56!

hello all! day 56 here in belgium...8 WEEKS! crazy right? i'm here maybe 48 weeks total..so 40 more at the most, weird! anyways..it is definitely autumn over here! i wish i could tell you what it feels like to be over here while the seasons are changing but its hard to describe. all i can tell you is that it is some crazy crisp air in the mornings on the bike! burr burr...so i probably looked like a wimp while wearing a hat and some gloves this morning but i don't care, i was not freezing so it was okay. my favorite thing about biking is that although i feel i am improving at it, old ladies and men STILL pass me ALL the time..small children too! these people are freaks on bikes, i'm telling you. sometimes i see an old person that you would think would be in a wheelchair but nope they have a bike! those are the type of people that pass me in the mornings. its ridiculous. i will also mention that i do not like tuesdays because i always have to bike by the smelly garbage truck and that is not fun at all! but when you bike by the bakeries it smells really good so it makes up for it..anyways enough about that. we got our tests back inlanguage class today and i got an 8.5/10! yay for me! that is a pretty good score especially compared to others in the class. nothing exciting for lunch today..just stayed in a classroom and atesome salami and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches haha! then we had two hours of music class and an hour of math..i did nothing for three hours, great! the only weird thing about school was that the boy from argentina went home after lunch because hewas "tired". we all think he went home because he was not the center of attention, but theres nothing we can do about that. being an exchange student is all about being involved, outgoing, appreciative, and open to new experiences. nobody can MAKE you do those things and have a good attitude, it'sall about what you make it and how you want to look at things. sure its hard being the new kid but thats why you don't sit in thecorner by the piano while we are all eating lunch in a circle, you come over with the rest of us and have a conversation, or at least smile and nod! anyways i didn't have to put up with him today so all is well. after school my friend from class helped me go to the tanning place! i have really been missing the sun here in belgium and i decided to splurge and go tanning just so my makeup would still match. its weird, even in the fall in south dakota the sun can give you a little color. here its like living under a blanket or something! anyways it was almost 1 us dollar a minute so i will not be doing that very often! once a month maybe. then i stopped at a home store that is like pier 1 in sioux falls only european version and i bought an awesome little basket to hold my makeup, lotion, etc. isn't it cool? its made out of recycled paper thats rolled up and glued on..neato.

then i came home and took a shower or something because i smelled like tanning. then we went to get my identity card from the city hall place in oud-turnhout. i took a picture of it because i think its cool but i blurred out most of the important things i think! it has a cool microchip on the back that has all your personal information on it. really high tech!

then we had dinner which was something italian..specific i know. we talked about how americans waste a lot of food, or waste a lot of everything actually. for example, i bought apples at a weird store like 3 weeks ago. i didn't know it was not so good till i checked out and saw the cashier. then i came home, and my host mom told me it was a store that is kind of iffy. so i decided not to eat the apples and they have sat in the fridge ever since. now knowing me you would just assume i threw them away after a week or so but not in this family! they are still in the fridge and they want to make a pie/cake with them..ahhh!!! three week old apples to begin with sound gross let alone creepy druggish grocery store ones! but its just because that is the american perspective and i need to start living a little less..high maintenance, i guess. everybody in the united states does though! it's definitely not JUST me. anyways. after dinner my host brother and father started putting their beer in bottles! did i tell you they were making their own beer? well they are..so here are a couple pictures of that!

now i need to go to bed. only language class tomorrow. then i have a hair appointment! wish me luck. goodnight and thanks for reading!