The Final Continental Excursion

This past weekend was my last trip out of London where I knew when and for sure that I would be returning. It made me quite sad to realize that the next time i depart with luggage will be final.

I was sort of up in the air about leaving London one of my last weekends here, but once I did, I was glad I did it. Belgium was not nearly as boring and blase as everyone makes it out to be. It was partly the company, and every place is really what you make of it, but I had a really good time. Brugge was a cute little city, and granted, there wasn't a whole lot to do there, but we did have a good time. It was very much in stark contrast to London, that's for sure.

We went as part of a tour, which was definitely the way to do it. Not having to deal with travel and having everything planned was soo nice. It was probably also a lot cheaper than had we done it all ourselves. It was also nice to go somewhere and not fly. To get to Belgium, we bused and ferried it. Taking the ferry from Dover to Calais was quite the experience. The white cliffs of Dover were kind of a disappointment, though. Apparently they have tunnels in them with whole villages made during WW2. That would be cool to see one day.
Anyway, the ferry itself was like no ferry I had ever seen before. I imagine it was bigger than some cruise ships. Absolutely packed with people, lounges, bars, cafes, "casino", children's area, food hall, etc etc. The way over was quite choppy and not nice at all, but the way back was a fun experience.

The tour guide definitely could have been better, but the bus driver knew a lot, and we probably learned more about the places we went than if we had done it alone. I'm glad we did it anyway because we got to see Brugge, Tynne Cot (war cemetery), Hill 62 (WW1 preserved trenches), and Ypres. If we had done it ourselves, we probably would have just gone to Belgium.

Brugge was cute. No, there wasn't a whole lot to do, but we walked around a lot, which is always good exercise. Got plenty of chocolate and waffles. And of course, Belgium beer. On recommendation of the tour guide, we went to this place with 400 beers. The menu was like a phone book. Good times. And Brugge does have night life! Who knew?! We found a few places, Dana picked one, based on its awesome name (die Kuppe). There was a big stag party there, but Dana and Allison think I found the only straight guy (important: he bought drinks... English, take note). He also spoke like 6 languages.

What language the signs and everything were in, I still haven't quite figured out. I heard French spoken a lot, but most signs were in German or Flemish. By the way, umm... Flemish? Yeah, still haven't really figured that one out. The only way I can really describe it is German + Dutch - umlauts = Flemish. But don't quote me on that.

The waffles and chocolate were amazing. The weather was great (one day), and the WW1 stuff was really awesome. Definitely glad I got to see all of that. The trenches were the coolest part. Really made you realize how completely crappy WW1 was. I guess, if you needed a reminder or something.

I had written before I think about how I didn't really miss much from home. I completely take that back now. For whatever reason, Brugge was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back, and now I'm very eager and excited to get back home (but still sad to leave).

There is just an ease of things in America that doesn't exist (for me at least) in Europe. Most of it focuses on capitalistic abundance. We went out to dinner in Brugge and asked for tap water. The guy gave us a hard time about it, like he was doing us a favour. When we asked for more, he straight up refused. Everywhere you go you can only get bottled water. What a complete rip off. Like, your tap water is fine, don't give me that crap. Stop trying to nickel and dime everyone. In america, you get free tap water, with ice, and sometime with lemon / lime. And it's endless. Just one of many things. Another thing Europe is fond of doing is giving you bread or nuts or something with your meal (w/o asking you) then charging you for it. It's awesome!

It will be so nice to just have things again. I know that's so completely materialistic of me and somewhat snobbish. But now that i'm living on not doing laundry anymore in London, and trying to not go grocery shopping, I just wish I had more variety. Sure, Belgium had 400 beers, but that's not really what I mean. It's nice to go to a grocery store and just see 98 different kinds of cheese, and chicken cutlets, and peppers and cereal or whatever. Unnecessary? Absolutely. Awesome? Absolutely.

I like having a big wardrobe, sheets I can change and always have back ups, different perfumes to use, napkins I don't have to steal from places with napkins.

This probably isn't an American thing, this is just a home thing. Where I don't feel broke all the time, where I'm not paranoid about spending money, a movie is just a casual thing and laundry is cheap, if not free. Not having to plan every meal and calculate the cost of what you consume, not feeling pressured to do something worth while every minute of every day.

It's the best experience of my life, but damn is it tiring. I just want to go home and walk into a stocked pantry and then sit in front of the TV and choose between 80 different channels while my laundry is laundering knowing there is a nice big comfy bed waiting for me close by.

Also, Brugge had one day of perfect weather. Absolutely gorgeous. And then, as soon as we got back into England, it was raining. It was chilly and humid all at the same time today. The sun was very weakly shining. I miss spring weather. I have been very lucky with weather in London so far, so I can't complain too much. But I miss seasons. It's so nice at home right now, and it's only broken 60 once so far here. Rain still threatens every day.

I really don't mean to bitch and moan, life has been anything but hard here really. I'm just an American gal and I miss it. With the PA primary tomorrow and a huge election going on in general I feel like I'm missing out. Sure, I can tell you almost literally everything Gordy is up to, but who really cares? Even the Brits are starting to ignore him. While it's really awesome to know the going ons of a country so in depthly (is that a word?), I feel sort of wrong about it.

I'm going to be home for two weeks and pack in as much quintessentially American things as humanly possible. Watch out, Blue Bell.

All that being said, I have begun getting very anxious about leaving London. Ah, the ex-pat's (ok, hardly, but you get the idea) life. Always torn between where you are and where you came from. Once I'm in Berlin, I'll miss London and the US (boston and home), then I'll be back and miss Berlin and London. I love experiencing different things and going to different places and seeing and doing, but damn, it would also be nice to stay put for more than 3-4 months.

That's for another time, though, I guess.