Brussels=Headquarters of the European Union (Equivalent to Washington, D.C.)

To Brussels! After leaving Luxembourg, we headed straight to Brussels. We checked into our lovely hostel, Hotel Opera, and then some of us girls went to take a look around to find a place to eat dinner. While walking around, we stumbled across the Grand Place Square. It was all lit up and beautiful to see at night, so we decided to go to a restaurant nearby so that we could have a wonderful view while we ate. The restaurant we picked was a delight, a bit pricey, but worth it. Before going back to rest for the night, I had to walk into a chocolate shop to end my craving for a chocolate truffle. Simply bliss!

The next day we had meetings with Directorate-Generals from the European Commission on Enlargement and one on Economic and Financial Affairs. The first guy touched on the perspective candidates such as Croatia, Iceland, and the most controversial one, Turkey who may join the European Union. The other talked about the Eurozone Crisis and the steps they are taking in order to build the euro back up for it to be stable and considered a global player to the market economy. That night I knew I had to have Belgium waffles and the amazing French fries for dinner. I know, super healthy…but hey, you gotta do what the Belgiums do!

Same thing again the next day, more meetings but related to the courses we are taking in Freiburg. Unfortunately, the meeting with BUSINESSEUROPE (The Confederation of European Business) was cancelled so I only had to attend one, which was with a DG representative from the European Commission on Agriculture & Rural Development. The meeting was interesting, he basically sketched out a rough outline of the Common Agriculture Policy starting in the late 1950s early 1960s after WWII all the way to its present state and the progress taking now to reform CAP. He mentioned the surpluses known as Wine Lakes and Butter Mountains occurring in the 1970s and 80s, which led to floor pricing and direct payments to farmers. Now, they are looking to be more sustainable for environmental reasons, more employment for economic reasons, and more cautious on the climate for territorial reasons by the year of 2020.


When the meeting was over, I had a few hours to walk around the city. I went into the Magritte Museum and enjoyed looking at its works of art. (To my disappointment the Modern Art Exhibit was closed until next year). Nonetheless the surrealist Artist, René Magritte, had a very interesting view on art, which I enjoyed. If in Brussels, I do recommend going and looking at his work. One of his pieces that i enjoyed were the birds shaped like lieaves pictured above. Next, I took a walk through Parc de Bruxelles or Warandepark, which is the largest urban public park in the city of Brussels. Within the park are tons of statues, fountains, trees, a playground and so much more. It looks like a great place to go for a run or walk your dog. Along its borders, it is surrounded by embassies such as the United States. I kept walking to see the Botanical Gardens and Saint Michael and Saint Gudula Cathedral, one of the most famous churches in Brussels. Finally, I could not but continue to make it to the infamous Manneken Pis. I could not believe how small it actually was, such a disappointment!

Later on I met up with my friends and ate at one of the many fish joints. Yes, we were caught in the tourist trap of settling in on the Rue des Boucher Street. Still, we were given a free drink of our choice and endless supply of fish. After our meal, we could not skip out the bar with over 2,000 types of beers. So we walked around the corner to Delirium where my friend and I split a boot of a beer that contained a litter of our choice of beer (we stuck with xx Bitter and loved every sip of it). I could now say that I experienced all of what Belgium has to offer me! On to Paris, France for me.