Day 5
Alright, so let me apologize that this post is not sooner. But I have learned that the time I have available to me in my apartment to write this blog is usually the time I am using for sleep. Needless to say, I have been out and about a lot.
To introduce my first event since my last post…let’s start with a question. Who hear has seen the movie Taken? Ok good. So have I. Multiple times. It was one of the things everyone and their mom made me do before I left for Belgium. So over the past few years I have seen that movie a lot. I know I’m not supposed to talk to any “Peter’s”; I know I shouldn’t ask any foreign boys on the street to take a picture of me; I know not to ride home with anyone but people from my program.
Obviously, this message of being safe has been drilled into my mind. Unfortunately on Tuesday this safety kind of backfired. And those of you who know me understand that I never overreact about anything, so this next story should complete shock you.
Well, on this evening (my second day in Brussels ever), my roommate Maddie and I were walking home from dinner. It was only about a two block walk and we felt super confident out on our own. We passed by some African American teenager boys who started shouting at us and whistling (surprisingly normal for men of all ages to do this here). We ignored them and continued to walk rather quickly down the street. We knew they were right behind us all the way to our apartment, so we did not go in, we just continued on the street and stopped in a small shop on our corner. We stayed in there a few minutes, and then saw that the coast was clear. So we ventured back home…a little shaken up. As soon as we get back up to our apartment, there is a loud knock on our door. A very loud knock. Maddie and I both stared at each other while having scenes from Taken run through our mind.
I remember hearing one more knock and then peacing out…which meant I ran to the back window of our apartment which is kinda large and opened it, climbed out onto our ledge and kind of leaped over to the next door neighbors’ balcony. Yes, that is correct…in probably a 10 second time frame I sprinted to the back window, opened it, climbed my five foot eight body out onto a tiny ledge, three floors up, stretched my legs over the closest balcony and then kind of hopped over. As I was doing this, I kept thinking “Ain’t gonnaa HAPPEN” (for those of you who know Glozelle. Ain’t no way I was just going to stand there and get taken. This skinny girl was going to fight, and by fight I mean climb like a monkey onto rooftops, balconies and ledges. And I left poor Maddie there defenseless and in awe of her absolutely psycho roommate.
So Maddie continues to stand by the window which she migrated to after I literally leapt out of it, while I panic on the next door balcony. Maddie remains calm, while I convince her that the people are going to break in, steal all our things and then take us. We might as well get ready. Well after a while, I persuade Maddie to come out on the balcony with me so we can be panicked together. The knocking by this point has completely stopped, but I am still 100% convinced that we are about to get taken. That’s what happens when American girls go to foreign countries.
Fifteen minutes go by; we try and send a text message to our Resident Director Sabine on a European phone we had just bought that was in French and still using T9. You try texting your brand new address that you don’t really know on a European French phone that is using T9 (auto correcting messaging thing). It’s super fun and really helps relax the tense situation.
Alright, so what about the neighbor whose balcony we are standing on? Of course she comes into the picture….it wouldn’t be a proper Bailey freak out story if the poor Belgian neighbor who can’t speak any English doesn’t come into the story. So, this poor woman comes home. We see her light come on…so Maddie and I discretely try to climb back over the balcony and hop back onto our ledge. And then we realize we must have had super human strength and adrenaline to get over in the first place because we can’t get back. So the only option I see…is to waive frantically to the poor Belgian women and shout “Bonjour Bonjour” at her. Which is exactly what I did. She threw the stuff she had in her hands up, looked like she might have had a heart attack…and slowly came outside. After about five minutes of broken French/English…we get her to let us go downstairs so we can go back up to our apartment, which I am thoroughly convinced had gotten broken into. As soon as we get outside our Resident Director Sabine is standing there looking so confused. She helps walk us back up the stairs and then introduces us to the lady living below us…..who is the landlord and whom we are borrowing internet from. The landlord wanted to introduce herself to us, which is why she was knocking on our door. The poor lady knocked for 20 minutes while we scooted out the window ready to fight to the death. I’m really glad I don’t freak out about anything. I think God about peed his pants watching that whole situation unfold.
In conclusion, please do not encourage over dramatic American girls to obsess with the movie Taken before going abroad, because then they will climb out of windows when anyone knocks on the door.
Well that’s the main story of the week…besides that I have done a lot of touristy things. Belgian drivers are absolutely crazy, and everyone drives an Audi, BMW or a Mercedes. The trash trucks are Mercedes. Makes me want to vomit. It’s been interesting getting used to the food too. I tried a sandwhich the other day with this pink kind of sauce on it, didn’t realize until tasting it that the pink stuff was raw beef. No big deal. I’ve decided with the amount of walking I’m doing and the lack of snacking I am doing there will be no reason to fear the multiple fry and waffle stands.
I have interviewed for two internships here, hopefully I will found out if I have received one in the next couple of days. I’m really hoping to intern with this European law firm that focuses on international law…had a skype interview with them this morning, crazy stuff. The rest of my classes are international political classes which I am really excited about. I am also enrolled in an intermediate French class which will really help me out while I am here.
I’m making a ton of friends, but its really weird because we hardly ever contact each other by phone, because it costs a couple of cents to text each other on our fancy 20 Euro European phones…so there is a lot of…Uh well I’ll meet you outside your apartment in ten mnutes…ok GO! Our phones are made by BIC who makes pencils, pens and lighters as well. It’s kind of funny because we all have the exact same orange and white phone that we cling to. So BIC has become a noun, verb, pronoun, place and thing, all at the same time. I am currently BIC-ing someone as we speak.
I am really excited about getting to know a lot of these girls better and to travel around with them. They all seem so excited to be here and it is a lot of fun comparing hilarious stories throughout the day. We have been really lucky to get to know some of the locals that go to our college through one of the ISA staff members. They have shown us around really well and are always helpful when we have no idea what we are doing or how to get there. I’ve literally never felt so much like a freshman in my entire life. Guess you gotta go through it somewhere.
Anyway…I’m off to BIC some more people and then hang out with some other Vesalius college students tonight! Please keep me in your prayers! I am constantly reminded of God’s protection, grace , and HUMOR while being here. Remember that as well as you go throughout your day today. If something funny happens and your all alone, know that your creator may have just wanted to make you smile J
Lots of love!
Bailey Jo
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