JOYEUX NOEL!!!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!! I love you all so so so much, and I can't wait to see everyone in six months!

Tonight we're celebrating with my host dad's family, and tomorrow we'll be with my host mom's family, so it'll be a little crazy, and then I'm moving on either Saturday or Sunday and I'm not anywhere near close to being done packing, so that will be an adventure within itself :)

I *did* promise pictures from Paris, so I'll just put some of those down there. We were lucky enough (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it, we walked a LOT) to get a lot of snow while we were there, so we were always very bundled up. I'm hoping to get back there before my exchange is over, there's so much more to see that I didn't get to, and I want to explore the Louvre properly and throughly, and I also want to go to Disneyland Paris. Who doesn't love some Disneyland?

To see all of these pictures in high-res, go to my Flickr page, the link should be on the side of this page.

My host sisters, Valériane and Valentine in front of the Eiffel Tower.

A blurry Eiffel Tower at night. I've been obsessed with blurring pictures of lights lately. Please forgive me :)

Me and Valentine in front of Notre Dame and their lovely Christmas tree :) We went on a Sunday and got to see the last part of their Mass, it was so cool.

Yes, I am obsessed with taking pictures of my feet wherever I go, too. But this one's actually cool, the star I'm standing on marks the geographical center of Paris.

View of the Champs Elysées from the top of the L'Arc du Triomph. I don't do too well with heights.

The entrance to The Louvre. Did you know there's also a STARBUCKS and an APPLE STORE in the Louvre?! That place is seriously heaven.

Stained glass windows in Notre Dame. I love the stars on the ceiling.

This was in some department store that I can't remember the name of.

Please go check out the rest on my Flickr! It's under the set "Paris", of course :)

Also, I apologize for not sending out the package like I said I would. I'll send it when I'm with my next host family. IT WILL GET TO YOU EVENTUALLY, I promise.

Love ALWAYS and Merry Christmas, everyone!!

- Alyce

I'll be going to Paris tomorrow with my host family.

Hey, mom, do you remember a thirteen year old Alyce who sat crying in your old blue van because I didn't think I would ever go to Paris again? Hahahah. Oh, memories.

I'm sending a package out to my family when I get back on Monday, and hopefully on Tuesday I'll go see Avatar, and then Wednesday is my French test with Rotary. Wish me luck!!

I'll update this when I get back with a ton of pictures!

xx,

Alyce

Whoops . . .

I do believe I have mentioned that I am a terrible blogger. Sorry . . .

So, this week was great, but it would've been more amazing if I didn't wake up yesterday with a terrible cold. It's mostly gone right now (thankfully), but I still feel kind of out of breath in my chest and stuff. Hopefully that will be gone in two hours or so because I'm going to the Liège Standard game! Standard is the soccer team of Liège, and I'm really excited about it, and in an ideal world we will not be sitting in the cold and it will not rain, but it's Belgium, and of course it will.

This week was really great though. Tuesday was St. Nicholas at my school, and all of the seniors dressed up in costume and we threw candy at the underclassmen and then we all went into the gym for a big assembly thing, and that wasn't as much fun. On Wednesday we went to Germany with Rotary, and we found a Starbucks :) We were there for a Christmas market, but Starbucks was the priority, for sure.

Well, I don't really know what else to say right now except that I am tired and have a terribly stuffed up nose and just want to curl into my sock drawer and sleep for days. Or, maybe that nice, triangle pillow from home. I miss that pillow. It would make life so much easier right now. I tried improvising one by placing a bunch of jackets and cardigans on top of each other and sleeping on that, and it seemed to work, but it's not the same.

Love always,

Alyce

Just to clarify, when I said 19th and 20th I meant of December. I go to Paris in December.

I saw New Moon today with some friends. It was great. I'm seeing it again on Sunday. Great great great.

Love,

Alyce

three months!

Today I've been in Belgium for three months :)

I spent the last week with my second host family and had an absolute blast - I can't wait to live with them. I move there the Saturday or Sunday after Christmas.

Today is also my grandma's birthday - Bonne anniversaire, Grammy!! I hope it's wonderful and I can't wait to see you next summer!

The French is going really well. I've started speaking to my classmates in French, and am starting to understand my teachers - which means I have to actually try and pay attention in class now. Humph. The classes I'm taking in Liège are helping a lot a lot, and I'm able to speak a little more every day. I still don't understand when people speak very fast, but I'm working on it.

My first big trip is the nineteenth and the twentieth. My host parents are taking me with my host sister, and my two host step-siblings to Paris. My mom told me that we'll be staying at a hotel that's right next to the Eiffel Tower, and I got so excited, I was like "Ahhh!! C'est très cool!" :)

Well. That's all I got. Except for this:

Love you, B!!!

Love to all,
Alyce

hm.

Happy November!

I wish I could think of cute and clever things to say today, but I'm kind of fresh out right now. I've always sucked at journaling. Or "blogging" for that matter. My only successful blogging stint was in eighth or ninth grade with the then popular Xanga, but that didn't last very long. Probably three months and then I moved onto Facebook.

Uhm. I'm halfway through the weeklong break. I've been to a Rotary dinner that was both boring and insightful (thanks to an woman who used to be an exchange student who completely understood what I was going through). I hung out with my host siblings who are adorable. We played fooseball, ate pizza and played pinball.

Last night I played pinball with my host dad and completely dominated. Dad, I hope you're proud :) It made me feel cool. So, today I tried to get my personal high (which is like, four million) up, and was unsuccessful. Sad.

Tomorrow I plan on writing letters and mailing them (OMG) and then on Friday Valentine's coming over (my little sister) and we're going to hang out. On Saturday, my host parents are leaving to go to Toulouse for a work thing, so I'm staying with my second host family from the seventh to the fifteenth. I'm excited about that.

There are a lot of new pictures on my Flickr account, go check 'em out!!

Love Always,

Alyce

Frienddd

This is my friend, Carole. She's adorable and I love her.

Just thought I'd share that with the class :)

xx,
Alyce

:)

When I read status updates from other exchange students who, like me, took a gap year between high school and college and are just now starting the application process, it makes me so happy that I'm already accepted and deferred.

I can't imagine having to write essays on top of having to try and learn a new language. That would just totally suck.

:) Go Shockers!!!

xx,
Alyce

An Adventure

Yesterday I went on an adventure with my fellow exchangers Aislinn and Keely. We went to Maastricht in the Netherlands, which is right next to the border of Belgium.

First off, I'll tell you a kind of freaky story about what happened at the Liège train station. We got to where our train would be, and we noticed that there were two bags underneath us and they weren't ours. We were like, oh well, that's weird, and didn't think anything of it. About seven minutes pass by, and I look over and see the bags on a girl's arm. None of us remember her coming over to get them. They were just not beneath us anymore and we were just so confused. We concluded that she was a wizard.

We arrive in Visé, the border town, and have an hour and a half until the next train because we have to buy tickets. We end up going to a bar and drinking coffee. That's definitely one thing I'm going to miss: just going into a bar. We weren't drinking alcohol, we were just chilling. Here, you always have to have reservations to go to restaurants so no one eats out too much, so usually if you want something casual to eat you go to a street vendor, and if you just want some coffee, you go to a bar. It was just a very casual environment, and since it was early, there were about six other people in there. It was really chill and something I'm definitely going to miss.

When we reach Maastricht, we had no idea what we were going to do, and none of us knew what there *was* to do, so we just decided that as long as we didn't make too many turns we would be okay. We ended up running into a really neat market that sold mostly vintage items, such as tea pots, books, rosaries, and just random nick-nacks. We really lucked out because we didn't know what we were actually going to do there, and there it was, as if the town knew we were coming. After this, we found a Subway and just had to eat there because we all missed Subway. It was amazing.

We then wandered on a bridge and ran into a shopping district of sorts. We putzed around there for the rest of our stay, and I bought a really cute jacket, and oohed and ahhed over an Apple store. Keely has a picture of me looking so excited to see one, and I'll post it when she adds it on her facebook.

Going back to the train station, I made my favorite discovery: Dr. Pepper. I honest to goodness almost cried I was so excited to see it, and yelled at Aislinn across the store to come and check it out with me. It was truly amazing. I just took my first sip of it, and even the smell brought back so many memories that I didn't even know I still had.

The rest will be on Flickr hopefully in the next couple of days.

Love always,

Alyce

Namur pictures.

On the boat. This was taken by Haley, who is also enamored with musical theater :)

We got bored during the parliament presentation. Nicole (New York), Joel (Washington) and me.

Ya know. Just chilling.

Caleb (Canada), Aislinn, Joel, and me in Namur.

:)

It was a good day.

xx,

Alyce

P.S. I don't have school tomorrow. Awesome. I'm watching Zoolander right now on my computer. Loves it.

Skype.

I love Skype.

I just got off the phone with my best friends. I guess they went to lunch together, and Mikka kept saying "let's go to Stephanie's house and call Alyce!" and Jordan and Stephanie were like, "if she's online". I was getting ready for bed, and forgot that I had left Skype on.

Best hour of my weekend.

Went on a boat in Namur today. It was freezing. But it was fun.

Samedi, dix-sept octobre, 2009.

Best day in Belgium so far.

I love it here.

Love Always,

Alyce

Musing.

I have taken the past two days to become enamored with mandarin oranges. I don't know why. My host mom bought them, and then made me ate one and now I'm in love.

They're the best things ever. I'll be so sad when they're out of season.

Today was fun. I painted my nails bright red, spun around in the freezing cold with my dog, Xana and just hung around.

I'm kind of irked about something though, not gonna lie. I feel as though since I don't speak French that some of my classmates think I'm unintelligent.

Above everything else, that's what bothers me the most.

Because I'm not unintelligent. I like to think that I'm pretty dang observant and bright and artistic. And it's just irritating that since I don't speak French, they don't understand this about me. The only classmate I've actually had a conversation with is Peter, only because he speaks fluent English. The other times I talk to my classmates are just the little sentences of French that I can muster.

They may think I'm quiet and stuff like that, but they don't know a lot about me.

I listen to the news on my iPod. Most of my favorite music artists start with the letter "S". I'm reading a book about zombies crashing a Jane Austen novel. I love politics. I prefer to skip than to walk. I love belting my favorite songs when I put food into a microwave.

I dunno. It just bugs me that they could be assuming that I'm an idiot. When I'm not.

Alas. Go eat a mandarin orange and thank Mother Nature for the most wonderful tasting fruit in the world.

xx,

Alyce

Oy Vey.

Alyce in the Netherlands.

If you don't believe me, there's a windmill.

There are a hella lot more pictures on my Flickr account, which you can see here.

Allô :)

I just thought I'd give everyone a run down on my day while I am procrastinating on my homework.

So! I have two alarm clocks set at 6:30 and 7 AM for me to wake up to; six thirty to understand I have to get up, and seven to ACTUALLY get up. Then I get dressed, eat breakfast, make myself lunch and then update my iPod before leaving the house.

Upon leaving, I go to the bus stop down the street and wait with about six other kids for the bus. Although we all take the same bus (there's only one that comes by my house) only two of them, twin boys, go to my school. So, one bus comes, but it doesn't stop for us, as there's another bus stop right down the road with about three times the amount of waiting students, and we know when the other bus is about to get to us when a green car pulls up and drops off a pair of siblings who missed the first bus and now have to catch the second.

So the second bus comes, and then we ride on it for about ten to fifteen minutes, depending on how many people we drop off and pick up along the way. Then to school it's about a ten minute walk. Every morning I walk past a bakery and I'm still able to smell it when I turn the corner.

I go straight to class (either French, Religion, Art History or English start my days), and then from the rest of the day it's all different. The class schedule is kind of like college classes (well, how I'm imagining college is), where we have different classes every day instead of having the same routine like at SHS. Sometimes I have a lot of breaks, namely on Monday, when I only have three classes, but other days I have classes all day. Wednesdays are half days, but even then because I don't take Latin, Engineering or Economics, I get out two hours early like most of my classmates.

Then I wait for about thirty minutes for the bus that takes me home, I go home and just kind of chill. Sometimes I'll take naps. Just whatever.

I just started French school, where me and another exchange student from my school, Emily, have classes twice a week at night in Liège. We both started yesterday and were totally freaked out during the first break, but at the end we both realized how much it's going to help us with our French. I can't speak for her, but I was able to understand a lot of what the teacher was explaining - it's taught all in French, so that made me confident for lessons to come. We were given homework, and I'm actually really excited about this. I'm just so glad that I'm on a path to learning French, which is what I really wanted.

In other "news", I skyped with my mom this past weekend and was able to see all of the renovations that the house is undergoing, and it's so weird to see how different everything looks. I'm excited to come home and see it completely empty, as that's something I've never seen before.

Well, I am tired and need to translate stuff. Tomorrow I have to present news stories to my geography class all in French. This is done every week and is chosen completely randomly. The teacher asks someone to say a number and from that person, he counts to that number to determine who goes next. Everyone in class started laughing when I was chosen, and I had no idea what was going on, but then my teacher said to me in English, "So it's your turn next week."

I'm not usually so nervous about speaking in front of people, and I really just want to get this over with. Bleugh.

Love Always,

Alyce

P.S. I think it'd be fun if college counselors wrote me back telling me orientation dates so I know when to come home. But that's just me.

Some pictures . . .

First picture is what we usually do at school . . . translate stuff, and the second picture is of the other RYE's at my school: Nikki, Mariana, and Emily. I love them.

Kayaking

Yesterday the Rotexes of Belgium took us all kayaking. It was great seeing everyone, because this involved all of the exchange students from Belgium, not just from our district. So, we got to see people we had met in Brussels for our official welcome from the Belgian government, and we got to meet new people, too.

There were two people to a kayak, and so I was with Jamie, and I'm so glad I was.

The river was beautiful, and there were some amazing scenes that we were able to see . . . a castle that looked like Hogwarts - we kept making references to Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter the entire ride. It would have been nicer if it wasn't 20 kilometers (almost 12 and a half miles) long. That was a killer. My shoulders and arms hurt so badly.

Then we finished kayaking and then were told our train left in five minutes and the next one didn't come for two hours. Fail.

I woke up at 7, didn't get home until 10:30.

It was just an adventure, that I don't plan to repeat anytime in the near future.

Thanks to Jamie for keeping me distracted by playing "would you rather?" and quoting The Office and Arrested Development the entire second half. It meant a lot.

I'm exhausted.

xx,

Alyce

Dear Glee,

You have successfully managed to get "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé stuck in my head.

Way. To. Go.

If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it,

Alyce

. . .

I opened this with a full intention of having something to say, and now I'm just stuck.

Well, school is going well. I'm starting to pick up random words, and can usually understand what my classmates say, even though my responses don't go very far.

Mom asked me a few questions when I called her on her BIRTHDAY (Bon anniversaire, AGAIN, ha ha) and so I'll answer her questions here for you all to see, too.

1. "Do you have friends?" - Yes. All of my classmates are really friendly . . . Pierre, Carole, Kelly, Sophie, Aurore . . .
2. "What classes are you taking?" - French (which is like English back home), English (which is like French back home), Religion (we're learning about immigration), geography, history, art history, astronomy, and gym. I'm not taking math or science because I'm absolute crap at those classes in the States, and even though I've heard, "ask your teachers, they'll help", my teachers hardly understand English, and my French is about as good as their English, so I'd rather take a math class that was being taught in my first language. Also, my exchange student friend, Emily, is also not taking math or science, and we originally had those together, so a lot of times we both get out after lunch. It's awesome.
3. "Do they talk to you in French or English?" - I don't know if my mom asked this, but I know people have, SO. Anytime someone talks to me in English, another classmate will yell "EN FRANÇAIS!" ("in french") at them. So, they mostly talk to me in French. There's one student who's fluent in English, and so if I'm sitting next to him and he sees I'm super confused, he'll explain something to me. My English teachers talk to me in English, but other than that, no one else except the other exchange students do.
4. "Is the food good?" - AH MON DIEU, YES. My host mom is an excellent cook, and we eat at home every night and so far everything has been amazing. We've only eaten out as a family once, and ordered pizza twice (the pizza here is really good, too). With the Rotary events in my district, we ate cafeteria food three times, it was disgusting, and ate at a restaurant once, in Brussels. That was funny though, because what we ate in Brussels was EXACTLY what I had had for dinner with my host family the night before. So, I was like, " . . . srsly?" Hahah. Everyone brings their own lunch to school and eats outside when the weather is nice. Even if the weather isn't nice, they eat outside anyway. I make a sandwich every morning and take it. White bread (which tastes AMAZING) or a baguette, with cheese, salami and ham, and then a bunch of chocolate stuff for after. My host mom knows how much I love chocolate and buys different chocolate snacks every week for me to try. It's great :)

Well. Last night was Valériane's last night in Belgium, she left this morning for two months to work with people afflicted with HIV/AIDS in Africa, so all of her best friends came over for dinner. We had some kind of fondue which was really good, but it filled me up really fast. So, I'll be an only child for most of the time, with the exceptions being when Jean-Michel's kids come for the weekend. She'll be back in November, and hopefully I'll know a lot more French by then.

I've been listening to a podcast called Smart Mouths to help keep me informed on what's going on in the United States and not look like an uneducated American when I'm asked questions. They discuss a lot of politics and explain issues from the very beginning (such as the Health Insurance Reform) so that it can be understood by their international listeners. It's just a great way to keep up on what's going on back "home" without having to watch CNN, because I feel weird watching CNN when I could be watching some cooler shows dubbed in French. I'm a big fan of the people who produce this podcast, and it's so nice to hear them tell me what's going on in the world, as well as my country while I'm gone, and it's something nice to listen to on my bus rides.

Also, I'm glad to hear that "Glee" has officially been picked up for a full season by FOX! The music on this show is amazing - everyone knows I can never get enough of Lea Michele's voice. The latest song by her character Rachel is now available on iTunes. It's a cover of Celine Dion's song Taking Chances, which I LOVE. Ahhh. I've been listening to it on loop for the entirety of this blog.

On Thursday, Emily (the exchange student from New York who goes to my school) and I are going to go take pictures of the school during our free class hours, so I'll post pictures of my school then!!

I should wrap it up now.

Love you all,

Alyce

Aujourd'hui

I forgot my history book. But it's totally chill, because it was our teacher's birthday and we threw him a surprise party. With cake, wine, those annoying whistle things, champagne, party hats, presents, did I mention that they drank ALCOHOL AT SCHOOL?

DISCLAIMER: This is totally legal here, we were not breaking the law by any means. The drinking age here is sixteen for soft alcohol and eighteen for the hardcore liquor, but everyone usually starts drinking casually at a younger age than that. If this happened in the US we'd all probably be kicked out, but, it's a completely different culture here.

This is so different from the United States, and due to recent events which I have talked about on my facebook, I am so glad about that. Today, watching my classmates get all excited, I got excited about learning French so I can actually interact with them. They're all really nice.

For my English class, we had to bring in our favorite pictures, and I brought in the one of me with my best friends at prom, and I had to explain to them what prom was. It was funny because none of them recognized me in the picture except by my face because of my bright red bobbed hair. That was funny. When my teacher asked if I still kept in touch with them, I showed her the necklace that Stephanie had given all of us, that says "Girlfriends are family we choose for ourselves" and my teacher translated it for the rest of the class, and they were all like "AWWWWH!" Cute moment.

Tomorrow I have a Rotary activity. At 8:15 AM. What the heck man. Not cool.

Alas alack. Must go to bed.

xoxo,

Alyce

Liège

I went to Liège by myself for the first time today! I had so much fun. I met up with two of my exchange student friends, Jamie and Audrey. We went to Jamie's house for a bit, then went to get waffles - YUM - and then met up with some people at le carré, which is just a bunch of bars in shady alleyways.

What was funny is that tonight is the big soccer game of Liège vs. Arsenal, so a bunch of Brits were in town. Some came to the same bar as us, but Eric, an exchange student, gave them directions to a bar in French, and then twenty minutes later found out they spoke English. That was really funny.

They seemed really nice, but we didn't talk for a long time.

I ran into more Brits on the way home, at the bus station. I would've said something to them, but it was nice to be able to eavesdrop on a conversation and actually understand it for once, ha ha.

Mom's been sending me links to pictures of houses in Spokane. I'm so excited about this. I even told one of the Brits we met that my family was moving, and he asked if I was upset about moving, and then I told him that my mom's family was from Washington, so I had spent most of my vacation time there anyway, and he was like "oh so you're really excited". Yes, I am :)

Well. My nose is stopped up thanks to smoke. Lame. Thankfully I brought my neti pot!

Yours,
Alyce

Possibly?

I think I made friends :)

Well. A friend. But a friend is a friend, no matter how small the number.

Today started off with me being very irritated, and ended with me being stuck in the rain. Oh, cruel fate. I walked into French class about five minutes late because I didn't have a schedule. Let's backtrack to last week, when two girls in my class, Pauline and Kelly went and asked him if I could have a school agenda.

P & K: Where's Alyce's agenda so she knows what classes to go to?

HDMSTR: She doesn't need one, we're picking out her official schedule next week and then she'll get one.

P & K: Oh. Okay. (leave office) That's dumb.

Now, on Friday everyone wrote down in their Journal de Classe when they'd have class. I didn't because I didn't have a journal de classe, and because the headmaster said we'd figure out my schedule on Monday.

Now it's Monday. I go to school and find the headmaster.

Me: Hey, I need a schedule.

HDMSTR: Oh, we haven't got them yet. Go find someone in your class and ask them for help.

Me: (looks around) Yeah, I'm not seeing anyone. Where do I go?

HDMSTR: They all wrote the schedule down in their books on Friday. Why didn't you?

Me: I don't have a journal de classe.

HDMSTR: You don't? That's very odd.

Me: . . .

HDMSTR: Well, just go look through the school and find them. - (Our school is five stories high. Yeah. **** no.)

He ends up taking me upstairs to the first floor and points to room 100.

HDMSTR: Well, that's not them.

Me: (inwardly) Ya think?! (outwardly) So, what do I do?

HDMSTR: Just go from class to class and try and find them.

So, eventually I end up in French class, and was greeted with "How are you?" "Lost." I spent that entire class period translating "What class is next" ("Quelle classe à prochain", in case you were wondering.) and then asked Sophie, to which she rambled for a bit, but I caught "no class" and so I went downstairs with them and we sat for two hours, talking, reading and I helped them with their English homework.

This morning was frustrating. But, Sophie let me copy her schedule and I figured out where to go and when to be there, which was nice. (I get out on Wednesday two hours early, and Wednesday is only a half day, so this is very exciting.)

Now. I am tired. Going to watch an episode of Arrested Development and then SLEEP! I'll probably update this next between Wednesday - Sunday. What a great timeline.

Annyong,

Alyce

Bleh.

Negatives: 

I am exhausted, my throat hurts, cough drops here suck, the weather which I once viewed as wonderful I now feel is disgusting, I have gym first thing tomorrow morning (and gym here is running in a circle for two hours) and I just want to curl under my covers and sleep for days.

Or, as in AVPM, I want to curl up in my sock drawer and sleep for days. That's better.

Pluses:

I'm almost done with my first week of school and it's going pretty well, my host granddad bought me amazing chocolate, music is a universal language, Glee was fabulous, and I have successfully gotten a lot of exchange students addicted to Arrested Development.

It hurts to talk. Why, body? WHY. You were doing so well . . .

There's not currently a sunshine, so I can't say that you're mine :(

The thought is what always counts,

Alyce

I can't think of a cute title.

I am tired. My feet hurt. 

Today we went on a "gourmet promenade" which is where you walk around town, eating a five course meal from different restaurants in town. Maybe I should reinforce the word walk.

We WALKED in a huge circle around town. My feet hurt. My head hurts. I'm a little bit sunburnt and very very tired. 

The food was great, the scenery was spectacular, but every part of my body is aching. By the time we got to the third entree, Valeriane and I didn't eat most of it, we were both way too full, and that was the one where we walked to the complete middle of nowhere, only to go to two more middle of nowheres, for cheese and pie.

Exhaustion. 

I start school tomorrow.

My exchange student friends wanted to go to Liege today.

I got up at nine thirty, and we finished at four. 

Well, I start school tomorrow. That will be an adventure within itself. I'm not too scared. It's just the fact that I've NEVER been the "new kid" before. That's the problem with living in the same town all of your life. I've never had to really worry about making friends, I've had the same best friends for six years. So, making friends will be interesting, but I'm not worried about that, really, and then getting lost. That's mainly what I'm scared about - getting lost. That does not sound like fun.

I'll keep you updated.

In more interesting news - I figured out the twist in "Next to Normal", a musical. And the twist freaking . . . wow. I want to see this show so badly now. I'm having a hard time thinking about anything other than this because it seriously just baffles me, yet everything makes so much more sense now. 

Well, I'm off. 

xx,

Alyce

Waiting for school . . .

My school starts on the seventh, and therefore, I am confined to watching American TV shows dubbed in French (One Tree Hill, some soap opera, Ghost Whisperer, Las Vegas, Full House, etc.) while knitting and eating these awesome cookies that are shaped like dinosaurs with chocolate on the bottom. 

It's also been raining a lot lately, the bank magically gave me ten euros - I'm rich! - and I've memorized the entire scene before the song "My Junk" in Spring Awakening, and in my time alone, I perform it for our dog, Zenna. 

I am a dork. I need to go to school before I have the entire freaking libretto memorized. They didn't give me a call back why?

My host mom found me a choir to join. I'm super excited. Now I can sing with other people and not just myself . . . because I've also been singing while I'm home alone. I don't think Zenna likes it very much.

That's all I got for now,

Alyce

I like to climb on things.

D1630

So, here in Belgian District 1630, we sure know how to party after going through about seven hours of "orientation", as in "things we've already heard a million times but have to hear again because it's mandatory". 

BAM. We're kind of awesome.

It's probably not a very good idea, but we've all become kind of clique-y. Not in a terribly bad way, but we just automatically formed little groups of friends and don't really branch out because we've all just navigated towards the familiar. My group is composed of girls who have reddish or brown hair. We throw in a blonde shade every once in a while, but that's mainly who we hang out with. The red heads and the brunettes. We also throw in the occasional guy.

ANYWAY. So, for starters, we always got first in line for food. Don't ask how this happened, it just did magically. We never had to wait for food, and are always the first ones done which meant more free time. We also started the dance. Like, we were sitting around playing card games, and then the music started playing; so we just started dancing. And everyone joined in. Or well, we forced everyone to join in. 

We're pretty ace when it comes to dancing. Like, we Belgian exchange students know how to dance once everyone's had two beers. We were only allowed two beers, or else everyone would've gotten plastered. So, we literally danced and tried to drink the night away, but were only allowed to do the first part properly. 

Oh, and cherry beer is amazing. 

(The Rotary Club was giving them to us, so it wasn't like we were sneaking it in. Also, the drinking age in Belgium is 16 for soft liquor and 18 for hard liquor, and they wouldn't let us have more than two.)

My blazer is pretty full of pins. I can fit more on, but daaannnggggg. I am also getting sick of meat balls, but haven't had enough ice cream or waffles to satisfy myself yet.

I love your light,

Alyce

I love this song, and Krystina Alabado.

Aujourd'hui . . .

I went on a bus tour of Liege today with my host mom, just to get a bunch of pictures out of the way. I figure if I'm going to try and not be a tourist, I need to get tourism out of my system.

It worked.

Then we met up with one of my host sisters from my second host family, Charlotte. We ate sandwiches and then my mom left me with Charlotte. Can I just say this? Charlotte talks at a mile a minute in French. I couldn't understand a single word of what she was saying, and it was really making me uncomfortable. What I did understand though, was "une glace?" "Oui, s'il vous plait!" (Ice cream? Yes, please.) 

We both ordered milkshakes (if Braums made milkshakes with Belgian ice cream, they would be fantastic. These were just okay, not very thick, sadly) and she kept talking at the speed of light in French, and I was just becoming so upset because I honestly did not understand anything she was saying. I would just nod and stare at the bus schedule. We worked it out, and talked in English for the rest of the day because she could see how discouraged I was getting.

It's different with my other host sister, Valeriane, because she'll speak to me in French, but she knows that I'm still learning and so she speaks slowly, and ask if I'm understanding what she's saying. 

Actually, although I've only been here eleven days, I really understand so much of what's going on around me. If they're going at a pace I can kind of pace along with, I understand exactly what's going on, I'm just not at the point where I can contribute yet. 

ANYWAY! Charlotte and I met up with one of her friends, Alex, and we just walked around Liege, they were shopping for fun rings. What got us really talking was Charlotte asked what Oklahoma was known for. "Uhm . . . nothing really. Oh wait - Brad Pitt's from Oklahoma." "Who?" "Brad Pitt, the actor?" "OH MY GOD!!!"

And everything spun off from there. We then talked about Chris Pine, Star Trek, Gossip Girl, Adam Brody . . . and it was just really easy to find a good ground with them. I'm grateful that for right now they're speaking English so that I can have a conversation with them, but I'm excited to learn French at school with my classmates so that I can speak to them in their native language.

Charlotte and I took the bus home, and it turns out we like all of the same television shows. She was anxious to hear about what had happened on The Office since she left the States, and I got to explain everything that had happened.

We then went back to her house, and I got to meet my other host parents, and another of my host sisters. 

She is adorable. I can't remember her name offhand and I feel bad about that, but I already love her to pieces, although I have a feeling she'll drive me mad at points. She has magenta Harry Potter glasses, is OBSESSED with High School Musical, and loves Barbie dolls. She drew me a picture of a bunch of hearts within a heart, and underneath it in her sloppy seven year old cursive wrote "je t'aime" - "I love you" in French. Then when we were about to leave, she came up and gave me a hug, but I couldn't really hug her properly, so I picked her up and she just settled into me. I told her, "A bientot, d'accord?" ("See you soon, okay?") and she just nodded.

I love this kid.

Tonight, my mom let me choose a movie to rent, as long as it was in French, but was available with English subtitles. I couldn't find anything I wanted to watch, and had no idea what I was in the mood for, and then I saw it. A Knights Tale. DUH. Ohemgee. My family had never seen it before, and so it was fun. They asked me "what kind of movie is it?" "An action comedy based in Medieval Europe" . . . "huh." They loved it, and I got to knit my scarf - which I restarted by the way; instead of a seed stitch, it's now a double ribbed scarf, which looks loads better.

Tomorrow there's a big meeting in Brussels for every exchange student in Belgium. Wish me luck :)

A bientot,

Alyce

Podcasting

So this morning we took Charlyne to the airport. She's going to do very well in Canada, but it was hard knowing exactly what she was feeling at every moment, having just done the same thing myself. Once my host mom and sister started crying, I started crying. On the way out of the airport, my host mom asked if she was like my mom at the airport, and I couldn't even finish the sentence that I didn't let her come with me. 

Enough sadness. Naturally, pretty much everyone slept a LOT today, only having about four or less hours of sleep, only we all slept in different places. Valeriane (my host sister) slept on the couch downstairs, Anne-Michele (my host mom) was in her room, and I was in my room. I thought I had slept in for so much longer, but I hadn't. I went downstairs, and Valeriane slept while I watched TV and knit. 

By the way mom, my scarf is going terribly. If only you were here to fix it. 

On to why my scarf is messed up.

My adopted host cousins, who are both under five, came over today and just sort of wrecked havoc for a while, which included playing with my scarf as though it were a flag. They eventually settled down after dinner, and I took Tatiana outside and played with her for a while, but she wore me out very quickly.

They left, and so we all watched different programs on TV, and then I went upstairs to listen to Imprint Live.

I actually got through on both of the things - cohosting and the skype call, which I was pretty impressed by. The cohosting thing wasn't very good, the call kept going out, and I could hear myself echoing and it was not fun at all. It was nice, they kept apologizing because it obviously wasn't either of our faults. But they took Skype calls, and I got through on like the second one, and we talked about the possibility of them splitting Breaking Dawn. Andrew seems to think it's all about money, but I don't really know if there's enough content to split the book into a movie. That was a lot of fun - I'll let you know when the podcast is available for free download on iTunes, and you can all listen to me chit chat to my favorite podcasters. 

Oh, what was funny though was that I mentioned I was calling from Belgium, and then after I hung up, they were like "she doesn't sound very Belgian", and I promptly went and posted on one of their facebook walls that I was an exchange student, but actually lived in Oklahoma. I also told them my parents were moving to Washington state BECAUSE!!!

They're doing a tour after Eclipse comes out! I'm more excited about the tour than about Eclipse, lol. Their first stop is in Seattle in the beginning of July, so I hope I'll be up around there when they're doing their live podcast. Ahhhhh meeting them would just be so cool.

It's now raining, and I'm going to go listen to Smart Mouths and fall asleep.

I love your light,

Alyce

xo

So, I brought a proper journal to Belgium with me, and have taken to writing in it lately, but, I haven't written anything *about* Belgium. I think I just realized that I haven't really seen much of the country, and I'm excited about that.

Oh, and I officially miss being able to drive. Driving around at sunset, with the windows rolled down, and sticking your hand out of the window, moving it along with the wind you create with MPH. 

My favorite part about Belgium so far though? The view from my window. 

"'Cus I'm no good at saying goodbye - my palms get wet and my throat feels dry. I'm no good at saying goodbye, so won't you leave before I open my eyes?"

- Kyle Riabko

Love always,

Alyce

Ma Anglais

Is TERRIBLE! I haven't really been talking much at all, and am just ugggh feeling so discouraged with french and such. I think my host mom and I are going to get French books for me later. She understands why it's so hard for me though, and says that everyone was once where I was in the language department. 

If I'm asked specific questions, I do pretty well, otherwise everything has to be said very slowly. 

I was only online because no one was home -- MOM :)

But they're back now, so I'll get off.

xx,

Alyce

I slept in hardcore today.

That was unintentional. Alas.

Poor Sid (my laptop) is about to run out of battery unless I get a converter. Oh noes.

I have nothing particularly interesting to say.

A la prochaine,

Alyce

I made it!

I made it to Belgium!

Yayyyy. I like it here so far. I can't access the family's wifi, but I can get wifi from someplace close to here, but it's very very slow. Sad day.

The plane ride wasn't as long as I hoped it would be. I watched the last bit of "Star Trek" and then went to sleep. When I got here yesterday, I slept for like, five hours, and then my host mum woke me up saying if I was asleep right now I probably wouldn't sleep tonight. True that. So I took a shower and then we ate dinner and watched a film in French with english subtitles.

I have my own room, it's really nice, and my host cousins are currently visiting. They're adorable and very little.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am safe and sound. I wish my converters worked, though. But alas, alack. 

ALSO! Today is the last day that most of the original touring cast members of Spring Awakening have a show. Blake, Ben, Julie, and Henry. Although I miss you so much already, I know your replacements are fantastic. I wish you all the best of luck. <3

xx,

Alyce

I let it slip -

I love you.

But that's because it's all I know,

Alyce

24 hours

I leave tomorrow.

Where did that come from?

xo,

Alyce

I felt poetic

I felt poetic earlier, and now what I wrote probably just sounds stupid, but I'm gonna retype it anyway, BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT!

"The streets are full of cars carrying high school students trying to steal and enjoy the last lazy days of summer. No matter what the direction is that they're driving in, they'll all end up at the same place."

The end.

So, I had my first pre-leaving freak out today. Do you know how scary it is that I won't see my mother for almost a year? I love my mom so much, and ugggh. 

I know it's hard to think about right now, but it won't be hard when I get there. And the thing is, I would be leaving her for college anyway. I just have to keep reminding myself this stuff, or else I get too upset, which is something no one wants or needs to see. 

I have three host mothers waiting for me in Belgium, and I'm sure they'll be as wonderful as the mother who actually gave birth to me, and I cannot wait to meet them.

I need to stay calm in the airport. i can do this. I know I can. What do I need? Spring Awakening, Adam Lambert, Christy Altomare and MuggleCast. That will keep calm and happy and wonderful. Except for the fact that my layover is in Chicago and I can't see Spring Awakening. FML.

xx,

Alyce

:)

Today, Jordan told me that her mom said that if she wants to come visit me in Belgium, she can. She has enough money saved up and stuff, so all she'd have to do is get a passport.

Please come visit me. I love you.

xx,

Alyce

le petite

I'm going to make this short and sweet because I want to watch Arrested Development.

Actually - I wanted to say something, I really did. But my love for Arrested Development is outweighing the feelings I want to express right now. There are too many thoughts going through my head, Benadryl to help me sleep flowing through my veins (how weird and EMO), and just like . . . I can't concentrate on just one thing that I want to say.

I can't just SIT and write a BLOG. Not right now. 

In short: I had a lovely evening with some lovely people - my entire family - MY SISTER IS HOME THIS WEEKEND! the gang's all here :) - my sister's friend Emily, who is just fun, my grandmother, and Stephanie, my best friend. It was just wonderful. 

But now, Arrested Development.

Off to bed, all of you,

Alyce

I think

I'm sick. This is no fun.

:( ,

Alyce

Packing.

I just started. Like. Twenty minutes ago. Packed away my socks (which I don't wear during the summer), tights, all of my long sleeve shirts, and most of the dresses I'm taking with me. Now, to try and pack some jeans. I'm going to buy some more though, and a lot more leggings, though. I just need to actually DO that instead of just saying I'm going to. Gonna have to make a trip to Ross this week . . . le sigh.

Also, livemocha is entirely too confusing for me to decipher, so I have reverted back to Coffee Break French. So much easier.

La prochaine fois,

Alyce

College

Can I just say how proud of myself I am that I have all of my stuff for my dorm room and I don't start college until fall 2010?

I have . . . 

• a cover for my comforter, from IKEA, and it's a bunch of flowers that look like they're dancing across my bed.
• sheets for said bed. I have a grey jersey sheet, and then white sheets with flowers on them. 
• An awesome pillow. It's red, quilted, made in India (got it from my church's fair trade store) and some of the patches say "peace" in different languages on it. 
• my mom is knitting me a blanket, that's a sky blue. "Legs in sky blue stockings climbing over the lecture podium" :) That's what it reminds me of.
• A blanket that I got from the Stillwater Public Schools Indian Association, and it's very tribal, and reminds me of HAIR.
  

I've already decided that I'll be the awesome girl with mixed patterns on the fine arts floor who blasts Spring Awakening and HAIR all the time in the morning. I'm so excited about all the pictures I'll have as well. It's going to be amazing.

I'm excited for college. But it's going to have to wait. I need to live first.

xx,

Alyce

Exciting :D

MY DAD GOT THE JOB IN WASHINGTON STATE!!!!!

So he's moving out there the last weekend of August, starts work on September 1st, and then my mom's gonna work on selling the house. Hopefully she'll be moved to Washington before I get home from Belgium in June or July, but that probably won't happen. I'm just glad it's all coming together now. 

I also saw Wicked today. I've never heard anyone belt like Marcie Dodd. She's phenomenal as Elphaba, and she deserves it so much. I guess she's been with Wicked forever. It was done beautifully, and our seats were the best. 

I've been working on watching Arrested Development on hulu, and I love that show so much. It cracks me up.

Wickedly yours,

Alyce

!

"For joy! For pure and certain joy!"

Oh my goodness. I just got an email from my first host mother.

And I'm so happy. I cried for a good five minutes. She seems so nice. 

I'm actually excited now. The sadness is overruling the excitement, but I'm trying to not focus on that right now. 

I just need Spring Awakening, MuggleCast, and Adam Lambert to keep me calm at the airport.

I'm going to be okay. I can do this.

Truly,

Alyce

Adam Lambert

They should just call the American Idols Live Tour 2009 "The Adam Lambert Show".

Because that's what it is.

He is phenomenal. I've never used the word "sexy" to actually describe someone. Except for Adam Lambert. Adam Lambert is the sexiest man I've ever seen in the flesh. 

Love always,

Alyce

The fourteenth of August.

I just found out my best friend leaves the same day I do, only five hours later. 

I'm not excited about leaving yet. Please stop asking me. I won't be excited until I get there. 

Seeing Adam Lambert tonight. That makes everything better.

I love your light,

Alyce

the twenty-forth

In about twenty-four hours (add about eighteen hours, but I don't feel like it), I will be hearing the beautiful sound that is Adam Lambert singing.

I'M SO EXCITED. And I'm seeing him with my best friend from middle school, who I haven't seen enough of at all the past three years.

Also, I'm making an appointment to get my hair cut soon. Get it all evened out so that it can grow beautifully and I won't have to get it cut while I'm in Belgium. Awesome.

I learned Anna's harmony in "Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise)". I feel cool now and have taken to singing it all the time. When people are around, and even when they're not. 

Here's a poem that I love.

"Good night, sleep tight, I'll be seeing you soon

  we may be far apart, but we see the same moon."

Yes,

Alyce

Sorry

That I'm not impressed with her. I don't find anything about her original. I think she's kind of annoying.

But what do I know,

Alyce

Mac Mac Mac Mac

I've spent all day on my Mac. This is bad news bears.

I'm gonna take a shower and cut my bangs. 

I'm obsessed with Tumblr.

Oh giddy goodness. 

http://alycemania.tumblr.com

ALSO!

I finally got my flight information. Finally. I get into Brussels at like . . . 07:30. How crazy. 

Alyce = sleeping on the plane. 

xx,

Alyce

Spring Awakening

I saw Spring Awakening on Sunday night, and it was as beautiful as I remembered it being.

Brilliant work, cast. You're phenomenal and I love you all to pieces.

I love your light,

Alyce

July

What have we learned so far this month?

1. Sand can sunburn your feet. It's not fun.
2. Seafood is better in places where there actually is an ocean.
3. When shaving your dog, a "lion cut" means shaving only half of your dog. Not everything and just leaving a mane. It doesn't look too pretty.
4. Fireworks with girlier names are prettier.
5. Fireworks named after coffee are hard to remember. "Cafe espresso grande latte frappachino no foam whip non fat sugar free with an extra shot" . . . Yeah. My cousin-in-law Sarah and I got confused.
6. Risk is never a fun game.
7. Transformers 2 isn't really as great as everyone's facebook status says it was.
8. Lakes are better when you actually have SCENERY and everything isn't flat.
9. I'm going to miss the mountians like Diana in Next to Normal.

Let's hope the rest of July is as wonderful as the beginning was.

Rabbit rabbit,
Alyce

Twilight

I knew the day would come when I would be sick of Twilight.

I'm not sick of the BOOK series yet, per se, but hell. Where the books take place and the movie locations, they can just go die.

Kidding. Totally kidding.
Forks is a lovely teeny tiny town with overpriced merchandise, La Push is beautiful and cold and super small and Jacob's "house" doesn't look at all how I pictured it, and Port Angeles has a few cool shops, and is just kind of chill.
Oh, and you can see Canada from there. Literally. I pointed and said "what mountains are those?" "Canadian mountains."

NOW. St. Helens, Oregon (movie!Port Angeles) is adorable. I bought a dress from the store that supplied the prom dresses that Anna Kendrick and Christian Serratos tried on, and we walked past the store where they filmed the scene, which is actually a nail salon. It's cute though, they have a couple of the movie set chairs that say "Twilight" on the back and have a copy of the movie poster on the door. Cardboard cutouts of Kristen Stewart are everywhere, and these little ten year olds freaked out and started screaming "BELLA! BELLA!" when they saw them.

Kalama High School (movie!Forks High School) is a high school. On top of a very steep hill. Tyler, the kid who almost kills Bella, he was entering through an exit. Because he's stupid and drives a ghetto van. I stood where the Cullens had stood, felt cool, and that was it.

It's so weird actually GOING to a location where they filmed a movie. It makes the world seem so much smaller and weird and I don't know.

They played Thriller all day today.
RIP MJ.

Yeah. Don't know what else to tell you.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo ;)
Alyce

Seattle

Flying over Seattle was amazing. I'm so glad I had a window seat.

We flew directly over the Space Needle and Safeco Field.

Tomorrow, my grandma is taking me, my cousin Kenzie and my mom to Forks. Because Kenzie and I are absolute dorks who need to get this out of our system. What we didn't know is that there's going to be a Twilight Symposium while we're there . . . go figure. I thought there wouldn't be a hella lot of tourists. Hahahahaha. I'm funny.

We'll check into the Forks Motel tomorrow night, and my great grandad used to own the hotel so we got a really good room apparently, and then we'll drive to La Push in the morning, then drive around Forks and just explore.

I love Washington.

My Spring Awakening Dream

I had my first Spring Awakening dream last night. Needless to say, it was kind of ace and amazing.

So. I guess I was in the cast, I don't know though, we never talked about it, and so was my friend Brenna. We're all ready to go to sleep, but like, the room arrangements are kind of weird, and Brenna and I share a room with Ben and I think Anthony. I just remember Ben. 

We're all just kind of chilling, getting ready for bed, and then all of a sudden, one of the dance classes from my old dance studio pops out of the woodwork and starts practicing their recital dance in our room. We all just stare around very confused and a little girl starts yelling at us. 

Ben found someone's copy of a Judy Blume book and stole it, and was reading it in secret to see how ridiculous it was. The girls do their dance, except now there are chairs. 

Ben came and sat on my bed and I ask him if he's excited to go to Boston, but instead of saying Boston, I say Branson, and then he says Branson instead of Boston, too. I correct myself, but he thinks he said Boston, but I say he definitely said Branson and I end up smacking him in the arm. 

Then I tell him someone from my high school is going to Berklee School of Music, which is true, but I don't know how I remembered that in my dream . . . and Ben's all "oh that's cool", and then he falls asleep in my lap.

And that was it. Allow me to be happy in my little fangirl heart.

:),

Alyce

My Cat

My cat Rory has taken to lying on me in awkward positions. She likes laying underneath my neck, on top of my chest, and of course, she always does this when I'm on my laptop Sid to make it hard for me to type. 

Not that it's not completely adorable, and I love her more than I probably love any human, but seriously, Rory? 

I'm gonna miss her so much when I'm gone next year. I don't think I'll be happy at home until she's with me again.

Belgium. I'm ready to just go now and get it over with. That's a terrible way of looking at it. There are just so many things that are happening HERE that I want to be a part of, but I know it's a great opportunity and it'll just take time for me to get used to it.

And I'm glad I'll get to see Spring Awakening with my sister before I leave. Seeing Broadway tours is how we bond. In tenth grade, I flew to Indiana to see RENT with her, and now I get to see Spring Awakening with her.

Some sisters shop together, but I fly across the country to see shows with her. 

Oh, America. I wish Bush was still President so I was more eager to get out of here. I'm ready to tell Belgium how much I love Obama, and how much I hated Bush. 

Adieu,

Alyce