I hate introductions but they're inevitable.
Anyway, name's Ria. 18 years old. Gemini. Likes watching movies, peanut butter, and doodling in notebooks.
This is the story of my GAP YEAR ABROAD living in the land of French fries - Belgium.
Here's a FAQ I whipped up to seem like I'm some sort of establish thing already:
Q: Why are you living in Belgium?
A: Long story short, I found a program called the Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) one sunless post-Hurricane Irene afternoon back in 2011, found out my hometown hadn't sent anyone abroad in 20 years....add a kilo of paperwork later and 'Viola!' -- Belgium.
Q: Where are you from originally?
A: I'm from the beautiful land of AH-MURICA. Besides that, I lived in a pipsqueak of a state that's only claim to fame is whiffle balls and George W. Bush.
Q: Why Belgium?
A: Since RYE is really meant for high school students and I found out about it the summer before my Senior year, my country choice was vaguely limited. My top three options were: Philippines, Japan, and Finland.
I have a friend who's been to the Philippines several times and even though he said the beaches were beautiful and the people were friendly, the real deal breaker was not being able to drink the tap water.
My mom put her foot down to Japan because she said I'd be the 'one of these things is not like the other' and honestly I'd be INCREDIBLY difficult going there knowing 0% Japanese.
And finally, I hate the cold and where else do they speak Finnish outside of Finland?
Belgium seemed the best option with most practical language (French) and location, location, location. I mean honestly; you go North - you're in England, South - you're near Luxembourg, East - Germany, and I'm about an hour away from Paris. What more can you ask for?
Q: Do you speak French?
A: "Moi? Je parle un peu français and oui, oui j'adore français. Omelette du fromage Oh la la ~"
For those who don't speak French, it roughly means, "What the heck have I gotten myself into - I have no idea what I'm doing".
Honestly, I only took a year of French in high school so whatever French I've learned since I arrived was with a 'sink or swim' mentality. Funny how quickly you learn when you're
FORCED TO.
Q: How are you going to run this blog?
A: I'm aiming (read: hoping) that this will be some semblance of a journal but with pictures, videos, and animated tales of my travels and tips from mistakes that I made and how to avoid them.
And finally, one last. important question....
Q: Do you like meatballs?
A; Why yes, yes I do.
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