This Austrian Life: In Bruges (celver, huh?)

Michelangelo!

Swans on canals!

WAFFLES!

We spent a day in Bruges for the official purpose of visiting the College of Europe, which offers masters degrees in "European Studies" (but should really be called "European Union Studies"). It was interesting, but as Maggie, the director of the Fulbright Commission in Belgium, said, it's a "quasi-academic institution" so I won't say much about it.

I will say more about exploring Bruges, though, because it's one of my favorite cities (we went on European Studies, too) and this was one of only two days we had much free time.

After lunch we went on a tour of the city, which looking at this picture I apparently listened to very intently.

We saw the cathedral with the only Michelangelo in Northern Europe, the beautiful Pieta above (that I also took blurry pictures of two years ago), the main square with its many different styles of architecture (Late Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Classical, and modern to name a few), the church that supposedly houses a vial of Christ's blood (a golden detail on this church's exterior is below), and I was reminded of a lot of the things I learned on Euro Studs, like the fact that the town hall (behind me in the "intent" picture) was the first secular building built in the Gothic style.

I like Bruges because most of the buildings are from the 14th and 15th century and are really well preserved. Canals wind through the city and swans (which are much bigger and scarier animals than you might think) float across them. There are chocolate and waffle shops on every corner. It's always full of tourists, but then again, I'm a tourist, so can I really complain?

Another highlight of the day was matching up people from the group with their Euro Studs and Sewanee doppelgängers. The girl in the picture to the right was 100% Ceci-she was REALLY nice and started conversations with sentences like "I like cheese." (the guy in the picture is Gergely, who lives in Vienna), there was a guy with Arijit's voice and mannerisms- I heard him speak and seriously turned around ready to ask what room he and Derek were staying in, and one of the journalists was what I imagine Prestia was like in his 20s- smart, well-dressed, and full of witty and snide comments and a geographical history that was impossible to unravel. I'm also pretty sure he owned a cravat.
This is unrelated, but there was also a girl that I couldn't talk to because 1) she was really loud and excited and I got tired just being around her and 2) she looked like the Cheshire Cat.

After the tour Gergely, Allison/Ceci, and I bought waffles and chocolate. But unlike the last time I went to Bruges I didn't have a hotel room sit in all day and watch 7th Heaven while eating the chocolates with Derek.

Bruges also brought back other fond memories, like having close personal contact with Ceci during any sort of exchange,