After the excitement of a weeklong vacation in February for Carnival, everyone's dragging themselves through March with their eyes set on les vacances de Pâques (spring break, literally Easter vacation) that starts in the beginning of April. Though school in Belgium carries on through the end of June, at least I'll be able to enjoy a second week of spring break this year that I don't get back home. Until then, things are moving along slowly but surely.
After school one day a couple weeks ago, there was an optional evening trip to Liège for students in second year Spanish to watch a Spanish play. At my school, the earliest you can start Spanish is in 5ème (junior year), and I actually dropped down to that course since I hadn't already taken first year Spanish, but they let me go on the trip anyways. The two Spanish teachers and all of us that were going met at the train station after school and made our way to Liège. It wasn't big surprise to me that I understood next to nothing in the play (other than "la puerta" and "Coca-Cola"), but it was still fun to watch, and worth going because I hung out and talked with friends all evening.
On a positive note, my school went to see a more sophisticated play in French the next day dealing with controversial subjects, such as God and science, and though I fell asleep for part of the time, I was able to understand the basic plot and a lot of the dialogue. It made me think about how if I had watched that same French play back when I first arrived in Belgium, it probably would've made as much sense to me as the Spanish play did. Six months in Belgium pays off well!
That following weekend, I began the weekend with homework. I was assigned to do a geography project with a friend named Anne-Laure (poor her), so I took the bus home with her after school. I know most of the people that she talks to on the bus so the ride to her house was kinda fun.
When we got to her house, we did research on our computers and started to make our PowerPoint. I was getting my research from English websites and taking notes in French. At one point I found a good page on BBC so I told Anne-Laure to go to it on her desktop. Her computer automatically translated the page to French and we started dying of laughter because the translation made absolutely no sense when she tried to read it. We worked pretty hard until our work ethic died so we just talked and messed around on the computer until my host mom picked me up.
The Saturday of that weekend, I went to a huge bonfire that my friend Simon invited me to. It was hosted by a youth movement called the Patro that Simon belongs to. They don't really have church youth groups in Belgium, and the European alternative seems to be youth movements or scouts (a lot of the youth movements in Belgium are Catholic based though).
Simon and I got there early because he had to help set up. Where we were, it must've been 10 degrees colder than where I live. It reminded me why I have always wanted to live in Florida. Anyways, during the beginning I mostly just talked to people that Simon introduced me to. Finally when the whole ready to start, we all walked down the hill to a church to meet the rest of the people. The bonfire must have been based on some old tradition because Simon and I had to find a fake witch sitting in a chair. Then we all walked back up the hill while singing and chanting. They used a small crane to put the witch on top of the gigantic stack of firewood and set the thing on fire. We spent the rest of the night eating, drinking, talking around the fire with people, and eventually dancing under the tent where the DJ was. Simon's 22-year-old sister came at one point and I helped her and her friend going up to people and asking them to guess the weight of something to win a prize while Simon was serving food and drinks. Then finally around 3 AM, Simon's mom came to take his sister and I back to their house while Simon had to stay a few more hours (not really sure why).
My friend Nils, one of the exchange students I went to Paris with, decided that he wants to go back to Germany early because he's homesick, so I slept at his house this past Friday for his last weekend. Will and Evan (the other two that went to Paris) stayed too. Nils lives in a small town called Visé outside of Liège. We had a good time.
On another note, I've had some problems with my host family for a while, not so much personal problems, but other problems. I had been talking about them on and off with my liaison for a couple months. A few weeks ago we decided that I was going to switch for sure and with the help of some of my friends from school, I found a new host family. It's a girl at my school in the grade below me who friends with some of my friends. Her mom is also a Dutch teacher for the younger grades at our school.
Anyways, my biggest fear of switching host families was having to tell my current host family. I was afraid that they were going to be really offended and that it would turn into a whole emotional disaster. Well my English teacher, who has always been a huge help to me, had been in contact with AFS about the situation and messaged me on Facebook to warn me that a lady from AFS was going to call my host mom within the next few days. For the next few days, everyday that I walked home from school, I took a huge breath preparing myself to embrace an uncomfortable situation. The first couple days, nothing happened. Then finally one day, I walked inside my house, said hi, and went to my room. Everything seemed normal so I had assumed they didn't know yet. Then I got called down to dinner.
I sat down at the table and we started serving ourselves when my host brother goes, "So I heard you want to switch host families?" I sort of shut down into a prediarrhea-panic until my host brother finished, "No don't worry, it's not a problem!" Then my host mom walked into the kitchen and said, "Marinette from AFS called today." I replied, "Well she explained that it's not that I don't like you, right?" and my host mom answered, "No worries!" and then went on to explain that she understood why I wanted to change. So to my big surprise, my host family wasn't offended at all. In fact, they were so unoffended, it was a little offensive! As of now, I'll probably be with my current host family for another week or two. My new host family has already confirmed with AFS. Now I think they just have to finish up the paper work.
I'm relieved to know that I'll be able to leave my current host family on good terms. My host mom just told me to be sure to visit them before I head back to the Americas.
And speaking about heading back to the Americas, as of now I have just about exactly four months left! It's March 10 today and I think I leave Belgium on the 10th of July. Also, this past Thursday (March 7) marked exactly six months that I have been in Belgium as I landed in Brussels on the 7th of September. Looking back on the exchange program, I think my views have changed a lot throughout these six months.
During the fall of 2011 when I first decided to be an exchange student, I wasn't all that happy with the way things were going at home. Everything felt out of place to me and the idea of leaving everything behind and starting something new was appealing. But I didn't feel that same way when I took off. Throughout the rest of the school year and into the summer, everything began slowly falling into place. By the time early September came, I was on top of the world with the greatest life, the greatest friends, and the greatest family anyone could ask for. The urge to get away was gone and I didn't have anything that I wanted to leave behind anymore. I remember it hitting me the hardest on the car ride to New York when I just sat in the back of the car asking myself, "What the hell am I doing?"
Then when I first got here, looking at ten long months ahead of me, I was constantly questioning if this was really what I wanted to do. My mind was constantly set on home. I didn't tell this to anyone or even really admit it to myself, but truthfully I really regretted it. I could've just stayed home this year, lived with my family, and finished high school like most people do. That's what I wished I had done.
It really took almost the whole first half of my stay just to start to really enjoy Belgium. That's why I chose to stay for the year instead of just a semester. And now as these six months have passed by, I don't have a single regret. I still think of my friends and family back home all the time. I'm very eager to see them this summer, but I'm glad to say that I've proved to myself that I can do things I never thought I could. Best choice I've ever made and I wouldn't change a thing.
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