Mondays. Mondays. I was pretty drowsy this morning. A little out of it. I ate some more red berry cereal and speculoos on bread for breakfast. I drank a little coffee to start my engine. At home, I usually drink coffee at least once a day, if not twice. I am drinking a lot less here. Mainly because there isn't any super quality coffee accessible. I decided to take advantage of my lessened desire to drink coffee to back of my addiction some. I drink a lot of tea here though. Even though it isn't the quality of Fezziwigs tea, it is still calming. A hot beverage does wonders. During French we just reviewed the things we learned this unit for our test on Wednesday. That ended quickly so I worked on a list of all the things I needed to know for the test. Our Western Heritage was its usual torture. At one point I drifted to Pinterest and dreamed about Ireland as I scrolled through its beauty in pictures. That probably wasn't the smartest idea, but hey, you can only listen to the line of disastrous Roman emperors for so long. Chapel followed and then lunch. Lunch was leftovers. That was a-okay with me because that meant more taco soup!!! Such tastiness in one bowl. After lunch, I worked on my Literature homework. I had to read all the poems assigned, which took some time since I wanted to dissect every line. I listened to some classical music while I read. Pretty much the perfect combination. Two forms of art that inspire such beautiful and deep thoughts and feelings. I could've sat there all day lost in my dreams. At 3 we had to Skype our French teacher, so my peace was interrupted. She went over pronunciations. Honestly, it gets a little ridiculous. I understand it is important to say the words right, but she goes so far to try to get us to not sound American. That is impossible. Even if I had a perfect French accent, everything else about me would definitely clue people in that I am American. Especially the me speaking English part. Some of us were talking about it later, and we concluded that we don't get offended when non-English speakers can't say English words perfectly. If they can say them remotely close, I am impressed. So I am not sure why perfection is required in this area. After the Skype session, I finished my remaining Literature homework. Then we prepared to leave for the train station. We had to reserve seats on a train and that can only be done in person. This was super nerve racking because we weren't sure if the person who would help us would know English. We could have been faced with a French only conversation. That would have been difficult since we only know like 20 phrases. None of which have to do with reserving a seat on a train. We had to wait in line for some time. Finally, another group of us who also had to reserve tickets were called to the window. The guy didn't know English, so he sent them to the lady next to him. We all followed them and waited for the lady. They ended up not being able to get any seats on their trains so they sadly had to leave empty handed. Well, while they were struggling to figure out what they needed, we started thinking about our train and wanted to double check it. When we looked, we saw there was also a bus ride on the trip, which I had previously overlooked. My bad. We tried to scramble for a different route, but they all had some kind of road block associated with them. We came back to the original plan and had to accept that we would need to also buy bus tickets. While we did that, Hannah and Abby reserved their seats and then it was our turn. Annah had what we needed to reserve pulled up on her phone and the lady spoke decent English so we got it figured out. Train reservations are pricey though, and we were not expecting that. The lady was also extremely worn out and frustrated by the time we got to her, so we tried to just be chill and make it as easy on her as possible. She was helpful and we successfully reserved our seats. Now, we just have to go back and look at all the bus rides we overlooked and buy some bus tickets. woohoo, more money....it's fine. But really it is, in the end I will have visited the most beautiful places in this world, so I am happy. It was pouring rain while we were in the train station and none of us had prepared for rain. Luckily, right when we left the rain stopped. We stopped by the market for some snacks and then went back to the facility for dinner. When we left the market, it was pouring rain again. I just got a little wet....aka I was a sopping mess. I put my fruit juice and grapes in the fridge (I am trying to prevent sickness. I just have this feeling germs are coming for me. I sneezed twice today. If I sneeze more than once in a day, it probably means I've got some bacteria that my body wants to remove asap) Just an inkling though. Dinner was chicken noodle soup (perfect for if I may be getting sick) and I had some cinnamon/mint/herbal tea. I am really trying to build up my immunity haha. After dinner, we were going to finish The Patriot. I had a little time, so I started on another homework assignment due during free travel. That won't be getting done at that time, so I wanted to finish it today. We finished the movie and I had finished half of my assignment. It was tea time after the movie. I made some Alps Breeze tea, which had more herbs and what I hoped would have preventative sickness powers. I finished the rest of my assignment. Tomorrow, we have a group day trip to Bruges and Oostende. No School! WOO! I love how our school week is inconsistent. All schools should be like this. I should get some rest if I am to truly practice all preventative measures. That is next on my agenda.

Fun Facts: I did some laundry today. Mom sent me a picture of Levi, and he has the cutest head of blonde hair now. Seriously, the cutest child in the universe, and I love him so and miss him dearly.

Shoutout: Amelia Rogers for being a great Chaplain to our club this semester and for working with Ben (which I know can be a feat.) Just kidding, I know you guys make a great team! Thanks for posting devotionals so I can access them all the way across the ocean and continue to be uplifted! You rock!