Creeps in Brussles!!!!!!!

We left Paris at 5:30 am and headed for our flight to Brussels, Belgium. Our weekend was not very great on the weather end of things, but I was hellbent on enjoying it no matter what.

AND. WE. DID.

It was cold and rainy when we landed. It was another shaking landing almost crashing the entire plan and causing a cabin full of heart attacks (probably an intern flying that thing). Ryanair, Im just not convinced this airline is even legal! In Belgium, they speak French or Dutch. Since we know NEITHER, the five of us were utterly lost for at least an hour. We took a few trams and got near our hostel, but we still weren't really sure where it was. It also seemed that no one knew where the hostel was either. This was an uncomforting fact..

On the tram, a girl overheard us speaking English and we found out she was lost looking for the same hostel!! Kelsey is just a wee little thing traveling around Europe for 40 days, celebrating her graduation! She's also a knuck-el-head (Canadian folk)! It was cool to meet someone so brave, traveling alone, just living it up!

Brussels and the five of us only had 24 hours together, so we wanted to make the best of it! After finally finding our hostel, we all changed and warmed up a bit then headed out to the Grand Place. The great thing about only having a day in Brussels is that EVERYTHING is doable within 24 hours. All its landmarks are within a few miles.

This architecture blew me away. The rain really sucked, but it was still GORGEOUS!

Grand Place

It was extremely rainy, cold and windy!

Gothic architecture 

I did some research before our trip, and many of the blogs mentioned this 'Delirium' bar! Its all about its Belgium beers, but we later found out it was also all about its creepy, old men..

All of our fancy beers!

On our way to the bar, we stopped by a hole-in-the-wall waffle shop. Here I found the most amazing thing in the world. Its called Spekulus and EVERYONE should try it!! Its also called 'cookie butter' back in the states. To me it tasted like warm, gooey teddy grams made into a spread that is almost like Nutella. I swear my life by it, it will change your whole outlook on Nutella though!!!!

I have reoccurring dreams about this Spekulus...it's the most wonderful invention.

Maeve (behind me) is such a dork....

Since it was raining and Brussels is really just known for its architecture, we decided to start our beer drinking early, having seen all we could in Grand Place without getting drenched. After our first few beers, we started to notice this clearly older fellow with a permanent smile. For the rest of the night, this Finnish man (with the creepy smile) would NOT leave us alone and DEFINITELY didn't understand what personal space even is.

As our night kept getting more rambunctious, the Finnish man made friends with another man of his age. They formed a team. Luckily, I was on the farthest end of the table from these men and was never touched. My poor friend Abby though, she took the brunt for all of us!

This is the Grandpa from the movie UP

As an eye witness myself, she was NOT coming on to him!!!

As you can see here, Abby (the blonde) is trying to move away from the man. Molly (the phantom arm) is LITERALLY trying to create the barrier between the innocent girl and the MEGA creeper!!

Why is he creeping in on their selfie?!

All of the sudden, a man that looks like the grandpa from the movie UP, bought us a round of Absinth (not the good stuff, I think its finally illegal in most bars). We obliged because what kind of Americans would we be to deny free alcohol?

I found some Welsh rugby guys and we all had a great time talking about the game. It actually makes me feel at home when I meet a rugby fan/player. For the most part, they all were ridiculously nice and even shouted "USA USA USA USA USA" for us.....then "County Roads, Take Me Home" and "Born in the USA".

This night went on and on...

These are the rugby guys!! They were a bunch of fun!

I ran into a VERY sweet lady named Maureen and we talked about traveling, studying abroad and life in general. She is from the states also! We talked, had a heart-to-heart moment, and I genuinely felt like she was one of my best friends by the time I had to go.

We decided 11:30pm was plenty late (having started at 4:30 in the same bar) and we taxied home.

Brussels was more than I could have ever imagined. Phew..

Part I : Paris, France

Day 1: Planes, subways & busses just to get there

We've never been so lucky!! Molly and I began the trip nice and early, waiting for the bus that would take us to the airport. So we were at the station early but were worried for the three other girls on our trip to Paris & Belgium. Ana, Abby & Maeve were surely on their way, but cutting it WAYYYYYYY close. With about 5 minutes before the bus took off, the girls all showed up and we got onto the bus so happy, lucky and sweaty.

We arrived at the airport to find a 5,000 mile long line at the counter where we needed to get our tickets stamped before continuing to security. (RyanAir is a very, VERY cheap and affordable airline company. Since it is so economical, the luxuries are left out of course.) We got in line with about an hour and half to get our stamp, pass through security and make it to the gate. The 5 of us waited patiently in the back of the line for about 15-20 minutes with ZERO movement. Finally Ana went up to the front and found out that the flight to Paris right before us had been canceled, leaving ALL the passengers at the counter arguing to change their ticket. This is absurd because all we needed was a stamp to be on our way. We all moved to the front because there were two lines: one for the passengers changing tickets and one for passengers who needed a stamp for their current flight!

As we ran to the front, of course, about 25 French people, Spanish people and even English people started to yell at us!! One French guy came up to me and yelled "the F word" in French at me and pointing at me to get to the back of the line. We could have calmly explained our situation, but he didn't speak English or Spanish. There was an English speaking lady who then told us to get to the back of the line. I asked if ALL they needed a stamp and they shouted "YES!" at me. Fortunately, a French lady next to us explained to them that we did not need to change our ticket, just to get the stamp and they all backed off. After almost getting mobbed, we got our stamps and RAN to security. How lucky. 

Just as we reached security, I noticed the conveyer belts for the screening were not moving. It was just our luck and I swear, the Paris Gods did NOT want us to arrive ever. Finally, the belts started moving and the security had just been going through someone's bag. (RyanAir only allows your carryon bag to be a certain size: IMPOSSIBLY SMAL!!!. So the trick is to wear all your heavy clothes and shoes onto the plane, leaving you more room. So in Malaga, Spain it was about 75-80 degrees that day as all five of us were wearing jeans, boots, coats and sweaters. THE SWEAT WAS UNREAL) 

I was the last girl in our group through security and when I looked up, Maeve was waiting for me with less than five minutes until our gate CLOSED. This was actually happening. We were going to miss our flight. 

I didnt even bother to tie my boots up or anything, I grabbed everything and sprinted across the airport. (RyanAir is so cheap, they are awarded the gates on the FARTHEST END OF THE AIRPORT. How lucky are we....) Im not sure I've sprinted farther/faster in my life. There was no way I was missing my flight for Paris after seeing that nightmare of a line earlier. Carrying my 20lbs weekend backpack, untied boots and coat in hand, I passed so many people laughing at us as well as others running for the flight. 

WE ALL MADE IT IN THE KNICK OF TIME!!! HOW LUCKY!!! At this point, we could do nothing but laugh and sweat profusely. It was hilarious and disgusting all at the same time. About 2 hours later, we experienced the absolutely most terrifying landing in Paris. Im not exaggerating, I grabbed the seat in front of me, said "DEAR GOD" out loud and I may have even peed a little. We then took a bus to the city, found our hostel and went out for some well deserved hot food. Yikes.

It looks gross now, but it was heaven that night!! Ted's Carbonara kicks this right in the pants

Day 2: We walked our hineys off!

We rolled out of bed and headed down to breakfast at the hostel. OKAY- people in other countries DO NOT go to breakfast in their jammies. Lucky for them I had a bra on, but my american flag patterned pj shorts got a LOT OF GLARES. The thing is they didn't just stare, they gaped. All the people in the breakfast room were appalled that we were looking like scrubs at 8am. whoops....seriously my bad.

Starbucks for the first time in 5 weeks!!!! In Spain, it is STILL 75 degrees everyday, so Abby and I went a little nuts for the fall-feeling atmosphere. We LOVE pumpkin ANYTHING. This was our heaven.

We walked over 7 miles just to see all the sights we could in Paris. Even though the weather wasn't in our favor, we endured the crappiness and kept our American heads held high. 

The famous Laduree for the macaroons! I got the black currant flavor

St. Michael the ArchAngle means a lot to my family and I; it was amazing to see this sculpture!

Lover's Lock Bridge!! 

So as we were standing around, I was next to an older couple also looking at the locks. I overheard him say "and after 30 years, it's still here" and I just shouted "OHHHH MYYYY!!!". The husband started laughing. I started tearing up because Im a sucker for a good love story, and he just giggled out "Oh sorry, no, we're totally kidding. This is a cool place though! We HAVE been together for 30 years though" So....I couldn't be mad at his joke, but it did suck admitting I almost immediately cried when I heard them say it!

I locked my love for my family onto it forever, threw the key into infinity (aka the river below)

After walking around in the cold, rain and wind, we all found this AMAZING chinese diner and gorged ourselves until we couldn't move. Too good!!!

The Louvre!!!! 

Notre Dame!! 

These guys "performed a dance" (around a pole) on the same subway car as us.

Everything in Paris is about the art. Even the desserts!!!!!

Pigeons everywhere...my gosh

At the Louvre together!


That night we went our to explore the Paris night life. It was a really fun time with all the girls but the coolest part was getting into this Australian bar. There was rugby decor everywhere!!!

Day 3: All things amazing: Sleep, Eiffel Tower, Crepes & Chipotle

Sleeping in after a long night out in Paris was much needed; although I wasn't going to miss free breakfast at 9:30!

After all of us woke up and got ourselves together, we headed out in search for one of the ONLY Chipotles in Europe!!! We all got burrito bowls, nachos and enough guacamole to drown in. I got a steak burrito bowl because I have been missing red meat. It is a race occurrence in Spain...

NEXT STOP: EIFFLE TOWER!!!!!! 

No captions necessary!! This was really mystical to see in real life. Its a feeling I cant describe!

My roommate Molly & I 

All of us at the Eiffel Tower! 

The rest of the day we relaxed at a cafe, got loads of chocolate and went back to have dinner around 8:30-9:30pm. I had a Nutella and almond crepe for dinner and some red wine, I could get used to this life.

We all stuffed ourselves again and headed back to the hostel to catch up on sleep and pack since we were leaving at 5:30am the next morning!

We were off to Brussels, Belgium...to be continued in the following post! Here is a little sneak peak: