When it rains, it pours!

And I'm not just talking about the weather! Although it did rain for three days non-stop, causing some minor flooding around here. But no, I'm talking about my activities. Really, for the first two months of my exchange I got into a pretty relaxed and inactive routine...wow has that changed! Though this is good news for me, now I have an excuse for my lack of blogs, I'm actually doing stuff! So I'll just make this into a quick update.

I don't know if you remember but at school I was taking all the general classes with a science focus, which meant I was taking chemistry, biology, physics, etc. Even though I had seen most of the stuff they were learning before, let me tell you it is not easy to take those classes in French, especially when it's your "gap year." Take that and add the general stress of being in a foreign country where I don't ever really know quite how to act or what to expect and you get a completely burnt out me. It was to the point where I had to literally drag myself out of bed in the mornings and try to keep a pleasant look on my face as I sat in class after freezing class doing nothing, when every word or phrase I didn't understand was another slap in the face, a reminder of how much more I had to learn. Finally I manned up and asked my host mom for help, something that has never been easy for me, and boy did she help me. First off she had the idea that maybe it would be better if I could take classes that are more easy, like art and cooking, the kinds of classes that I can participate in and could be sort of relaxing for me. Now, here it's not like at home where you can choose all your classes and take a variety of courses, here you choose an "option" like 'general' 'artistic'or 'technique'. General is what I was in, the kids in general are usually the ones who are planning on going to college etc. Technique is more like job-training, and artistic is well, art. So, usually if I wanted to take art classes I would have to transfer into artistic and I wouldn't be with any of the same people who have become my friends. But, here I got really lucky, Mano knows everyone at my school and she talked to the secretary who in turn talked to the director and since I'm a "free student" I was able to just change some of my classes and I'm now taking several art classes and a cooking class! (This Thursday we're making Belgian waffles :D) I've only had one art class, but it was soo nice! Even the atmosphere in the classroom was so much more relaxed, I think that this is going to be really good for me.

But, not only is my situation improving at school, as I think I mentioned a few posts ago, I actually have some friends now :D and this last Wednesday (we didn't have school Thursday or Friday) I went to my first disco tech with Alice. It was insane. We got there slightly before midnight-we had to if we wanted to get in free-though most people don't get there till 12:30 or 1. But let me describe it to you, we got there and as we walked through the doors, between the huge bouncers in black leather jackets, we were surrounded by people drinking and dancing, flashing lights, techno music so loud it was literally rattling my bones, and I'm still not sure if the smoke was from the smoke machines or the cigarettes. I had tons of fun but it's not something I could do every week especially with the ringing in my ears and the stench on my clothes when we left. We got back to Alice's house at 5 and slept until 1! But like I said, it poured, and I had one night of recovery before I headed off to see Justine and her family. It was soo nice to see them! Not only did I get to see sweet Teeny, Cathy, Philipe, and Valentine, I got to meet pretty much the whole family! This weekend was their celebration of Justine's birthday, the 16th, and her grandma's, the 23, and then because they're so nice they threw me in there too. (I can't believe my birthday is a week from Tuesday....time is flying!) It was so nice to be surrounded by a big happy family! Not to mention all the delicious Belgian cake! I ate so much chocolate...I never thought I'd say this but I may have to lay off it for a few days. :] But it really was a fantastic weekend and the only thing I would want to change about my exchange is that I wish I were closer to them (though, this is Belgium...nothing is that far haha).

Well, my fingers are getting tired of typing, and I'm sure you're getting tired of reading so I'll finish up real quick. It doesn't stop there, I have some activities with the school this coming week and I'm looking into finding a dance class around here :] then next weekend is my birthday "celebration" one of Mano's friends has the same birthday as me so on Saturday we are going to have a lot of people over here at the house and have a kind of potluck :] and somewhere in all of this Mano and I are going to go see Harry Potter 7 Part 1 in Brussels at a theater where they have the original with subtitles! Which is perfect 'cause I'll understand it (lol) and Mano doesn't like it when movies are dubbed anyways :D

So overall things are picking up :] the only downside is that I get the feeling time is gonna fly by even faster now.