Tielt, Belgium

Last week in Europe!! For a Regional Learning on Monday we went to a beautiful city called Brugge which is considered the "Venice of the North".  The weather was beautiful, so we spent the day wandering in shops and just relaxing in a nice park.

 

Anna(Italy) Hunter(CO) Myriam(Belgium) Conney(Germany)

 The whole city had beautiful flowers everywhere, but the tulip garden was the best!

 

My host family is a single mother and 2 teenagers, a girl (17) and a boy(16).  My roommate is Joana from Portugal.  She’s 10 years older than me and from a different country, so it was cool to gain some perspective from her throughout the week.  The family is very nice and also chill, which was good.  We walked every day this week which was really nice too! 

Joana, Fauvre, Joris, Hilda

Tuesday was CI at a local hospital in the Geriatrics dept.  We did some little exercises and took them on a walk in the wheel chairs.  There was one man who spoke 5 languages, including English and he had also hosted UWP about 12 years ago and is still in contact with his student.  The world is just so small when it comes to UWP. 

Thursday we went to the Special Olympics which was really fun.  The athlete’s all tried really hard and some had some great talent.  Everyone had fun cheering random people on and just relaxing.  We did have to walk 2 miles one way from the train though, so we did get our exercise in! 

 

 Diana (CA)

Friday and Saturday were great last shows in Europe.  The European audiences have been great to us.  

Sunday for host family day we went to Gent, which was a lot like Brugge, so walking around and looking at buildings.  It is the college town of this area of Belgium, so that was cool seeing what a European college town was like. That night we had a cast overnight (sleep over) because we hadto leave at 4 30 am to get to Germany by 10 to check in for our 12 hr flight to Mexico! 

Graffiti Alley created to keep street art to a minimum.

Sint Pieter's-Leeuw, Belgium

this week was one of my favorites! Sint Pieter's Leeuw is in the Flemish part of Belgium, but my family spoke French.  They were Guy and Fransois with 3 daughters; Helene(15), Auriane(14) and Lucie(12).  I was roomed with Hayley from AZ again this week as well.  The whole family was so inviting to us and in the first night we were playing ping pong and laughing.

Tuesday we did a workshop about individuality and how we are made up by the people we know and the experiences we have.  That night was music night because Lucie and I sang and she played guitar and then Hayley taught the other the line dance from our show.  Then we taught them a little about the US and where we live.

Wednesday was fun because Amy (CO) and I got to skip the morning and go to Brussels with Clara, the girl who we both mutually hosted when she traveled.  We had breakfast a cute little cafe and then we wandered around just talking and taking in the sights of such a beautiful city.  Then we had a great show that night. 




 










 










Friday was a Regional learning at the Linderman's brewery where we got a tour of how the beer was made and then we had a beer tasting which I found some really great beers.  Kriek is a great kind and I suggest you try them!  That night our parents went to a show, so it was just Hayley and I with the girls.  I stayed up and we played card games and danced around and laughed a ton which was great. 

 

Sunday was a great adventure in Brussels. We wandered and took lots of pictures and did all the touristy things like the atomium and Manneken Pis (little peeing man) and having a beer and fries. We came home and Hayley and I introduced our family to s’mores, but instead of milk we had dark chocolate and put it on a special Belgian cookie, and then when those ran out on mini waffles, so it was a cultural collision!  These girls really became my younger sisters and I will miss them dearly!

 The atomium

a quick drink on HFD

 Our European-styled s'mores!