Smurftastic's EuroTrip... Final thoughts on Belgium

Leuven, Belgium 4:36 pm

OK... sorry I haven't been updating as much as you people have been requesting, but I'm making a solid effort at enjoying this country, and not just blogging about it (although I heart blogging too). First things first, get some business done. For those of you who don't know... I live in a little town called Springfield, IL. And the Simpson's movie comes out at the end of July. Apparently they are doing some competition among the different Springfields in the US, and the winner gets to host the premiere of the movie. Good times. Anyone who cares... or wants to hear me brag for a while, check out http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/simpsons-contest.htm, and you can support the IL at http://www.springfield.il.us/... GO SPRINGFIELD (wow... for a town I really don't like that much... its quite a lot for me to say that). Another movie review - the study abroad kids and I went to see Oceans 13 one night this week. THUMBS UP... I would highly recommend it. Not as good as the first one (of course), but infinitely better than Oceans 12... god that movie sucked. Also, I love George Clooney. Laying it out there. He's a silver fox.

OK... Belgium... Here are some important things I learned while staying in Leuven.

1.) The alcohol content of beer actually makes a difference. Never thought I'd get a buzz from 2 beers... but it is possible. Also, I had a beer last night that is over 10% alcohol by volume. Holy crap. After a while it started to feel like I was just sippin' on some hard liquor. Good though. Only had one, or I would not be able to type right now.
2.) Ice Cream is fabulous - The ice cream in this country is like 200 times better than any in the states. I think it has something to do w/ the fact that they don't stuff their cows full of chemicals. Just try it, its amazing
3.) Coke Light is not as good as Diet Coke - sorry, Europe, you don't lose much, but you lose this one.
4.) European coffee will knock you on your ass - that shit is STRONG... drinking it to make up for the less caffeine in Coke Light is bad idea jeans
5.) The American system of tipping is a good idea. I enjoy that I don't have to tip people, but I don't enjoy waiting for 20 minutes for the guy to walk by so I can get my check.
6.) European men like to creepily stare at American girls when we dance. Last night after girls night festivities when we met up with the boys on the trip, we went to a dancey type bar. Not even slick about the staring. Like if you're going to watch us... at least look away when we glance at you... its just common courtesy I think.
7.) Seton Hall is better than LeHigh - so.... last entry you all heard about the sluttily dressed LeHigh girls and how I out beer bonged them. 2 days after that, this lady in our group complained to their chaperone about how she always gets woken up when they come home drunk from the bars at 3am... valid point I'd say, but whatever quit bitching. Now the LeHigh kids hate us... and aren't any more quiet. They pretty much like scream about loud we are instead. It's fun. But we befriended some of the Irish students who work here, and they say that the LeHigh kids pee everywhere. In their beds, in the courtyard, in the hallway, on the walls. Classy. They also have lost so many keys in their drunkeness that they must leave shoes in their door to keep them open (big ups to roomie Laura who came in one night and just kicked the shoe out of the way... LeHigh sucks) -and when we left our keys in the room, there were NO extra keys left. I bet their parents are really proud.
8.) People take their dogs everywhere - in the bars, in stores... whatever. It's pretty awesome. I wish I lived here
9.) Americans are stupid - nothing makes you feel more terrible than when you are in a foreign country with 3 official languages (which probably most of them speak at least 2 of)... and everyone is also fluent in English. WTF. American kids should be taught another language from like birth.
10.) The EU may or may not be pointless - sure I like the Euro and the free market and all that crap, but seriously, we have spent almost 2 weeks learning about their governing process. They have this commission that makes all the rules and hands them to the member states, not elected, but whatever. Then they have the European Council, which is the ministers of each country... fine there too. Then they have this Parliament thing. This is what I don't get. Like 750 elected representatives. They have no power... NONE. I wanted to ask the representative we met "What is the point?" She's like, the commission comes to us for opinions, but they don't have to follow them. We can bring up amendments, but they'll tell us which ones they won't pass, so we don't even bother. Great. Glad to hear it. And there's a problem passing a European constitution???? You don't say!

Otherwise, Belgium is pretty much the shit and a half. We went out for a girls night dinner and a few drinks before meeting up with the boys... Turned into a pretty fantastic time. Flying out to Ireland tomorrow... getting pretty excited. Cept instead of leaving at 3 which was the plan, because of the Belgian obsession with striking, we have to go to a different airport and leave at 6... plus only fly into Dublin and have a 4 hour bus ride. I need to do homework, though, so no big deal.

Speaking of homework... BOOO seton hall law bookstore. I ordered a textbook 8 days ago, and requested express shipping. Didn't come, so I called the bookstore to see when it was shipping... the chick is like "Oh I don't even have it packed!" Thanks assface. Now I have to borrow someones book for the first few days and get it sent to Ireland. Whatever.

Ok, this entry pretty much sucked... my bad. Lots of fun stories from Ireland I'm sure. We're planning a 4th of July party, so we can be the sexy annoying Americans at the pubs. They'll LOVE us I bet!