IES roma gives its students a week off from school to enjoy as something of a fall break. technically, we had 10 days to do whatever we wanted and i think every single person in the program left for at least part of the week. collin, lisa, and i booked our fall break pretty early and ended up getting a lot done in just 10 days. so we started the week off in brussels. i didnt realize we didnt need that much time there so, luckily, we were able to spend a full day in brussels and then do 2 smaller day trips. let's start with brussels.

we decided to walk down to the grand place from our hostel which was only a 10 minute walk. along the way we passed so many belgian fries places so of course we stopped to get some. i had no idea what i wanted and the guy didnt speak english or italian so i ended up getting fries with the traditional plain mayonnaise. normally i would be really grossed out by that but to be honest, this mayo was so much better and whatevs, i had it once. here's me with my fries.


we started at the grand place which was pretty excellent. its like their main square and its super super pretty. here are some pictures. im not really sure what the significance of each building is, but i know that it was super pretty and everyone just hangs out there at night no matter how cold it is.





and heres me and collin in the grand place. its much prettier to just take pictures of the places but ive taken to taking pictures of people with the background even though i might possibly be THE least photogenic person in the world.


so we continued walking looking for this lil fountain called mannekin pis. it's a small statue of a boy peeing and is (i think) the symbol of brussels. anyhow, along the way we passed this amazing waffle place. of course, belgium is known for its wondrous belgian waffles that are sold on the street for so so cheap and are so so amazing. here's the first batch of waffles that are served plain with sugar. (they call them gauffres)


and then there were the fancy ones that had chocolate on them or chocolate and strawberries or chocolate and bananas or even ice cream.


lisa got one with chocolate and strawberries, i got one with just chocolate, and collin got a sugar waffle. here are the 3 of us before we start...so good but so disgusting at the same time.


so i got one that just had melted chocolate on it and of course im pretty much the messiest person ever and every 10 seconds collin would have to grab a napkin and wipe chocolate off my nose or chin or cheek. this one was staged, but this is basically what i looked like the entire time.


we finally make it to mannekin pis to find that its this little tiny statue on a random street corner. well at first i wanted to make the picture be that the lil boy was peeing on my head but that was unsuccessful.


then we just posed.


brussels is also known for its art noveaux style. here are some buildings. i know kinda random


we eventually stumbled upon the cathedral. here's me and lisa with it.


we went inside and it was actually really pretty. definitely different from anything you would see in rome.


we kept walking and came to the parc de bruxelles which is lined by EU buildings and palaces. here's the park.


and here's the palais royal


if you keep walking past the palais royal, you hit this lil square that has a church of the military, a national library, and some art museums.


there's also a way off the square that leads to a pretty garden and has a nice view of the city.


and at the top of the stairs for some reason there was this park bench that had like a harness on it, making it kinda like soarin. but it didnt move. i dunno.


so we had dinner at the top of the hill and then came back to see the view of the city at night. really pretty but not as lit up as i had originally expected.


afterwards, we just headed to the grand place to hang out for a lil while. in the north, the sun sets so early that by the time it hits like 10 were so tired and cold that we dont wanna do anything.

the next day we headed out to bruges for a day trip. as collin so eloquently put it, we had traveled back in time to a provincial town pretty much straight out of beauty and the beast.


here's one of the monk's courtyards that we walked through to get to the main part of town.


so we finally make it to the church that holds michelangelo's madonna and child. that's me with it. ps ive kept my promise of lighting a candle in every church.


and this is the inside of the church.


afterwards, we headed to grote markt and collin and i had some french fries for lunch with samurai sauce which sounds quite gross. here we are with our disgustingness.


and here's the clocktower in the grote markt.


and some more grote markt.


there is also a church in bruges that allegedly holds some of jesus' blood. thats the priest who guards it and wipes the casing clean after people come look at it.


and thats me outside the basilica.


that night we just headed back to brussels and chilled for a while to get ready for luxembourg the next day!

so collin and i catch a train out to luxembourg where we meet this guy who reminds me so so much of a friend from home/school. it's weird cause this guy looked exactly like my friend but with shorter hair and not quite as tall. and he made kinda similar jokes and was actually really funny. anyway, so we head out to luxembourg to find that its cute, small, and gorgeous. the foliage is amazing and its just so relaxing to be out there. here are some views of luxembourg.




and this is the royal palais.


and then there was this random old a person who was like reaching out to touch the guard and all the other random a people were taking pictures of him so i figured i should partake.


after a bit more wandering we reach the church of our lady of luxembourg. here it is.


and here's some of the exquisite stained glass you can find inside.


and this is the burial of the royal family that is underneath the church. it's guarded by two bronze lions.


and here's the last picture i have from luxembourg. i took this on the way across the valley before we hit the church with the random mass in tagalog.


our next stop for fall break was scotland. we were based in glasgow but we also did a day trip to edinburgh. here is the view of kelvingrove park and the museums from our window.



we started the mackintosh trail which is the trail of things that charles rennie mackintosh designed. the first stop was the glasgow school of art.


then the willow tea room with amazing blends of tea.


thats when we decided not to do the rest of the mackintosh stuff just cause we didnt have time. so we headed out towards the gothic cathedral being that its creepy and it was halloween. thats me outside of the cathedral.


and thats the inside of the cathedral.


behind the cathedral there is the necropolis which is the old cemetary with burials and memorial stones of all different ages. this is the view of the cathedral from the necropolis.


and here are some pictures of the necropolis.



the next day we headed out to edinburgh for the day. edinburgh is definitely not as much of a city as glasgow but it's cool in its own way. this is me and collin at the edingburgh castle.


and here's the beginning of the royal mile. the royal mile is a combination of 4 streets that is between edinburgh castle and the palace of holyrood.


this is one of the cathedrals, called kirks, along the royal mile. this one is dedicated to st. giles.


along the royal mile we hit a children's museum which showcased toys and games and things. theres collin with one of the hand puppets. unfortunately i dont have a picture of it, but we also colored and made paper teddy bears.


and this is the palace of holyrood which is one of the residences of queen elizabeth.


the next day we were set to depart for paris in the afternoon so we decided to stay in the neighborhood of our hostel. we ended up visiting the kelvingrove museum because of the dali painting in it. this is collin and me in front of the museum.


and these are some of the animal exhibitions within the museum. its kinda cool cause almost all of the museums in scotland are free.


and this is collin's favorite dali painting.


afterwards, we chinchilled in the playground for a lil while before heading out to the train station to catch our plane. thats collin after having mastered the rope jungle.


we arrived in paris rather late and just ended up hanging out with marissa and some of her friends from her program. they were cool and her neighborhood is really cute with lots of bars and restaurants. on friday, marissa was nice enough to take us around paris for a bit. our first stop was the cathedral of notre dame. this is marissa and me outside of the cathedral.


afterwards we checked out the moufftard and then headed over to the champs elysees. this is the lv store where collin bought a speedy and then they treated us to champagne to celebrate the occassion.


there's the arc de triumph at the end of the champs.


marissa then brought us to the galleries lafayette to see the view of the city from the terrace. this is the dome of the galleries from the ground floor.


we also stopped at the opera house to see it since it's so ornate. there it is from the outside.


afterwards, marissa headed back home to get ready for the opera and collin, lisa, and i went for a walk along the seine to the eiffel tower. i was kinda proud of myself how much i remembered being that its been more than 2 years since i had been there. well here's me and collin in front of the louvre as we were passing through.


walking along the seine we got really pretty pictures. this is the eiffel tower with the path that leads to the hotel d'invalides.


and here are some pictures up close of the eiffel tower at night.



and this is the eiffel tower light show from the trocadero. it's not really a light show but the eiffel tower sparkles for about 10 minutes at the top of each hour.


that night i actually had twisted my ankle stepping off of a curb incorrectly so the next day i didnt feel up to walking around. collin and lisa headed out to the louvre since theyve never been and i stayed back and had lunch with marissa and figured out my schedule for the spring semester. that evening, i met collin and lisa at the moulin rouge and then we headed up to sacre couer. marissa informed me that sacre couer was a church built on that hill as sort of a plea to save the people who lived in that neighborhood. it was an effing tiring walk up a million stairs but it was so pretty and its definitely one of my favorite things to do in paris. it reminds me of my fam who i miss so so much.


after we finished at the church, marissa and our friend laura from tufts met us at the bottom of the stairs so that we could all get together for dinner. marissa had heard of a great fondue place just up the street from the church so we headed over. i forgot how much i adored laura and am a little sad that i don't see her enough. anyhow, here's marissa, laura, and me drinking the wine out of baby bottles that comes with our dinner.


and theres collin, lisa, and me enjoying our baby bottles and pot of cheese.


we got up around 500 this morning to head out to catch the bus to our plane. i finally got back to my apartment around 130 where i did loads and loads of laundry and am still not cleaned up or unpacked. its now 930 and im about ready for bed considering how tiring this trip was. anna made a good point that i may need more time to recover from this trip than i needed to recover from our trip to greece which mightve been one of the most intense trips ive ever taken. well, i suppose thats it for now. weijia arrives on tuesday and will be staying with me for a few days. i'll post some pictures from our sightseeing and then next weekend is budapest!

ps i love and miss jerry and my sister so so much.