200!

TWO HUNDRED DAYS IN BELGIUM! that's so nifty. (why was nifty the first word i thought of? whatever). and also 200 blog posts..damn i'm good! im very happy with myself for committing to this blog..i read things from even last week that i've already forgotten about. anyways! today was nothing exciting, but really exciting at the same time..because its day 200, and tomorrow i'm going with my host family to BARCELONA!!! i packed my suitcase today, and i will again say that i am horrible at packing. i dont wan't to think about packing to go home, the baggage weight limit will be my worst enemy. i took a break from packing for a while to hang out with another american exchange student who goes to the same school as i do, but studies something different. she's from another exchange program and really nice! a definite stand out of today was dinner. i'd give you 100 guesses and you'd never guess what was for supper. STINGRAY!!!!! after like five bites i couldn't get my mind over the texture and gave up. it has these rays (duh) so then it looks like spaghetti when you cut it up but when you eat it its like..warm moist and soft and sort of makes me cringe.

i blame south dakota for having such good beef that fish is taking so long to get used to. i definitely miss a giant thick tbone on the grill. i don't think i've had anything grilled since i've been here, actually. everything (including the fish today) is usually cooked/fried in a pan. but i guess things like spinach burgers and schnitzel wouldn't work so well on a grill..haha. anyways! since i had enough room left in my stomach after not eating too much STING RAY...

there were moroccan cookies from a moroccan baker in town! super tasty, and really sugary. most are like almond flavored dough. belgium is weird in that sense. there are lots and lots of immigrants here, and i guess they sort of have an influence on the people here. i mean, how often do we go and buy something from a store owned by people from another country? here we can go buy turkish bread from the turkish store..moroccan cookies, chinese noodles..whatever. belgium is sort of central like that and also really generous for people who want to immigrate here. everybody has sort of mixed reactions about it i guess, but i can say from experience that all the people in my dutch class that come from other lands are really nice! but i think people come here because its relatively easy to get a job..but then they follow dutch classes (with me!) first i think. i'm not quite sure about it all i guess, but overall it makes for a very rounded cultural experience. i surely would have never tried a moroccan cookie back in SD ;) so that was my day. it was a nice one, and i'm sure the rest of the week will be great as well. i don't know whats cooler: spending 200 days here, having blogged almost every day, going to barcelona tomorrow, or trying stingray for dinner? everything is just cool here these days. can you really have too much of a good thing? thanks for sharing my adventure with me for the past 200 days readers, goodnight :)