Mini Europe!!!

OK.  With this post, I will have officially brought everyone up to speed with my adventures in Belgium... just in time for me to head to Switzerland.

For those who don't know, Epcot is my favorite park in Disney World.  I love walking around to all the different countries and seeing so many of their most important landmarks.

Mini Europe shows a little of each country in the EU.  Each member state has at least one building in the park.  I think it's been sort of an ongoing project since 1987 when there were only 12 member states.  Then, with each enlargement, they've added another model.

I've wanted to go since I got here, and just got the chance this Saturday.  There were a few too many people, and the models were set far enough away from the path that I couldn't take as many ridiculous pictures as I hoped, but it was still fabulous.  (maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was so excited to go, I refused to be disappointed.)

Grand Place/Grote Markt
Brussels, Belgium

Go figure, it was raining when I walked past this House of Parliament, too

Decided to stop by the Eiffel Tower while I was in town

I've decided that this French castle is where Cinderella happened

There are a few pieces of the real Berlin Wall in Brussles

A little comparison...

Plaza de Toros La Maestranza, Sevilla, Spain

The Acropoli, Athens, Greece

Italy

Piazza San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, Venezia

Mt. Vesuvio

After I climbed the real thing

Pisa

Remember this?  I couldn't resist.

BEST DAY EVER!!!!

Belgium - where I lived for 3 months, although you might not know it

So, just like I never really talked about work, I realized that I didn't mention much about this little country where I've been living.

I showed you my first day of tourism and my adventures in Bruges (has anyone seen the movie?)

Now here's a bit more of the trouble I've gotten myself into.

All around town

View of the city from the overlook outside the Palace du Justice (courthouse)
12th century church on the left, spire of Grote Markt on the right,
and a tiny lighted Atomium, far in the background in the center

Manneken Pis
He only gets dressed for special occasions.

A pita/kebab place made just for me

They seem to like him here

Pretty realistic, huh?

Anyone recognize TinTin?
Originally a Belgian comic, he has a new movie coming out in the Fall.
FYI, the Smurfs is originally Belgian, too.
I LOVE The Smurfs!!

Fiesta at the Marine house

Corinne wearing the sombrero

A couple of my friends from the Local Guard Force

Me wearing the sombrero.
It matched my outfit.

Belgium National Day, July 21st

Military Parade

These are the guys that escort our cars when we're going somewhere important.
Their driving skills are impressive!

It started raining at the beginning of the parade and stopped right at the end.
Typical Belgium :)

Salute

I got a thumbs up!
Can you see it?

Gent, Belgium

Climbing the belfry tower

View from the top of the belfry

The Atomium

If Grand Place isn't the landmark of Brussels, this is definitely it.

School...

Let me say first that if I hadn't already been living in Brussels for two months, if I hadn't gotten used to working rather than doing homework, had never been abroad before, or was still in undergrad, this program wouldn't really be that bad.

Unfortunately, none of the above describes me, and the program really is that bad.
And it's not just me.  There are other GSPIA students here, and at least one of them feels the same way I do.

We never actually got a final calendar listing all the classes and visits.  We got tentative calendars and had to expect changes even after classes began.  Nothing was finalized until the very last minute.  It's understandable for some situations, but this mostly just reflected bad planning.  Class doesn't start on time, and most definitely doesn't end on time, which really messes with my schedule.  Unlike most of the rest of the students on this program, I actually like to get away from the dorms, go out and see the city, and not have my entire day consumed by class and wasting time.

We spent the first three weeks listening to lots of different speakers and visiting all the European institutions.  Most of the speakers were quite interesting, and getting to see the Commission, Parliament, Court of Justice, Council, and Investment Bank was pretty neat.

Parliament Visit

European Investment Bank

European Court of Justice

For the last two weeks we have more of an academic class that is technically supposed to be about EU policy debates.  Now, I am usually a much better student, but I must confess that I don't even own the books, so I haven't done any reading, and I spend the entire class period doing research for the completely unrelated paper that I have to write for the course, so I don't listen at all.  However, when I look up every so often, I can almost guarantee that the professor will be predicting the collapse of the EU, complaining about what one of our more informed speakers said, or pressing her ideas and opinions on the class without giving much, if any, voice to the opposing side.  She oozes academia and really just likes to hear herself talk.

My favorite comment she actually made on the first day of class, right after we visited the European Parliament.  She wanted to talk about the EU's image and what it was doing to promote a positive public perception.  Her first observation was about how the Parliament building's location and architecture did not really look like national parliament buildings and was lacking symbolism, and that it didn't promote the ideas of accessibility or transparency.

For those who are unfamiliar with the EU or who have never seen the EU Parliament building:

1.     Of course the EU Parliament building doesn't look like other national buildings.  Why?  It lacks symbols similar to national ones because they make painstaking efforts to not favor or exclude any one member state.  Clearly it wouldn't look like the US Congress building because it just so happens that it is not in the US.  Fascinating!  Perhaps it has something to do with the time period in which the building was constructed.  Perhaps for such modern and unprecedented institutions, the architects wanted modern and unprecedented buildings.

2.     On the note of accessibility and transparency - The building is well positioned at the end of a major street, at the end of a roundabout, surrounded by popular restaurants, where many buses pass daily, and near a metro stop.  And that is just the front entrance.  It is also the first EU building you come across walking from the center of town, the Royal Park, the Royal Palace, many Embassy's including the U.S. Embassy, and several National Permanent Representations to the EU.  And, almost the entire building is glass.  An effort to show accessibility and transparency?  I think so.

EU Parliament

Anyway, sorry for the rant and a few run on sentences...

Luckily, I got to stay on part time at work through most of the program.  Otherwise I probably would have abandoned all motivation.

Some of the more positive things...

A friend of mine from Pitt, Corinne, is here on the program, too.  She has already been to Brussels, knows a lot of good places to go, and is always up to go out with my other friends from here.

We went to Luxembourg for three days.  The first day and a half were for institution visits, but the rest of the time we could explore the city.  Corinne and I wandered aimlessly for a bit and went to the American Military Cemetery.

Wow! The building where the first ECSC meetings were held!

 General Patton is buried in this cemetery

Oh, yeah... I have been working, too

Well... I haven't really talked about work.  Now that my internship is officially over, and I am avoiding my schoolwork like the plague, let me show you a few things that I've been up to.  

I got to do some really fabulous stuff!

There were the usual meetings and papers that I worked on everyday, and school visits and speakers that I set up, but being an intern in Public Affairs (the best section ever) meant that I also had my hands in everything else, including all the coolest events.

I already told you about Memorial Day and Starbucks, so I'll start from right after that.  

First, we went to Gent University to congratulate the student group that will go to D.C. in a month to compete in the Solar Decathalon.  We got to walk through the energy efficient house they built.

I wrote the article for our website, so now I'm published!

http://www.myamerica.be/vice-versa/team-belgium-aims-simplicity-e-cube

Well, not really, I copied the paragraph about the competition from the U.S. Department of Energy's website, and all that I wrote belongs to the government, but it's still neat!

Did you know that they had Little League Baseball in Belgium?  The DCM went to throw the first pitch at the National Championship game.  I got to sing the National Anthem (the American one, of course).  I didn't do very well, and the microphone wasn't working, but everyone who could hear seemed to like it well enough.  :)

The next adventure we had been planning since before I even started my internship.  The 4th of July!!

It was fun last year in Milan, but that pales in comparison to the whole day that was July 4th, 2011 in Brussles.

Basically, the plan was to have a day honoring volunteerism in recognition of the Peace Corps 50th anniversary, beginning with the American community participating in a service project and ending with the biggest party in the history of ever.

If I do say so myself, we succeeded with flying colors!

The service project was in the morning.  There is a volunteer organization called Serve the City that matches volunteers with projects around Brussels.  

                                           

We went to a halfway house to help them move a few things and clean up.

 

We all got these nifty shirts to show that we were part of the group

                                           

The Friends of the Manneken Pis offered to dress him in his Uncle Sam outfit to celebrate.  Cute, yes?

We stopped by to say hello and thank them.

Then we ran back to get ready for the reception.  There is no explanation needed.

These decorations were addictive.  There were also blue jelly beans. (and lots of blue tongues!)

The Thunderbirds came!

with Brian and Serge, from the PA office

with Bill, intern and fellow GSPIAN

with Tania, my boss

A few days later we went to the air show, saw the Thunderbirds fly, along with the French, Saudi, Belgian, and Dutch Air Forces.

Inside the top of the line Dutch helicopter

The planes were moving really fast...
I have lots of pictures of the sky

Here are a few of my better shots

The colored smoke was a surprise!

<3

French and Belgian Airmen

Thunderbirds

Finally, you will never guess who I met!!!!

Oh wait... you can probably already see the picture.

James Marsden!

He is filming a movie called "The Loft."  It is originally a Belgian movie that the Americans are remaking.  We had a lovely reception for the cast and crew.

I was working at the entrance and had a serious internal struggle between being a responsible intern and a really excited fan.  I managed to complete my job, while communicating my extreme dilemma to anyone from my office who would listen (they found it very amusing), and finally got to meet him at the end of the evening.

Needless to say, this internship has been one of the best experiences.  I will really miss working there.  Now if I could just pass that exam...