There are a couple of things to get used to when living in Europe. One, if you watched the Barack Obama speech in Berlin you may have noticed one thing in particular. The crowd clapped a fair amount for a better economy and stopping the war, but when it came to reducing our carbon footprint and saving energy they went nuts. I should have paid more attention to that because they weren't kidding around. Our lights are on automatic timers in hallways, all the doors are shut all the time to keep the heat in, and worst of all the internet goes out around 9:30 or 10 every night (tonight seems to be an exception?). I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky because most people don't even have Internet in their house, but it's hard to get used to something then have it ripped away from you potentially when you are researching for a paper. Two nights in a row now we have come home thinking we will wind down for about an hour on the web, but that hasn't been the case. Another thing that was kind of cute was I wrote in my journal last night that I would go for a run today. Ha! It rained, hard, all day long. I don't think I've seen the sun yet. Thank goodness for those shoes. They really are a lifesaver. Also had I looked at my schedule for orientation at all I would have noticed that a run would not have been possible. Sure I could have been like Mom and woke up at 4:30 am to run, but let's be serious, that wasn't going to happen. Serious props to you Mom!
Today we went to Bastogne, Belgium home of the Battle of the Bulge. I'm not quite sure how this happened, but it took us two and half hours to get there, only one to return. We saw a short video, saw the museum and walked around the monument glorifying the American soldiers that fought there. It was the first place where I wasn't desperately trying to not seem so American. The tour guide said that they loved when Americans came by. Then he said that the Germans were not so welcome in Bastogne. Thank goodness that I didn't get the chance to say Guten Tag and make a fool out of myself. I'm usually so eager to use it. Unfortunately most people here speak French or Portuguese and look at me like they've never heard the language.
About ten of us went to dinner this evening at this "Snack Shop", but all the snack shops that I have seen serve real food. It's nowhere near a snack. Maybe this is their version of fast food? I'm not even sure what I ate, but it was delicious. I think it was lamb. You'd be proud of me with food this far. I've eaten everything given to me. So far this list includes raw or smoked sausage from my new best friend the bartender from Dublin, hot hot hot pepper sauce at a pizzeria, and now this lamb sandwich thing.
Finishing up the evening we went to this bar, which we call "Das Boot" from the movie Beerfest. I'm not even sure what the real name of the bar is. They serve the beer in either a liter or a half liter in a glass boot. Nearly chipped my tooth, again, this evening. You have to tilt the glass to avoid this bubble that comes up, but I guess it is tradition for everyone to get popped with the bubble the first time around. Not so fun to do; hilarious to watch.
Tomorrow we go to a winery then either the Luxembourg City carnival or my choice for the evening the Luxembourg versus Greece Fußball game.
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