MA Picnic

So yesterday the American Studies students got together to finally celebrate the end of the program. Of course we did this in style with an all American picnic in the Bois de la Cambre, the Central Park of Brussels. There were frisbees zooming over our heads (by surprise nobody got injured), brownies being gorged down, and gossip being exchanged. Let it be known to those of you who were either in Italy, Spain, Graspop, or somewhere out in the wild with the youth movement, that you missed a terrific leisurely day. Floris also sort of missed it (his alliances lie elsewhere apparently), so Thomas became our man of the day. Don’t ask me why, I don’t have a clue, but we ended up chanting “Thomas, Thomas” and scaring away other peaceful park visitors. Releasing exam stress, I guess…

Thanks to Canan, we got a private tour in some parts of Brussels that were yet to be explored by us, ignorant people from other cities in this country. We saw the Avenue Louise, the Delhaize in Boondael, the park, and the cemetery area in Elsene, near the ULB university with all its cool student hangouts.

To wrap things up we had a drink in a student cafe called “Tavernier” where I had a caipirina and Floris (in true Floris style) started up a heated discussion about the entry of Turkey to the EU…I will spare you the gory details, but the next time you see Canan, I advise you not to bring up this topic (that means you too Thomas).

At last it was time to say goodbye and head back to the train station. Floris was kind enough to be taxi driver (including cool shades) and with Niel, Olju, Umesh, Thomas, and myself as his passengers (yes that is right, you counted 6 people in 1 car) we took a wild ride through the centre of Elsene, saw the fair, a blonde woman with a nice dress ( Thomas was the one pointing this out), and others with lots of junk in the trunk… We did make it to the train station in one piece and without getting a ticket from our friends in uniform, so I am quite happy about that.

Should do this again some time.
–Ann