Hello blessed brilliant beauties! If you have been following me for a while, you know that I am currently studying abroad in Paris, France! While I have been here I have been doing so much traveling both inside and outside of the country. Last weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Brussels, Belgium for the first time and it was such a wonderful experience. I am so glad God guided me there! Here is what I did!
Getting There
So, my roommates and I ended up taking a train from Paris to Brussels and it only took about an hour and a half to get there! The train was so comfortable and was the perfect place to finish our weekend homework so we wouldn’t have to worry about it on the trip. At first, I didn’t realize how close Belgium was to France (shaking my head at my lack of knowledge of European geography), but it was perfect for us students looking to learn more about the vast culture that Europe has to offer.
Our Stay
Unlike Barcelona, my roommates and I decided on staying at an Airbnb! If you don’t know what it is, is basically a home away from home. Verified homeowners provide you with a place of stay (private or shared) for your time of visit just like your very own private home or apartment. Most of the time, airbnbs cost less money than staying in a hotel so a lot of students are known for airbnb-ing instead of paying outrageous amounts for a hotel stay. Whether you are traveling alone or in a big group, there is always so accomidating inexpensive place to stay.
Adventures in Brussels
I have been living in Paris for about three weeks now and traveled to Barcelona two weeks ago, soooo I really wasn’t trying to spend all my money in Brussels. Thankfully, my roommate was able to find some super cool things to do that cost us little to nothing.
On Friday night when we first got there, we ate dinner and visited this cute bookstore called “Cook & Book.” It was absolutely adorable and had such a wide selection of books! Since we arrived on that Friday, we were exhausted and decided to call it a night early.
On Saturday we woke up early and made our way to Grand Palace where we ate breakfast. Our waiter was sooo sweet and funny. Plus it didn’t hurt that they had the most amazing hot chocolate and waffles! Yum! After that we went on a FREE walking tour of the city! This is probably one of the best things to do in a city where you don’t really have a lot of time to self-explore. Our tour guide gave us a little history of important places and cool spots in the city. During the tour, we wrote down our favorites and explored them more once the tour was over.
I highly recommend doing a little tour just to save time to do the things that you actually are interested in later. After that we met up with hour other friends in our Paris study abroad program and visited the Atomium! (Basically it’s Belgium’s Eiffel Tower). This was super cool and it had a little surprise modern art exhibition in it which is straight up my alley. Of course I can’t write a Brussels post with telling you about the amazing chocolate and waffles they had here. If anybody knows me, they know I love chocolate! I am here to verify that Belgium chocolate is just as good as they say it is!
My Latest Travel Thoughts
I like to leave all my posts in “The Travel Diaries” with a little self reflection. I have been abroad for about three weeks now and I very much so am ignoring the fact that I will be leaving Paris in a week. (Mom, do I have to go?)
I have really learned a lot about myself here. There is just something so beautiful about wearing less makeup and letting your natural hair go free without anybody viewing it as some type of political statement. It is quite liberating to say the least. Part of me wants to stay here forever, it feels almost like a dream. It is true, I mean, I do miss home and my family, but when you are able to be part of such a different culture and successfully (well, successfully in my sense) live within an entirely new context that is so different than your home, you are left with a sense of accomplishment, peace, and the lingering question that maybe you were suppose to be here all along.
I like myself most in Paris–free, daring, elegant, and appreciative of all the little things God has given me to love and write about. I have fallen in love with everything from the cooling winds from a fresh rain to kind bonjours from the lady at the bakery near my school, the amazing food that takes minutes to come out and the sounds of a quite metro on a Monday morning. I hope Hemingway was right about Paris being a moveable feast because wherever I go, I want Paris to stay within me.
