I may have over-reacted...

Alright so maybe I overreacted. Maybe they are just mosquito bites. I guess it makes sense- my face was near the window and I had it open-- the rest of my body was covered by sheets, so not accessible to mosquitoes. And Brugge does have canals that would encourage the growth of mosquitoes...

Anybody? Am I right?

Just so you know, I feel like a total fool right now. I went off the deep-end yesterday about this and now I feel like an idiot. Please try to refrain from making fun of me and instead cross your fingers that all I have is mosquito bites.

it looks so beautiful-- if only you knew what crawls in the night...

Well, I gave Belgium one more shot. This time I headed to Brugge for work. The town is absolutely adorable, although I do not understand who lives there, because the streets were dead at 3pm, 6pm and 10pm, except for a few English-speaking tourists and the IBM-ers.

Maybe I know why. MAYBE they don't like being eating by bedbugs. Maybe the smart people moved out when they woke up with three red dots on their face. Oh no wait-- that was me! Not to mention that when I get down to the reception desk at 7am, all of the lights are off, there is no one to be found, and the front door is locked so you can't get out. Fire hazard much? Finally, some non-English speaking woman opens the door for me and I run out and make it to the train station with a few minutes to spare. Needless to say I couldn't get far enough away fast enough.

I guess it wasn't all bad. I met some nice French IBMers that invited me out to dinner; we did some sightseeing and had some good food.

The moral of the story is: check your hotel room before sleeping in it and DON'T GO TO BELGIUM!!!

LaTiSu (Lauren Tia and Susan!!)

Susan and Tia came into Paris, so I took a few days off to have some fun with them. We had a solid 4 days of fun, shopping and sightseeing.

I'm really glad they came (for more than one reason, obviously) because I really got to know my area of Paris. For example, we found some great boutiques up in the Montmartre area, not to mention some great restaurants.

My new favorite is the fondue restaurant (thank you Marco for the suggestion!!), Refuge des Fondues-- it's certainly not your everyday, proper etiquette type place. Picture walking into a small restaurant with 5, 4 person tables on each side and walls covered in the markings of the previous guests. Then picture climbing over the table to get to your seat, then having a 4 inch deep pot with boiling cheese placed in front of you. And how could I forget the wine served out of baby bottles?? Alright, so it sounds super strange, but the atmosphere was great and the fondue was amazing!

We also made sure that we had some nice rich hot chocolate on a cool afternoon, sat in the Jardin du Luxembourg (you can't go wrong there on a sunny day), saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, and ate breakfast crepes near the Eiffel Tower.

We also headed out to Versailles for the afternoon, and I never thought I would say this, but I was disappointed! Jeff Koons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Koons) had a modern art exhibit going on throughout the Chateau and IT COMPLETELY RUINED THE EXPERIENCE. Here is Susan making fun of one of the "works of art":


Sadly, the vacation had to end and the ladies have gone home, however, I will see them next week in the US (yes, that's right, I'm coming home!) and I may live with Susan when I come back home for good (still not sure exactly when, but we'll figure it out).

A weekend away in the UK-- which felt so much like home...

This weekend I headed out to the UK to stay with [those whom I now consider] my adopted UK family- the Waimans (at home this weekend was Mom (Myra), and 2 of 4 children, Ruth and Alex). This is my second stay at the Waiman residence, and it always proves to be fun, interesting and educational. Friday night we sat down to a traditional Sabbath dinner, filled with family friends and lots of good food (it was a "meat" night).

I also got to see a beautiful part of northwest London- Hampstead Heath which is complete with green rolling hills, a view of central London and a "secret" garden. The weather was absolutely amazing -- 70 degrees with no humidity -- what can I say-- I bring the nice weather.

Saturday night we went out to a few bars in an area of East London called Hoxton Square. The club that we went to played the most random music but everyone had a good time dancing to it. Then we ate night burgers at one of the few restaurants open in London past midnight-- gotta love late night burgers and chips.

Then today, it was back to work... just need to make it through tomorrow and Wednesday, then I get 2 days off (plus the weekend) to spend with my girls Tia and Susan when they come to Paris!!

(Sorry blog readers-- I didn't take any pictures this weekend, and I couldn't find any online that did the park justice. I hope my descriptions will fill that void...)

International MeetUp

Last night, I put on my game face and went to a bar in Paris. Okay, well I shouldn't give myself that much credit-- the bar was specifically chosen to host an Internationals MeetUp night. found a site online called Meetup.com and basically I what you do is search for a group that has common interests and you can go to events that they have scheduled (or eventually, create your own events).

I found a couple of different ones- one for American Expats and this one for all International Expats. I met people from various countries - Italy, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, U.S. etc. I also told myself that I wanted to remember their names and for the most part, I do! It really does help to say their name right after you meet them (try it sometime!).

Everyone there was so nice and knew exactly how it felt to live in a city and not really know anyone, so there is one thing that you know that you already have in common! They were all pretty amazed that I was from New York-- THE BIG APPLE. I would definitely go to more of their events and on Friday I'm checking out a different group (meetin.com), so we'll see how many new friends I can make!