Some Things I Learned in Belgium

I believe that traveling offers some of the best opportunities of learning and throughout my trips, I always take away something from each trip.

Some Things I Learned in Belgium:
1. Belgium mainly consists of beer, chocolate, waffles, and fries (or at least that is how it appeared to me!) Chocolate is king in Belgium! I tried famous Belgian brands like Neauhaus, Godiva, Leonidas, Nirvana, Marcolini, Wittamer, and too many other brands to list! In America, chocolate is often ate as a dessert or occasionally as a snack, but in Belgium, it is ate much more! Nearly every cafe I went to, chocolate was served with my coffee, tea, and it had been served with breakfast! As for the beers in Belgium, they are crazy good. This is coming from someone who is not a huge fan of beer, but in Belgium, they seem to have a much stronger taste and they put America beer companies to shame.I generally stuck to the fruity beers since I don’t really like the overall taste of beer itself but I still enjoyed them. I’d guess that I had tasted at least forty beers in my time in Belgium. The abundance of beer was also crazy, every restaurant had at least twenty or thirty beers to choose from and they even have a beer pipeline! And now for their waffles, which seem to be the most perfect and the fluffiest waffles in the world! Sammie and I actually didn’t eat a whole lot of waffles, I think we both had one or two waffles but they were amazing! In America, we have our ice cream shops and subway shops where we can choose all the toppings we want, but in Belgium, they have their waffle shops! Anything you wish you could get on a waffle, you can! And lastly, their godsent fries! I still remember the moment of disbelief as I bit into my first belgian fry as the wonderfully crispy outer coating gave way to a flavourful, buttery center. They put every single fry in the United States to shame! The secret to their fries is that they double fry them, which makes them that much better. And like chocolate, fries seemed to be served with every single meal. People ate them for breakfast and they were piled on every plate for lunch and dinner!

2. Friends greet each other by kissing on the cheek! This took a little adjusting to, but I don't think I’ve ever given more kisses on the cheek, nor have I received that many!

3. Transportation is far different! In America, it seems as though we go every where in our cars but it is far different in Belgium. Bikers are abundant, people walk nearly everywhere, and trams and trains can get you from one city to another with ease. The transportation over there was absolutely lovely and far less lazily and dangerous as it is here.

4. I am a slow traveler. I would have loved to have slowed things down. I wish we could have slowed things down and absorbed all the cities more. I could have spent a week in just Brussels, and Ghent and Brugge could have been spread out for multiple days but I think we were able to see alot in the limited time we were there.

5. The Belgian architecture is amazing! If you like old, detailed, intricate, and packed-with-history kind of buildings, then Belgium is one of the best destinations for you! I’ve fallen in love for so many times with the different interior and exterior designs of the buildings, cathedrals, museums, castles, rail stations, etc. that I have seen here. Every single thing is picturesque!

6. Belgian is a very “open-minded” country. They were the second country in the world to legalize gay marriage, abortion has been legal since the 1990s, drinking is allowed at sixteen years old, and overall, it seems to be less judgemental. In America, I can’t count on one hand how many people give Sammie and I dirty looks or even laugh, but in Belgium, we were treated as a normal couple and it was actually kind of peaceful.

7. And lastly, I learned what true love is. I was blessed to be able to follow Anna and Hailey around for the entire trip and it truly opened my mind to the definition of love. I realized that these two were giving up everything just to be together and there is nothing more heartwarming than that. Anna was leaving her home and her family behind to be with Hailey. Hailey had gave up her family to be with Anna. I learned that love is a lot more than just sexual acts, it is about enjoying every single moment with each other and experiencing the love between the two of them changed my perspective on everything I thought I knew about love.

Love,
Lia