You've Got a Friend in Me

YAY! I'm doing a happy dance because I got invited to hang out with Belgians! REAL LIVE BELGIANS! At school, it's slowly but sure becoming easier to talk with people, especially when I remind myself that they are just people. I am a person, they are people...they just happen to be french-speaking people. I by no means would classify myself as having close friends yet, but I have started eating lunch with this guy from my class and his friends (who are in the same grade, but not the same class). They have been really nice, and one of the girls invited me to sleepover her house this weekend with the other people we eat with :)

I'm so excited! It sounds so silly, but it really is difficult to make friends. Don't get me wrong--people haven't been mean or anything--it's just that most of them wait for you to make the first effort. This week I started to initiate conversation more, and it has made a big difference. People aren't scared to talk to me, but they are a bit reluctant (mostly because of my knowledge of French not being spectacular). I'm not an extremely outgoing person, but I've had lots of opportunities to make new friends at summer camps and stuff, and I always find a good group of people I get along well with. But the language barrier makes it harder, and plus, I haven't known this group of people for that long, so it's hard to gauge exactly who is more similar to me, etc. Nonetheless, the group of people I eat with was so nice to invite me to the sleepover, and I'm happy.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to Liege to meet about with all the other exchange students. A ton of exchange students living in Belgian meet up at this one bar in Liege every Wednesday, so it's nice to go every once in a while to meet new people who speak English, and are going through the same things as you are. Unfortunately, I lost my coat there...People kinda pile all their bags and coats in a pile in the back of the bar, and it is usually only the exchange students who are there, but yesterday there were a few Belgians, and I'm pretty sure they stole it..A few other exchange students said that they had things stolen as well..it's unfortunate, but luckily I didn't have anything in the pockets of my coat.

I am seriously starting to hate myself for making the songs I post so extremely obvious and trite, but I can't stop myself. When I think about the main idea of the post, I think about friends...Therefore, the song in Toy Story automatically comes to mind. Too bad. I do what I want...no one is forcing you to listen to it :)

Until next time,
Catherine