Goood Morning!

I finished my work early  in Chinese today so I thought I'd wish y'all a great morning/afternoon/evening depending on where you live. 

Things I learned today

Little host brothers don't like it when you give them lemon juice on a spoon.

Brown eggs do NOT dye well.

Things I write in my journal

     Ever since my second day in Belgium I have been keeping a journal. Let's get this straight: it's a JOURNAL NOT A DIARY!

     I've started looking at the journal as a way to see how my exchange has been going and am glad that I started soon in my exchange so I can really see how my moods change day to day and things like that. 

     Naturally I won't share EVERYTHING I wrote in these books but a few Jolie quotes won't hurt.

• The thing I love most about myself is that I am: completely, totally, unapologetically myself in a world that makes that hard. (19-12-14)
• I'm just gonna try to not think about how my future is looking about good byes because ....... was kinda the first after ....... and I just can't stand the thought of never seeing (these people) again. (15-12-14)
• I NEED to read some Harry Potter! It is the ONLY way I can think of to calm down a bit and get a handel on my emotions...What would Hermione do? First she would focus on everything that she knows. Then she would do everything she can to get the information she wants and extra information. IF she then couldn't solve her problem she could at least make it better. (basically me writing out the scientific method later) I CAN'T get petrified now!... it is "rediculous" to get too worried until I find out more information. After all ..... says I am "The nerd of nerds" so I have to act more like it! Hermione may spend all night pouring over books but even she has to sleep sometime! I will try to find my answer best I can. (12-12-14)

                                                          TO BE CONTINUED

(appearently I started writing this post a while ago and these quotes all come from being in the first host family. Better to post a small something something than nothing at all I figure)

More to come:

     I am so sorry I have been aweful about updating this blog. I suppose I always have my journal to rely on if I have to resort to just telling the entire story when I get back.

I hopefully will get pictures from my trip to Paris up. 

     I must admit that in some ways its nice to keep forgetting to update my blog because it is less to have to remember to do. This in no way lessens my being a despicable human being though.

    Seriously good thing that my journal is very detailed.

exploration

Dear Jolie,
     Remember how in kindergarden when you would tell the teacher you wanted to be an explorer when you grow up? You were imagining a safari hat and binoculars. You were going to wander through rain forests and canoe the Amazon river. Did you know being an explorer never waited that long?
     You have always been exploring! From discovering your own feet to exploring that fishin' spot we all love so dearly. You explore by the books you pour over and (well I will let Mr. Hubble do the talking here) "Equipt with his five sences man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science."
     Well. You certainly are on one of your grandest adventures yet! From this experience you will learn so much. Learning isn't always easy but I know you can do it.
     I want you to know how proud of you I am and how much I love you but that seems a bit too self indulgent. Instead of that I will continue to push you. I will push you through every stupid decission and every brilloant idea because in the end they really are one and the same. I am going to push you to your breaking point, watch you snap and let you make yourself stronger.
     Turns out you cannot bottle emotion or moments. Let it all happen and work with what you have.
Love,
Jolie
   
   

update!

     I had to move host families but am feeling much better in my new placement. I guess I can say I sure learned a lot from that experience and did leave with good friends.
     It is harder to adjust to a new school for the second time but I think I will like this new school just fine. I am now studying something I chose (science) and am in a class with 3 boys. There are four people in the class.
     Things are looking up for me now.

Merry Christmas!

My obsurvation on life today:
"You don't know what you have until it is gone" is a LIE!
   You know EXACTLY what you have. You just don't know what it means to you or you take it for granted OR you even grow so used to it you don't think to think of anyother way.
     I had a nice day and am doing well but I couldn't help but think.

Update!

     The otherday I went with some friends to the Christmas market in Brussels and had a ball! I will try to get pictures up soon!

Music

      When you ask me what my favorite song is I can't seem to give just one answer.

I used to think that I was just so interested in different languages and styles that I couldn't decide but now I think it's a bit deeper than that.

Now I think that every song I like speaks to a different part of who I think I am. Just as I beleive that a person can't be explained in one word they can't be entirely explained in one song.

Smile!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Tyne Cot Cemetery

I just can't quite explain the feeling I got from Tyne Cot Cemetery.
Walking in a woman was standing in front of a memorial telling us about her great grandfather (or how ever many greats and male family member it was) and how important  that memorial was to her. It was then when I got a better idea of where I am from and what this cemetery meant to other people.
     As far as I know I have no one to mourn in that cemetery but so many other people did. I saw many graves for a British or Canadian man but not one for an American. It made a bigger impression on me than I think I can explain. Most of the graves looked like this:

"Known unto God"

Those words had a HUGE impact on me.

I began to think of the man in the grave who was Dad or Uncle or Mr... to someone. The man who was loved. I thought of the families who loved that man and I thought of his friends.

The fact that I had never seen an American grave in the cemetery gave me an even bigger feeling of "This person doesn't really mean anything to me but to someone else he could have been everything"



Tyne Cot Cemetery and Ypres pictures

 

Yup

GREAT SNAKES I'M IN BELGIUM!

  I had my "OH MY ROWLING I'M IN BELGIUM!" break down and cry a bit moment at the top of a tower when I could see the Atomium from a distance.

 

Of course there are many things on the list of what I'd like to experience and I seem to have already gotten the major things crossed off that list.

Why do I have the Belgian flag painted on my face?

I'm AMAZING at Belgian Trivia that's why!

 

I'm the real waffle monster of Belgium!

There's a reason why the waffles are famous!

GREAT SNAKES! The Tintin mural is real!

 

Not sure how this picture of the Atomium turned out so awesome or if it is just awesome in my head.

Even the signs for the toilets in the Atomium are cool!

The Atomium is just cool to look at!

 

 

Even though I've been having a nice time in Belgium that doesn't stop me from being happy to see something like home. The Harley stand outside of the Atomium was nice for that.

 

I will add to this thought later but I have to go.

Have a wonderful day!

 

 

 

stereotypes!

American stereotypes get thrown around quite a lot with me and they I'm good at handling them and sometimes just being the stereotype "Yes, I will be the stereotypical American and have a hamburger with my coke. Thank you." (true story) Or when I show people the picture I took that shows the stereotypical American patriotism.

     I must say though that it is funny when Belgian stereotypes show themselves. In Bruges I found probably the best conglomeration of everything people know about Belgium and it made me laugh.

Beer shaped chocolate anyone?

 

Getting to Belgium.

 

 

     I got bored a handful of times while traveling to Belgium and I'm not quite sure how I did it but I accidently made a video pretty accurately describing how travel was like for me.

 

Going to Chicago I remembered that I was told that selfies are nessicary for I can't remember why so YAY plane selfies!

 

IN CHICAGO THERE WAS A RANDOM DINOSAUR!

 

 

When I landed in Brussels I was reminded of WWI because there are POPPIES EVERYWHERE! So I took a picture of the poppies on the ceiling.

 

 

 

Playing with the Camera

 

 

Just EVERYTHING!

 

     Hi everyone!
This post is going to kick off (hopefully) me being better at updating my blog. YAY! I've so much to say so I'm not sure where to start so I'll try to explain my current language.
     I'm glad that many people here speak English but it isn't helping me with my Dutch! Right now I can more or less (mostly less) understand Dutch and I'm getting better at speaking.
    I can get people to understand me in Dutch but that by no means says that I have any Dutch grammar! I want to think in Dutch but I haven't got the vocabulary I want to think in but I read children's books to help build my vocabulary so maybe I should pick out a few science books for 6 year olds and I'll be set. Or at least that's what I hope!
    I just need to have patience with myself! After all I didn't start speaking English in complex thoughts! At least I can now order a waffle in Dutch!(joke) Serious life skills if you spend a year in Belgium (end joke). The waffle ordeal started as a search for waffles on a field trip and resulted in me getting High 5ed because we all finally had waffles and I ordered mine by myself.
     People LOVE my accent although it is very strange. Not many Americans learn Dutch so no one really knows what to expect from an American accent. I laugh when people get me to talk just to hear my accent!
     Dutch words literally translated make more sense than English words do, ESPECIALLY chemistry words. For example: waterstof literally translates to "water stuff" but it is Hydrogen.
     Also words I thought were made up are real words. Ever read "Knuffle Bunny"? Knuffle is the word for a stuffed animal in Dutch!
     All this doesn't stop me from being a bit mad at myself when I want to say what I think but I want to do it in Dutch and I don't have a big enough speaking vocabulary to do so. 
     Learning Dutch is a bit like eating an apple. I first see the apple and understand that it is an apple, then I make the decision to eat the apple, next I take a bite of the apple I have to chew that bit of apple and swallow before I take the next bite.
     I'm still on my first (maybe second) bite of apple but soon enough I'll wish I still had an apple.
   Life is not like a box of chocolates it is more like eating an apple. With a box of chocolates you can look at the map on the back of the box and make a choice. If you pick up an apple though you never can be 100% sure what sort it is and if it has any worms in it. Maybe that apple is made out of plastic and you don't know because it's all the way across the room and you just have to get up from your chair to see but you're favorite show is on and you think the apple is plastic and you have enough time later to see but the cat knocks the bowl off the coffee table and the apple was plastic and the cat tears it apart by pouncing on it.
  

BELGIUM IS AWESOME!

     After having done the research I can officially say that going to Belgium is kinda like being able to go to Hogwarts for me! After reading about it for so long I can say that I know next to nothing about a lot of things in Belgium but am a super expert when it comes to Belgian trivia! 

I have so much that I can say but I dont know where to start! I've tried the top 3 foods I wanted to try; Fries, waffle, chocolate and can officially say that they are famous for a reason!

Everyone in Belgium is so nice and I like it here very much.

I had my "OH MY GOSH I'M IN BELGIUM" moment at the top of a cathederal in Mechelen(with the program) after climbing over 500 stairs and I could see the Atomium in the distance. I was so happy that I actually cried!

Also some students from Wallonia say that I am "a real Belgian" after they gave a quiz for their country presentation (you can guess whose team won ;) ) and they invited everyone in the room to dance to a Belgian song so I got up and danced and they put a Belgian flag with world cup stuff on it around my shoulders and said I was allowed to have the flag there because I knew my stuff. They also put face paint on me in Belgian flag pattern because they had it left over from the world cup. I was beyond happy! They even gave me a Belgium bracelet and that made me feel like I actually belonged here.

I know that not EVERYDAY isgoing to go as easily as it has so far but I also know that those days will pass and I will look back more on the good days than the bad. But for right now everything is "TOTALLY AWESOME!" I will try to get pictures up soon but am not sure how that will go.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

On my way!

    This is the second craziest thing I've ever done! The first was being born.
     All I can really think is AHHHHHHHH. This is both an excited exclamation and a bit of a scared/sad one. It's hard leaving your family in an airport.
   Ah well! "I'm on my way"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqKa942QtzQ