If you walk through the tourist district of Brussels you can more than likely count three or four tanning beds within the first six blocks, no matter which direction you're coming from. Going to a tanning bed in Brussels would seem a bit pointless in my own opinion, not because there is a plentiful amount of natural sunlight (I have yet to see the sun since my arrival), but because the necessity of wearing four or five layers of clothes just to take the bite off the winter wind, hardly makes a thorough tan a worthwhile endeavor. Based on what I've gathered from talking to locals, the weather here is generally something best described as "dismal" between the months of October and May encompassing very little sun, a small accumulation of snow here and there, and nearly continuous rainfall. The past five days of snow breaks all previous snowfall records as far back as 30 years. I asked our landlady if we could borrow her snow shovel to move the mounds of snow that have holed up in front of our apartment to which she replied, "What snow shovel?"
With the weather being as unaccommodating as it is, my roommates and I quickly realized that cold induced laziness was a serious possibility. When we arrived in Brussels we thought it was strange that everyone conducted their lives so routinely; now we know why. Although we've just completed our first week abroad, we already gotten our lives into a bit of a routine to combat the urge to stay in bed and out of the sub freezing temperatures. As far as our class days go, the alarm starts ringing 8:30am (which translates to us getting up at 9am). After the first cup of Belgian coffee we hit the deck with a P90X workout. Most of the workouts are a little over an hour plus a 15 minute cool down; all this really helps to get you going in the morning. A breakfast composed of eggs, toast, milk/oj, and sauteed veggies follows until its ultimately time to venture out into the cold for class. The honest average commute to class is somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 minutes, all depending on the crowd and time of day. The duration of all classes at CUBBC are 3 hours and 15 minutes. By the time you commute back to the apartment its generally already dark (the sun sets well before 5 o'clock here). Sometimes Nils and I end up going for a jog but if not, dinner is cooked and then a bit of free time. The cold, damp, dark environment really seems to make the time here go buy so much quicker than at home! Its just strange with only a few hours of dim light.
Unfortunately we had a full day of classes today and we now have homework for Accounting and Marketing. Time for me to take advantage of the darkness and get some work done.
Until next time,
Thomas
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