Can't kick butt let alone make coffee

Kick Butt Coffee
4600 Guadalupe at the Triangle, Austin, Tx


Simply put, Kick Butt Coffee sucks. The terrible lighting and an unimpressive food selection is enough to send anyone that enters running. How I managed not to leave immediately is truly a wonder. You couldn't possibly dream of studying inside this coffee shop... Not with the awkward music performance by self-deprecating, absent-minded artist who couldn't remember where his instrument was let alone what note to play next. He was from out of town and I hope they've politely encouraged him to return from whence he came.

I believe I stayed because I was forced to kill a bit of time after dinner and before pub trivia at The Flying Saucer later that evening. I highly recommend trivia night! But back to Kick Butt Coffee. I don't believe anyone could possibly enjoy a lukewarm drink of any kind let alone an iced coffee that is so! Here I am sitting with a friend with no coffee to enjoy and no hope of studying in the dark (and it was dark long before the performer arrived) or drowning out the music.

To add to the unpleasantries of the place, you will find there is no mirror in the bathroom, and yet a TV. Oh yes, and as you may have noticed on the website an overall alarming and just godawful Chuck Norris theme. My dear friend, Chuck Norris and coffee do not blend well together. Indeed I was never able to reduce my cognitive dissonance before leaving. Naturally I have no intention of returning to this terrible excuse of a cafe.

Photo: The Daily Texan
Here you will find a few notes from The Daily Texan on Kick Butt Coffee.. I find their grade B entirely too high.

"Ooh La La: How to be Infuriatingly French"

Current Location: Slouched on the couch
Currently Listening: Asher Roth - I Love College
Weather: Sunnny sun sun sunnny

For my birthday, YES I'm FINALLY TWENTY ONE!!!!!!!, Kristina got me a box of de-lish Leonidas chocolates and a funny book called "Ooh La La: How to be Infuriatingly French." After reading it I decided to come up with my own such how-to-guide.

Step 1: Always keep the mood lighting on...you know just in case.
Step 2: It's customary to observe "les neighbors" through their windows and pretty much any person walking down the street.
Step 3: Shop at Picard: the frozen only grocery store and pick up things like puree peas, escalopes de fois gras, and quartered figs.
Step 4: Eat hazelnuts in everything, and consume exorbitant amounts of nutella
Step 5: Put every cheese but mozzarella on your pizza.
Step 6: Store sugar in milk cartons.
Step 7: Have tiny ass kitchens so that when you open the fridge your butt touches the back wall. Oh and eat lots of confiture!
Step 8: Always buy belgian chocolate.
Step 9: Showcase all eccentricities especially in the window displays of your family shop
Step 10: Don't shower often.
Step 11: Learn traditional dance moves in your weekly African dance class.
Step 12: Never buy books in English or speak English for that matter unless a French-speaking American tries to speak to you in French.
Step 13: Alway order cidre with your meal and drink it from a bowl...like a cat. Michael Rosenthal would approve.
Step 14: Drink on the hour every hour!
Step 15: Revere French culture and lovingly tease Sarkozy
Step 16: Plaster your apartment with old, dark paintings that have been passed down in the family
Step 17: Bump the cars behind you in attempting to parallel park.
Step 18: Ladies always cover their shoulders and never wear silly American things like flip flops.
Step 19: Never go to church
Step 20: Spend summer holidays at the family chateau
Step 21: Since the French rarely leave France the only way to show kids some wildlife is at the city zoo.
Step 22: Lure your gay jewish boyfriend to Bois de Vincennes for a romantic boat ride.
Step 23: Flambee everything with Grand Marnier
Step 24: Eat crepes and gaufres daily without gaining a single pound.
Step 25: Shake that laffy taffy (because you secretly listen to American rap, but are behind about 2 years)
Step 6: Pucker up for PDA. French kissing in public is mandatory!
Step 27: Own a menswear shop in the Marais if you want to profit off all the bar mitzvahs
Step 28: Let old things fall apart. And rename streets every block.
Step 29: Never drink water in public. Wine or espresso only.
Step 30: Be a cute gay couple.
Step 31: Never get worked up about shops closing at 6pm.
Step 32: Take romantic strolls through the Marais with your same sex significant other.
Step 33: Buy over priced clothes from small boutiques that carry only 6 articles of clothing
Step 34: Always sport a one piece pant suit
Step 35: Be excessively green in terms of recycling but leave cigarette butts everywhere.
Step 36: Eat strange things like goose liver.
Step 37: Have a nice ass from walking up all those stairs since elevator technology never made it to France

For the complete picture by picture guide, check out the Facebook album I made.

I miss wearing t-shirts...

Location: At ze kitchen table
Currently Listening: Eric Pridz - Pjano
Weather: Decent. A little cold but I managed to shop the Bastille fresh market in less than pants. At least I didn't get pooped on by pidgeon. .aka poor Laura.

One thing I didn't manage to bring is a single t-shirt to Paris! What was I thinking?! You can't go out in public in t-shirts, but seriously I end up wearing crazy things in the comfort of my apartment because I didn't bring any "loungewear." Hahah it's kinda like when you see all the guys at school wearing their nice button ups and slacks and you know it must be laundry day.

Well, I FINALLY bought my ticket to Greece to meet up Rachel this May. For the longest time I only had a ticket leaving Greece to get back to Paris in time to catch my flight back to the states. (YAY can't wait to be home!) You aren't going to believe what crazy adventure my friend Luiza and I have in store for ourselves to get to Athens cheaply.

So first we have to bus out to some little town outside of Paris called Beauvais and catch a Ryan Air flight to Venice. We'll stay the night and a day there and check out the city, and then wake up super early the next day to get to the port to catch a Minoan Line ferry cruise called Ikarus Palace to the Greek island Corfu. Guess how long's the cruise. TWENTY FOUR HOURS. Haha and we bought deck accommodation tickets, which basically means we stay awake all night and roam the public lounges with our bags on our backs. We found out my friend from Milan, Alan, who apparently did this once, that if we run on the cruise in front of the herd of deck ticket holders we can claim some space behind a staircase where the crew members won't catch us sleeping. We didn't realize that even in May it will still be cold out at sea so it's not exactly fun being up on the deck at night. Woops, missed that memo. I hope they sell espresso on that boat....... Well after one crazy night on that cruise we make it to Corfu where we'll spend a few days soakin' up the sun on the island. Then we'll have to take a night ferry to this Greek port city Patras and then take the subway to some other city where we can catch a train to Athens. Oh God, got to love budget travel. :) I think the one problem with budget travel is that it's usually a catastrophe. Then I feel like the world owes me something, and I end up spending money to make up for it. Haha. Okay well, hopefully I can stay sane all the way to Athens on my Skippy Jar compliments of Karina who recently visited and brought me peanut butter.

WHAT-THE-FRENCH!
Went to a MONOCHROME party the other night with my neighbors Alan, Henning and Matthias. The costumes were pretty crazy. Everyone had to wear one color only and they took it seriously. One guy wore all foil. I think he was supposed to be the Tin Man. Another guy wore orange pants, shirt, and turban...and held a giant carrot the entire night. But nothing was as ridiculous as what my neighbors and Henning's girlfriend were wearing. They went in this ABBA meets Teletubby yellow attire equipped with a yellow ruffly blouse and a tighter European version of gaucho pants. Apparently Henning had convinced some wholesale (they only sell to retailers by the hundreds)shop to give them 4 samples to show to a "crowd of hundred people" to "confirm" the purchase. Hahaha. Talk about awesome.

"We are always running for the thrill of it, thrill of it" - Empire of the Sun

Location: My sofa that caves in the middle

Currently Listening: Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream

Weather: A little drizzle, a little shine

Spent the "better" of the morning waiting at the SNCF office only to be disappointed by the lack of good deals to South France...maybe I won't end up there for my birthday. I really wanted to see Nice... Maybe I will go there in May. I always thought traveling alone would be fun, but now I just feel like without someone else there, what's the point? But then the other part of me thinks why should you need someone else to enjoy life. Oh I don't know. I think I just wanted to go to the beach to drown in the sun and try to pretend I don't very much need to be home taking care of matters with friends and family...and of course spending my 21st with my best friends. Well, I'm in Paris for my birthday end of story.

What's it like in Paris? It's normal. I think what I've learned from being here is that life is the same wherever you live. It still has its ups and downs...so you can't just run off to the other side of the world and expect life to suddenly be more exciting. I always wanted to start my life in Europe, but I think I could be happy anywhere if I just decide to live life that way.

That's not say that Paris isn't completely different and bizarre in it's own way from Austin. So just for kicks.... You know you're in Paris when...

-Wine is as cheap as bottled water

-Local pizzerias are the hot spot for anyone that sports a yamaka or earlocks

-Children are always accompanied by their au pair
-Women wear billowy pants like Aladdin

-Most guys have better hair days than your very best

-Cute dogs sit on window sills of small shops

-The constant techno gets you more jittery than any cup of espresso

-Cafe Noisette ("hazelnut coffee") is not a cup of hazelnut coffee, but rather espresso served with a touch of cream to give the color of hazelnut

-The business schools hire professional bouncers for their parties

-Chestnuts are not something in your plate of Buddha Delight, but are mashed into a creamy sweet paste for crepes [Really strange texture... don't really recommend it]

-Tomato in a sandwich is not slices, but rather pasta sauce

Oh Paris, so silly, but I still love you.

By the way, I started this 365 days of pictures ordeal on Flickr so check it out:

Saloni365

<-- A little preview

"Ah-what what what what what did you think would happen next?" - LCD Soundsystem

Location: Soaking up the window light from my bed, now equipped with one killer pillow
Weather: Warmer than Austin, Texas, what?!
Currently Listening: Time to Get Away by LCD Soundsystem

Dublin:
Good Lord getting to Dublin on Wednesday was quite the journey. Flying Ryan Air was absolutely miserable. Had to pay 10 euros for being American (non EU passport carriers must pay for check-in) and my carry-on was so heavy that I literally wore 3 pants, 2 shirts, 3 sweaters and my coat, hat, and scarf. Add to that, my make-up in my boots, laptop charger, deodorant, phone, key, and wallet in my pockets. Oh and I wore my SLR around my neck. Yes, I was ready to pass out from hyperthermia. Naturally I made no hesitation in coughing up 3 euros for the bottled water on the flight. On the plane to further irritate me, an earring Rachel had given me for Christmas fell out of my wallet. I never found it, but I did manage to break the other that I was holding up to show the girl in the seat next to me when I tried to return it to my wallet. Well a flight and bus later, I was thrilled to see that gorgeous of a blonde Brady and pretty much collapsed in bed upon arrival to her dorm.

Exploring Dublin started the next morning. After hanging out with Oscar Wilde atop "Pride Rock" in Merrion Square, I walked Brady to class (I should have carried her books and brought her coffee) at Trinity, I headed straight to all the good shopping on Grafton Street. My first stop was Marks & Spencers, which made me get all nostalgic about Scotland. Used to pick up all the yummy, extravagant chocolate mousse desserts at the M&S on Princes Street and enjoy them in the gardens below. I made no hesitation in picking up one of their melt-in-your-mouth chocolate shortbread slices from the bakery.Lots of butter and lots of sugar equals very happy Saloni.

That happy snack set me on my way to River Island, which has really fun wallets and handbags...and I pretty much wanted to buy a whole new wardrobe- maybe because I finally wasn't looking at things that cost hundreds of euros (Silly Paris). At that point though I'd not had my will power broken from shopping for non-groceries so my ogling didn't result in shopping bags. Top Shop has a lot of cute clothes, too. It's not as cutting edge fashion as the boutiques in Le Marais where I live but of course the pricing is much more accessible.

During her lunch hour, Brady took me to Butlers Chocolate Cafe where I had some hot chocolate and a whiskey truffle. Milk chocolate definitely has its place in my heart, but it was definitely a change from the intense dark chocolate consumption in France and Belgium.

Brady had a little more class so I decided to walk around St. Stephen's Green, which is a massivepark/garden. I wished I brought a book with me to lounge and read, but I had nothing but a map and camera on me. After a nice walk outside around the duck pond and starting-to-bloom trail, I decided to hit up the national museums, most of which were closed because of a low wage workers protest, but I was able to visit The National Gallery to see Jack B. Yeats' work. His painting "Many Ferries" intrigued me most.

At night, Brady took me The Porterhouse where I was able to satisfy my craving for Bailey's on the Rocks. The glass was shaped funny or more likely purposefully so that the ice cube could not leave the glass. I've decided when I return to Austin, I'll be mixing Baileys in cup of Sonic ice, yes, I hate fast-food, but this drive-in establishment is good for something.

After walking around the rest of Temple Bar(this can refer to the pub or the street of pubs), which I found to be rather touristy and what I envision what a street would look like if Party City got drunk and puked on it, I had Brady take me to O'Connel Street and forced swimsuit shopping on her. Rachel can take comfort in the fact that I've decided not to swim in a bra and underwear in Greece. We had gotten to this store and picked out all the swimsuits to try on and just as we reached the fitting rooms the store closed. Even though I was royally pissed at Penney's, I dragged Brady back there in the morning to finish what we started since the prices were just too good. I felt perfectly fine with purchasing a swimsuit for 7 euros because I will probably never use it after the trip. I pretty much hate swimming and never really need a bathing suit other water activities, but figured I must go swimming anyway in Greece because it's the thing to do. After picking out the swimsuit, I found a beautiful, lavender dress at surprisingly Penney's and had to get it. First article of clothing purchased on this trip! Brady got herself a burnt orange purse. I was a big advocate of Brady buying a purse and anything relating to her girly-transformation.

Purse packed with hiking essentials (aforementioned swimsuit and dress) Brady and I boarded the bus to Glendalough for "some green" as per my request. There we went hiking on a few nature trails in a lake filled valley below the mountains and shared a lovers' picnic on a fallen tree-trunk. In the forest, the air tasted so fresh and untainted from cigarettes. The trees and ground were covered in green moss and looked beautiful. Wherever I stood I could hear the sound of the stream, and for the first time I felt so at ease.

On Friday Night, we met up with the Frisbee kids (Brady plays on the Women's Ultimate Frisbee Team, go figure) for someone's twenty-first at this pub called The Bernard Shaw. It was fairly crowded, but there was was a back room reserved for us. Brady thinks drinks are expensive in Dublin. In France you can pay 4-5 euros for a half a pint. You pay that much in Dublin and get a full pint! Anyway, I ended up with one of the must-haves (I turned down the Guinness as I've tried it before and there was no way in heck I'd be able to consume an entire glass let alone more than sipfull, and some crazy purple drink called like Booker's Fast, someone correct me on this..because apparently it tastes like dying), a pint of Bulmers. That took me forever to drink. My belly is so small! And it wasn't pleasant to me either. I'm glad I have the sense not to keep up with Brady. She's full blooded Irish when it comes to drinking. Anyway the pub and meeting all of Brady's new friends was entertaining, but it soon came time for dancing at The Village! The atmosphere is very different from Parisian clubs. Most people just dance to dance and enjoy the good music ( a lot of indie techno, classic 80s songs )...no excessive touching/grinding. It's definitely worth the cover, that's all I have to say. We danced until I don't know how long, and then Brady and I walked across town with some of the frisbee boys back to her dorms.

I had a lazy Saturday morning and slept in till noon (Brady had slept for what, 3 hours? and left for a frisbee tournament). I finally got up, showered, and made my way into center of town to finish up the tourist attractions which I decided to see at turtle pace. Rushing through from point-to-point just would've killed me. I enjoyed a tour(included in the entrance fee) of Dublin Castle, which now serves as a government building and visited the ChristChurch and St.

Patrick's Cathedrals. Actually after

seeing ChristChurch, I felt it unnecessary to pay to see the other and only walked around the nice garden outside. I exhausted myself from walking but managed to get myself as far as possible from Brady's dorm and so I inched slowly back to the dorms to meet her upon return from the tournament. So tired from my day, Brady and I just laid in bed reading for the evening, me with Twilight(KP lent it to me) and Brady with her physics textbook.

On Sunday, we woke up and took the DART tram to the fishing village of Howth.

Outside the station we ran into a fresh market where we tried on some seaweed beauty cream and got cupcakes! We hiked our way up

through the town on the hill with the warm sun shining down on us to get to Howth Head. The cliff was so green and beautiful and overlooked the

sea, definitely

breath-taking. Brady and I found a big rock and just sat to enjoy the good weather and a few sandwiches. After coming down the hill we walked around the other side of town to try and find some castle gardens.

At night we came home just in time to start getting ready for Brady's Texas Independence Day party fully equipped with enchiladas, salsa & chips, margaritas, and George Strait. Brady had just gotten started on the cooking when I realized she had several packets of Papadum and no tortillas!!! Papadum are like these fried, spicy Indian

crackers you eat with dinner and needless to say would not be useful in making enchiladas. Brady rushed back to the store while I kept Sean (a friend from UT also studying in Dublin) and the other guests company. She returned soon enough and taught me how to make some vegetarian enchiladas. So so easy and so so good. I will definitely be making these upon return home. I made them with some faux-chicken cubes (Quorn Chik'n Tenders) which actually worked out really nicely even though I didn't shred them like real chicken. It was so nice to eat something that tasted like home, although I still haven't killed my craving for guacamole, the last bit of Tex-Mex I had before leaving Texas. T sheer stomach delight sent me in a food coma for the few hours I had left before my flight back to Paris.

"So what can I do when I'm thinking of you?" - Shout Out Louds

The Answer? Wear my mom's earrings, eat belgian chocolate for Rachel, try pink beers for Paddy, order a dose of Jameson for Joe, attempt to purchase a giant bra of Belgian lace for Karina among other things

Location: En route to Dublin

Currently Listening: My Friend and the Ink by Shout Out Louds

Weather: Surprisingly sunny

I didn't make it to Lux, but I got the "Be" & "Ne" parts out of the way.

An Overview of Belgium & the Netherlands:

Brussels

Emily, her friend Carley, and I caught a train Friday morning to Brussels where we met up with Chole. None of our cell phones worked and meeting up in the train station was nothing short of a disaster. It's funny how now matter how clear a person is about meeting place there's always some unavoidable confusion with the interpretation of places. Anyway, I followed the little-kid-lost-in-the-grocery-store-plan and stood in one place till Momma Chole found us.

While Em and Carley dropped off their things at their hostel, Chole and I walked around the Grote Markt (Market Square) which was full of SURPRISE, SURPRISE beer, chocolate, and waffles!! You know that bewitching smell of buttery popcorn they pipe out of movie theatres to lure people inside? Well, intensify that by infinity and switch it out with the cozy smell mapley waffles and dark chocolate. Basically Richard Simmon's worst nightmare. Of course, I hit up Neuhaus and Leonidas, which are the more affordable, most heard of chocolatiers, but couldn't walk two feet with out finding myself in smaller local chocolate shops where I selected the most interesting truffles. I didn't even step inside Godiva since it's way too easy to find it at home.

For dinner, we met up with with Carlos, my cousin Ram's new wife Monika's college buddy who I met at the wedding. The restaurant was traditionally Belgian and of course lacking in the vegetarian department. I ended up with fondue and a Lindemans Framboise beer. Surprisingly the beer went down pretty easily and I rather enjoyed it. The fondue on the other hand was some sort of fried mushy cheese. Not really pleasant. I will have to try fondue somewhere else in Europe, that's for sure. At dinner we talked about how easy it seemed to ride the metro or train in Brussels without anyone checking tickets, but Carlos warned us that the train station closest to him was often checked by controllers. Sure enough on the way home sleepy from beer, Chole and I forgot to mark our Belgium "Go Pass" with our arrival destination before getting on the train and were fined by the controllers! Luckily they only gave us fine worth the price of a ticket.

Antwerp

The next day Chole and I met up with her friends Patsiya and Pui to explore Antwerp. We tried to meet up with Emily and Carly at the train station, but couldn't find them anywhere. Apparently we were standing on either side of a wall and missed each other completely! After a long while we had no choice but to give up and left the train station. A short walk from the station and we found ourselves in China Town, where I found the most ginormous Jumbo Size Asian Rice Crackers. I felt like a little kid and haddd to get them. :) Plus they are considered a luxury in Paris and cost a arm and a leg (a theory later disproved by trip to LIDL discount store). I also picked up some instant Pad Kee Mao to make in Dublin... wouldn't recommend it..but apparently I'm not allergic to MSG 'cause the noodles didn't kill me (This is my version of living on the edge).

My intense Belgium research (I spent all of Thursday during class reading wikitravel) told me about a hidden street in Antwerp, which you won't find on any maps. Needless to say it's a walking street that can't be accessed by car and is found behind giant sometimes closed doors. I won't ruin the fun if you plan to visit so I'll just tell you the street is near Hoogstraat. The street was full of surprises: cute European stacked homes, a bizarre art gallery, greenery, and a small restaurant.

We spent most of the day walking around the nice clothing stores and small boutiques deeper into the town. The major fashion museum was closed, but we peeked inside the building through the windows and it was so beautifully designed. The boutiques surrounding the museum made for a delightful browse. I couldn't peel my eyes off some of cardigans and dresses I found, but of course none of trees on the street were sprouting euros. The Staadstfeetszal shopping centre was also a sight for sore eyes. In the center of the mall there's a swanky Laurent-Perrier Champagne Bar....literally the shape of a champagne glass. Who wouldn't want to sit on top of the bar and drown himself in champagne?

We picnicked in the main square by a beautiful flower market. It was nice to see the bright reds, purples, and yellows after a cold, colorless winter. Good old PB&H (Peanut butter & honey - new cheap love) wasn't enough to fill our bellies so we ventured off to find dessert. I spotted a GuyLian Cafe and dragged the girls inside. My chocolate milkshake was decent..it was essentially a glass of milk with tiny bits of chocolate on the top and bottom and gave me a terribly stomach ache (lactose intolerant)... but the chocolate was naturally sinful.

After some more shopping and a visit to Castle Steen, we ended our day taking goofy pictures on the boardwalk of Antwerp Port. Pretty sure all the locals were staring at us...4 crazy girls photographing themselves jumping up into blue sky. I will never get too old for some games.

Maastricht

In the morning, Chole and I met up with her friends Sara, Laura, Corinna and Lad for day in Maastricht, a town in the Netherlands for Carnaval. Again we tried to meet up with Emily and Carly at the train station but to no avail. We picked up some beer and rum cola at the nearest Albert Heijn and headed into town to meet up some more friends at an Irish pub.

We'd heard that Maastricht was second best after the carnaval in Venezia. Well needless to say, Carnaval was absolutely crazy. Not sure if it was water falling from the sky or beer. We spent the day in the streets making friends with everyone (One lady just gave me a glass of Heineken for no reason other than I raised my hand slightly when she asked her friends if anyone wanted one) in their crazy costumes. The locals spend all year putting together extravagant costumes. Sometimes it seemed as though a family spent all year collecting all things blue(or green or pink or silver or black) and sewed it together to make some sort shiny, fabulous outfit. Every group had floats (equipped with coolers for storing beer) and swarmed the streets for the parade that lasted all day collecting more and more people. The craziest costume was an entire group of toilet brushes..but the shock from that was nothing in comparison to the baby-in-a-glass-box float.

We felt ashamed for our serious lack of costumes and searched all through town to find the one store left open on a Sunday. Chole and I bought masks but mine couldn't really fit over my glasses so I wore it on the back of my head and used Carly's eyeliner(I ran into Carly and Emily out of sheer luck later that afternoon) to draw a peace sign on my cheek. I also made a make-shift hippie headband out of a yellow clip-on highlight from Corinna....haha. It was interesting-looking...

Whenever it got too cold or alcohol in-take required relieving we made ours way into the bars that were extravagantly decorated. Imagine Party City puking on a bar. The one thing that seemed to confuse me was the street full of not bottles or beer cans but glasses. Apparently the bartenders don't collect the glasses or make any attempt to stop people from walking right out of the bar with glasses in hand. So naturally I felt no need to return the adorable beer-mug shaped shot glasses after Sara and I had ourselves some Jameson.

Brugge

On the train to Brugges I realized I left all my notes and my map at home. Luckily I ran into some guy from Cleveland who let me borrow his guidebook for the train ride there where I hurriedly jotted a list of things to see.

Map-less and groggy I made my rainy day exploration to the nearest tourist center where I had to buy a city map from a machine. After leaving the tourist center, I looked everywhere for this lake of swans, but gave up trying and headed into the town center.

The architecture of the town was delightful and overly cute. It's kind of like walking around Southlake Town Square but much bigger. Mostly the city's remodeled so it's kind of like historical fiction...but I don't mind it much. I imagine walking through Brugge is what it would be like to walk through a town of ceramic Christmas houses if came to life.

The cold sprinkle made me shiver so I was pleased to come across the Museum-Gallery Xpo: Salvador Dalí in one of the squares. Dali's work never fails to surprise, amaze, and delight me. He was so unbelievably clever. The gallery itself was its own work of art, such glorious colors and textures and arches.

But what's a day in Belgium without handmade chocolates? I decided to eat chocolate and keep walking as food seemed too expensive, plus rain and being alone was too depressing for un table pour une.

The Truffle Hop:

The Chocolate Line

On Rick Steve's recommendation, I tried a slab of dark chocolate with crispy cacao beans of which I made scrumptious lunch.

Dumon
I'd remembered reading something about a small museum underneath the chocolate shop, but the lady inside had no idea what I was talking about so I gave up bought some champagne truffles and walked away.

Louvain La Nueve

Walked around the fresh/flea market...you can pick up a jumpsuit or 1kg of epinard for 5 Euros. At the mediterranean stand, I picked up red bell peppers instead of tomatoes (YET AGAIN). I thought they were feta stuffed cherry tomatoes. I hate my life sometimes.

Of course it didn't take me long to find a kitchen store where I found a few must-haves.

1) Ravioli Mold by Imperia

2) Pasta Bike by Marcato

3) Yes the are birthday gift hints. Think of it like this. You buy the supplies, I cook you up a wonderful meal.

The rest of the mall was unimpressive, except for the grocery store...I kick myself every time I see the prices of food in other countries. Paris is so dang expensive. I feel like I'm living on a shoestring cooking every meal, not shopping, and staying with friends when I travel, but I'm failing miserably as my bank account is draining. I'm not sure what I can do except to try and stay in Paris as much as possible. I really wish I had a summer internship sorted out to make things more comfortable for my family and had made a bit more money working over the fall semester.

Great, I'm going to be late for school now. Wish me luck. I promise not to complain as much seeing as I'm in Paris, but I'm afraid it's absolutely Parisian to complain about everything. À tout à l'heure'

"What do you think they do in the Netherlands for two hours?" -Sara

Location: Chole's Air Mattress in Louvain La Nueve

Currently Listening: Super Sjoene Daag (vlierglied) - De Radlers

Weather: Mild/Humid..probably from hanging wet laundry

Well, it sure has been a whirlwind weekend as I've spent the past few days making a tour of Belgium with a quick stopover in Maastricht for Carnaval. My weekend has consisted of the following:

- Losing my hat in the bathroom of a biscuit shop

- Intense  BBCW consumption (Belgian Beer Chocolate & Waffles)

- A day each in Brussels, Antwerp, Brugge, and Louvain La Nueve (where Chole is studying)

- The Maastricht Carnaval (the European origins of Mardi Gras void of beads and flashing)

- Catching up on the Buck Wild History of Miss Chole Brumley

I would love to write more, and maybe I will on the plane, but I am of course totally unpacked for my flight to Dublin in a few hours. Promise fun stories to come!!

What-the-Dutch?

Every five seconds this song played from a float in the Carnaval parade in Maastricht.