Friday was a verrry long day. We pretty much were in class all day. The morning class was studying the European Union again with our Belgian professor. He actually is a really good professor and interesting to listen to. We learned about how the European Union came about and the different countries that are part of it. When that was over I had a quick lunch at this kabob place in the meat market. I ordered a "Kip Kabob," this was me hoping I heard right that kip means chicken in Flemish. Luckily it was, even though it was more pita like than kabob like. The cheeses here are very, very strong and whatever kind was on this kabob was horrid, but everything else about it was good. I also ordered one of Belgium's signature foods, fries with mayo. So weird, but so good. They say the mayo is made with olive oil here so it's much better for you than the mayo we have in the states. Yea ok…

After lunch I had to hurry and get changed in to my "business attire." My classmates and I met in the courtyard of the university to take a group photo and had these delicious ice cream bars covered in Belgian chocolate. I don't think the chocolate thing will ever get old.. Then we had to go back to class. This next class was quite long but what I heard in between the times I dozed off was pretty interesting. Here are a few facts about Belgium

-The state pays for sick leave

-People making approximately $45,000 have to pay 50+% in taxes

-Because of the high tax rate, students only pay about 560 euros ($750) a year for school and 5 euros (about $7) for doctor visits. Insurance pays the other 20 euros

-Belgians don't sue like Americans do, they use mediators

-You can collect unemployment money for the rest of your life. 70% of wages the first year, 60% of wages the second year, and 50% of wages the third + years.

Right after this class, we went to another. This one was fun, embarrassing and gave me a head ache. Learning how to speak Flemish. Flemish and Dutch are apparently the same language but kinda different? They compared it to United Kingdom's English and American's English. Same language, just pronounced differently. I never thought about learning another language but once I got here and heard people speaking French, Flemish, German, etc. it made me want to so bad! Until I started Flemish class… so hard. I could not pronounce ANYTHING right, and only retained a few phrases.

-Ik ben Lindsey (I am Lindsey)

-Spreek jij Engels- (Do you speak English?)

-In de oven (Sounds like In de ooven, I love saying this one)

This was an interesting 2 hours and by the time it was over my head hurt so bad from trying to pronounce all these weird words. So we went and had a margarita at Poco Locos J My roommates Melaine and Michelle, Baylee, Kailee, Jenny, Jordan, Nick and I all went to this Mexican restaurant for nachos and margaritas. After dinner at Polo Locos we went back to the apartment and pretty much all of us gathered into one of our rooms to play cards and get to know each other a little better. I am having such a fun time with all these people. We are getting along great! But I guess it is only the first week haha, we'll see what we all think of each other after our 9 day bus trip at the end of our 6 weeks in Europe…