On Saturday evening at 8:35pm I flew out of a very foggy and wet Pearson Airport for Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. The reason for my cross Atlantic voyage is a study abroad course in Belgium focusing on the public policy of the European Union, NATO and International Criminal Court of Justice. The course is administered by Huron University College in conjunction with Windsor University. Over the duration of the next two weeks I will visit cultural, heritage and political sites to take in many different aspects of European Union culture, public policy and history. The majority of our time will be spent in Brussels, Belgium as it houses the head offices of the European Union and NATO.  I am presently located in Leuven, Belgium at a mainly student residence called the Irish College. The rooms are nice and I have 3 roommates. It’s been an extraordinarily long day and a half of travelling and I have not slept since 8:30am Saturday (your time)…It’s now 9:12pm here in Leuven and I am feeling rather like going to bed.

Not too much exciting has gone on so far. Yasmeen, Nicole and I made it through our trip without too much trouble. Aside from thinking that I had lost my glasses (I found them later in one of Yas’s bags) there is not too much to write home about. We arrived in Paris at approximately 9:30am, then proceeded to take a train from Paris to Brussels and then on to Leuven. We didn’t get into our rooms until about 5:00pm due to our travel plans. So, to put it lightly, I am exhausted! I badly need sleep!

Tomorrow the first day of our course begins, with a meeting at the European Union a session at the American Mission to the EU and a guest speaker in the evening. We have already begun to take in some of the sights and sounds of Belgium. We ate dinner and did a little exploring of Leuven once we arrived.

Anyway, I am having a rather difficult time keeping my eyes open and my thoughts flowing, so I am going to try and get some rest before tomorrow’s busy day. I’ll be posting more interesting information as the week progresses!