Saturday, October 30th

Today we went up early, after only six hours of sleep, to go to Brussels. It was a really nice city and I got to see the market place, Manneken Pis och the Atomium. Manneken Pis was much smaller than I thought and of course the Atomium was much bigger than I thought. Unfortunately it rained today but it wasn't as cold as last weekend. We also had some time for shopping and a bought a pair of grey pumps.When we got we we made ourselves ready for another night out. We started the night at Emelie's friend's house, where we played wii most of the time but at the end we taught them the beer game. At ten we walked to the night club, it was out in nowhere but really big. They had good music and we danced a lot, and I had my new shoes on and at the end they were hurting so much. Hannah also got a free bottle of wine, since it was her birthday in October, which was really nice. At two we took a cab home and I was so tired from walking the whole day and then dance and drink. But it was a good day and I saw a lot.

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The city hall


The market place


Manneken Pis


Manneken Pis and I

the Atomium


the night club Desire

Friday, October 29th

Work was really boring today because I still had nothing to do, but I sent my e-mail to the customers, so hopefully I'll get some replies by next week. After work I met up with Hannah and LInnea for an hour and then it was time to go home an eat apple pancakes. They were really good, but she made them like normal pancakes, just thicker.
In the evening we went bowling with emelie's boyfriend's friends, and after that we went to a wine bar. It was a really nice bar and no one smoked, which made it even better because you could breath normaly.

Thursday, October 28th

Today I finally had the time to work out. Emilie and I biked to the gym and danced some zumba. Very fun but sweaty. We also tried one of vibrating things you can work out on in some gyms ;do you know what I mean?

Before the work out I was at my work as usually. I had nothing to do because I had to wait for my boss to come in and approve my e-mail I'm going to send away. Unfortunately, he never showed up so I just sat there the whole afternoon and was very bored. I started to write on my report and then left at 16.00 to go to Zara and buy a pair of jeans I found last week.

Wednesday, October 27th

Today it was Hannah's birthday so we went to her house in the evening to celebrate her. At her's we had some wine (what else...). After she had opened her presents we went to the local pub and had some more to drink. We all Swedish girls had Kriek (what else...) and there we also played sing star again. when we got home, we planned for the weekend.

Tuesday, October 26th

I felt a bit better this morning and decided to go to work and on the way to work I dropped my bags at Emilie's place. She lives in an apartment 2 kilometers from my work so that's really good. Emelie picked me up after work and we went down town to buy a presents for Karolina since it was her birthday. When that was done we went home, had dinner and then we were off again to Karolina's house. At Karolina's we had some Kriek (that fruit beer with cherry flavour) and cake, played Sing Star and talked.

Monday, October 25th

I didn't go to work today because I'm not feeling well. My throat is still hurting and I have a fever. Instead I've been home watching TV, reading my book and updating my blog. I haven't been sick since February so it really sucks that I had to be sick when I'm here. So what I'm doing now is resting and drinking a lot of water and hopefully that'll make me feel better tomorrow.

Sunday, October 24th

When I woke up this morning I felt really sick, my throat was hurting and it felt like I had a fever. To that I could also add a hangover, not a good combination. And it's not good to drink too much either, but I mean it's so cheap here! At noon Sam's family picked me up and we drove to Antwerpen to watch a movie. The cinema was huge and I counted it to 23 saloons, impressive. I saw Eat Pray Love and it was a really good movie and I like Julia Roberts. After that we went home and I spend the rest of the afternoon in my bed because I'm not feeling good at all. I also talked to Björn for the first time in a week so that was nice, only two more weeks to go.

Our contact person also called yesterday and said that I could move to another family. The family I've lived with now has been very nice and I really like the parents, but Sam was never at home and I was just sitting in the house every day. I want to see a bit more and I couldn't hang out with my friends either because I have to take the last bus home at 17.30. Now I'll stay with a girl who lives in Turnhout and she seems very nice, so I'm moving on Tuesday.

Saturday, October 23rd

It has been a long day with sighting, shopping and partying. We got up early to catch the bus to Antwerpen and there we had a guided tour. It was very interesting and we saw a lot of beautiful buildings, only problem was that it was freezing cold outside and my feet were like ice cubes when we were done. During the tour we saw the city hall, the cathedral, the castle, the station and some other really spectacular buildings. After the tour was finished we had lunch at a place called the pilgrim. Back in the days they never put people in prison, instead many of them had to leave the city and make a pilgrimage. When they came to new cities they had to find somewhere to stay and that restaurant building was an old inn for pilgrims. We had our lunch in the basement and it was a very cozy feeling with candles everywhere and rustic wood tables. I ate lamb with vegetables and fries, and of course we all had fruit beer. After the lunch we went to a shopping mall but it was so much traffic so we only had time for one hour shopping, but at least I got some chocolate with me.

In the first picture you can see the cathedral. It was hard to get a good picture of it, but it's enormous and build in a Gothic style.

Second picture is a statue of a giant. The story says that he could either make himself really tall or really small. When he was small he could make people trip. Drunk people often blamed the accidents on him, they said it was the giant that made them trip, not because they were too drunk. When he was tall he looked into peoples houses and could hear all their secrets.

When we got back to Britt's house we got ready for the evening and went to a local pub in the village next to Britt's. It was a special event (I never figured out what was special) and there were a lot of people in the pub. Britt had told her friends that Hannah and I was coming and it only took five minutes before the whole pub new we were from Sweden. I only bought one drink for 3 Euros, but I can tell you that I had a lot more than that. When ever Hannah and I was walking through the pub you could here people whispering about us, and all different kind of people started talking to us. Haha it's not often you get that much of attention.

Left: This is were we had our lunch.

Right: The train station in Antwerpen

Middle: Hannah and I at the pub

Friday, October 22nd

Today I got do something different at my work. I'm suppose to translate a manual from English to Swedish and it's very nice with some variation. After work I met up with Hannah and we took the bus to her house where I'm going to spend the weekend. We hung out for a while and then we wen't to Britt's (the girl Hannah is staying with) soccer practice. I can say that we had some very interesting conversations while watching...

In the evening we went to the local pub to meet Britt's friends. The night contained dancing around a pole, drinking for only 7 euros and dancing in foam... a fun night, so to speak.

Thursday, October 21st

Today I met Hannah and Emma in Turnhout. We could only meet for an hour but better than nothing, so we had some fries and chatted for a bit, before I took the bus home. Or I didn't take it home because apperantly the last bus to Meersel-Dreef leaves at 17.30, and I had been told that it was 18.30. Luckily the bus was at least going to Hoogstraten and there I had to wait for 35 minutes until Sam's dad could pick me up.

I've really realized now that I live pretty far out in the country and I'll tell you why:

• There are enclosed pasture-lands everywhere with cows in them
• You see green fields everywhere
• It smells like cow when you walk outside
• Every day when I go back and forth to Turnhout, I see at least 30 tractors with trailers among the other cars on the roads
• When the sun goes up in the morning the cocks are crowing

But it's really pretty and everything is still green. When I ride the bus I always sit with my head against the window so I can see the nature and all the houses. They must have really good architects here in Belgium because all the houses are so cool, and they are bulding everywhere (the building business must be a big market here) so most of the houses are pretty new and hardly worn.

Wednesday, October 20th

Today was just another day at work and I did the same things as yesterday, a bit boring but they appreciate my work. After work I took the bus home and went to the gym with Sam. The gym was in a garage (pretty nice actually) and there were only guys and little me, but I think I impressed the other guys a bit. With my 30 kilos in bench press, hehe.

Ohh, I actually managed to sleep a bit on the bus this morning, but after a while my but was hurting too much (the seats are very hard). On the way home I got motion sick instead so that drive wasn't that much fun :(

But now I'm off to bed again for a good nights sleep and I'm probably gonna be sore in my body tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 19th

Today was my first day of work, AND I WAS 30 MINUTES LATE! Luckily it wasn't my fault, it was the busses. I went to my bus stop at 7 o'clock in the morning and I waited there for 15 minutes and nothing happened. I wen't back to the house and Sam and his brother came with me to take the next bus at 7.30 but nothing happened. Apparently they're working on the road the bus takes to our bus stop, and therefore they've decided not to drive to our bus stop. So Sam's mum ended up driving us this morning and tomorrow I have to walk 15 minutes to the bus stop so the trip to my work will take one hour and 45 minutes (the walking is included), and the worst thing with the bus trip is that it's so crowded and the bus driver is not exactly the best driver so I get a bit motion sick when I ride it.

But anyway, it was work I was going to talk about.
When I finally came to work they showed me around and told me about the company. It's called Sadechaf UV and it has about 10 employers (I'll count tomorrow) and they make UV-lamps that helps to dry prints on different materials. Now they've come up with a new product that dries the floor after you painted it. So instead of wating for a couple of days to let it dry, you just drive the machine over it and instantly it dries. My job is to find contact information about potential customers of this product. I'm also suppose the translate an English manual into Swedish.

After work I took the bus home and since then I've just been hanging around in the house because Sam is working. Hopefully I'll do something fun tomorrow.

Monday, October 18th

Today I wen't with the bus at seven o'clock in the morning. Way too early for me, the sun even went up before I arrived in Turnhout (it was jet black when I left my house). The morning we spent at the school and the students had presentations about Belguim. We also had a Spanish class together and they showed us around their school.

After lunch we wen't down town for some shopping and I bought a blouse at Zara. We also wen't to a café and I had my first Belgium beer. Okay, it was a fruit beer that only tasted cherry instead of beer, but still, is was called fruit BEER. It felt kinda funny to sit in a café at two o'clock in the afternoon but we weren't the only ones, just so you know.

When I got back home I watched some TV and had dinner and now I'll just take a shower and head to bed because I have to get at six o'clock in the morning to get ready for my first day of work.

October 17th

I have arrived to Belguim and I'm living in the coolest house ever. The mom is an artist so you can imagine that the house is very cool. The trip was good, even though I got motion sick on the way to the airport.

My first impression of the country is that it's very flat and that they sell french fries everywhere ;) I haven't eaten them yet but I'll probably to that tomorrow. The family is really nice and it's actually feels pretty good.

The only problem is that I'm living 30 km from the city I'm doing my work training in, and the bus takes 1 hour and 15 minutes. That means I have to leave the house at 6.50 in the morning so I better get to bed now.

Malin

My adventure

I thought it was time to update my blog again since I'm getting ready for a new adventure. This time I'm traveling to Belgium to do a waork training.

In Sweden I'm attending ABB Industrial High School, and once a year all the students are doing a three weeks long work training, as a part of a class. The first two periods are done in Sweden but the last year we go abroad to do it. When the work training is finnished we have to write a report about what we have done and learned. I'm doing my work training at a company in Turnhout and I'm going to help them with marketing and translating manuals.

I'm leaving October 17th and I'll be back November 8th.

Malin