Day 3: I'm pretty oriented by now

Last day of orientation! There's not much to talk about during the day here, other than I found out that my debit card does, in fact, work perfectly well to withdraw money but any transfers have to be done online - it's literally not an option at the machine. I would have biked into town to cut the time, but I'm still hurting a bit from yesterday so I decided that walking was a perfectly lovely option as well.

Rob, who was supposed to take the cash I went to take out (because I had forgotten to get it earlier, oops), had already left; this actually worked out perfectly, as I was absolutely ravenous and the only transaction I wanted involved food, not class supplies. Since everything in Europe is closed on Sunday, the Mars Corporation-supplied vending machine was my best friend today, providing sustenance when none else could. Dank u wel, Mars Co.

Dinner, which we could smell from walking out of our building, had a familiar scent of frying oil and potatoes wafting through the air (probably in the entire town). They turned out to be these fantastic swirly mashed potato frites that we had sometimes at ISB, presumably supplied based on good behavior, which I explained to Erin while in line and we all got very excited (for good reason). I forgot to take a picture because they were far too delicious and I was far too hungry, but I must say that Dutch ketchup is better than any ketchup I've ever had. Dank u wel, Kasteel.

After dinner, I taught Lucas how to play Go Fish and then War, narrowly missing a defeat by winning a Double War with my second-to-last card, but then we ended the game early (this seems to be a pattern) to get to the next activity: chamber music in Sophie's Lounge to start off the new semester. They went chronologically through time by musical style, including Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Impressionist (personal favorite!), Roots, and Contemporary, including You Raise Me Up. Whenever I'm around live music, suddenly there is nothing else on my mind but playing viola or singing and how much I actually miss both.

Otherwise, I've been rampantly trying to schedule travel breaks, mainly the March visit to Belgium. I should probably focus on wherever I'm going for the Feb 2-5 trip, as it seems that a huge chunk of Kasteel is heading for Bruges (which I plan to do later) and rates only get more expensive the closer they get. I might stay here, I might hop on a plane/train somewhere by myself, or I can check the Facebook page/people in class for who's going somewhere that's not Bruges. For instance, my next-door-neighbor is going to Prague that weekend. Hm...