Day 18: Bruges :)

Today has been the most amazing day, we went to Bruges! Although getting there was a struggle and we had the usual 10 seconds to get on the train, we made it to Bruges safely.  When we got there it was pouring rain (we seem to have bad luck with weather here).  We walked to a church that wasn't very cool and I guess on the way we lost some girls so we had to wait under a little tunnel till we found them.  We seem to wait around a lot, and it's probably because there are 25 of us...but still, we waste a lot of time.  Our motto for the trip is "Hurry up and wait" because we always are rushed to be somewhere on time and then we wait like half an hour longer before leaving.  Fits perfectly right? ;)

When we finally got everyone back together we went to an art museum.  I went through it pretty quickly but found some artwork that I really enjoyed.  I realized that I am drawn to landscape art because it always catches my eye.  Here are some paintings that I really liked :)

We still had an hour till we met back up and before we split up our director said "You will find something new in Bruges, but you will also find something new about yourself".  I took it literally and decided to go out in the pouring rain and explore the city a little bit.  I didn't go far but I absolutely loved being able to go out on my own and see the city even though it was raining.  I took so many pictures and just took in the beauty.

We had to meet back up at 2:10 but then we waited around for another 20 minutes...by that point I just wanted to get back outside and explore.  We headed over to a cathedral and had a couple minutes to walk around and then we had a chance to go out and eat or shop till 5:00.  My group decided to go out and explore :) I fell in love with the city of Bruges.  It was like I was in a fairy tale.  Everything seemed so perfect and like it was from a movie.  I loved how peaceful and relaxing it felt and for once I didn't feel scared walking down alleyways.  It literally was the most beautiful city I have ever been to.  This is the part where I found something new about myself.

I love doors.  I love everything about them, especially the ones in Bruges.  I love the numbers on them.  I love the different colors. I love the different textures.  I feel like I analyzed the doors and found myself wondering who lived inside the doors and what their personality was like.  It made me think of what my door would be like.  If I could design my door I would have it be Tiffany Blue, maybe with some polka dots on it, and I would have a large number 8 on it because that is my favorite number :)  I found myself taking pictures of every door that intrigued me, but here is the one that was my favorite :)

Right before meeting up with the group, Lauren and I decided to get dinner before heading back so we went to Pizza Hut :) kinda crazy how we are in Europe and we are eating at places that the US has.  We have taste buds of kids what can we say :)  After dinner we met everyone back at the cathedral and then got on the train.  I read some more of the Book of Mormon on the train and I got pretty far which I was excited about :)

When we got home Lauren and I were craving a Coca-Cola Light-aka Diet Coke :) so we went into McDonald's.  Lauren had to pee really bad so she went to the bathroom, and she had to pay! Crazy huh? That was something new to me, here in Brussels you pretty much have to pay to use the bathroom where ever you go.  We got our Coca-Cola Lights and I got some chocolate macaroons and we went back to our hotel :)

When we got back to our hotel we started editing pictures for our photography class.  It's amazing at how much I have learned about taking pictures and editing from just these past couple of weeks.  I look at pictures in a whole different way now!  I also asked my teacher for help on one photo I was editing and it ended up turning into an hour one on one lesson on how to use Photoshop.  He helped me way more than I was expecting! It was amazing to learn all the "shortcuts" I didn't know about that make things so much easier! After editing I came back up to my room and went to bed!