Barefoot in Belgium

Note: For those of you who are following my blog purely because it is a blog about books and the world of publishing, I’m warning you now that for the next two months it will temporarily be turned into a travel blog detailing my adventures in Brussels, Belgium. 

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There are many things that I had hoped to learn during my time spent abroad, and breaking in a new pair of shoes before going to work was not one of them. Before I get into all the cool stuff I’ve seen thus far, let me tell ya a little bit about my day. First off, I thought that breaking in a new pair of shoes only applied to heels — not flats. Well, I learned the hard way, and the skin on the heels of my feet started rubbing off about halfway through my walk to work.

This summer I am interning at the U.S.-European Media Hub and after having my first day at work, I couldn’t be more excited! But due to the shoe situation, my morning was unbearable. An employee in the office was so nice to me and walked me over to the U.S. embassy to get my security badge, but at this point I had started to limp. I seriously considered taking my shoes off while in the embassy, but I didn’t until we sat down for a few minutes. My employee friend spoke English, but not extremely well, so I don’t think he really understood me when I tried to explain how badly my feet hurt and then he proceeded to take me on what felt like the world’s longest tour of the embassy, introducing me to every employee in the damn building as I walked at a snails pace behind him (he probably thinks I’m extremely slow all the time).

Then came lunch time. Both he and another employee offered to show me the various different lunch spots, but I was too embarrassed to explain for a second time that me feet were killing me (by this point I had started to refer to my flats as devil shoes) and simply lied, telling them I had brought my own lunch. They probably think I don’t like them or something, which is not the case at all. But I was on a mission to find other footwear. So instead of finding food for lunch, I walked several blocks barefoot to an H&M to find sandals. (I was a hot mess. Like the messiest of hot messes.) Surprisingly, the streets of Brussels are rather clean — I only encountered broken glass once. I got some funny looks from people, but wearing my devil shoes was out of the question. At one point, what seemed to be a homeless man, came up to me and offered me his pair of shoes (no worries, I declined), which made me wonder if he was actually even homeless or just really nice. Anyways I got the sandals and though they didn’t exactly match my outfit, it was the best decision I made all day.

For the rest of the afternoon I edited a few videos in my office (yes, I have my own office!) and learned the ins and outs of working a control room and various camera settings and lighting options. Tomorrow should be interesting — I have to set up all the technological stuff in the control room, which I’ve only been shown how to do once, for an interview with some important former woman leader of Spain (Sorry, I can’t remember her title, but I know she’s important), because the main tech guy will be gone tomorrow. There’s also going to be a sort of press conference held for her so that should be cool too.

This crooked overcast photo was taken by yours truly. 

Now on to the more interesting stuff: beer, waffles and pretty sights. I had the most amazingly delicious waffle on Friday during our tour of Brussels. It was so fresh and covered in Nutella and normally I don’t even care for Nutella that much, but this waffle was the best thing that I’ve ever tasted. Okay maybe that was a bit of an over exaggeration, but I also learned today that there are two kinds of waffles. During my walk home from work, I decided to treat myself to another waffle, seeing as my first one was so delicious and the fact that I had skipped lunch, but instead of biting into the mouth-watering goodness that I had on Friday, I bit into what tasted like a stale donut. So no, not all waffles are created equal. But the beer is also very yummy, though a lot stronger than in the states (haha, look at me calling it the states). I’m probably going to be a beer snob when I return home in August. As for the sights, I haven’t seen that much yet beyond downtown Brussels, but all the old architecture is gorgeous and I’m just so excited for the rest of this summer. Though I expect it to be filled with a lot of work (an internship and two classes), I’m also going to Amsterdam this weekend so I really can’t complain.