Less than one month left... :(

Holy Moly!! Time is flying here and there's almost not enough left to be having fun!
Been going (kinda) to exams lately, and chilling with mates, and basically trying to deal with the fact that i'm not gunna be able to see these people every day after this month. It's really quite depressing! I don't know what i'll do with myself....
This week i'm hoping to see a bit more around Belgium some of the things I haven't seen yet - mostly in Flanders, the 'unknown territory...' :p
I figured seeing as i haven't got heaps to write about, i'll figure out how to chuck on some photos for you guys from the last few weeks slash months, enjoy!!

Grande place in Brussels

Yves Saint Laurent garden in Marrakech

Morocco

Sunrise in Morocco

Camels!!!

Marrakech airport

A night in Brussels

I AMsterdam

I AMsterdam

Sooo nothing exciting has been happening with school lately (we're getting into exam period) however, some friends and I decided to go to Amsterdam for the weekend, and we just got back yesterday.
We left on Friday night, and took the bus there. Once there we had to find our hotel (which was very expensive as it was a last-minute booking). We got there at about 11pm, and were relieved to settle in. Then we walked into the centre (about 25minutes) and looked around a bit. We went through teh red light district, and found a nice Irish Pub :) It was fairly quiet, and after 3am everything was closed, so we walked home and got a little sleep.
The next morning we found our next hostel, a really nice one where we could take a tram into town. We went and chucked our bags there, then went to discover the town! We met up with a couple of other girls we know from AFS and we all did a little tourist shopping. Then we went to the I Amsterdam thing and were so tempted by the water pond thing in front that we went paddling in it along with the little kids. We also played tag on the grass :) So we spent a while there, then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the night.
That night we had a drink at the hostel before heading into town. We went to a coffee shop for a little bit then continued to the real bars. It was a bigger night than friday, but not what we were expecting. There was nowhere to dance unless it was in a gay bar, and when walking from place to place, all there was to look at were the busty ladies in the windows...
The next morning we went to take a look at Anne Frank's house, but didn't go in, cause the line would have taken at LEAST 1hour, and we had a bus to catch! Before returning to the bus, we had a chance to buy our souvenir's and i got a shotglass and a t-shirt :)
Aaand, yeah, that's about it :) It wa short but sweet, and I'm keen to return!

May already!

Well, I've been back for a while now and haven't reported anything, so I guess it's about time!
School has been OK recently, but I've just had absolutely no motivation to go! We do nothing in class, so occasionally I skip... :)
The first week back at school was pretty good, I had lots more people to say hi to in the corridors at school. On Wednesday, we planned a picnic in the park. However, this is Belgium, so it rained, and we ended up eating our picnic in front of the OC at Ragnhild's :) The Friday I went with Eliza, Ragnhild and Camille back to Camille's and we watched the wedding, ate pizza and drank cocktails ;) It was super fun! Then, that night we went out to celebrate Ragnhild's birthday!! (Which was the next day). We went to Brussels (casually) and had an all-nighter there. It was pretty fun! We got the live band to sing happy birthday to her, and then everyone joined in! Then we all ate marshmallow biscuits with candles in them :)
The next week I had a terrible attendance at school. I felt sick after going out and just was totally not in the mood! So I didn't go ;) I did go to my Tuesday 2h geography class though.. aaaan fell asleep. It was difficult to hide seeing as there are only 7 of us in the class... Then on Friday night we all headed to Gembloux for Trey (another AFSer from the States)'s birthday party. It was at his house with AFSers and his school friends. At the start it was a little segregated, but we made it work in the end ;) I introduced people to the deliciousness of Lemon Lime and Bitters :) :) We didn't sleep AT ALL that night! Which seemed OK at the time, but definitely wasn't... The next night I had an 'After Morocco' party at my friend's house! I was shattered by the time I got there! But I fought through and ended up having a jolly good time ;)
Back at school and tired as ever! I don't really get it, but I'm exhausted all the time now! I keep falling asleep in class, and I'm always just slightly sick... It's horrible!
We're now trying to organise our trips to Amsterdam this month and to London/Dublin in June/July. I'm super keen for both!!! So hopefully I can get off my ass and do that ;)
Ok, once again I'll try to be more consistant with my blogging... But no promises!! ;)
Happy Luncheoning everyone!

morocco!

Ok so here I am after two days in Morocco, and I must say, it's pretty awesome!
We arrived here at 12am Sat morning, and went to sleep at about 3am after a lovely mint tea. Unfortunately we had to wake up again at 7am though. We started the day with a walk through the Souks, which was insane. I loved it. There were so many things to see and smell (unfortunately) and it was just utter madness! At first it was a little funny hearing all the men making comments about "i love you" etc but then after a few too many "hello white cheese" and far too much unecessary contact, I got a little over it. We had some free time t get lunch, and we found this cute little restaurant where a ;eal was never more than $10. In the afternoon we did a scavenger hunt in the Souks and got to talk a little to the locals etc which was pretty cool.
At night we went to a 'dinner and a show' thing, with your traditional Moroccan meal, followed by a horse show which turned into Aladdin! It was fun.
The weather here is fantastic too. Blue sky all day, with about 15 degrees in the morning and 30 plus in the afternoon until about 7pm. Im counting on getting a little tan here, it's already started!
Day two we started off by going to see a couple of touristy buildings, but they didn't end up being anything too exciting. At lunch we took a kebab back to the hotel and ate it by the pool, followed by a lovely swim. In the afternoon we went to the famous gardens here. To get there we hired these horse drawn carts - it was super cool! Then we had the afternoon to ourselves, which we spent hanging out by the pool and soaking up the sun.
Well, there's a little update on what'e been going on here, it's fairly fantastic and it's only been two days!!

Barbecue :)

ok, so go me for posting two days in a roll!!! haha, don't worry, it won't last long..
So as i said before, we had a dinner party last night. Before we ate we all jumped in the car and drove into the village to see a bonfire celebrating the end of winter. On the top of the bonfire (which was massive!) was a little 'bonhomme' who represents winter and so he went up in flames. Apparently it dates back to medieval times, which i guess explains the creepy brown rapist cloaks.
Today I went to Gembloux (near to me) for an AFS barbecue. The chapter organising it wasn't my chapter, but they'd invited other comittees to come along too. There wasn't a great amount of people, but I got to meet some people whom I'd never met before, and others that I had, but not for a while. So that was cool :) We had a munchy time then played this huge board game thing. We were in teams, and in order to roll the dice you had to do a little 'task' thing in your team. It was pretty fun! Then we got chocolate mousse for dessert :p and it just so happened they had a few extra! ;) Afterwards I went with Johanna and Trey (both from the States) and we grabbed a drink at an awesomely dirty bar. It was super fun.
I just recently got home, and when I arrived my host dad asked if I wanted to go for a bikeride with him and Valentine (the youngest). I got to pick the route :) It was super fun too!
Well there you go! One more exciting day in the life of me :)
See you next time! (which will probably be when someone reminds me I haven't posted anything in yonks!)
xoxo

Oook... So I have been a little slack at this lately.. I'll try to make up for it!
Wow, I officially only have 99 days left in Belgium. It's super crazy to think about! When I first got here I remember thinking 'wow, I have such a long time here...' but ever since Christmas, time has literally been flying by! It sounds clichéd, but it's true! All of a sudden it stopped snowing, then started to get hot, then BAM! spring is upon us and i'm outside sunbathing! It makes me think of all the things I still want to do here! I know I won't be able to do everything, but that just gives me an excuse to come back! Also, I've noticed that many people here are very into travelling (I get it, it's very easy!) But I still think to myself, It's super cool that I can travel here, but I did choose to come to Belgium, to experience life here - so if I end up staying in Belgium instead of going on a Euro-tour, it's not exactly a bad thing...
Speaking of travel... my trip to Morocco is in 11 days! That has definitely crept up on me! I am extremely excited! It will be a chance to experience a totally different culture, and also get to know more of the people at my school, seeing as I only really know the ones that I have classes with. However, the weather there is apparently 30° right now, thus... it is highly possible that I will die there from overheating. Or loss of water due to my constant sweating. Oh well, hopefully it happens to everyone else too.... haha.
I am also still hoping to make a small trip to Amsterdam with some friends. Maybe in May we are thinking. We have discovered the joys of buses! They are so much cheaper here, making a return trip to Amsterdam only 20€!
I will also have some free time between when school ends and I go back home. Some girls and I have been talking about a trip to England and Ireland (!!!!) but I also REALLY want to go to this festival here in Belgium. It's four days long and you camp there, and it has the most AHmazing lineup!! Only catch is that it costs 195€ for the two days... But we will see! I also have my best friend from when I was younger who's just moved to Switzerland! So hopefully we'll be able to catch up then too!!
Tomorrow there's an AFS barbecue near to where I live, so I shall be attending :) Hopefully it's good! :p
It seems the school is catching on a little as to the fact that Eliza and I have occasionally been skipping school... It's just so tempting in the sunshine lately!! But I think we'll have to cut back.. We recently went to Brussels for the day (to find a Nikon repair shop) and ended it in the irish pub for some Hoegaarden (my favourite name for a beer!). This guy she'd met once was there and he gave her a rose!! ahhh.. how romantic <3 However, he doesn't speak English, nor French, only Romanian... So there's a slight catch. I was more worried about the fact that he was wearing a visor type thing upside down AND to the side. It looked very... special.. But the fact that he was shouting made up for it a little ;)
Otherwise, school is going OK. I'm a little over it though.. When you think about it, I was getting over going to school in NZ, then I just decided I'd do a whole other year here! It also doesn't help that people in my school are just annoying!! Ok, not all of them, but many! They're all exactly the same. Dressing the same way, having their hair in the same hairstyle, saying and thinking the same things. They always talk about the same boring stuff and they're just so... Self involved? I dunno, they just annoy me greatly. They also have problems not getting in people's way. They'll be walking in a door, then stop right in the entrance, preventing you from entering yourself. Or halfway up the stairs they'll stop to give someone a bisou, have a chat, or sometimes they just stop for no reason!! Arghh! It's making me insane! The girls are the worst.. They are just.. clones... And bitches too very often. It's so boring ... But I enjoy laughing at the looks on their faces, especially the ones who seem to have just caught a big whiff of poo. Whenever I meet people who don't go to my school in Belgium, I find them really cool and interesting. But anyone from school is just dull... (though again, there's the odd exception). They just do the same thing every day... But at least I'm not like them!
I may not have mentioned it before but my host brother is in Holland right now on AFS. He came home the other day for the weekend so I got to meet him, and he's really cool! Although I already knew that. He was the one who got me into his family, and we often talk over facebook. But it was good to see him in person. I feel sorry for him though cause he had an AWFUL host family. He just changed, after waiting about 7 weeks. His host father used to scream at him all the time, and threaten to kick him out. His host mother was a manipulative little bitch who tried to control everything that he did. So thankfully that's over for him!! I can understand the relief he must be feeling right now!
One thing that I've learnt here, I've noticed lately, is that I've become more.. house trained, I guess you could say. I now clean my room on a regular basis, I help out with cooking and all things like that, and I do my own washing. It's cool knowing that I can do things for myself. It also kinda makes me motivated to keep doing it back home :)
Ok, gotta go now, cause we're having a dinner party and the guests have just arrived!
Byeeee xoxo

another week..

Alrighty then, what has been happening this past week...?
Well.. we finished up our trip to paris in style, visiting the sacre coeur and going shopping in old paris. it was fantastic. Our youth hostel was top notch too! we were staying at the Plug-Inn hotel :)
When I got back to belgium i stayed with my friend one night and we went to see 127 Hours. It was soo good!!! ::)
The next day i went to meet my family at the seaside. the first day was average weather so we went to Bruges (so cool) then the next few days were loooovely :) so we spent our time go carting and bikeriding beside the sea followed up by some sand castle making and kite flying :) ahh it was fun!
Monday was back to school as usual. It was good to see people again, but... school isn't exactly my fave hangout haha. On tuesday my friend convinced me to skip school (it was only english and religion really) and go to brussels with her. it was pretty fun! Except when she took me on a walk to find the park, telling me she knew exactly where it was, then leading me in the wrong direction for 45minutes haha. Buuuut it was all good in the end :)
Well yesterday was wednesday and I decided to go to my friends to another city for a student party! it was pretty good too :) buut we didn't get too much sleep haha. soo last night was sleeeping night :)
Oh yes, so thursday and friday are days off this week in my school :) Which i don't mind at all!! haha.
Oh well i'd better get going, i have plans to meet my friend for lunch! yum haha
byyyeeee