Brussels During Nato

  A few weeks ago Brussels hosted the Nato summit, and since it was a holiday, I thought it would be an excellent time to visit. It was interesting to see how the city dealt with having a summit that could result in big protests. The block with the US embassy was closed, as well as the area close to NATO HQ. There was also a few other streets closed off, but I am not sure why (a police officer just would not let us pass). A helicopter hovered over the city the entire time as well, which was very annoying. It was also interesting to see that every time a big wig had to get somewhere the intersection would be halted until their convoy passed through. 

  Jora (another IAESTE trainee) and I also went on a freeish (you pay what you feel it was worth) tour of the city center. It started in Grand Place which is the main square of the city. It has a bunch of old buildings that were rebuilt at least once after the French army destroyed it. It also passed the old stock exchange which might be turned into a beer temple. The tour also passed the little peeing boy (Manneken Pis) and also learned it is someone's job to dress him every morning. The tour guide pointed out the gay district with all its flags and one of the murals. In the end, we took a photo with the whole tour group and then parted ways. 

  Jora and I then went to go and see the European Union area. It was cool and looks like there is a lot of buildings of interest along with many people walking in and out in suits. We tried to see the European Parliment, but then found out you need your passport to do that and neither of us had ours. Next was to go to the NATO HQ, so both of us got bus tickets to then realize that the bus had been rerouted away from NATO during the summit. This was quite disappointing so then we went to the brewpub that was conveniently in front of the train station 😊😊.

World Cup Football Games

Belgium vs. Panama
  This was the first game that I watched of the 2018 World Cup, and I watched it at a place called Zebra Beach. It was very crowded there which made it hard to see the game, and also everyone seemed to be taller than me. There was also a pool with a sandy beach right beside the pool, and I'm guessing that is why 'Beach' is in the name. In the end, Belgium won 3-0, so it was a good game.

Belgium vs. England
  The second game I watched was the one vs. England. The game was shown at Dok, and the IAESTE people watched it there. Dok is a cool place with many different bars and areas. It even has a boxing bag randomly at one of the bars. It was also very crowded around the screen like at Zebra Beach, but other areas of Dok was not crowded at all. Belgium ended up winning this game as well.

Belgium vs. Japan
  This game IAESTE watched at Michael's place. The first two goals of the game were scored by Japan, so that made the game a bit stressful. Belgium eventually fought back to tie it. Then right at the end of the game, Belgium scored to win the game 😌. During this game, the stream that was being utilized was behind the actual game and there was another group of people watching somewhat close by who had the game coming with less of a delay. This meant we got an early warning to Belgium goals 😭😭. After the game a few people went to the beer hall nearby to have a beer.

Brazil vs Belgium
  Started watching the game at Bar Bricolege. This bar had a bunch of tree house type things, lots of wooden benches, and sand in a lot of places. It had a very cool rustic beach-like atmosphere, but during the game, it was too crowded around the one screen they had set up. This is why at half-time Len and I left this bar and went to Michael's place to join the rest of the game with the IAESTE people there. Belgium was leading 2-0 at halftime which was causing a lot of excitement. Brazil did end up scoring one goal in the second half, but that was it. Now that Belgium won people were very excited, so everyone went out and partied, and that included my Brazilian friends although they were sad.

Belgium vs France
  This was the first game the city of Gent had a big screen in one of the large squares. There was lots of people but it was still fairly easy to see the screen. The beer line was also decently quick, but the line for fries was slow 😭. There was also only one beer which was kind of disappointing 😞. The first half of the game ended with no score, but in the second half, France got a goal. Towards the end of the game, the refs missed a call that would have helped Belgium but not necessarily got them a goal. The final score ended up being 1-0 for France 😭😭😭😭.

Belgium vs England For Third Place
  The game for third place was showed at various screens around the festival area (it was during the Gentse Feesteen). I watched as walking around while exploring the festival. Belgium did end up winning this one 2-0, and there were some people excited, but it was difficult to tell who was excited about the game and who was just excited about the festival.


Also, I did not watch Belgium vs. Tunsia so it is not included.

National Evenings

Austrian Evening

  This evening was hosted by Lisa, and she did an excellent presentation about her home country Austria. I learned that Austria has lots of skiing. Later on, I may go on a ski trip to Austria in December. There was also a main dish that was pasta like and tasted very good. There was a delicious dessert as well it was a big ball, and the crumbs were delicious. Lisa also made a drink that contained wine, sparkling water, and sometimes syrup. This drink is called spritzer, and it was surprisingly good. Overall it was a very nice evening with tasty food and beverages.

India Evening
  This was an exciting evening with 'mild' food and some lively discussion about India. The 'mild' food that was served was delicious, but I would not describe it all as mild. The sauce with chickpeas in was spicy to me, but it was still excellent. The presentation seemed more like a public forum sometimes. There was lots of questions and interest in India and the culture of the country. I learned that India has many spoken languages and many different religions. It was also interesting to learn about all the different climates in India. It was a very good evening, and I was happy to learn so much about India.

Cyprus Evening
  The Cyprus Evening had some excellent BBQ from Cyprus made by Christos, and also a presentation made by Christos. The BBQ had some meat, some kind of sauce, and cheese! I did not particularly like the sauce very much, but I really liked the cheese. Christos let us try the cheese before it was cooked and after it was cooked. I thought it tasted better after it was cooked on the BBQ. The meat was made into a kind of wrap/sandwich, and it was very good. In the presentation, we learned about why Cyprus was divided and that was interesting. Christos also talked about the topic he knows the most about, in his words, which is the food of Cyprus. It was an outstanding presentation and BBQ.

Tunisia
  The Tunisia Evening was full of dancing, good food, and included two good videos about Tunisia. There was a selection of that included pasta, a kind of sauce that you use bread to eat it with, and many other great foods. After enjoying all the great food, there was a 'challenge sauce' that was hot. A lot of people tried it, and some people even challenge each other to see who could eat the most. When I tried the sauce, it made my tongue numb. The videos were showed the experiences of people who had been in Tunisia. We also learned that Tunisians learn a few languages in school and that their own dialect of Arabic is very different from Modern Standard Arabic. The dancing came last, and it was fun. We danced in the Tunisian way which is pretty much mostly improv and based on the music played. The night was fun, the dancing and food were terrific.

Norway
  In this national evening, it was all about the small nation of Norway. Jora showed us the final rankings of the Olympics which showed Norway on top. He also showed us a counter of Norway's investment fund (kind of like our debt counter but instead their's is an asset counter). He also talked about how Norway has a cool king. He also spoke about Russefeiring which is where students party before exams and some by a bus. It was also discussed how Norway is part of the European Economic zone but not the EU. Jora says this is so they can sell their stuff but not deal with all the drama of the EU. We also ate some sort of sushi wrap which I guess is Norwegian food. I was also quite shocked Jora had never seen the Northern Lights 😮. It was an overall good evening and it was fun to learn some much about this arctic nation.

Poland and Germany
  This national evening was a Dual evening. It covered both Poland and Germany. The food was great. There was perogies, mashed potatoes, some fried onions, some bread with a sauce on it, and many other things. After enjoying all the great food the presentations started.

  The first country to go was Germany. To start off the presentation a bottle of  Jägermeister was passed around to drink. The presentation described how Germany had changed territorially over the years with all the wars. It was explained how Germany was divided between East and West Germany. The presentation said that Germany is now divided into 16 different regions, and there are also many dialects. German food was also described, and one that I am disappointed that was not made to be eaten earlier was Black Forest Cake. There was also a game at the end that I did not do good at 😞. It was an excellent informative presentation and the Jägermeister was terrific.

  Poland was the next presentation. This presentation started off with vodka which was excellent. It also said that Poland is as well divided into 16 regions. The companies with the most revenue were also presented and the two top places are oil companies. Polish foods were also described and they sounded really good. We also learned Poland is very 'Polish,' as in there are not many people from other places. About 98% of the population is Polish. Also discussed was that a large part of the population is religious.  It was an excellent presentation.

Jordan
  This presentation gave some interesting insight into a country I do not know much about. I learned it snows about once a year in Jordan which was surprising to me. It was also covered how a large portion of Jordan's population is refugees (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan#Immigrants_and_refugees). Another interesting thing is that it has been inhabited for a very long time.

  For a food dish, there was some sort of rice you are supposed to eat with your hands. Nobody did but Waleed did try to show us. While he showed us I followed along but did not do very well.

It was a great presentation and had good food too.

Second Belgium Evening
  The second Belgian evening involved chocolate and beer of course. There was a good beer selection this evening, however, the mainstays were still Stella and Jupiler. The chocolate was very nice and I find myself still wanting more. For other food, there were fries with a sauce that had some meat in it. It was really good fries. The presentation included an interesting video about how complicated the Belgium political system is. To top off the evening most people did some different dances. Most of these dances I did not know, and I still don't know how to do them 😞.

Scotland 
  The Scottish national evening was a fun night with whiskey and shepherds pie. The evening started with some good socializing as always. Then the food came which was a delicious shepherds pie. Then for dessert, there was some apple crumble. After everyone was done eating Chris started his presentation off with some whiskey. The presentation included information about how Scotland has a nice diverse economy and many other things. After the presentation, there was a game where everyone was given a word on a peice of paper. Some of these papers had an English word and others had a Scottish. You had to find the person who had the paper that matched with yours. The game was fun, and the presentation was good, but I think the whiskey was better than both.