Until today, this week was pretty uneventful. Lots of hanging out, watching TV/movies (I'm running out of Dexter episodes to watch, so if anyone has any suggestions for a good series to start, let me know!), going to class, etc. A few highlights to this week:
1) On Monday, I found the Tilburg University Gymnastics club. They meet in a basketball court about a 20 minute bike ride away (which I found by myself without asking my roommates for help with directions!!). They have a blow up tumble track, and some mats, and they have some beams and bars that they can set up on request. The coach was pretty good, and the people were really nice. The only downside was that my back hurt more than it has in a while the next morning.
2) Tuesday night was mentor dinner (we had Spanish food - Some kind of bread with tomato and cheese). The theme for the club that night was "wild animals" so everyone was dressed up. I borrowed a zebra shirt from my roommate, but I ended up going to the gym instead of the club.
3) I went to capoeira class on Thursday, and Formado Tyson taught again. Apparently, when class gets split up into beginner and advanced, I get to be in advanced. Everyone else had an orange cord and above, which means I have probably played 2 less years then any of them, but he still put me in that group :)
4) Friday we took a trip to watch the Tilburg Trappers v Nijmegan Devils hockey game. Trappers lost, but it was fun to watch a game, even if it is about 10x slower then the NHL.
And finally... Belgium!! Rocha picked me up around noon, and we headed to Antwerp. We got lunch and then had Belgian waffles!!! They were amazing. Wayyyy better then eating them at home. But we had them in an actual restaurant, and usually the Belgians get it as a snack and eat it with their hands, so we decided we would have to go back some time to get the real experience (again). He has been someplace that has a waffle stand with what he says are the best waffles, so he said he would take me there another day. Then we walked around the city for a while. It's BEAUTIFUL. Unfortunately, you really can't get even close to understanding how amazing the city looks from my pictures. There were cathedrals, statues, clock towers, and even horse drawn carriages. We saw some interesting shops (and definitely some interesting paintings of Disney characters having gay sex). Then we got Belgian chocolates at a place called Leonidas. I've never seen so much chocolate in my life. Thankfully, they have boxes of assortments of chocolates so I didn't have to try to pick which ones I wanted to try, because I never would have been able to make a decision. Despite my ridiculously high expectations for this chocolate, I wasn't disappointed at all!! They were some of the best things I have ever tasted. I'm definitely going to need to go back to Belgium even if it's just for the chocolate. Finally, I had read online that the central train station was a really cool building, so we decided to walk over there. It was about a 20 minute walk, and we got a little lost in the process, but it was totally worth it in the end. I have never seen a building so ornately beautiful in my life. It was HUGE and really really detailed. Then we went to a little pub because he said he'd had a Belgian beer one time before that he thought I might like, but they didn't have it there, so he tried another one but neither of us liked it. But we were sitting next to a Belgian guy who told us a little more about the country and some of the places we had seen, so that was pretty cool. Overall, it was definitely a great trip, and I'd love to see more of that country.
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