Week 9... The calm before the storm

Finally a quiet week!
This week it was exams at school so that meant no socialising on the weekend and a full weekend to clean and start to organise things in my room. So with exams looming overhead I decided to do a bit of study... I had to do a math exam which was actually quite challenging then an English exam that I didn't understand (who would have guessed that one) and a French exam which I understood none of at all haha. Friday afternoon though I had at least a little bit of excitement, my host mum's cousin is a beautican and she decided that I was going to be her doll for the afternoon so I got a full facial treatment, eyebrow wax, full make-up and hair styling... unfortunately I had no-where to go :( Well that is pretty much it from me this week.. Next week promises to be very exciting.. I have the end of exams, changing of my host family and birthdays.. I will keep you posted.. In the mean time.. here are some photos of where we walk the dog on weekends :D pretty huh? also in the photo is my whole host family... including the dog :D

Week 8... CRAZY

Well, once again the week has passed in a blur and here I am writing my 8th blog.
The week at school passed in a blur and before I knew it it was Friday afternoon and I was at the pub with my friends. There I discovered that there was another party that night that I just "HAD" to go to! So I organised to spend the night at Oceane's (she is the one in the picture above)house and we went to the party around 9.45pm, when we got there we found tables full of people, violins playing and food being served.. we thought this was a bit strange seeing as at the door there were people selling beer tickets... So we sat down at an unoccupied table and waited... then at 10.15 people started showing up and they didn't stop showing up until around midnight... (the parties here start REALLY late) It was a good night and I met some new people from my rotary club who were lawyers and doctors and one rather drunk old business man who told me that whenever I come back to Belgium to practice law I can live with him! ha ha...

Then on Saturday morning Oceane's mum bought me bacon and eggs to make for breakfast... the FIRST time I have had it since I arrived!! IT WAS HEAVEN!! Then after that I played Aikido for 2 hours and met a lady who is a beautician and has decided that she is going to give me a gift of a 3 hour treatment of whatever I want :D If I keep meeting people like this I will have a whole lifetime of free accommodation, food and services and vacancies at law firms :D not that I am complaining... Then Saturday night there was another party! (these people just don't stop) So I went and spent a few hours with my friends but I only stayed till midnight because Sunday I had to get up at 5am!
So Sunday rolled around and at 5am I woke up and began to get ready for my day. At 7am I got on the train and arrived at my destination at 11am! A rather long train ride I must admit! Then I spent the day on high ropes courses and flying foxes. It was a great day with all the other exchange students and I had sooo much fun! It finished around 6pm but my train didn't arrive until 7pm and so I got home at 11pm.... So much for my early night before school Monday!

Well next week I have planned a quiet weekend... I doubt that it will happen though!
Until next week,

Bisous,

Jenna xxx.

Week 7... Les cent jours!

Well where to start where to start,
Another week has passed and I have been too busy to even notice where the time has gone!
On Wednesday I got my "Carte d'identitie" which means that I am now an official resident of Belgium! YAY!
Friday at school was a very special day, it is called "les cent jours" literally translated it means the 100 days... it means that there are only 100 days left until the year 12's (or 6eme as its known here) finish school forever. So it is a rather large celebration! I arrived in the morning to see all the year 12's marching in the streets wearing ridiculous costumes and singing and shouting at passers by. That was when I realised just how big the celebration would be! So I went with my friends into the quad and we danced and talked for about an hour to the music blaring from all the buildings. Then suddenly the music stopped and a chant song began, all of the year 12's emerged carrying waterbombs, coloured hairspray and make up. They all started to dance and half way through the song they had formed a circle around the rest of the school, all of a sudden the music stopped and they charged at us attacking us all! It was great fun and as you can see from the picture above I got well and truly attacked! The picture below is just before the attack with most of my new friends.

Then in the afternoon the year 12's put on a show for the rest of the school, it began with a band singing English songs that they didn't really know the words to, which was hillarious for me though the others had no idea what was so funny! Then after that they put on a play where they basically found 1,000,000 ways to pay out the teachers. It was really funny! Then in the afternoon we all went to the pub for the after school drinks. After that I went home and got changed and went out again! We got home after 2am! It was a lot of fun!

Then Saturday morning I got up at 7.30am to catch the train to Bruxelles where I met up with some of the other Aussies that I came here with! We had a great day shopping and almost all of us managed to eat a pizza each for lunch! Then in the evening I went to a chinese restaurant with my host family and the Aikido team (its a bit like karate) We didn't manage to get home until after 1am! So naturally after that I was absolutely BUGGERED!!!

Sunday there was a wonderful change waiting for me when I got up... IT WAS SUNNY!!!! I sat almost all afternoon in the sun just savouring the rarity that is sun here! Oh well thats it from me for another week, hope you are all well and I will hopefully speak to you all soon!

A bientot!

xx Jenna xx

Week 6... Back to school

Well this week I went back to school to tell all the stories of my fabulous vacation... Everyone was buzzing with what they got upto and what they were planning for the next vacation. On monday I saw my principal and got him to drop me into a younger group for French class because the french class I was in I understood nothing about! So now I do French with 12 year olds :D but its good because it is really helping me learn! Wednesday afternoon I met up with a Canadian exchange student and we did a tour of Tournai, we saw the cathedral which is incredible. It was built on unstable ground and when it began to sink they dug down and found about 7 other ruins of churches and cathedrals dating back to the Roman Empire! It was amazing to see!

Friday after school it was a friends birthday so we went to the pub to celebrate! I am loving this culture... As soon as school finishes everyone RUNS to the pub! haha its insane!

Saturday was a fairly quiet day but then in the afternoon I went to my second host family's house for a jewellery party. That was interesting. Then her daughter offered to take me to the movies with her and her best friend. And so I saw my first French movie... I was shocked, I actually followed the plot and enjoyed it! Maybe my French is better than I thought!!

Sunday I had to get up early to go see a Rugby match in Charleroi, So I got on the train and met a bunch of other exchangers there and we all watched the game we miss so much... BUT here they play like pansies!! As soon as one falls over they call it quits for 10 minutes!! haha but we had fun laughing at them!

Well, I honestly think I am running out of things to do! But we'll find out next week I suppose.

passe une bonne journée!

Jenna x

Week 5... Les Vacances!

This week was the school vacations for a thing called Carnaval. It was great, a whole week off scool. I did so much! Monday afternoon I went bowling with some friends from school and after that we went to a bar to have a few drinks.

Tuesday my host family and I went to the "Festival de Binche" which is the sole biggest Mardi Gras in Belgium. It was incredible, we saw these things called "Giles" (in the photo with the masks) they throw oranges at people as they march the streets and the kids throw confetti everywhere!!! After a while I managed to find some other exchange students and I spent the rest of the day with them. It was such a great day and by the time I came home I was absolutely BUGGERED!!


Wednesday I went with my host family to the sea in the north of France, on the way we picked up Sage and he came with us for the day, As you can see it is VERY different to the beaches back home but it is still gorgeous! It was such a full day with so much walking up to lookout points and war museums I had a great day with my family and Sage. I recommend it to anyone... in summer though... its too damn cold in winter!!

Thursday I left for Amsterdam. I had to get on the train at 6am to be there in time to meet everyone to catch the bus. From there it was a 3 hour bus trip to Delft where we stopped to see the Vermeer museum (he painted the girl with the pearl earing) it was really nice. After that it was off to Amsterdam. Once we arrived we had some dinner then took our bags upto the hostel room. After that we went for a night tour of the red light district. It was INSANE! When we had finished our tour we were taken back to the hostel and told to go out and have fun. The only condition was that we were back in time for breakfast!
Friday went in a blur. First we visited the Rijik museum (where you see all the Rembrandt originals), then after that off to the house of Anne Frank and boy was that an experience, I foun myself in tears almost the whole time! Then we returned to the hostel for dinner and went out to the Vincent Van Gough museum, all of his works were there, they were incredible! unfortunately, for all 3 of the museums and the house of Anne Frank it was forbidden to take photos so I had to buy them... It was to incredible not to!
On Saturday we had a reasonably quiet day, we went on a river cruise and then to a Jewish museum which told of Nazi Germany in Holland. It was absolutely fascinating! After that came the long bus then train trip home. I couldn't believe how much I had done this past week! I really dont know how I am going to top it... EVER. This really is becoming the experience of a lifetime!

Missing you all heaps,

Jenna xx