Weeks 33 - 42 ...... SORRY!!!

Hey guys,

Well before I start let me just appologise that it has been so long!

My computer decided to die on me so I have had very little internet access. Now for the fill in of the last 10 weeks.

So, After thie exciting week of parties, the next few weeks were just quiet affairs around the house, sorting through clothes and trying to work out how to make 80kgs turn into 20. Being unsuccessful in that area I moved on to another.

Then about 6 weeks ago there was a rather large party in my town called "les 24heures" pretty much it is just a huge party that goes from 8pm friday night till 3am sunday morning, but during the day and night on saturday and maybe a little bit on sunday too, you run the streets of the town to raise money for charity. It was really great and I am so excited that I went.

A week or 2 after that, some friends and I went to the concert of David Guetta, not sure how many of you will know who he is; basically he is a Parisien DJ who mixes discs for all the famous american artists, as well as singing on the side, everyone here is CRAZY about him! So I left school friday at 4pm and got straight on a train till 6,30pm, then I finally got to Karlien's house, we got ready, ate dinner, and got on another hour long train, then another. By the time we got to the place, we had been walking over an hour and on trains over 5hours! So we finally got there at 11pm and were dancing away until 5am, then it was more walking, a bus and another train, so by 9am I was back at Karlien's place and on another train home; so at 3pm Saturday afternoon I arrived back home and CRASHED!!! Well thats all for now, I'll write again soon, but for now I've got a class to go to. Love you all,

Missing you all heaps!

Jenna xoxoxo

Week 32... officially way over half way!

Hey Everyone!
Well this week was the return to school! YAY! I got to see ALL of my friends together for the first time after the summer vacation! And what a vacation we all had! Some went to Canada, others to Romania and others still to Spain. It was great to hear all the holiday gossip!!
So I arrived at school to find that they had split my class in two! It was horrible as now half of my friends are no longer in my class and have been replaced with new people that I don't know. On the bright side of things, Sebastian, my Mexican buddy is in my class, and there is another girl called Nassima who is here for a year from Hungary. She is lovely and we get along REALLY well together! So as school had started on Wednesday, wednesday afternoon I went out to Mons with another newie from the USA. His name is Ben and he is lovely! After that exciting afternoon of more beer tasting and some good English conversation I headed back home.

School on thursday and friday went by as a bit of a blur as we still don't know where we should be for all the classes. Then Friday after school I took the newies to the pub with me and my friends to teach them the local 4pm drinking culture :P.... We ended up having such a good time together that we didn't get home until 4am! not a bad effort I must say! As I stayed at a friends that night, the next morning I was up at 8am to catch my train back home. So with not a lot of sleep behind me I managed to wade through the day.
(me seb and nassima)

(me and Nassima)


Then that night came the 18th birthday party of Orlane, one of my best friends here in Belgium (also the oldest, apart from me) Well. From 7pm to 4am we were at it again. Lots of Music. Talking and BELGIAN BEER! It was FANTASTIC. So again, with not much sleep behind me (for the second day in a row) I was up at 7.30 for a rotary gathering. We had breakfast together and then went on a 9km long trek through the forest. As Sebastian and I weren't feeling so crash hot, it was rather hard to walk that far at 10am! With no sleep! So after that it was home and BED waiting for school Monday! Well, that has been my week. Not a huge one. But one with barely any sleep! I look foward to next weekend. It should be good!

Until then,

Take care and talk soon

lots of love,

Jenna

xoxoxox

Weeks 27-31. So much has happened.

Hello all.
Again I have to apologise for my laziness. I blame it on Summer Vacation. Anyways. Since the last time I wrote, I have done and seen a lot.
So After Sarah came home the whole family went to check out the old coal mines in Charleroi. It was incredible to see and hear the tale of the mine collapse all those years ago where all but 3 perished in a huge coal and electrical fire. There were even some Australians who were caught in the blaze and died on Belgian soil. The place had such an amazing history to it that I couldn't help but be drawn in to the tale. On top of that. Jean-Pierre's mother had stood at those gates and watched as hundreds of dead were dragged out of the mines, just hoping to catch sight of the many loved ones that were down there. It was a great day with my second family and although I was attacked by killer wasps I still managed to have a good day :D

After this, our next family adventure took us back up to the Belgian beach to see the sand sculpture competition that they have every year. Well, they were AMAZING! The theme was pirates this year and they had everything from massive ships to rum bottles and even figures from Pirates of the Caribbean carved in exquisite detail. It was amazing. And as the following photos show you. No detail was too small. Not even the pirate with the love heart g string. There was even a tribute to Michael Jackson. It was really well done and really looked like the real deal. As did the one of Davey Jones. So after that we all headed down to the beach for a bit of a relaxing afternoon, and as you can see, the weather couldn't have been better for it!

Next thing that I did was a party with my school friends. As it is the summer holidays we haven't seen a lot of each other and so we decided to throw a little party. There were about 15 of us there, maybe 20. My friends parents took care of the alcohol and we ended up with: 48bottles of normal beer. 24bottles of cherry beer, 24 bottles of raspberry beer, 24bottles of mixed red fruit beer, 12litres of Sangria and a few bottles of wine. They really did go overboard I think. Also considering that besides me there was not one of them over 18! In any case, the night was great. Lots of music and chatting with friends. Can't wait to do it again!!

After this was a trip to Celtica the beloved exchange student bar to catch up with some of the other Aussies. It was a great afternoon with wonderful people who I love very dearly. We also decided to go to Bruges for the day again so that was another fun day. :D

Finally came the most exciting thing yet! A trip to England to see some of my family, drive on the right side of the road, eat a good curry, and speak some much missed English! I took the coach to London which took 8 hours, then the very long trip from there to Hereford to meet up with some of my family, Barbara and Doug. I stayed in Hereford for 2days before getting back on the train with Barbara for Redhill where we joined her brother Michael, his wife Sonita and their son Chris. The next day we went down to Chichester to see Dixie. We had a great day and saw a lot of what the city had to offer (not a lot, it’s a rather small town) before settling in at the local pub for a few beers and an AWESOME hog roast. After that we said our goodbyes and headed back for Redhill. The next morning we went to London. It was INCREDIBLE! We saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, all the bridges including the one that gets destroyed in the new Harry Potter film, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square and last but not least HARRODS!! It was such an amazing day. Well as if that wasn’t awesome enough, the next day we went to Brighton to see the world famous Brighton Pier and a beach that is covered in rocks rather than sand. It was sooooo great! I think it has been the most amazing tour so far! So the next day it was back on the bus for Belgium and the weekend to greet all the newies. So there was another goodbye to the English language and my family there and back home to Belgium.

The very next day was the newie weekend to greet all the new exchangers who have just arrived from all over the world. My newie is a Mexican named Sebastian. He is lovely and as you can probably tell from the photo, a little cheeky! From there we went back to Celtica and had a drink before going back home to our respective families.

Well, thats all from me for now. I head back to school tomorrow after the 2 month break, so I promise to be more regular with my blogs.
Love you all lots and see you in 4.5 months. Yeah it is really only that long. I have been here 7.5 months already! My how time flies! Take care all and see you soon.
Xoxox
Jenna.

Week 23... Special

Hey everyone,

Well this week I have had a few things happen. Both great and horrible. Lets start with the horrible. Monday I had to go to the funeral of a 17 year old boy that was a friend of mine here. So that was very hard ad not at all pleasant. Thats the horrible part of my week. Now on to the good part.


So Christine, Jean-Pierre, the boys and I went to Gent, a really pretty old city to see the sights. Well, it was gorgeous to say the least! I just cant get over all the old buildings and fortresses from before the middle ages! We visited this castle that is just in the middle of the town, it has been there since the early 1500's and is still in amost perfect condition! It was incredible to see. and it was HUGE!!

Also, there have been more people leaving for home so as a goodbye for Doug (a Canadian) a couple of us went to Mini-Europe. It is basically a 1:25 scale of every main attraction in all of Europe. So in a 2km radius you are able to see attractions like the Greek Parthenon, the French Eiffel Tower, the English Buckingham Palace, the Spanish oil rigg, and soooooo much more. Things from countries I didn't even know existed... It was really cool and took up a few hours of our day :D After that we spent the afternoon shopping in the Bruxelles city centre. It is gorgeous... I never tire of it...

this would be Stacey next to Big Ben (london) and the Eiffel Tower (paris)

(budapest with the leaning tower of pise in the background)

Next, a rotary couple asked if I would like to go with them for a weekend at the sea which of course I did.... well a belgian beach is NOT at all like an aussie beach!!! For a start, the water is GREY and the sand is BROWN and covered in shells!! But it was beautiful and there was a little reminder of home there (the red and yellow striped strip shacks) It was really lovely and I can't wait to go back there!

After that we went to get Sarah from the airport (my host sister at Christine's house who has been living in Adelaide for the last 12 months) So that was great and I now have someone at the house to speak English with! She is lovely and I can't wait to go out with her soon :D

Well that has been my week. I am going to go to Gentse Feesten sometime next week (probably on the weekend) and party like a rock star :D It is a 2 week festival with lots of music and good friends. Should be really good. I'll write again soon.

Gros Bisous

Jenna xoxoxoxox

(P.S Is this one long enough Daddy Dear???)

Weeks 20, 21 and 22.... I've been slack

Sorry I haven't written for so long! I have been going like CRAZY!

So since we last spoke I have been to the Czech Republic, two gorgeous places called Prague and Bohemia (yes where that gorgous expensive crystal comes from) We had a great time there and saw so much, from the never ending array of turn of the centuary buildings to the beautiful astronomical clock which depicts all the star signs along with the seven deadly sins. Every hour when this clock chimes there is a skeleton that nods its head saying "yes it is your time to die" and everyone there aparently has to shake their heads to say "no I want to live another hour". It is really cool to see.

When I got back it was time to get my other host brother Ludovic from the airport as he has been in the USA for his exchange year. We held a surprise party for him and he got the shock of his life when he got home and over 60 people came running out of the bushes in the back yard to greet him! (HINT HINT!!) hahah. It was a great day and I met a lot of people and more importantly, the host brother that I have only ever seen through skype. Also, I had the har task of going to say goodbye to one other exchange student whose year was finished. So off to Bruxelles airport for the tearful goodbye.

When that was done I came home and changed host families. So now I am back with my Maman Christine, Papa Jean-Pierre, Cyprien, Emilien and Gregoire. Their older sister Sarah comes back from South Australia on Sunday so it is back upto the airport for the 3rd time this month!

Well I will write more next week.

Till then, take care and I will see you all soon.