settling in" process takes more than a month, maybe even two, something like sublime comfort has moved in as well. I've been doing more exploring-cafes, fach bars (cheap beer, tons of students, popular on Thursdays), dance classes, a visit from Dr. Hughes on his way to do research in Switzerland (.....)and a subsequent Chimay in the Oude Markt, mass at Sint-Pieter's (international mass, people from absolutely everywhere and unbelievably welcoming), reading at Arenberg, movies downstairs once or twice a week, touring the Stella-INBEV brewing factory....my only problem is that there is still so much more to do! I already have a list of 10 more cities/places in Belgium alone I want to see before I leave for the year. Time goes so quick, and yesterday I was riding by the statues in the park when it really struck me how many leaves are already on the ground. It made me look for a moment I could remember.
Honestly, there are some things I'm used to, others I'm working on, and probably a few things I will never get used to. Well, not in the time that I have. Maybe it's weird for me to talk about leaving when I still have 8 months left, but there's also an indescribable tension between staying here for the year("wow, that's so long") but keeping in mind that you are every bit as transient as the person who travels for the semester. I could never do what I have to here in a semester though.
So in the meantime, I look around and am just really grateful. Even on Thursday mornings, biking furiously with Cookie and Cristina to theology from Low Countries, tired and late, I can look at the silhouette of Saint Peter's shrouded in fog and fellow Leuvenites zooming by me, and feel momentarily overwhelmed with love of the place. I don't have to brake so much when I take the hill on Karmelientenberg connecting Naamsestraat to Schapenstraat-I just go. Thanks to 4 hours of Dutch a week and a growing number of Belgian friends and acquaintances, I understand most of the bargain deals the owners and vendors in the weekend market shout as I walk by, or the catcalls of the construction guys as I walk by them to the grocery store (yes it definitely happens here also). Last week a Belgian called me "the perfect American." While I don't know what this means exactly, and doubt it's true anyway, I took it as a huge compliment. For me, it's a matter of giving little pieces of myself to this place and these people and getting a lot more in return. It's just been extraordinary, not to mention how wonderful my Loyola group is and how much fun the other international kids are!!
So this weekend marks the beginning of 5 consecutive weekends of traveling. I'm ready, I'm excited, and it helps knowing that I have a home here to come back to. I want to make sure that I can leave here with as great a love for this town as Europe itself, since honestly my interest in this program was spurred on by the many opportunities to travel and see the continent. Ghent, Maastricht, Aachen, Dublin, Cork, Amsterdam, Madrid, Alcala, and who knows what else I can fit in before I actually have to do schoolwork (haha) coming soon! Hitting up the gym before class tonight! Tot ziens!
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