Thursday, May 19, 2011

I had another morning of my global marketing class. Weird, I dislike going to class in Europe just as much as I do in America. And here it lasts longer! 75 minutes of class, 30 minute break, 75 minutes of class…. Blah. We learned about different ways people negotiate in Mexico, China, Germany, and Japan. That afternoon for our second class we went on a cultural tour. We met a Belgian professor at 13 Prinsesstraat (the entrance of the university) and she took us around Antwerp and showed us all these amazing, old buildings. This city has so much history. There are also a ton of churches in Antwerp. They are huuuuuge, and so pretty. Most of the buildings here are made out of brick, including the churches, and have so much detail to them.

After the cultural tour Michelle, Baylee, Jordan, Scott, Kyle, Nick (some of my classmates) and I went to this pizza place for dinner that offers student discounts, which is always good. The pizza here is very good. It comes in one size, probably about a medium and they don't cut it for some reason. It's a thin crust and the toppings seem very fresh. They have many more choices for toppings than we do in America. They have salami instead of pepperoni tho, which I'm not sure how I feel about yet. I ordered a Hawaiian… and a Hoegaarden, my first Belgian beer. I decided I'd go broke if I didn't become a beer drinker while living over here. With many lemons in this Summer Shandy like beer, it wasn't so bad! (and cheaper than water if I haven't mentioned that yet)

After dinner we stopped at a grocery store by the apartment to pick up some more beverages. Baylee and I shared an 8 pack of Hoegaarden for only 4 euros! Craziness… After dinner I went back to the apartments and just hung out. I got to skype home for the first time too! Luckily BJ was online to talk to me! It was so fun to be able to see and talk to him. He showed me the beautiful weather you guys are having at home! I am so jealous, it has been kinda cool and rainy here which is normal I guess. But anyone else that has skype and would like to chat please add me! Its kinda tricky finding a good time to with the 7 hr time difference but anyone that wants to visit, add me!

The first part of June, Antwerp has a short summer break so we also get these 5 days off. While me and a few others were visiting in one of the apartments we starting looking to see if we could travel to Greece at this time. Well a few turned into 11 and Thursday night turned hi-larious while we had Melanie, one of my roommates, negotiating with the hotels and airlines to cut us a deal. After an hour and a half skype phone call, a bottle of wine and MANY laughs, Melanie got us plane tickets and 3 hotel rooms on the beach outside of Athens, Greece for 80 euros a night! Can't wait!

Just when I think my night is over and I can go to bed, a group of my classmates asked me to go out. The responsible me immediately thought, "No Lindsey, you need your rest for tomorrow." Then I remembered some wise advice from many of my friends and family I got before I left … "Live it up, you'll probably only get this chance once!" Baylee, Jordan, Scott and I left the apartment for the pubs near campus where a few of our classmates were. We saw Adam, Casey, and Andrew (classmates) talking outside of the pub to a big group of guys wearing matching hats and sashes. Obviously we had to go up and see what was going on… Well these guys turned out to be a group conservative frat guys from the U of Antwerp. My first interaction with the locals! They were very nice and answered many of our questions, as we did theirs. One of their questions was why it was taking me sooo long to finish my beer. Embarrassed, I had to say to a group of frat guys in the middle of a city where they have over 400 different types of beer, some of the best in the world, that I hate beer. What was even more embarrassing was when I asked if they ever put pickles in their beer. They looked at me like I just asked if cat food was one of their favorite meals. And when I took my plastic bag of pickles out of my purse that I got at the grocery store and put one in my beer I thought for sure I had lost all chance to make friends with the locals. I told them not to knock it until they try it, and even though they didn't like it we still were friends. If I could pronounce some of their names I would tell you them but Flemish is a tricky language.

So Baylee, Jordan, Scott, Casey, Adam, Andrew and I went to Barracuda's with some of these locals. It was getting pretty late at this point, and we all thought we were about ready to head home for the night. Well Antwerp is kinda like Vegas in the sense that people stay out until the wee hours of the morning. I did not know this until Thursday night. One of the locals asked me if I wanted to play a drinking game. Responsible Lindsey shined through again and said "No thanks, I think we're going to head home here soon. Class in the morning ya know." He told me all my friends were, and I turned around to see Baylee rollin' dice onto the table. Crap. So one of the locals starts explaining this dice game to me as another places a beer order in Flemish. When the bartender came back with 18 glasses of beer I looked at Jordan, Baylee and Adam and I think we all knew we were in trouble. Luckily these Belgians drink like fish and finished 80% of them. I got home in time to get a shower and a solid few hours of sleep in before I had to get up for class the next day. I'd say that's a great first interaction with the locals…