It's been three weeks to the very day that I arrived to my new home on Rue Gray (or Graystraat if you prefer the ugly Flemish version). My flat is very nice. In addition to a full modern kitchen, my roommate Jon and I enjoy a flat screen TV with surround sound, two La-Z Boys, and even a nice terrace with a koi pond. The other six men of the program live in other apartments above and below us in the same small building.
Unfortunately, the eight girls of the program were less fortunate. I'll just leave it at that.
In addition to lodging, I am one of the fortunate few who commutes to work strictly by foot. Most interns need to take the Metro, with one girl having to endure an hour-plus a way commute each day. (As a result, she's elected—with the program leader's permission—to only work three days a week instead of four.) My internship is directly next door to the main building of the European Commission, the quasi-executive branch of the EU. My internship is at ENDS Europe. An arm of the ENDS Report, an environmental news service out of the UK, ENDS Europe focuses on reporting environmental policy news on the European level. (If you click here, it will take you to the website, but unfortunately most of the content is protected by a subscription.) I came at an awkward time for ENDS Europe. The veteran editor—who not only bears quite a resemblance to Paul Krebs, but shares his first name—was in his last week when I arrived. With his departure, I'm left with only two colleagues in our small office. The rest of the team is based out of London.
Last week one of the editors from London came over, and we discussed in further details some responsibilities I'd be taking on. In addition to daily stories, the website has a few other features that I will be updating throughout my stay here. There's a Best of the Web section, an EU Law Tracker, and a Country Regulator. The last tools deals with which member states have implemented the legislature listed in the second. In addition, I'm going to spend a week on each of ENDS' policy focus 'channels' (e.g. climate, energy, chemicals, transport, etc). Throughout each of these weeks, I'll be reading up on these areas, and helping my colleagues in reporting in any way I can. For the remaining weeks, I'll select an area that interests me the most and hopefully write a feature of some sort.
Between working and enjoying my flat, the rest of the group and I are exploring our strange new world. Brussels is like Washington D.C. in it's diversity and strong foundation in bureaucracy. However, I've found navigating through Brussels—and Europe in general—to be much more difficult than anywhere in the U.S. Street signs are infrequent and streets themselves don't like meeting at 90 degree angles. However, the charm of the city is undeniable. The cafes and restaurants are excellent, and it's not too difficult to find something within a student's budget. There's a world-renown friterie directly between our flat and the nearest Metro stop that offers what many Belgians consider the best frites (fries) in the country—and therefore the world. I'm tempted to agree. Ketchup is a secondary condiment here in Belgium, where mayonnaise is king. (Don't knock it till you try it.) The frite stand is quite cheap and offers a selection of other delicious fried food. (Really, I'm shocked Europeans are as thin as they are.)
The winter weather here is heard to pin down. The closest I can come up with is a hybrid of St. Louis temperatures with Seattle precipitation and Chicago strength, but not the cold, wind. When we arrived three Mondays ago there was snow waiting for us on the tarmac—an anomaly I'm told. However, the temperature has steadily increased, and the only precipitation we've seen has been primarily light rain. Where D.C. is prone to those sudden heavy downpours in the late afternoon, Brussels typically prefers to draw out light rain. However, the wind could be the worst. While it doesn't so much affect the temperature, the wind comes in strong sudden gusts and sometimes even adds noticeable walking difficulty and resistance to someone of my size.
My travels outside of Brussels have been underway as well. We took the train into Amsterdam for a weekend, and the group has also done day-trips to Bruges and Antwerp, two of Belgium's biggest cities. I've found all of these places to be both beautiful and fascinating. In Amsterdam, bikes outnumber pedestrians, and they tend to enjoy narrowly dodging cars and people alike. The churches of Bruges are very interesting. One church—which we were too late to get into—has a vial of Christ's blood that is said to liquidate once a year, while another contains one of the few of Michaelango's sculptures outside of Italy.
As one of the top commercial centers in Europe, Antwerp was bustling last weekend because it was the last full weekend of sales in Belgium. As opposed to the U.S., I've been told that Beglium regulates sales to only two months out of the year—one month being January. I have yet to discover the reasoning behind this.
My travel agenda is growing by the hour. I'm booked through the end of February now with weekend trips to Frankfurt, Lyon (to see Jolene, a roommate from last year), and then the Netherlands. For spring break, I'm looking into taking a week in Morocco at the northern tip of Africa, and then a weekend in Barcelona. I've got a flight booked to Dublin the weekend before St. Patrick's Day, and I'm going to London a few weeks following that.
