17!

first off, today was much better than yesterday. you could almost say that today was fun, but that might be taking it too far. after waking up early and showering, i packed my lunch and biked to school. mornings here are really cold so biking is not always the best option, but what can you do? i was a little bit late for the first bell so i couldn't find my class. so my host brother helped me find where i was supposed to go but then he was late. the secretary still wasn't that nice but thats life. i didn't do much in school and i'm not sure how to feel about it. whenever i tried to take notes with the class i just got confused because the words are spelled so weird plus everything is in CURSIVE!! the last time i used cursive was when we were learning it in 4th grade, then writing a paragraph of something in cursive on the ACT. but thats all! so reading foreign words (sometimes abbreviated) in cursive on a chalk board is beyond confusing. so i pretended to take notes in science class, smiled my way through german class, ran around like a confused foreigner in gym class, and actually enjoyed watching a movie (in english with dutch sub-titles) in geography. i feel bad though because here you have to buy your books and workbooks for classes and i didn't get any because i wont understand them for at least 3 more months. so how am i supposed to do my duch and math homework? did we even have homework? who knows!!! so i went with people from my class to lunch and they were all nice. of course they laugh at my american accent and mannerisms but thats part of the package i guess. then after school i got invited to "get a drink at the cafe" with a couple classmates, so of course i said yes. little did i know that the words drink and cafe in the same sentence don't mean coke at cottonwood coffee, haha. we sat outside at some bar in the town square and it was crazy because thats what most of the students were doing..having an after school drink with their friends. i had something that tasted like grapefruit juice and orange juice and i don't know if there was alcohol in it or not. they said there was but i couldn't taste it so its a tough call. i do know that it was not worth my 6 euro though, but whatever, i made friends. then i biked home and got bombarded with text messages asking me to do something tonight. it was nice having like four different options instead of just sitting here bored like i normally do. but first we had to eat dinner so since its junk food friday my host brother and i got these greasy kebab things..im not really sure what it was. it was like a gyro thing from georges pizza i think. but then i decided to go to a youth center in Arendonk (a nearby town with a funny name) with a girl i met at this baby shower thing like the first week i was here. then my friend courtney from south africa was wondering what i was doing so we all went together. i don't know if i will go again because it was fun at first, loud music, people drinking beer (not me, it tastes terrible..don't get me started), kind of a social place. but then towards the end it got really messy and trashy. beer all over the floor, beer being spilled on you, drunk belgian teenagers, annoying techno music, all really stupid. i understand that its just part of the culture to see people 16 and up drinking beer and wine, but they were no better than american college students. simply binge drinking beer and attempting to dance to crappy music. i'm glad i went because i got to see what belgium's version of a "youth center" is ..but it was definitely no boys and girls club. haha. way past my bed time now so talk to you later!