I made a spur of the moment decision last Monday to do a solo trip to somewhere by bus. There's an awesome bus service called Megabus that will take you all over Europe at a really, really cheap price. So I decided to go to Brussels, Belgium.
Thursday night I left for London. I then stayed up all night in London - if you ever try this, rethink your life and don't do it. But if you do ask me for tips because I know where you can go that you can be safe and warm and have a free bathroom. Which is really important to wash up in. Also, when the police leave in a haste to go to a potential stabbing nearby, make the correct decision as I did to stay in the Starbucks and not leave until daylight.
It was a fantastic thing and I'm so glad I did it but as an extrovert in a country that's first language wasn't English I was struggling. I wanted to be able to freak out at people. I want to live in Brussels. It has everything - international politics, they speak French, it's a gorgeous city, and there's a ton of art. I loved it - except for my struggle to find Gluten free food. I didn't really think that part through, but I found this awesome cafe Exki. They had the best green tea and they also had gluten and dairy free food options. I just ate anything that was gluten and dairy free that I could find because it was so hard to come by.
The first day I was there I got extremely lost because again, I didn't have a map. Well I never got a map but I got a metro map and that's kind of the same thing right? I knew about where my hotel was and I knew about where I was based on the metro map so I just wandered. Seeing as I was soaked, exhausted, and starving; common traveling states in Europe for me apparently, I just stayed in my hotel to get dry and sleep. I found a grocery store that had Gluten and dairy free food so I was happy.
The next morning I started out by exploring Parc de Cinquantenaire. It is my favorite place so far. I loved it. I would have gone in but I wanted to see more of the city. The next stop was the Royal Palaces and their gardens. Which were gorgeous. Then I went to the Grand Place area and the Grass Market areas as well. Eventually I had seen everything I wanted to so I went into a museum. It was only 2 euro to get in and I got to see a lot of art. I would have to stay up until 12:30 to catch my bus so it was a long day. I found a place that was open 24 hours and was able to sneak in and just hang out. It was the bar of a hotel and I just sat there and let the time pass by reading a book and using their Wifi. I was able to then go meet my bus.
The bus was not as restful as I thought it would be. We left late and at about 3am were woken up to go through border control. We weren't even back in the UK we were still in France. I DON'T UNDERSTAND. My passport only got stamped for France. It was so weird. Then we got on a ferry. I HATE FERRIES. It was the closest I had ever been to motion sickness. I hated it. I could feel the water rocking the boat - it was torture. Then I slept for about another hour on the bus. So in total only like an hour and a half. Then when I arrived in London I ventured towards the train station. I got breakfast and waited for my train. I should have booked an earlier train. I hopped onto an earlier train and got back in time for lunch. Then I showered and put off sleep until that night. I slept like a log and am still exhausted.
Time to go work on a group project after a field trip today. Sometimes I forget that homework is part of this semester.
Bise Bise
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