Apr
28
Written by:
cturpel
4/28/2009 2:36 PM
This past week was glorious here in Brussels, the weather was rather good last week, so we spent a lot of time outside in the sun. Though today is colder and rainier, but I suppose that's the way spring goes!
I had a busy weekend while I stayed here in Brussels, I went to the French-speaking Amnesty International Belgium's General Assembly, which was held here in Brussels. I am a member of Amnesty International USA, and I've been lucky enough to go to one of AIUSA's general assemblies, so it was fun to go to the Belgian version and compare. It was held in a really cool building not far from where I live, located on the canal that is in a pretty industrial part of town. It was just one day, but they did a lot that day--they elected new members, went over their past and upcoming years' budgets, and then had some inspirational speeches. The most exciting part of the day for me was to see Irene Khan, the secretary general of the International Secretariat in London. She had some really encouraging words to say to all of us, so I was really glad I got to see her.
On Sunday I went to the Fête du Printemps at a park not too far from my apartment, also not far from where the AI meeting was on Saturday. There were a few big tents where groups from the city had set up a stand; while it was mostly geared for children there were still lots of interesting things for adults and I went mostly to see the Amnesty International stand. But it was also fun to go to the park because it sits in the shadow of this huge basilica that I see from afar every day when I walk to school. It's this massive brown basilica, not built in the traditional European style, and it's supposed to have great views from the top. Hopefully one day before I leave I'll be able to make it up to the top.
Yesterday I went to SHAPE, the military headquarters for NATO (and get this: the acronym stands for the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Powers of Europe!). I went with some of the other Erasmus students from St. Louis as well as some Belgian students; we rode on a chartered bus from Brussels to Mons, a small city almost at the French border, about an hour away. The visit wasn't what I had been expecting since we didn't get to see much of the base. Instead we heard a few lectures from various military officers who told us about the organization and how it interacts in the international community. So from my international relations perspective it was interesting, especially as I would consider myself a pacifist and most of the people there are military.
Last week we went back to classes, and one of my classes finished--the professor said that he had finished the material so we don't have that class for the next two weeks. But I still have my other three classes, which are going well but I'm getting worried about exams--and you can feel that everyone in the apartment is starting to stress about exams, too, as people start staying in at night to study. But I've got a friend coming to visit from the Budapest campus this weekend, which will be fun.
Till next week!
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