a different kind of tourist.

Yesterday, two American exchange students met at a train station in the little spec of a country nestled snugly between France, Germany, and the Netherlands, a country that most don't know as Belgium. At 11:48 a.m., they rushed onto a train that had the intentions to depart at 11:46, but it didn't want to leave the girls behind. Mardi, 31/8/2010, Braine-l'Alleud to Bruxelles Centrale is what both the girls wrote on their key cards, even though the train conductor never came.

In approximately 900 seconds, they were there. Clueless, excited, and smiling: they were there. After descending the train to then ascend a flight of stairs, they searched for a map they could not find, but oh well. They would later buy a Brussels Guide in The Cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudule with three coins, a 2euro piece from one wallet and two 1euro pieces from another, saying bonjour and merci to the woman at the counter, hoping they sounded as if they lived there, because they did.

The Grande Place: The Corporations Houses, the House of the Dukes of Brabant, L'Hotel de Ville, the King's House. L'Ilot Sacré. Les Galeries Saint-Hubert. The Royal Palace. Oh, and of course the legendary Manneken Pis.

But they didn't know where they were or what they were visiting. They had no plans, simply desire to explore and discover. Their cameras were exhausted by the end of the day, as well as the word "wow" and themselves.

It was the perfect adventure.

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this is a blog

that you may find profound, deviant, or insipid.

It may teach you, inspire you and leave you lost in thought; or it may bore you and cause your eyes to drag slowly shut.

You may read it for an hour, or maybe not at all.

Maybe you'll get to know me, maybe in ways I don't even know me.

I left the United States in August 2010 as a Rotary exchange student. I'll leave Belgium in July 2011 as Jordann.

about me

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Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium
I follow the sun.
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