Slacker!

Sorry for the lag time. I have been really adjusting to life in Brussels and I'm immensely loving it right now. I have a good group of friends and I've been introduced to some really cool areas in town. This is me and the girls at Ralph's, an expat bar in the EU area of town. Clearly we're not having any fun!

I just got back from 8 days in London. I was there for four days of conferences for work but then due to an extremely tragic train crash the rails were closed (and still are) so I had to wait a few days in London before heading back to Brussels. Oh yes, poor me! I just had to stay in London and hang out with Chloe and her friends. It was so awesome. I had never spent so much time in London and I had always been there to do touristy things, but to 'live' there for a week was amazing. I had such a different perspective on the city and now I really love London. We did some very fun things: saw Mama Mia (Chloe surprised me with a ticket), went to Richard Branson's old apartment which was turned into a restaurant and club (so fun - danced and drank the night away!), TopShop (need I say more!) and Whole Foods! I literally started crying when I walked in to Whole Foods. I had one of those 'I miss Boulder' pains. But then I ate my brown rice sushi and remembered that I was living in Europe!

Sunday Morning

Last night I went to a birthday/housewarming party of a new friend. I arrived with a couple of my girl friends and we had a blast. There was a whole different group of people there so I had fun getting to know another social circle. At midnight my friend and I left to head to a dance party in an old theatre downtown. Les Folies Bourgeoises was the name of the party and it was like nothing I have ever been to. We walked in and there were a couple thousand people all dressed up (and don't worry we were too!) and dancing to this really great DJ doing the euro-techno thing. I'm not a club kid, but I could get used to these kinds of parties! Everyone was dancing and just having a great time. I still don't have my euro dance moves down, but I'm working on it. There was a revolving dancefloor so we ended up dancing on the rotating platform above the crowd for most of the night. Seriously, it was one of my most fun nights so far in this town. I wish I had pictures from last night. We danced until the wee hours of the morning. Then I got up a few hours later to do a running race with my uncle. He did 20km, I did 10km - I'm not quite in 20km shape these days. We ran through the forest and to my surprise the course was rather hilly - who knew?! It felt so good to run outside on a challenging course! I needed it. I ran faster than I expected, which was surprising considering I had spent the entire evening on my feet dancing and talking to cute boys!

Crepe Day

February 2nd is some kind of religious holiday. I have no idea, but rituals stem from it like Groundhog Day and crepe making. In Belgium, you make crepes today to predict your luck for the rest of the year. You are supposed to hold the pan in your right hand, flick your wrist and do a flip with the crepe. If you can do a full flip of a crepe and catch it back in the pan then you will have good luck for the year. If you don't catch it, well, your year is doomed. I asked Granny if we were going to flip them (something I loved doing as a kid), but she said no it would be too messy. So instead I ate a couple crepes and wondered if it was going to be a good year or a bad year. 

Experience

Last week was rough for me. It started off with the stomach flu, followed by loads of work and not so sunny weather. I never really understood how much the weather influences your mood, but when you don't have 300 days of sunshine like in Boulder (it's more like 300 days of cloudy here), it gets a little, well, dark.
I went to an expat cocktail party on Thursday night. About 200 people showed up at this loft bar in Place du Chatelain - a cool little square with great shops, bars and restaurants. Everyone there was either a lawyer, a diplomat, a doctor, worked for the EU, Commission or Parliament. Made me wander a girl from Boulder was doing talking to all of the super highly educated people. That's what I'm learning. No one moves to Brussels on their own. Expats always move for a job and usually that job is of high ranking and high compensation, because as so many people have said, "Why would anyone move to Brussels on their own free will?" Normally they have no idea that I am one of the minority who has done just that so I smile and politely say, "For the life experience."

Meeting People

Now that I'm back in Brussels, it's time to meet people. The expat community here is huge, but to break into it I have to put myself out there, get out of my comfort zone and make an effort. This past week was my most fun week in Brussels so far. I started hip hop classes on Tuesday, took a yoga class on Wednesday, met with a new social group on Thursday, and went to a potluck party full of expats on Saturday. I did all of the above on my own, which I'm very proud of. I have met some really cool people over the last couple of days and I feel better about building a life here. The potluck was great. There were about 70 people who all had something in common: being new(ish) to Brussels and wanting to meet people. Everyone had to bring a dish representing their home country. There was everything from sushi to quiche to guacamole to apple pie (courtesy of yours truly). It was very low key so I was happy to just hang out and talk to people and of course get a little dancing in on the dance floor. I was only one of two Americans, but everyone communicated in English. Perfect! And I even went to a museum on Sunday with a new friend from Saturday.

Winter Break

My blog and I headed back to the States for an elongated winter break. The joy of working remotely is that you get to work from anywhere as long as the work gets done. So I was able to spend a lot of time in the States while still working. I am so very lucky to have that flexibility. I spent my time in NYC, MD and Boulder catching up with family and friends and of course stocking up on my favorite US products that I haven't been able to find here yet - almond butter anyone?! Time passed by so quickly and before I knew it I was on a plane back to Brussels. Now that I'm back in Brussels, I'm searching for an apartment (it's a really big project), getting my self settled again and looking forward to the New Year and what it will bring. And yes one of my New Years resolutions is to blog more frequently. A bientot!

Christmas Carols

The weather has turned cold here and the sky was actually spitting some flurries earlier. It made me smile. I'm working from my favorite coffee shop today and I've been getting a lot of work done, which is always nice. When it rains, it pours seems to be the name of the work game right now. I leave for the states on Friday so I'm trying to get things lined up before I go like packing all of my clothes for three weeks, remembering Christmas presents and trying not to forget my drivers license or passports. Tonight, G et G et moi are going to a holiday concert in an old abbeye/church. Check it out here. It's going to be Christmas carols performed by a choir. Nothing like getting into the holiday spirit. I have heard a lot about the abbeye - we walked around the grounds a couple of weeks ago - and the sound in the church is supposed to be, well, heavenly.