Today, we skipped school and we went to a new city. Actually, two new cities. How neat is that? I got ready, ate some cereal and juice, and made my lunch. We were meeting at 9:15 to walk to the train station and catch the 9:37ish train. I watched Netflix on the two hour train ride to Oostende. I also ate my sandwich, chip, and banana lunch. When we arrived at Oostende, we had less than an hour to walk to the North Sea and beach and then walk back to the train station to catch the 13:08 train. The walk to the beach probably took 10ish minutes. It is a quaint town with a lot of cute sail boats in the harbors, fish booths, and buildings that line the coast. There aren't as many tourists here so it was a quiet city. You could hear the waves crash on the sand instead of loud cars and yelling. We walked on the sand beach for a little to get to the sea. We looked at shells and huge Disney themed sand castles. We touched the water and took a ton of pictures. The water was actually not that cold. I probably would have swam in it on a normal beach day. We enjoyed the cool breeze coming in off the water and the sounds of the seagulls. Our time there was short lived because we had to book it back to the train station to get on our train in time. I really missed the beach, so it was the perfect reminder. I probably could have spent the whole day there just sitting and listening and watching. We made our way back to the train station and as 13:08 drew closer, our pace grew faster. At about 13:06, we were still a little outside of the train station. We started running to the station, through the station, and to the train. Right when we reached the platform, the whistle blew, and we knew we had to HURRY. Luckily, we all jumped on quickly before it left. Whew. We cut it close. We were a sweaty mess after that. Abby had some perfume samples that we passed around to freshen up a bit. Abby for the win. The train to Bruges was only 15 minutes. Since only half of the group made it on time to the train, we had to wait for the rest of the group in Bruges. Instead of waiting in the station, we strolled along a path and through some parks. We went along a water channel and admired the willow trees and bright green grass. We reached a bridge and waited there for the group. While we were waiting, Annah's water bottle fell out of her backpack, off the bridge, and into the water channel. It was right on the edge, near the bank, so Grant slid down the very steep hill and saved her bottle from its deathly fate. Grant for the win. He did not escape unscathed though. Some thorns saw it fit to attack him during his heroic act. Something about our group and losing water bottles though....We walked along the channel, saw more willows (remember: these are one of my favorite trees), saw some ducks, and then ended up at this area where all the swans gather. There were probably 30 or so swans and they were huge. Like the size of small human children. SO BIG. There were also horses pulling carriages. Tears. So many cute scenes here. We walked through the adorable city streets and made our way to The Church of Our Lady. The Madonna and Child statue by Michelangelo is in this church. This statue was in the movie that we watched a long time ago, "The Monuments Men." It was also stolen by Napoleon and the Nazis. That was an interesting thing to see after we had some background information on it. After that, we made our way through the city. We saw picturesque scenes, boat tours, trees lining cobblestone streets. tall buildings, stout buildings, brick buildings, stone buildings, bridges, falling leaves, lots of dogs, bright blue skies, a lady making lace, a lady weaving, violinists, and a market. We ended up by the Basilica of the Holy Blood. This catholic church believes they have a vial of Jesus's blood. Interesting....Anywho, we went in and were going to see it, but I am pretty sure they were charging a "donation." How convenient. I didn't pay the money, so I just looked at the beautiful murals and stained glass. Next door was the Annah approved chocolate shop, so we had to go in. We bought some chocolates and then wandered the streets. We went into some stores and just admired the cuteness of the town. We searched for wind mills and followed a long road to the other side of town. We found two of the four on tall green hills. Claire rolled (bumpily fell) down the hill at our amusement. Then we sat and enjoyed our chocolates. We then went searching for food. We were a little lost but eventually found our way back. It took us a long time to find food, as always, but finally we found a small tea room/cafe. Thankfully, they had English menus and the waitress was most helpful. I ordered some chicken drumsticks and Green Lemon tea. The tea was delightful and the chicken was tasteful. We spent quite a bit of time there, eating and enjoying the good company. We had to leave to make it back to our train on time. On our way back to the train station, we stopped for some cheap ice cream and then got a little lost again. Thank goodness for emergency cellular data to look up directions when needed. We found our route and successfully made it back to the train station, after what we thought might be another close call situation. Thankfully we had plenty of time. The train ride back was quiet but long. We studied some French, and then I watched Netflix and chatted with Hannah and Claire. On the walk back, I was a little hyper so I may have woken up some of the town, but it was a much needed crazy time. Also, they deserve some payback for their late night loudness on the streets. I ate some grapes, studied some French, and will now willfully reunite with my pillow.

Fun Facts: I tried shower 2 today. Conclusion: not as good as 1. Too bright and doesn't have a handy heater to set my clothes on. We were in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium today. Most of them also speak English, that is always a welcomed surprise. Quechua backpacks are popular here. We fit in since almost all of us bought one at Decathlon. Everyone thought today would be cold, windy, and rainy. It was warm, sunny, and breezy. Perfect weather in the most perfect town.

Shoutout: Annah Smith for having a wonderful sense of direction and being our fearless leader through our city street wanderings. You da bomb.