366 Steps to the Top

Yesterday was a REALLY awesome day. I had so much fun despite the fact that I was exhausted! I have accepted the fact that I will get very little sleep on this trip, but I have yet to adjust to just being so busy all day and then getting very little sleep at night. We spent the day in Brugge and Oostende yesterday. Brugge is a canal city and is absolutely beautiful. It had tons of cute little shops, a lace factory, chocolate stores, churches, and little boats floating down the canals.

We left at 9:30 and it was a two hour train ride. We all tried to study, but it was difficult. Finally we gave up and just hung out. When we got to Brugge, we walked around and went to a church. It was called "The Church of Our Lady" and it had one of Michaelangelo's statues. The statue is of Mary and baby Jesus and it is one of the few statues of his that made it out of Italy. I really loved being in Brugge. It was so beautiful, even while raining (yes, it rained yesterday). I am kind of sad that my pictures just can not capture the beauty of all of the places that I have been.

After lunch, we were talking about the Bell Tower (called Belfried) that is there and Andrea and I decided to climb it. Philippe went with us, thank goodness- with my fear of heights it was nice to have someone who I knew would make sure I did not fall. There were 366 steps to the top and it was tiring, but so much fun! I felt kind of like I was conquering my fear. :) When we made it to the top, there was a panoramic view of the city. It was SO gorgeous! We could see the canals, the churches, windmills, etc as far as the eye could see. We were pretty shaky when we got back down because of how far up it was.

We only had about 20 minutes left in Brugge when we were done with that, so we decided to just walk around for a while. It started pouring down rain at that point, so the rain jackets came out and our jeans and shoes got soaked. Fortunately it only rained for about 15 minutes and then the sun came out.

When we left Brugge, we caught a train to Oostende, which is on the North Sea. It was obvious as soon as we got off the train that this was a place unlike anywhere we had been so far. I do not think that it was as beautiful as Brugge (because Brugge was just gorgeous on a completel different level!) but it was just so gorgeous. There were little sailboats everywhere along the side of the river, and when we got to the sea it was just great! It was so nice to play on the beach even though it was chilly! The sand felt really different, and it was kind of brownish yellow (tan?). The water was kind of a greenish color (not like nasty algae green though) with HUGE waves. It was SO cold! The air wasn't bad, just a little chilly because of the wind, but when the water lapped up on my toes, it was like ice water!

After the beach, we got Belgian waffles and then headed to the train. I slept for a little while on the train and then we all studied together and talked. It was a really fun day, with lots of little adventures and fun times with fun people. Today has been a good day, but we have been in class all day and I have to stay up late tonight plus, I need to study so that I can stay on top of things. Tomorrow will probably be filled with less laughter because we are going to several WWII areas including the place where the Battle of the Bulge was fought and an American cemetery. When we get back, I will be able to talk to the Jordan boys on video chat because Creston will be babysitting them, so I'm really excited about that :)

Good night! Love you all!