This past weekend the International Exchange Student Network put together a trip to a small Belgian medieval town in the second southern-most province of Belgium, Luxembourg (not to be confused with the country!). Bouillon is just under 5500 people and although the actual founding date is unknown, the first reference in text dates back to the year 988. Again, it is absolutely tiny. There are two main roads that line the river, as well as the fortress on the hilltop, a little town center, and little houses dotting the hillside. It is however, extremely picturesque.
Our trip began at 7:30 am on Saturday morning. The ESN team had booked a double decker coach for the 2 hour drive and due to some fast feet and good fortune, Bee and I ended up sitting in the very front on the top level. It was absolutely the best view I've had on a bus trip to date. Although the Belgium country side is very monotonous, it is extremely pretty and the beautiful weather you see in the picture above stayed with us for the entire weekend. Upon arrival in Bouillon, our first stop was at the youth hostel to drop off our bags. Rooms were 6 people dispersed on 3 bunk beds with one key to lock the door. They apparently really didn't want youth losing the keys... they were attached to ridiculous key chains. In the picture below, I'm holding the key.
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| Charlie (Quebec), Bee (USA), moi, TK (Taiwan), Tina (Germany), Chelsa (Canada) |
After everyone put their bags away we walked down into the town center and had some free time to wander and grab lunch. As with everywhere else in Belgium, the choices consisted of sandwiches and fries or fries and sandwiches. We'll see how long it takes us all to get french fried out!
The afternoon was spent kayaking on the river. It was absolutely mind blowing and easily my favourite part of the last month. It took about 3 hours to make our way 15 km (9.32 miles) in two man kayaks. I partnered up with Bee and we started out with her in the back and me up front. Within the first 100 meters we pulled over and switched. Turned out she had no idea how to steer! That first 100 meters was pretty entertaining as we floated every direction but straight. Regardless, the water was absolutely perfect - not too cold, really slow moving, and reasonably deep for the most part. In the shallow parts it was easy enough to pry yourself loose without getting out. People who did get out often found themselves falling in (TK being one of them!). At the end of the kayaking, the kayak company served us dinner. Quelle surprise - sandwiches and frites. It was nice to have some down time during the dinner preparations though. Charlie had thought to bring cards and everyone shared different card games from their countries.
The evening finished off with what ESN called a "blind test". Really, it was just a rousing round of name that tune. I'm not going to brag or anything but our table definitely took the title. Afterward, the group went outside for a "chamallow" roast on the hostel barbecue. Chamallows are like marshmallows but they're flavored, coloured, and coated in granulated sugar. By this point, the plan was to go for a walk through the woods, have a little party, see one of the local bars, and call it a night. Being as tired as we were from kayaking, four of us from my room decided to turn in early instead. Early being a relative term. It was 23h00 at this point. Tina and Charlie braved the wild and went out. By the time they got in it was almost 4h00! Given that we got up at 7h30 for breakfast, I wasn't too sad to have missed out on the bar.
Breakfast was pretty standard, toast, cereal, fruit salad, etc., and was followed by a 6 station team competition. Groups of ten went to each station and were granted points based on their performance. The stations included getting upstairs with everyone's ankles tied to their neighbor, trying to get your teammates to say a word off a slip of paper, blindfolded eating and identification of Belgian foods, taking the most original picture possible, doing the scream while you run challenge, and a sprinting spinning relay. Our team had a pretty solid performance and came second. We were pretty disappointed though. Our picture was our last station and we had such a blast. I ended up directing and taking the photo... this is what resulted:
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| And he thought being our roommate was bad.... |
The last portion of the trip was spent at the Bouillon Castle. Upon our immediate arrival we caught a falconry show. It is pretty impressive how responsive birds of prey can be. There were eagles, falcons, and owls of various species and even a vulture. The history of falconry is much older than I gave it credit for. The first accounts date back to 2000 B.C. but falconry only reached its climax in the UK and parts of Europe in the 17th century. After the show, which took place in the main courtyard, we had free time to wander the castle for about an hour before we went on a guided tour. Thank goodness for the free wander time because the tour was extremely short and moving our group around took up a lot of the time. Our guide was extremely entertaining though and very knowledgeable. By the end of castle time, about 16h30, everyone was pretty exhausted. After being out all day in the sun for two days straight and staying out late, the bus ride home was extremely quiet. Unfortunately, the way back was plagued with construction. It took over three hours to get back going absolutely painfully slow for the last hour. Overall though, it was a very successful and well planned trip with lots of great people! It did feel like a high school field trip though.
It is amazing how rejuvenating it was to get out of the city. The fresh air, uncharacteristically warm sunny weather, small town, and beautiful scenery sure makes it hard to come back and face classes. Although it was my first hostel experience, others commented on how amazingly clean and well kept the hostel was. We sure got spoiled!
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| Making friends with a local |
Love to you all,
Jacqueline
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