Brussels and BS

ok, i'm going to try and write an update real quick before i have to start work on this presentation, which is, by the way, ruining my day.went to BRUSSELS for 23 hrs this weekend. Roofio, Ted, Cassie and I left around 3 and got in around 6ish I believe. the guy sitting next to me on the bus thought it would be a nice move to take over his seat and half of mine. and smell bad. right on. Anyways, our hostel was AMAZING. Best hostel I've stayed at, and that's saying a lot because I've stayed at two total. I highly recommend the Vincent Van Gogh hostel in Brussels. Started off at the hostel bar (after some vodka swigs...will play into the story later) and planned our adventures. Brussels is a much more modern city than Antwerp, but the tourist center is where all of the older buildings are. Lots of tourist traps. Ate dinner at food factory, despite me voicing my opinion that i would not like my food made in a factory assembly line, but my the loving hands of someone's grandma in a kitchen. The food was actually really good, and we split two belgian waffles with icecream and chocolate sauce between us. Just thinking about it makes my insides want to explode. from pure joy, i'm sure. Afterwards, we decided to go to Cafe Delerium, which holds the Guinness (sp?) Book of World Records for number of beers available. 2004. 2004!!! Since I'm already terribly indecisive, I started off with a dark Leffe, which is an abbey beer. The beers in Belgium have different classifications, and while I'm sure explaining them to you would be fascinating, I'll just sum it up with saying that one kind is called Trappist, and badass monks brew it, for thirsty travelers like me i'm sure. 


Delerium was packed, but packed in that fun way where you just want to hang out and sweat profusely. I started a convo with a Dad and son from somewhere (North Dakota??). The son was studying in Belgium. I felt creepy talking to both of them for some reason, so I reconvened with the crew. Roofio had found a group of American guys that I ended up talking to for a while. Two were from Notre Dame and the other two were from Texas. I somehow got stuck talking to one of the less attractive ones from Notre Dame for a while because he was closer to me. Here is where the vodka factors in. I was FEELING the blonde one from Texas. A) blondes are not my scene and b ) Ted is convinced he was not the least bit attractive. I thought he was ridiculously hot. He suggested the Bush beer, which tasted like poop but had 11% alcohol content. I think he offered to buy me a beer at some point, but I had a full one. I wanted to tell him "it's ok, I'll just hold both" but that seemed rather booze hound-esque. On searching for my next choice, I decided I would not settle for anything below 8% alcohol, and then I found the beer equivalent of the Holy Grail. The Guillotine. how do you spell that? No clue, but it had 13% alcohol, and at that point tasted just dandy. We ended up leaving (bye bye questionably attractive Texan) and wandered around. Or I at least assumed we were wandering because I was putting in zero effort to navigate to desirable locations. We somehow ended up at a bar/club on top of a subway. It was cool, because it had big windows looking out into the square. I felt like I was on TRL. We got back to our hostel around 3:30 or 4, despite me wanting to stay out until all hours. It was those beers, I swear. 


Woke up for breakfast at EIGHT AM. I was not pleased, but we did get to go see mannekin piss before the tourists came a crowding. It's like, the must see of Brussels, and it's this little statue of a kid peeing, and water comes out of his peepee into a fountain. I was underwhelmed. He was like a foot tall. Underwhelmed is the main descriptive word for Brussels. Also saw the EU building, which we had to treck to, and it was possibly the ugliest thing I have seen in Europe. Nice park nearby though. Cassie and Roofio wanted to go to Waterloo, so Ted and I explored Brussels, following the trusty young travelers map we picked up from the hostel. I actually navigated!! I was able to lead us to multiple destinations, although we couldnt find either of the secondhand shops. I am still convinced they were not where they were supposed to be, according to the map. We went to the Atomium, which is Belgium's equivalent of the Eiffle Tower. It was this huge thing that is supposed to be an atom magnified a few billion times. Big metal balls connected to each other. Paid the obligatory 6 euro, but refused to wait 30 mins to go to the top for the panorama, so just walked through 4 of the balls. Oh, but before, we tried to go to Mini Europe and it was CLOSED. I shook my fist at the gate, in what I hoped was a very open display of my disatisfaction. So when we were in Belgium's balls, I got a picture through the window of the entire park. Take that Mini Europe. It was like I was there. I dont even need to see Europe anymore. just kidding.


Went to the tail end of the flea market, and then the Palace of Justice. It had incredible views of all of Brussels. While taking snapshots and resisting the urge to put my camera into night cam mode, i hear "Haney?!?" Ryu and Creeps were there! And they apparently also stayed at the same hostel. That was an awesome suprise, so we wandered about a bit with them, and got some pie. Later parted ways. At this point, I felt like I had seen all I wanted to see of Brussels, so we stopped in to a supermarket so I could pick up some trappist beers (i got westmalle dark, chimay, and one other one i don't know because I drank it on the way to the metro. Was going to pick up some chocolate, and then realized I had had it before and I wasnt even hungry. Made it back for the euroline bus, which was probably the shittiest 4 hours of my life. I'm pretty sure it's only supposed to take 2, maybe 2 and a half. there was this one family, who I believe were Moroccan or Turkish or something, that had a screaming baby. I have never heard such an angry baby. It made me wish baby punting was a socially acceptable practice. The parents could not shut it up. And then they had these little kids who would also not shut up or sit still, who were talking loudly and obnoxiously in Dutch about god knows what. Ted and Roofio got stuck in front of them. Ted eventually resorted to replicating whatever the kid was doing to the back of his chair on the mom's chair in front of him. She didnt seem as fazed by the constant kicking or head grabbing.


We eventually arrived in one piece. Despite the shittyness of the trip back and the three hours of sleep, I decided to go out and meet up with the UU kids . I really wanted to go to Winkel van Sinkel for 80s night, since that was the first club I went to in Utrecht, where I first hung out with most of the people I now fondly refer to as my friends and fellow fuck ups, and it was a huge light up dance floor of many colors. Unfortunately, after the tequila shots and waiting for people to show up, quite a line had accumulated, and it was going no where, so we peaced. Went to Hoffman, which I am now convinced is for the people who can't get in anywhere else. like us. but i'm pretty sure they actually tried. anyways, everyone LOVED erica. loved. there was no telling these dudes that penis was pretty far down on the list of favorite things. I ended up talking to some dude who insisted on talking directly into my neck. People talking loudly into your neck feels suprisingly good due to the vibrations, so naturally I feel this should be reserved for good looking people. he did not share this sentiment. still, it feels good to have people come and talk to me. oh man, and i was laughing so hard because there was this guy dancing ridiculously behind erica. i may have pulled an abdominal muscle from the strain. all in all a good night, and i guess I'll have to wait for the first saturday in April to finally get my Winks van Sinks in. 


alright, enough is enough. it takes me ages to write these, but I gotta do it. 


I'm still trying to figure out why I am attracted to bags of doosh. There has been no progress, except for realizing they become especially appealing when I am drunk and we are dancing. I figure I could mentally berate myself for not sticking to my guns, but my head usually hurts in the morning anyway. And I could make promises to myself, but it's somewhat demoralizing when I don't keep them, so I've stopped. I think that part of my growth as a person is going to be forgiving and forgetting in respect to my questionable decisions and taste in men. this realization all stemmed from realizing I am no longer attracted to Zac Efron because he's bulked up and no longer is the lean mean dancing machine I had grown to love. And the fact that I found the dude picking up glasses at Hoffman very attractive, and he was also probably 16 and 120 lbs. I need a new type. STAT.


haney out


MUSIC:
broken social scene 
-anthems for a seventeen yr old girl
-lover's spit
-i'm still your f--
-stars and sons
-cause=time