Ponder ponder Ponder.

Bonjour mes amis!

Lately, I have just been moving back from Europe, getting settled into my new apartment, filling my hours and days with random little projects and such, and finally, started my long-anticipated internship!!!

I am really looking forward to my internship this summer. Today was my first day in the Marketing and Promotions Division at the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) here in Austin. I felt such a strong association to the brand and the identity and the culture of TDA, I really could see myself working in such a company one day. I find that very exciting and exhilarating for my future! I am working full-time, Monday through Friday, 8A to 5P. I walk to work since it's not that far, just a tad farther than I would walk for class. Also, the UT shuttles start up tomorrow so perhaps I will catch one of those in the hot afternoons.

I am not sure if I will continue this blog during the summer... I do not know who actually enjoys reading this, or if anyone does anymore since I am no longer a resident of Europe. I suppose if I have the time or the courage, I will continue as I found it to be a strong connection to those I do not have the chance to connect with often. Check back later next week or maybe the next, updates not guaranteed unless adamant objection received!

Thanks loves for everything, I hope you are doing well and if you get lonely, holler!

♥ FROM TEXAS!!!!!

Chole

My Epic Return

Howdy Y'all!

I am back. Oh how it feels good to be back in the beautiful state of Texas and in the glorious sun of the Lone Star State. I was greeted with open arms and love, as well as spicy Tex-Mex and lots of smiles. I have missed this place so very much, it is hard to comprehend why ever did I leave.

The clarity I felt coming home on the plane was simply indescribable, though the feeling has quickly faded just as soon as it came to be in my mind. The flight from Brussels to Chicago was ok, I wish I would have been able to sleep. Waiting in Chicago was not very fun, though it was shorter than expected. I was very happy to board that plane and come home to Austin!!!

My departure was abrupt for some fellow exchange students in Louvain-la-Neuve, though I had been telling every one when I would be leaving, and not coming back! Just this week, I took a survey for the McCombs International Programs asking the usual evaluative questions to give a general idea to students considering studying at the University in Belgium. Honestly, I was brutal with my feedback. Hopefully I will be able to get in touch with students going to Belgium during future semesters to explain my judgment.

I am happy to return to the glory of The United States. I have missed Texas, Tex-Mex, real food, sleeping in a comfortable bed, the regular American life! I start my internship next Monday and I just moved into my new apartment this week. In my experience, subleasing friends' apartments always is better than some stranger!!! I have a final on Friday, sadly. It is simply nonsense to go take this final. Brian starts his internship in Houston next Monday as well. I wish we could have had more time to catch up or at least some sort of teleporter to connect Austin and Houston. I think we should be able to spend some time together this summer before he leaves for Europe next fall, even though we will not be in the same city.

It has been a long four months in Belgium, but I am elated to be back! Definitely worth the experience, I would have regretted not going, but I am sooo happy to be done with my study abroad. I want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement while I was abroad. It really has made all of the difference. Thank you for everything and everyone for your prayers and love!!!

With ♥,

Chole

The Truth About Louvain-la-Neuve

Define: Louvain-la-Neuve - biggest producer in the world of alcoholic people and random bizarre stories

Among the exchange students, the popular opinion (and sarcastic response) is that nothing about Belgium is ridiculous. The Belgians streamline their lifestyle with only the highest quality common sense available to allow for simplicity and ease!
So gathered throughout the months, here is a few excerpts about the lovely place I called home for the semester, minus the profanity:

(On a rainy day, middle of May, 55 degrees F)
I don't think that the sun knows that Belgium exists. or maybe the sun has just given up on La Belgique. I have.
--- I gave up when my plane landed....
--- Dear Belgium, I hate your weather.
--- p.s. Belgium... you're kind of a sucky place to spend 5 months.
--- in February, I saw the sun probably 2 days, was horrible
--- Just got back from Marseille (31 degrees C) and I'm sort of depressed...
--- Stop whining, who needs sun when we can do indoor drinking!
--- 31? Where the heck was that when I was in Nice? Even then, 20 degrees is incomparably superior to ...... this.

Like the Belgian customs department and postal service, the French train service website SNCF is a useless piece of crud. Why do Europeans have such an affinity with incompetency and unnecessary complications?

Belgians may perish today.

Common facebook status updates:
__________ is going to the grocery store because she only has a jar of pickles, half a piece of feta cheese and a bottle of vodka in her refrigerator.
__________ lost his phone, vomited on his bedroom floor, and has the Armageddon of hangovers...what a beautiful day.
--> Response: Damned Casa! Dude yesterday each of us lost something yesterday: you the phone, Matthieu the hat, banner and gun, Francesco the hat and something else too... Daniel the train...
__________ thinks that Belgian Labor Day is lame because everything closes like it's a Sunday.
__________ wants to kill some Belgians!!!!
__________ is taking a deep breath, a deep drink and a deep sleep.
__________ thought that April showers brought May FLOWERS and not more rain...
__________ says no to Belgium Labor Day! Don't people here understand there is no such thing as a real work holiday, especially when I have no clean clothes and no food?


The University said, before exams: "Wishing you a fruitful study period during exams." What does that mean???

You know you have experienced Louvain-la-Neuve when:
1. You can eat, drink, pee and spew on the same square meter.
2. You became so brave that you sacrificed a pair of shoes, a sweater and jeans for exclusively going to cercles.
3. Some microorganisms live on your cercle shoes (which became as hard as a stone)
4. The month before exams in June is the only time you actually read a book, honestly.
5. You go to IAG to stream videos so you have something to do on a Friday or Saturday night when the student town becomes nonexistent.
6. You would rather go get a waffle or fries than cook food.
7. Scouts outnumber the students on the weekend.
8. You have drank one too many beers down by the lake.
9. Peeing in public is no longer indecent, but merely done out of essential need.
10. The sun is a blessing, even in May.

As an exchange student in Louvain-la-Neuve, everyone knows:
- We fought our way through confusing queues and inept administrators at Le Secretariat.
- We're still not residents of Louvain-la-Neuve, thanks to crazy hours and crazier people at the Commune.
- We fended off suffocation, heat exhaustion, and smoke inhalation in the upstairs lounge at Becketts.
- We waded through unholy horrors and rain showers of beer in Grand (and Petit) Casa.
- We escaped untimely deaths by hundreds of scouts in Grand Place on Saturdays and Sundays.
- We live. with people. who don't believe. in Internet.

I survived my Erasmus semester at Louvain-la-Neuve!!

Just Keep Countin'

Good afternoon everyone!

How are you doing? Things around here are going along as usual in the ultimate Belgian way, slow! It has been a rainy and cold week weather-wise, with lots of studying and stress. Luckily, by Tuesday I will be finished with all my worry and can finally just let go to relax. Oh how I am not a fan of these oral finals! So intense.

Thankfully, the other exchange students have only been preoccupied with projects and such, not finals studying yet, so there has definitely been some fun evenings out. I have finally adjusted and yet, in only a few short nine days (single digit!!!), I will be flying back to The United States. It is crazy to think of the semester gone, but alas, life goes on as it should!

Currently, I have sent out a search party for a scale to at least estimate the weight my luggage will be come flight time. No luck yet. I have help getting to the airport by train set up and everything is just waiting for the day to come. As life usually is, it is merely a waiting game now. I hope all is well with you though and life is treating you well. Wish me luck as I finish everything I have come to know!

With ♥ from Belgium!

Chole

Let the Countdown Begin!

Alas my friends and family,

Let the countdown begin to May 25th, 2009, at 8:10PM when I will make my return to the greatest place in the entire world, Texas. More simplistically, that is:

15			days, or
362			hours, or
21720			minutes, or
130,000			seconds

I only have 8 days, 10 hours, 12 minutes until I am finished with everything burdensome here, including finals. Oh the glory that day will bring.

This past week (and this upcoming week until next Tuesday, too) have been chalk full of presentations, research papers, a final, a course synopsis paper, studying for two more finals, group meetings and just two pretty hellacious weeks. I am sure most of you can relate to the end of the semester, if you think back far enough or perhaps you too, are gasping for breathe in the tight grasp it has on the university worlds right now. And yes, I am holding back from spiting the people who are finished and "free!!!" I will love them once I am finished, too. On a more social note, tonight was the Goodbye Dinner for all the exchange students. It was nice to see the people I have come to know this semester, but it felt staged. I came home not thinking about how sad I will be to leave, but rather how much I want to go home. I guess it is time.

But soon enough, I will be home and I will be happy to see everyone. To those in Arizona, August cannot come soon enough. I look forward to home-cooked Tex-Mex, a comfortable, non-styrofoam bed, love, and oh so much more. I apologize in advance if I am not the same when I return, it has been a very emotionally difficult semester. I promise, give me a some time and lots of love and hugs to bring me back to level.

With ♥,

Chole

Mayday! Mayday!

I have made up my mind: Europe doesn't suck, it's actually pretty epically fantastic. And here, well, it's Louvain-la-Neuve.

Obviously, I have forgotten the glory of America. But it is starting to just get good as soon as it is sadly coming to a short end. I have not even studied this semester and oh, the looming internship just sounds too grown up. What about these lazy days here? Can't I bring just a few home with me? Oh well. With that regard and a deep sigh, I promise to return to my wonderful friends, family and the great state of Texas, whom I terrible miss and cannot wait to see on May 25th, 2009.

Whilst indulging in decadently smooth chocolate and deliciously sweet strawberries,
♥ from Belgium.

Chole

The Glorious Tulips of Keukenhof

What a glorious way to spend a Saturday afternoon visiting the 60th anniversary year celebration of the Keukenhof Gardens near Lisse, Holland!

It was my last trip gallabanting around Europe, and definitely one of the best. It is said mid-April is the best time to go see the tulips because that is when all of them were blooming in all their glory. We definitely saw so many blooms and none that could disappoint! It was a mission to see 7,000,000 tulips in the Garden of Europe that was happily accomplished. Each year, Keukenhof has a theme. Theme 2009: USA, New Amsterdam - New York, 400 years. There were lots of billboards about the historical relationship between the United States and the Netherlands. I took over 100 pictures of spring bursting out in all of its colorful majesty and glory. Finally, I was also able to see one of those cool, old and authentic Dutch windmills, up close and personal! It was really neat. The flowers almost looked fake, especially because of all the colors, designs, and the never ending varieties.

Spring ♥ with the Keukenhof Tulips
More Spring ♥ with the Keukenhof Tulips

Beyond the lovely and amazing tulips of Holland, there have been papers, presentations, fall class registration, and such nonsense around here. Thankfully, I only have less than a month until I get to come home! This week is the last of cercles (those dirty parties all the Belgians love) and quite possibly, I may get dragged into going. But alas, it is the last week since studying must commence at some time for finals. I will be taking three finals early, turning a final paper in early, and then taking another final once I get back to Austin before I start my internship. The professor is concerned about the validity of my exam if I take it early. The amusing part is that one cannot conduct an exam at 9A in Belgium and expect someone to take an exam half a world away in Texas at the same time, or rather, 2 in the morning. Her plans and her class totally fail! Oh how I have come to love Belgium ridiculousness in whole new ways. Though, the new popular opinion (and sarcastic response) is that nothing about Belgium is ridiculous. The Belgians streamline their lifestyle with only the highest quality common sense available to allow for simplicity and ease! Oh well, Belgium just really needs to pick up the pace on rewriting it's ultimate Chole evaluation in these last critical weeks! Wish me the best as I complete my European experience!!!

With all my ♥ from Belgium,

Chole