When in Belgium

Saturday morning I woke up around 6 am to board the bus heading to Brussels. Sara, Justin, Alex, Alex Minton, Caroline and I planned a trip to Brussels and Bruges: one night, two days in the country of chocolate, waffles, and french fries. The round-trip bus ticket was only 22 euros and it was entertaining. Our bus driver was french and only spoke french and at one point woke everybody up to make us all get off the bus because it was good for us. We arrived in Brussels around 11 am but, immediately boarded the train to bruges because that was where we found a hostel. Bruges is definitely beautiful and fairytale-esque. Mideaval brick houses, cobbled streets, canals, chiming bell towers. It was charming and expensive. Alex, Alex, and I climbed the bell tower to check out the view. We all walked around taking pictures of the cute buildings and had a manditory stop for some Belgian chocolate. On our way to Bruges we met some other American students studying in Amsterdam who were also staying in the same hostel we were and returning to Amsterdam on the same bus as us, so we met up with them in the evening to meander thy city searching for cheap eats. Everywhere we stopped either couldn't accomodate all eight of us or the menu prices soared over our college student budgets. We ended up eating fast food (bleh!) because it was the only reasonably priced meal in the whole city- we probably walked around for at least an hour and a half trying to find anything under 10 euros. After dinner, we stopped in at a bar and had some Belgian beer before we headed back to our hostel. The hostel also had a bar which was full of people and a really great DJ so we ended up hanging out down there until about 1 am. When we finally got to our room (Caroline, Alex Minton, and I shared one room), we could still hear the music from the hostel bar as loudly as if we were still in the hostel bar and none of us actually fell asleep until the music stopped playing around 4 am. I know that I only payed 15 euro for my bed, but I didn't expect to feel like I was sleeping on the dance floor. We woke up, exhausted from the previous day full of walking and also from the fact that the three of us hadn't quite slept and took the train back the Brussels- I couldn't wait to speak french!
Probably the greatest thing about Brussels is it's grandeur: everything is big and shiny, even the sky looks higher up there. The buildings are taller, there are hills and palaces, big Parisian style parks, and people speak French and there are lots of delicious and cheap waffle stands. In Brussels, I took over trip-mom duties from Sara. I took control of the map and dragged all eight of us (including new friends Arjay and Beth) across the city; we saw the gothic Hotel de Ville and the cathedral, le Palais de justice, Ste Catherine, le Palais Royale, etc., but we literally walked around the city center at least 2 times and by the end of the day our feet were really really sore. We stopped for some dinner at a thai restaurant and then walked all the way to the bus station. Brussels was really pretty and nice change from flat/brick/canal/cold/damp Amsterdam and nice to see once, but I can't say that I'm dying to go back. Next trip: Dublin for Easter, we'll see how that turns out.