Okay so I got really behind on my plan to write about each day of my travelling last year. I am going to try to catch up now.

[size=l]Sept 10th 2003-[/size]
On this day we toured Brussels. It was an amazing city. We saw the Manneken Pis, a not very impressive but quite funny statue of a pissing boy, the Grand' Place, the central market square of Brussels, which is said to be the most beautiful in the world, and the Atomium, which was built for the 1958 World's Fair.

Manneken Pis


Grand' Place


Atomium


[size=l]Sept 11th, 2003-[/size]
On this day last year we woke up and got on the train to go to Brugge. I wrote in my journal that the people in Belgium were so friendly. We almost missed our train because basically we were lost, and this nice man with two small children came up to us and asked us if we needed help and directed us on where to go...so kind of him. Anyway, Brugge was beautiful. It an old gorgeous town with buildings you would expect to see Germany and canals like in Venice. We took a boat ride and the weather was beautiful. We at frites (like french fries) and really waffles, which had major chunks of sugar in them! The highlight of the day was going to the top of Belfort, an old church in the middle of Brugge. It was exhausting to climb up to the top, but the view was amazing.

View from Boat Ride in Brugge


Heidi and Shannon in front of Belfort


View of Brugge from the top of Belfort



After an exciting day in Brugge we got on a night train to Munich. Sleeping on the train was not so much fun and neither was arriving at 5am to have no place to stay because we couldn't get into our hostel until 2pm!

More on this trip later...I know I am still not up to date, but I am working on it!

Happy 21st Birthday Diana!! Now no more need to sneak into bars...hehe. Have a great day!

[size=l]September 9th, 2003[/size]

On this day last year we woke up at Heidi's brother's apartment in London and prepared to go to Belgium. I saw Jesse in the morning which was unexpected because he was supposed to have his internship but he got fired and exciting because it was the first time we had seen each other since he left home for England.

When I was with Jesse we walked around Russell Square and the British Museum. The British Museum was so amazing and huge. We saw the Rosetta Stone and an exhibit on mummies. We also went into the Reading Room which is like a big library with a huge list in the front of all of the famous people who have had "tickets" (library cards) to the room. I wrote down that I was particulary impressed that Karl Marx and Virginia Wolf were on the list.

After seeing Jesse we got on the train and went to Stansted Airport outside of London. There we flew Ryanair to Brussels and took an autocar to our hostel. Our hostel was unbelievably loud and busy. It was like staying in a huge club where they played overdubbed Eminem all night long. I remember that I did not sleep well that night. We stayed in a room with 6 other girls and by the time we woke up the next morning I was ready to get out of there and do some sightseeing.

Hi Everyone! It's been a while since the last time I posted. I have been busy moving in to my apartment at school and starting classes. Now that the first day is over I have some time to update. First of all, I love the first day of classes. I know that is a really dorky thing to say, but it's true. I get really excited to get my syllabi and see what's in store for me. In any event, today was fun because I had my first classes. However a big let down was that neither professor gave out a syllabus! Very disappointing. I am taking Hebrew this term...don't ask me why. I thought it would be fun, but with the first day of class all we did was listen to her speak in Hebrew and then try to get us to answer her in Hebrew. I had no idea what was going on. She wouldn't even let us write anything down (not that I know how to write in Hebrew yet). I felt like I was testing my memory far too much! Anyway, I am still motivated. I already made an appointment to go for extra help. I blame my mother for not sending me to Hebrew school like all my classmates (there are 7 other kids and they can all read and write, just not speak).

In other news, I have decided to do a series of posts for the next 10 or so days because they were very special to me a year ago. On this day last year I travelled to England for the first time. It was the beginning of a 10 day trip I took with two friends before we each spent a term abroad. After the 10 days and 5 countries, I went to York England for the next four months. I kept a journal the whole time...here's the short version:

[size=xl]Sept 08th 2003[/size]
Okay so on Sept 8 I got on the plane in NYC with Heidi and Shannon to go to London, Heathrow. This was so scary for me as I knew I wasn't going to be seeing my family for so long (I am a big baby). That's pretty much all for today...I mean the flight was 6 hours.

My little drawing of the seating arrangement...


The monitor that showed Heathrow...

This is Mike on his birthday with his idol Mrs. Heller:



I love his face!!