Much overdue post

So... I've been in Brussels for about a week and I've been totally MIA, so here I am to give an update on the past week.
Let's see, I arrived last Saturday and my parents' friends picked me up from the airport and brought me to the apartment I'm staying in (which was a blessing because my suitcases are BIG and no, I don't know how to pack lightly). They left and let me get settled and go out to get some money and some food, etc. and then I caught up with them later in the day for dinner and some sightseeing.

I'm living in an apartment in a building that's basically full of interns or students (though I haven't met anyone else in the building--I guess everyone has different hours). My apartment is really big, has four bedrooms, and distinctly reminds me of "L'auberge espagnole." It's not exactly the nicest or cleanest place (people are always coming and going and staying for short periods of time, so no one puts a lot of effort into taking care of it), but it's alright. Maybe if I had seen it before I wouldn't have picked it, but it's pretty comfortable and has pretty much everything I need. I work fairly long hours and have been sightseeing on the weekends (and I'll be away a bunch of weekends), so it's fine. I currently have two other "flatmates," a French guy and an Italian guy, who are both really really nice, but unfortunately will be leaving this week or next week (beginning of July), but I should be getting some new flatmates (preferably a girl!) with whom to explore and go out and whatnot because I still don't really feel like I have friends here.

The area I live in is pretty exciting and young and ethnic (there are Portuguese people, Moroccans, and people from the Congo a bit further away--medium-sized communities that have their own areas basically). There's a big square and now there's a film festival going on so they're playing movies there at night. There are also some really pretty lakes where people can just walk and sit. My favorite is the Saturday morning farmer's market, which has fruits, vegetables, flours, cheeses, olives, everything. Everything looks so delicious! And, the weather has been very un-Belgian--it's been sunny and warm everyday and it only rained for a little while during my first weekend here. I hope the weather stays this nice for a while!

Work has been OK so far. The people I work with are very nice and flexible and helpful, but the work I'm doing hasn't been so exciting. I'm working for a European Jewish student organization (the umbrella organization) to help plan a 500-person (Euro-Jewish students) conference that will last a week at the end of August and will be held in Switzerland this year (every year it's somewhere different and I feel like I got a little shafted because last year it was in Turkey and the year before in Italy, and one year it was in Greece and another in Croatia, all of which are much more exciting than Switzerland, but anyways...). So my job is basically to take care of the participants (enter their info into the database when they've registered, answer their questions, make sure that they've paid, try to set up rooms with the roommates they've requested, etc.) and since it's still relatively early, very few people have registered. So I basically work from 10 a.m. until 6 or 7 p.m. (my bosses stay late, so I can't very well just leave super early) with a one-hour lunch break or so, but I definitely don't have enough work to occupy that time, so I spend a lot of time on email or facebook, which is not entirely satisfying when you're working such long days.
And unfortunately, by the time I get out of work (and walk home because it's a nice walk and the weather has been good), most stores and museums are closed, so there isn't that much to do (though I have been lucky to know some people here and there with whom I have gone out or gone to museums or movies). What is really nice, though, is that it stays light outside until 10 or 10:30 p.m., so I can go walking around the city exploring or sit by the lakes and just hang out and feel pretty safe. It's really crazy when I check my watch and it's 9:30 p.m. and the sun is still out and bright.

And now that it's July there are more street festivals (and tourists) so there are more things to do later at night that hopefully I can take advantage of after work. It's kind of hard because I don't know too many people (and don't want to go out alone--museums, sure, but not restaurants or bars) and Brussels is such a transient city (it's the capital of Europe! People are always coming and going...), but hopefully I'll meet more people. Also, the next few weekends I'm going to London, then Paris, and then my parents are coming here, so really, I don't have that many weekends here in Brussels. After that I'll be here for a weekends, then in Berlin for 10 days (so two weekends), then back for one, and then in Switzerland for 12 days or so (so another 2 weekends), so aside from the first weekend I was here I'll only be here for four weekends (and my parents will be here for one of them). That's ok with me, though, because there isn't thaaaaat much to see in Brussels, and I'm just trying to do my sightseeing on the few weekends that I'm here and in the evenings when I can.

So, on that note, I think I'll go have breakfast and get ready to hit some museums and shops (the sales are starting, so people are going crazy) before another week of work arrives (and London next weekend--WOOHOOO!!!)

A few brief comments about Brussels:
1. The French fries and chocolates here are amazing--the rumors are true. (And the waffles and beer seem pretty popular, but arghhh gluten.)
2. I have never seen so many BMWs in my life.
3. There are vending machines that sell yogurt and yogurt drinks. Weird.
4. There are no local Belgians in Brussels. Everyone is from somewhere else.
5. The men here are unbearably forward. Really. It's bad.
6. The public transportation is awesome. I've never taken so many buses in my life. (But I don't live near a metro stop...)
7. There is a farmer's market in some part of the city every single day of the year.
8. This is the highlight of Brussels tourism. Don't let it deceive you--he's about 1-foot tall maximum. And still, the tourists gather in flocks.
9. Tintin was created here! As were Asterix and Obelix and the Smurfs! (And many others that never made it to English-language presses.) There are a bunch of different comic strip museums/exhibits (because this is the "Year of the Comic strip"), which have turned out to be AWESOME. In fact, I might hit another one today.

I think that's all for now!