Cultural Capital of the World

All through high school and college I remember hearing parents and teachers vaguely talk about how Chapin and Clemson were sheltered examples of cultural experiences in the world. Well, now I know they were correct.

At any given time on the metro, you can pretty much bank on being surrounded by a minimum of six to a dozen different nationalities and an equal amount of ethnicities. That fact alone makes this a fitting place for the European Union headquarters, which is located roughly 2 miles from where I live. Sitting on the metro and trying to guess which languages are being spoken around you is a pretty interesting way to pass the time on the daily commute. I live in a French neighborhood, but two blocks away is a primarily Dutch settlement. Beyond there a few blocks you have a neighborhood composed of middle eastern folks and if you keep going you will come to a German block. Back towards our school there seems to be an area of Congolese (King Leopold II of Belgium once claimed the Congo as a colony for his own personal profit). All of these little areas have their own restaurants, their own bakeries, and their own markets. I'm guessing this is similar to how it would feel to live in Disney's EPCOT minus Alladin and the Little Mermaid. Unfortunately though, trying to find a WallStreet Journal in English is nearly as impossible as getting Todd Scott to do anything quicker than a dead sloth (You probably won't pick up on this one unless you go to Clemson).

While I'm on the note of limited availability, I'd like to talk about food for a bit. I don't know if Europeans simply have never heard of Mexico but I'm positive that they've never indulged in Mexican cuisine. Walk into any produce store in Brussels and ask for a Jalapeno and all you'll get is a blank stare (this isn't a language barrier, they simply just do not stock any type of spicy peppers). The same is true for avocados, chili peppers, cumin, tortillas, and cold milk. All the milk and eggs here are kept on shelves next to the cereal...unrefrigerated (my roommate last semester, Kevin, tried this tactic on multiple occasion with our dairy products...which ultimately resulted in sour cream). I don't know what they feed their chickens and livestock to make this possible but whatever they're doing, it seems to work. They DO sell deodorant here, but I don't think its all too popular amongst the locals. Stand close to someone on the metro and you'll quickly come to the same conclusion.

I was doing a plyometrics P90X workout this morning with Charlie and Nils in the living room and it ended up getting pretty warm in the apartment. We cracked the door despite the fact it was snowing heavily so that it could air out a bit during our workout. Within five minutes there was a knock at the door followed by a confused "Bonjour?" (I have no idea if that's how its spelled. I speak English and Redneck, not French). Our landlord had seen the cracked door and the foggy windows from his kitchen and came down to make sure we didn't have the heat cranked up (heating costs in Europe are actually really expensive; ergo we sleep fully clothed). I tried to explain to him that we working out but for some reason his English couldn't comprehend why 3 American guys were doing plyometrics at 9 in the morning with an open door in 20 degree weather and snow. He eventually left contented that we weren't running up his heating bill, but it was humorous none the less. I can only imagine what the sight of us three did for his perception of American youth.

I have essentially become the chef for my apartment. It started out by me just cooking omelets with veggies and cheese in the morning, then advancing up further to spaghetti, burgers, and stir fry. At this point its gotten to where we're sitting around when the question comes up, "Thomas, what are we doing for dinner tonight?" Its okay though, being the chef means you don't have to do the dishes. I'm pretty much the next Emerill.

We had our first "French and Culture" class today. Our teacher is a local Belgian named Jean-Pierre Vandierbuilden who speaks about as much English as I speak French, zero. It was interesting though and once we figured out his system of grunts and pointing, we actually did learn a bit of basic French that will more than likely come in handy during our stay here.

The second of our marketing classes was also today. Not much else to so about that.

WE SAW THE SUN TODAY! IT WAS A MOMENTOUS OCCASION. We woke up this morning and it was drizzling (rain) and a good portion of the snow melted during the night. We grabbed lunch this afternoon in between classes and when we came back out of the subway to go to Marketing the sun was out. It actually makes the city look completely different. Our school is right off of Montgomery Circle and all of the buildings around are older but still very grand and important as they are rented out by many large businesses. Almost all of the snow has melted at this point and you can actually see grass and evergreen needles.

We're not quite sure what we're doing this weekend, but I could get used to Thursday being the new Fridays.

Until next time,

Thomas