finding happiness in belgium

​Belgium. Is. Beautiful. I knew very little about Belgium going into this trip (except WW1 stories). I still don’t know a lot about the country, but experiencing the culture is wonderful. The craziest fact to me is that to live and work here, you have to speak at least three languages. The culture here is so diverse because of all of the government places here (European Union headquarters, Nado, etc.), so everyone speaks at least Dutch, French, and English. You have to know those 3 languages just to get a job at a fast food restaurant! Man, America is slacking hardcore. It makes you feel very ill equipped lol. Another thing I love, is that they take their comic books very seriously. They’re expensive and you put them up on the shelf right next to your hard cover Les Mis. Brussels even has a comic book museum. How cool is that? Their most favorite Belgium creation here is Tintin. Apparently, he’s as famous as Mickey Mouse all around Europe. He’s a normal hero that all the little kids aspire to be. There are five comic book schools just in Brussels, and the artists are commissioned just like any other artist to paint murals and design post cards. You see comic-like paintings all around, and it’s incredible. (I learned all of this off of a short video the family I’m staying with had me watch lol). We spent the day in Brussels. First, we actually went to a market just outside of Brussels, filled with waffles and flowers and produce. I had my first and second of three waffles of the day. (AMAZING.) We headed in to the city and straight to the palace. Did you know Brussels has a king and queen? Because I didn’t. It’s a beautiful palace with gardens and huge gates and lion statues. We went to the Fine Arts museum, which was crazy cool. I spent most of my time in the Magritte section. He’s a surrealist and had some very radical ideas back in the early 1900s. They had photos of him and his wife and friends, and a ton of his pieces. I’ll post some of my favorites in the pictures section of my website. In school last year, we had to do movement pieces based off of the artist Francis Bacon’s pieces. All I wanted to do while looking through Magritte’s art was create movement. He was an amazing artist. There were also a bunch of “Dutch Masters” pieces, like Rembrandt. Those were huge and beautiful to see. Then we walked down to the main square where all of what you think of when you think of Brussels is. We saw the huge buildings, waffle stores upon waffle stores, and the Manneken Pis, and so many chocolate stores. We bought Belgian chocolate, another waffle (this time covered in strawberries and whipped cream), and Belgian Frites. Don’t call them French Fries. They get angry, and they’re better than French Fries (apparently they’re double fried). The waffles have melted lumps of sugar in them, and I could literally eat them all day. The chocolate is expensive, but worth it. Melt in your mouth goodness. We also got to go to a second hand record store which was tight. They had the Sex Pistols in Dutch, and I wish I could’ve found a way to carry it home… oh well.
I’m staying with some old friends of my Dad’s who are wonderful and treat me well. I get to help cook and they have Mexican food and peanut butter and cookie dough and all is right with the world. They also have two cats and two dogs, whom I love and cuddle with. The other night we watched Princess Protection Program (they have a daughter a few years younger than me, so we decided to throw it back a bit) and ate ice cream and cuddles with cats. It’s been a great few days. Everyone seems happier here than they are in Paris. More friendly, I guess. If I smile at someone, they actually smile back. I love it here.
Have any of you ever been to Brussels? Thoughts?
Heading to Amsterdam for a few hours tomorrow! Next blog AND vlog will be up soon