beaucoup de mouche

I'm sitting at my window right now, which is an incredibly pleasant view. HOWEVER, my host family has horses and there are tons of cows in the area. So naturally, there are tons and tons of flies. I suppose this is how people feel when they come to Oberlin in the summer, but really, I'm going to lose my mind.

I'm homesick for the first time today. It's sort of weird. I really, really, really miss American food. Belgian food really isn't all that different, honestly, and it's really good! And I find myself wanting not only the best food from home, but also the crappy food that I get when I'm in a hurry, like the Chinese food from the mall or Agave. I dunno... Maybe that's just how my homesickness is manifesting, but I really want wings from the Feve or my mom's spaghetti.

I also think it's because I'm at the end of a couple of really busy days, and I don't know when I'm going to see the friends I've made in Belgium yet.

I think that I was in sort of a grace period, where I got to go to Liege for a French class and speak English with other AFS students that I already knew. Now I have to face the actual facts of my exchange, that I don't really know anyone at my school (except Eva) and all my classes will be in French.

I still feel optimistic though, because the French gets easier every day, and I know I'll be able to make friends one way or another.

Anyway, in other exciting news, I finally had my first gaufre (waffle) and my first frites! Tres bon! The first time we got frites, we made the mistake of getting ketchup, which is NOT the same and as a big fan of American ketchup, I wasn't into the weird Belgian stuff. The next time, we did like the Belgians and got mayonnaise and a mustard sauce that I could pick off a list but trying to spell it would be impossible.

I keep telling myself that I'm going to take pictures of all of this stuff but when I'm in the moment it just doesn't come to my mind... But others DO take photos, and I'll steal them :p