Back on the saddle again

Back on board! It's been a long time since my last entry, a big reason for that is that I was gone and not at the computer. On the 17th of June, with tear-filled eyes of joy, I met my parents at the airport in Brussels. From there I was able to show them Brussels as well as my favorite spots in Belgium. It was so good to show them my life here, where I live, the campus, my favorite things, ect. Then Bright and early on the 21st we left for our little adventure. My parents decided that SINCE they were in Europe they would take me on a little trip. We went to Italy and then up through Switzerland seeing good friends. The picture above is all of us in Brussels. It was a lot of fun, but it was not without uplanned adventures.

First off the heat was definitely something that we would have liked to change. It was about 110 F (42 C) It was roasting, and of course it was at 3p that we had to walk across the cities with our suitcases behind us in plain heat. A lot of times it felt like we were just going from shady area to shady area. Another big adventure was that we enjoyed having a free non-structured trip by not planning every last detail, including to not planning our hotels. In Europe it is easy to go to information and then they tell you where an available room is with what you asked. When we arrived in Basel, Switzerland, the tourist office was closed and we didn't know that it was a Basel-holiday that a vast amount of other Swiss residents went to. Every hotel we checked said they were full until we found this decent looking non-rated hotel and went in. We didn't realize until after we got the rooms that they were "fantasy rooms." What I mean by that is that in my parents room the entire interior was painted like a royal purple dessert tent looking out onto the Sahara with a wall of mirrors on one side, and in my tent I was in an old stone building looking out onto the desert, of course with the wall of mirrors. It was SOOOOOOO ODD, that is the only way I can describe it. I never want to stay anywhere as odd as that again.

And our last adventure was having our suitcases lost as we flew back into Brussels from Zurich. It was not until the 10th that I was able to pick them up, and by then, my parents had already left. I loved my time with them and it was hard to see them go, but I am so fortunate that we were able to form as many new memories as we did on the trip. :)