Here I am with my second week installment! It has been very very busy and I don't really know where to start to tell you my long story.
I can start by saying that it is going very well and that this will be a far less depressing post! This is my good news for the week: I am actually enjoying my time here!! As you can probably see by the amount of exclamation marks I am putting at the end of every sentence!
Let's start from the beginning. Monday began as a not very exciting day; I woke up thinking that I didn't really want to go to the office and that my life sucked! I went anyway, you know, I don't really have a choice but it actually turned out to be quite interesting. By turning up I was able to get invited to a house party, which is a bit of killer since you have to work the next day. Anyway, the party was fun even though I arrived pretty late because, as usual, I got super lost in Etterbek, a neighbourhood made essentially of alleys and sidestreets. I wondered around trying to find the right house for an hour and then I heard familiar voices coming from a roof terrace and I realised that I was in the right street, in front of the right house!
Tuesday was a great night too :) I went to a Finnish dinner hosted by my colleague in the Communications department. I had amazing Finnish food. It is quite similar to Russian foood and really good. I stayed there till 1 just chatting and drinking. It was nice getting to know my colleagues.
Then on Thursday I finally moved out of the B&B. I was really happy to move because the area around is so dodgy!! On Tuesday I got a cab back home and the taxi driver told me to be very careful because the street is very dangerous!! So as you can see not a very nice place to live. Despite this, by the time I had to go to pick up my keys I felt really anxious, like I had a bad feeling about the all situation. I realised later that it is just my fear of change that always gets me when I am doing something new. Also all that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong.
All started when after picking up the keys, I went to collect my stuff from the B&B. In the morning I realised someone had entered the house. It might sound a bit creepy but how I noticed is quite interesting and mysterious. I should be a detective, I think! So I came down the stairs and I smelt really strong perfume. I immediately thought I wasn't the only one in the building! I could smell the perfume up to the second floor, so I knew that the person who was there with me had a nice tour of the house as well!! I got quite scared, especially because the perfume was definitely for men. So I walked down the stairs very slowly creating a whole story in my head about the fact that maybe the night before I was a bit drunk and didn't close the door properly and so some homeless decide it was a good chance to sleep in the hall! Of course the whole story could have not be true because the night before I wasn't drunk (don't worry mum!), I had actually checked if the door was locked properly and then homeless people don't usually wear expensive perfume!! Anyway when I came down to the hall I saw that no one was there, that the mail was all sorted on the stairs and that the door was locked with an extra iron bar! I managed to get out from the building pretty quickly and left in a hurry. I don't know but I still think that house is pretty creepy! The bottom line is that when I got to the place in the evening I couldn't get in anymore because of that extra iron bar! I was so frustrated and angry that I didn't know what to do. I must have stood 5 minutes staring at the door. Then I decided to call the owners, who are in Italy by the way, but I didn't have any money on my phone. So I ran to the shops area because by that time it was almost eight and that is the time when shops usually close! I found this Indian guy that sold just 5 euro top-up cards. As soon as I got the money I called my mom crying and managed to finish all my five euros with a nice and short international call! My mom managed to calm me down and told me to get more money on my phone, go back to the place to try the key again and then just keep calling the owners. So I followed the advice: got the money (another super-nice Indian guy that topped up my phone for me because I was in such a state that I couldn't even dial the numbers!) and started calling the owners on my way back to the B&B. All the calls were going to the answer machine, I couldn't feel more stressed! Finally I made it to the place and by trying and trying the key finally worked and I could get in. I felt so stupid: it was just a matter of trying the key a few times. I couldn't have been more embarressed with myself!
So this is just part of the story, my adventure is not over yet! Maybe I should write this in two different posts, this one is getting very long! Anyway, the story continues with the cab. By the time I got home and topped up my phone twice I didn't have money for the taxi anymore so I called the company and I asked if I could have paid by card, they said there was no problem and so I booked my taxi for an hour later. I brought all my things downstairs, that was a very good workout, and I sat in the hall waiting for the cab. By 9.40 (it was booked for 9.30) there was still no sign of the taxi so I called the company again and they said there had been a mistake and the booking was made for the day after! I felt such an idiot and also a bit angry because it all happened thanks to my inabilty to articulate three words together in French, but also because the company provides an English service with people that don't understand a word of English! It was not all my fault but it would be better if I stop being such narrow minded and actually learn the local language and not always assume that English gets you everywhere! They changed the booking and finally the taxi arrived! The driver was such an asshole though. He laughed at my French, at the fact that I was speaking English to him (well if you don't understand when I speak your language I am afraid I didn't have many other options!) and then he told me I couldn't pay by card! I got so angry and I told him I asked the people who do the bookings but apparently you can only do that when it is more than 20 euros!! He was really angry and said he couldn't believe I didn't even have 5 euros to pay him. So he unloaded the car and left all my stuff in the middle of the street shouting that I had to go to the cash machine. I said that I wasn't going because he had left all my stuff in the middle of the street. Very nervously I started counting the money and I miscounted it so he thought I was trying to scam him and leave without paying the last euro!! I wanted to cry, shout and punch him in the face!! FInally I managed to find THE euro and he left mumbling something 'Unbelievable, go to hell!'. The frustrating part of it was that I can never speak but I understand almost everything.
When I finally entered my room and sat on the bed I was so happy! I immediately went to bed and I was ready for the next morning which also brought something exciting.
At work every morning we do what it is called a 'daily brief'. We read all the news from the major agencies like BBC, Reuters etc and we sum up what happened in the world with attention to human rights. We also combine it with our work so we also include dispatches and reports from our researchers (only the ones that are public). Usually my colleague does it but on Friday I had my first try. I think it went well. They corrected the English and added a few things but I could still recognise my style and my work when it was published on our webpage. It was such a great feeling that I read it like four or five times before closing it! I don't think you will find it now because it is edited in the evening from NYC. They update it with more news and report but I can always let you know when I will do it again. We share the work with my colleague so each does it every other day.
Back at the flat it was a bit weird. I felt like I was living on my own. No one was around when arrived and i just assume they were asleep but the same thing happened in the morning and when I got back from work in the evening. Then on Friday I found this girl who apparently was a guest of one of my flatmates. She invited me to join her friends for a drink on Friday evening. I went and I found out that are so many Italians from Bocconi working as interns at the Commission! It is like an army!! Very interesting and different night though!
On Saturday I finally met one of my flatmate, the only one in Brussels for the weekend. It is actually six of us and very international: Italian, Danish, Dutch and Spanish. The all weekend it was just two of us but tonight two others arrived and then the Spanish guy is moving in next week. Now I have some time to get to know everyone. It is exciting, they all seem very nice.
I am actually quite sad that I am staying here just for two months. The house is great; big and spacious with loads of light. The location is great too; 5 minutes from the Grand Place and the Royal Palace, 10 from Louise, a very posh area with shops and nice cafes. The neighbourhood immediately next to the house is called Sablon and even though it is one of the most expensive areas of Brussels, is just so pretty and lively. You have nice cafes that for the summer keep all the tables outside and amazing chocolatier, it is such a tempation! It is actually pretty good that all is so pricey otherwise I would just get so fat!! Then you have amazing art galleries...For someone who loves art like me it is just the perfect place. I spent my Saturday afternoon walking around the galleries and I felt very European. I know it might sound strange but I haven't properly lived in Europe for a while and it is so cool this European life; nice food, cafes, art and the gorgeous whether, even the French accent is cute!
Yesterday evening I went out with my colleagues. I had a nice time. We ended up going home around 4 but it was fun. It is nice to explore the city. I think I did drink too much wine though and even though I wasn't drunk I went into a sort of sad mood when you just reflect about your life and you make everyone part of your reflections. Sometimes it just happens to me, not all the time though because usually when I drink I just get more lively and silly but yesterday I just talked nonsense for hours. I think it's the birthday coming up. I am getting into a crisis...getting old sucks!
So today I woke up with the reassurance that wine is really bad for my stomach and my head!! I decided, then, that the only way to get rid of the feeling was to go running!! But I woke up at 12 and had my breakfast around 1 so by the time I was ready for my run it was like 2.30! People tried to persuade me not to go but I didn't hear any reason, I was very determined! They must have thought I was absolutely crazy but I think I really needed it; I ran 5.36 km. I have this energy that I need to use because I sit all day and I don't get physically tired!
I think this is actually all, people! It is a very long posts and I am sorry but I had so many things to tell! I don't think I like Brussels yet. It is a very good enviroment if you want to work for international organisations and you have a law or politics degree like me but I live in this 'eurobubble' as they call it here and you just spend most of your time speaking English and you miss the local culture. It is definitely cool and exciting because you really meet people from all over Europe and the world but it is not like living in any other city when you really embrace the reality of the place.
I will leave you now with a picture of the view from my room. It is so nice with all the pointed rooftops one after the other. During the summer evenings it is so romantic, sad not to have anyone to share it with. I know quite a few people read the blog. Thank you, it is nice to know that we keep in touch somehow and also this is my bla bla, it is like a diary so sometimes I might write things that you might not agree with etc but I want to keep track of my impressions and feelings so I just write whatever comes up to my mind! A bit like when I talk, I just say what it comes up to my mind, not always the best things to say out loud!!
Good night to everyone!!
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