PICTURES FROM BELGIUM!

HELLO EVERYONE! 안녕하세요!

I hope everyone is doing great! So last weekend, I went to Belgium for the weekend (the city was called Bruges to be exact) so all of these pictures are from Bruges, Belgium so if you're looking for pictures of Paris please come back next time. But seriously, this small city is really beautiful. A lot of Europeans say it's the most beautiful city in Europe. The city is REALLY small (it only takes 45 minutes to walk all the way across). I took a bus to Brussels (the capital of Belgium) and that took 3 hours, and then I got on a train and went to Bruges which took another 45 minutes or so. Overall, it was an amazing experience. Belgians are REALLY nice which is really different from French people who are mean jerks! Anyways, the ENTIRE time I was here I was thinking of everyone in the family because this city is MADE for Korean folks. You can walk everywhere, people are really nice, and you get a very good, balanced cultural experience. I feel like when Americans say they wanna visit Europe, Bruges is what they imagine. Here are some pictures! Remember, click on the pictures to enjoy the full size!

This is the view from my hostel room window! hostels are like cheap hotels for students. It was super clean, but the showers kinda sucked because there was no hot water. But still, very clean.

The view of outside my hostel!

One of the main shopping streets. Cobblestone everywhere! No cement or asphalt!

Alright, so this picture is amazing. To the left is a museum (Picasso I think) and the right is a belltower called the Belfry. This is called the Market Square and it's the busiest area in the city.

My first dinner here! Mussels and frites (french fries)... The Belgians have mastered this dish. Soooo good yet such simple flavors. The key is fresh ingredients. When my friends said that they wanted mussels for dinner I was like, but I have muscles right here on my body but I guess they wanted mussels not muscles.

They call Bruges the "other venice" because there are rivers running through the city. Just plain beautiful at night. Please let's all go together sometime.

So on Saturday mornings, they have an open market place and they were making mini waffles. The girl is looking at me thinking, "oooh lala sexy amerikan man buying waffles"

ATTACK OF THE MINI WAFFLES!

This is a bar that still functions as a brewery (a place where they make beer) and we went on a tour here. This place was soooo cool!

This is me during the tour. Above me is a plant called a hop(s?) that they use to add flavor into beer. Below that is me and I add flavor into your life.

The beer they brew at the brewery! We got a free glass afterwards! It's called "brugse zot" which means the crazy man from Bruges. It was very light and very good.

On a boat tour! sooo cool!

Bruges is famous for having swans!

Ok so it's kinda hard to tell what I'm eating but I'm eating french fries topped with a spicy mayonnaise type sauce. So here's a little story. In front of the Belfry (that huge belltower that I showed you guys at the beginning of this post) there are two french fry stands that have been rivals for hundreds of years. So we got one order of fries from each one because only Americans can settle European conflicts (for example WWII). I thought one was clearly better than the other. But seriously, these fries were PERFECTLY cooked and they have 8 different types of sauces (ketchup, mayo, thousand island-ish sauce, chili sauce, etc). I came back the next day and got another one.

Oh man I'm sorry if you're hungry. This is a crepe. It's like a thin pancake they stuff with fruits, chocolate, or maybe cheese and ham, etc. This one I got had smoked salmon and smoked trout with a side of creme fraiche. The French always claimed to have the best crepes, but I assure you, the Belgians are thee best!

We went to this restaurant because it was supposed to be authentic, real Belgian food. The food tasted real and homecooked and was delicious! This here is a meatloaf with potatoes and on the side is pickled vegetables kinda like kimchi. Very very good. And of course a Hoegaarden to wash it all down c'mon we're in Belgium.

Ok so I went to the most famous bar in Bruges that has 300 different types of beer. This one is called Straffe Hendrik and it's a local beer. This is the darkest Straffe Hendrik and it was very strong. But let me tell you, the flavors are INSANE. Probably the best beer I've ever had. It's so crazy, because I knew what kind of beer I liked and I always thought I liked lighter beers, but after coming here my taste in beer changed COMPLETELY. Also, the Belgians are VERY VERY specific with the beer glasses/cups. They have a glass for EACH type of beer. For example, they'll ONLY serve this beer in a glass that says STRAFFE HENDRIK on it.

Well, that's all for now. I have many many more pictures (300 to be exact) so I'll show you all the rest when I get home! But this was just the general picture of my weekend. Hope you all enjoyed! As for Paris, I'm starting to really think of it as home now. It was strange that when I went to Bruges, I started to miss Paris. It's not like the people are nice or the streets are clean, but for some reason I missed being there. It was a strange feeling. I guess it's a love/hate relationship kinda like how we all felt towards Joann during Monopoly. hahahaha just kidding. But seriously, I hope everyone is doing well and I REALLY wanna go back to Bruges with everyone. Miss you all and please take care of yourselves. Bye for now!

LONG TIME NO SEE

HELLO EVERYONE. I am so sorry I haven't updated my blog in a long time. Hence, there will be a lot of pictures this time! Mostly of food and cool places. Some of you wanna know what my daily life is like here. Unfortunately, I haven't taken any pictures of my school or anything, but after all of these pictures, I'll explain my daily life a little bit. Here you go (oh and I left these pictures kinda big so everyone can get a better view, but you have to CLICK THE PICTURES to get the full size):

So in Paris, almost EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays. So, it's really hard to find a place to eat on Sunday morning. We found this place, however, for Sunday brunch. I forgot what this was called, but it's beef taretare (raw beef/육회) spread over bread. Raw beef here is REALLY popular and almost every French restaurant has it. They season it REALLY well and it tastes excellent. On top of it is parmesan cheese. Let me tell you, the cheese here is soooooo good.

This picture is more for the 어른's. This is Notre Dame cathedral. I haven't climbed it yet, but from the outside it's BEAUTIFUL. Next to it is the Seine river.

On the opposite of the Notre Dame next to the Seine is a line of booksellers... I found books here that I couldn't even find on the internet.

I'm sorry for the weird girl in this picture, I couldn't photoshop her out. But this is just a really good view of the city. On the left of the picture you can kind of see the Tower Montparnasse. This is the ONLY skyscraper in Paris. EVERYONE here HATES it because they think it looks ugly. All the French people here say that the BEST view of Paris is from the top of the skyscraper because you can't see the skyscraper when you're inside it.

The Arc de Triomphe. So let me tell you something about these crazy monuments. Alot of normal French people use these landmarks as a place to meet. Like if you were gonna go out with your friends, they'll be like "Oh just meet me at the Arc de Triomphe/Eiffel Tower/Notre Dame" because they're all so easy to find. It's weird because when I see these things I go crazy, but French people see these things every day so it's no big deal to them.

Under the Arc de Triomphe, there's a fire that's supposed to have been burning since Napoleon's time. This one time, during the world cup or something, some Australian guy was really drunk and he peed on the fire. That guy is not allowed to come to France anymore. That's a true story.

This is an area called Champs d'Elysee. It's a long street with a bunch of shopping districts. This is where I'm gonna buy Chanel purses for all of you. But this place has a lot of tourists and it's always busy.

This is the metro exit I get out of when I go to school everymorning. Line 13 is the line I take. On the sign above, "Boulanger" is a baker and "Patissier" is a pastry maker.

There's this greek sandwich place next to my school that I go to sometimes for lunch. Here is a steak sandwich. It LOOKS really plain, but French people are REALLY good with seasoning so it has a lot of flavor. It's REALLY cheap. This entire meal cost 4 euros. And YES French people dip their fries in mayonnaise.

This is when I went to a café to do my homework 2 weeks in advance because I'm such a good student. Just kidding it was due in 30 minutes. But ordering coffee here is a bit different than the United States. If you order just a "café" they'll give you an espresso. That's their normal coffee. The small one farthest from the camera is an espresso. If they have a lot of foam on top it's supposed to be better. If you want like a coffee that most americans know, you have to order a "cafe au lait" which is coffee with milk. A lot of cafes give you these little biscuits and they are SOOO good. And another thing about French cafes/restaurants. In the United States, the waiters will bring you the check as soon as you're done. But here, that's seen as rude, like the waiters trying to kick you out ASAP. People here usually stay at a cafe/restaurant for around 2 hours. Meals here are taken REALLY seriously, so the waiter won't bring you the check unless you ask for it. When you go to a cafe/restaurant it's as if you're "renting" the table and as long as you order a coffee or something small every hour, you can stay for as long as you want.

Now for my daily life. So here's my schedule: On Mondays/Wednesdays I only have one class from 4-5:30 and on Tuesdays/Thursdays I have class 9-10:30 and another at 2:15-3:45. I'm starting another class soon but I'm not sure what time it's gonna be at. I live in a smaller city right outside of Paris. It's almost as if I was living in Pasadena and going to school in LA. From my house, it's about a 15 minute walk to the Metro (train) stop. I could take a bus, but there's always a lot of traffic so I just walk. On the Metro, it's 7 stops away which usually takes me between 10-15 minutes. The metro can get REALLY busy in the morning. And then once I reach my Metro stop (Gaîté), it's like a 5 minute walk to my school. The Metro here is REALLY nice and convenient. And as for after class, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays I have dinner with my hostfamily so I usually just come home. But on Thursdays-Sundays I usually just go out after class and look around or go to a bar or something. I also get breakfast everyday at my homestay, but I have to take care of my own lunch. Some of the smaller cities outside of Paris can be really dangerous, but the one I live in isn't that bad.

Well this was a long post but I hope you guys read it all. I miss you all and I hope everyone is doing great. BYE!