127!

127! happy wednesday. wed-nes-day, is usually how i say it in my head. today i went to antwerp! antwerp is the capital of the antwerp province in flanders (the dutch speaking side) and so it is pretty big! antwerp is like the diamond capital ofthe world..at least 80% of all the worlds rough diamonds pass through here, i find that pretty neat! so when my future husband gives me a giant ring, i can say "hey theres an 80% chancethat diamond was once in belgium" hahah, just kidding of course. but nonetheless i feel pretty cool being able to go to such wonderful places so easily! all i did was take the bus for a little over an hour and i was there. once there, i met two other exchange students at starbucks and enjoyed myself a nice gingerbread latte. after that we were off to the shopping street of course! would you believe it if i said i didn't buy anything!? there was this really cool shirt at urban outfitters in the "vintage" section that i REALLY wanted..but it was 33 euro and i find that a little too expensive. i took a picture of it just to see if any of you in south dakota have some input? hah! no, i really didn't want the shirt. but i laughed really hard. something about seeing a sturgis shirt in the middle of my belgian adventure just hits home and makes it seem like a small, small world. sort of beautiful in a way, you think? that is, the thought..not the shirt. hehe.

after that we went to a live radio broadcasting thing where the dj people live in a "glass house" (aka...plastic building?) for a week or something to raise money for kids in africa or something like that. i'm not really sure what it was about, but we got on tv for a little while! as we were there we tried to draw mustaches on our fingers, but it didn't really work. in this picture with me is my long last cousin mark..another exchange student from the us, only he's in the french part. we have the same last name..weird!

after that we walked around the very pretty christmas market and i got some random chinese fried things for lunch. crab, squid, shrimp, chicken and eggroll things..interesting! but pretty tasty.

as if that wasn't enough, i needed a pancake too...with nutella of course. for those of you that are looking to expand your horizons, go out and buy yourself a jar of nutella and a loaf of bread. tada! you're instantly european..

so then we had a good idea to go to the american food store! brilliant thinking! hooray! we were very excited. i thought i knew exactly which bus to take but who would know it..i was wrong. so after wasting about an hour on the wrong bus we finally got on the right bus and got to the beautiful store. it was awesome as ever!! i got more things for smores, some things for christmas cookies, and a couple seasoning packets for sloppy joes and chili..gotta love that! finally we were back to the station from the store and checked the train times. of course the train didn't leave for another 45 minutes..so that was just enough time for me to enjoy a nice cheeseburger happy meal from mcdonalds. i'm so healthy. so now i am home, and that was my day. i really hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing about it and experiencing it..it was definitely a good day.

but before i go, a congrats is in order for a special band director from Michigan. you know how there are just certain things, people, experiences and whatnot..that just make a difference in your life? it can be going to belgium, or simply an old family friend. this guy is definitely one of them in mine and for many others too! oh i tell you, from the kalahari to korean beef, whether he knows it or not he's definitely made a difference to me..and of course many many others! so congratulations on your award from SBO Mr. Greer..a wonderful band director, family man, person, and last but not least-comedian. i leave you all with a couple photos that i'm hoping will make you laugh even if you don't get the joke behind them. goodnight all.