So it's really the end: I have just three more days, two more nights here in Ghent. I wanted to quickly update you on what's been happening in the last few days, because my recent Paris posts are actually quite dated.

Here we go! After classes ended last week, we celebrated with an International Dinner party. We actually had the first official International Dinner back in May. The whole idea was that people bring food that's typical to their native country's cooking... I have to say that the first dinner was a little bit more of a success food-wise, because people had a little bit more time to prepare their dishes. Here are a few pics from back in May:







This time around, the menu consisted mainly of chips, dips and crackers :) However, my friend stole the show with an ambitious Finish sandwich cake, which she also decorated beautifully. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from that night, last Friday, but I will post them as soon as someone is kind enough to forward them to me!

Saturday evening I went to the movies with my friend, Pieter, to see the new Tarantino movie, Death Proof. It just came out here in Ghent, and unfortunately, it was not being shown with Rodriguez's other Grindhouse feature, Planet Terror... but that's ok. Maybe it was enough violence and gore for one night. Here's the trailer for that one:



Sunday, we got up bright and early to visit Luxembourg for the day! Actually, I overslept a little, and unintentionally postponed our trip by one hour... but everyone survived the change of schedule! The train trip lasted about 3.5 hours, so we ate, slept and watched a movie on my friend's laptop to pass the time.





Luxembourg is quite beautiful, very green and clean in comparison to Brussels, for example, and not surprisingly, quite a rich place! In fact, Luxembourgers have the highest GDP of any country in the world. The country has three official languages, French, German and Luxemburgish.

The city of Luxembourg is quite important in terms of military history, and there is lots to see if you're a history buff like my friend! The city used to be surrounded by fortifications (some parts dating back to the 10th century), but they were almost completely destroyed following Luxembourg's ratification of the Treaty of London in 1867, in essence, to confirm its neutrality. Still, parts of the fortifications have survived, including about 2 km of casemates, which we explored with the help of a very nice guide... Casemates are tunnels built into rock, and the term literally translates to "house of slaying/killing."





And we saw and crossed the Adolphe Bridge, which was once the biggest stone bridge in the world. However, since it was renovated with steel reinforcements, it no longer carries that title...





The views around the bridge were so beautiful!

Then we stumbled upon a church festival at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, which is a beautiful church that dates back to the early 17th century, and houses some amazing stained glass work and an impressive organ gallery. The church was offering bread, water and champagne, so we helped ourselves!



After the Cathedral, we walked towards the city centre, where a children's band was playing Beatles' music in the main square. They were so cute, and I especially fell for this one little boy who was playing the mandolin.



Our final destination in Luxembourg was the American Cemetery and Memorial, located just east of the city. It's the final resting place for over 5,000 American soldiers, including General Patton, who, according to my friend, was an infamous character. To be honest, the trip to the cemetery was a little bit of a trek, and we ended up crossing a forest and a wheat field to get there... but it was worth it.









Then we made our way back to Ghent.

Monday night, I visited a friend in Brussels for dinner and drinks. The drinks part was especially cool, since we enjoyed them in the basement lounge of the Belga Queen, which used to be a bank... now it's a fancy restaurant, and the lounge part is located in the old safe room.

Tuesday, my friends and I decided to enjoy some touristy things in Ghent, so we took a guided boat ride along the canals. It was so nice! After the boat ride, we sat in a cafe along the Graslei and tasted the best beer in the world! Yes, of course it's Belgian. It's called Westvleteren, a trappist beer brewed by monks at the Saint Sixtus monastery in West Flanders, and it set us back about 26 Euros for three pints! Well worth it, though!

Finally, Wednesday night was my friend's last night here in Ghent, so we went all out! That means, we enjoyed some trappist beers, did some late night bowling and ended up dancing in Overpoortstraat. Here are a few pictures:









That's it for now... next time you hear from me, I'll probably be in Warsaw. Two of my Finnish friends are already joining me there on the 29th... so I will survive my post-exchange blues, I think!

Lots of kusjes!

A novel by Kasia Kraszewska. Part two.

Ok... first I have to finish telling you all about Paris... and then I'll recount more recent happenings. (Basically, it's a bittersweet time here in Ghent: school's done but people have gone or are leaving quite soon!)

So after the Place de la Concorde, my Mom and I were quite tired, and of course, I was wearing my new shoes, but they were giving me a little bit of discomfort... so we decided to pause for a coffee. First, we crossed the beautiful Pont Alexandre III, which was built between 1896 and 1900, and is considered to be one of the prettiest bridges in Paris. Once we crossed, Les Invalides were just on the other side. So we took some nice pictures. The story behind Les Invalides is quite interesting... Louis XIV ordered the construction of this giant compound in 1670, to house sick and elderly veteran soldiers, who would have otherwise probably ended up on the street. Today, it is also a burial site for France's war heroes.





Finally, we sat down in a typical Parisian cafe and ordered some drinks. Sipping and planning our evening, we decided to stay in this area of the city until night fall, since the Eiffel Tower Quarter was just a short walk away. Of course we needed to see the tower with all the lights. So, in order to kill some time, and since our stomachs were quite empty... we decided to head from coffee straight to dinner. Ah, life is hard!

We didn't have any specific dinner destination in mind, but we wanted something authentic and less touristy... I think we really lucked out with a little place called L'Auberge Bressane. When we entered, they asked us if we had a reservation, which we didn't, but they squeezed us in anyway... and by the end of our meal, the place was packed, and all we could hear was French French French. We ordered a bottle of the 2002 Chablis... to tell you the truth we were a little intimidated when the wine expert approached our table, but we ordered white anyway! And of course, to start off with, we ordered the escargots... which came with those special tongs, which we had no idea how to use. But we managed! We always do :) For the main course, my Mom had this amazing chicken and truffle dumpling... and I had tuna fish, half-cooked, half-raw... as you can tell by my detailed description of our dinner experience, it was a meal I will never forget!




After dinner, we walked a short distance and were already at the Champs de Mars, with the beautiful Eiffel Tower in view. I can't express how amazing it is to see it for the first time, all lit up. See for yourself:







After the Eiffel Tower, we walked north to see the Arc de Triomphe, also lit up and beautiful:



After midnight drinks on Champs Elysees, we continued along this legendary street, observing the nightlife until we couldn't manage anymore (exhausted, full of food, with achy feet). So we took the metro the rest of the way back to our hotel, where we passed out immediately!

The next morning, we started off with a delicious breakfast in a cafe... baguette, chocolate croissants, eggs, jam... coffee. And we briefly visited St. Suplice, but most of it was under heavy construction. And then we entered Jardin du Luxembourg, where so much was happening... People doing Tai Chi and other meditation exercises, martial arts, running, biking. Others were reading, listening to music, suntanning, out with their kids, playing with miniature sailboats in the pond, walking their dogs. There was even a group of people doing laugh therapy, not caring who saw them or heard them. What an interesting and wonderful place. We could have stayed there indefinitely, but we still had more to see!









After the gardens, we headed east to Place de Pantheon, which was originally a church, but also a burial place of famous people including Voltaire and Rousseau! Then we headed north to Ile de la Cite, but first passed through St. Germain, a wonderful district with many narrow streets and great eateries. Typical Paris, the way I had always imagined it. Finally we arrived at the Notre Dame... what an amazing cathedral, it literally takes your breath away!











After Notre Dame, we located Picasso's museum and did a quick tour of both the permanent collection and new exhibition, the latter entitled Carmen, an amazing group of works inspired by the fictional Gypsy temptress, Spain, and matadors. Our final destination was Centre Pompidou, a place which houses a public library, an art museum and music centre in one, and is really an unusual piece of architecture. Just outside the building, there's the Stravinsky fountain, with some pretty fun art.









Well, we were exhausted again! We headed to a cafe for some drinks and a late lunch and then it was time to go... back to Ghent.

After our return to Belgium, my Mom spent one more day with me and then headed to Poland. And I was left with a final project and a little bit of studying. Now it's all done, and like I said before... it's very bittersweet. I will tell you all about our end of the semester celebrations and my plans for the summer.. but next time!

Lots and lots of kusjes!

The Last Month of My Life. A novel by Kasia Kraszewska. Part one.

Since the last time I posted, my sister left to go back to Canada... My best friend Freyja came back to visit Ghent again, before heading on a little adventure in the Scottish highlands with her Mom. And my Finnish friend, the one that had to go back to Helsinki already, she also came back to visit us for a few days. I managed to finish most of my school assignments... It was quite busy, especially a couple of weeks ago, but now I only have one major assignment left! And that's pretty crazy. Our class has started counting down the days of the exchange. Some of us are happy to see the end (I think it's mostly those in long-distance relationships) but most of us are quite sad, or at least have mixed feelings. It's always nice to get school over with... but people will start flying out of here as early as the 14th of this month. And that will be the end of MOCOMA 2007. So sad...

Speaking of school and assignments, here's that little video we made for our Visual Literacy class entitled, Femme Fatale in Ghent. "It's a little gem of a movie," according to my classmate. Some have called it Oscar-worthy, but you will have to see for yourself!



I finally have a million pictures to share with you. My Mom came to visit me last Tuesday. Originally, she was going to come here with her friend, but that fell through. Still, we decided to keep her two-person reservation in the B&B so that I could stay with her. It was glorious... I so enjoyed sleeping in a large bed, in a large room, and taking a nice long hot shower in a clean bathroom, and being served delicious breakfast every morning... croissants, baguettes, toast, eggs, ham and cheese, tomatoes with mozzarella and basil, juice and coffee. Mmmmm. It was everything we could hope for and much, much more. Here are a few pictures of our bedroom and the breakfast room:









My Mom arrived on Tuesday, and I sort of expected her to pass out since she skipped a night of sleep. But nooooo. She was incredibly anxious to go out on the town and meet my friends, so we went out to Vooruit that night, to see Husky Rescue, a cool Finnish band fronted by a beautiful girl (my Finnish friend has a huge crush on her, but he was too shy to go up to her after the show):



And, in case you're interested, here's the video for their song, Summertime Cowboy:



Anyway, back to my Mom's visit. It was just as I expected: my Mom fell in love with Ghent! We walked along the cobblestones and canals, and took in the architecture. And we went in and out of clothing and shoe stores. And we sat on little patios and in bars, drinking coffee and Campari and beer. We even ate Belgian frites with mayonnaise at two o'clock in the morning... and got caught in typical Belgium weather (rain!) and had to run home barefoot. Here are a few pictures from our adventures:













On Thursday, we hopped on a train and took a day trip to Bruges. Although the day started off cloudy, it turned quite beautiful by the afternoon... We walked around and visited a few churches, did a little bit of shopping, and then enjoyed some crepes and coffees on a patio. Here are a few photos:













Friday and Saturday my Mom took me on a trip of a life time... to Paris, the city of lights... the most romantic place in the world. My Dad had just been there with his family, and I was unable to meet him in the end because of school... And I thought it'd be such a waste not to go, since it's so close to Belgium. So, anyway, I got to go! The trip was part of my graduation / children's day gift. What can I say, I'm a lucky girl!

Here we are, arriving on Saturday morning in Parisian traffic (we were giddy as school girls, by the way):



When we arrived, we took the metro and got off near Les Halles... We broke for lunch right away, then went to explore the area, which is surrounded by large glass and metal buildings. According to Wikipedia, these date back to 1850, but I could have sworn they were much more recent... in fact, I kept commenting how futuristic they looked. I guess I'm not a specialist, by any means. Anyway, the true women that we are, we entered the Forum des Halles, a mall that's situated partly underground, and my Mom bought me a pair of real Parisian shoes. Here are a few pics from lunch and Les Halles, and my new shoes:









Next, we walked across Ile de Cite (passed Notre Dame... but we would return there later), and dropped off our things in our room at Hotel St. Pierre, right near Sorbonne in the Quartier Latin. The view from our window:



In the afternoon, we walked along Quai des Grands Augustins, crossed Pont Neuf, and ended up just to the east of the Louvre... We crossed the grounds, paused by the Pyramide du Louvre and the fountains, and then continued past the Arc de Triumphe du Carrousel, through the Jardins des Tuileries and to Place de la Concorde:











Ok, I will end here for now... I think that's enough reading for you guys for one day! I will continue later on this week, because we saw so much more in Paris!

Lots of kusjes... Mamo, juz tesknie za Toba!