#40daysofsummer

Hello dear friends!

Wow, it truly has been ages since i typed a few personal words on this microblog. I have been back in Melbourne for 2 weeks  (really 9 days) after spending an incredible 40 days on the other side of the world. Clearly now in post-holiday sadness...  But as travelling stories inspire and encourage- i hope to share some of that with you today :)

PART 1- Belgium 08-07-14-> 13/07/14

2 years ago I visited Bruges for no more than 2 hours during my amazing Europe guided tour... I was yearning since then to visit the city and since I arrived in Paris and slightly less than a week before JEM Paris Summer of Service started I decided (relatively last minute- but I felt it on my heart) to book a bus tickets (30euro for return tickets, a sign or what?) to Brussels and that's when my 5 day adventure begun.

Brussels

I was greeted by pouring rain in Brussels, but that didn't dampen my mood as I finally met my host for the three day, two night stay there in real person. (I had contacted her online via couchsurfing.org- another story for another time!). She was so lovely and easy to get along with, and we share many travel stories, photos, cooking... when the rain subsided she showed me around her city... Day 2 I spent most of it by myself at the museums, eating seafood (Noordzee Mer du Nord is the place I still dream of), chocolate, waffles, and good wholesome salads (Exki <3)... Day 3 there was a dance festival to celebrate Flemish Community Day (love Belgians and their festivals), and you can tell now why I truly fell in love with the country and its people. . 

Gent/Bruges

Three more days and two more nights and until the 7th of July, the day I landed in Paris I had nowhere to stay (i had booked my bus ticket by then). This story is actually pretty incredible, God truly provided...

Backstory of how I really got to Gent: The first day I landed in Paris I really had no agenda. My roomate at the YWAM Base I was staying at suggested we go to the catacombs and during the 3hr long queue I got to know the two Belgian girls behind me. We chatted and one of them, when she learnt that I was coming to Belgium, offered me to stay with her (i didn't even ask her). WOW, the kindness of strangers and such a God-encounter!

So I met up with R at the Gent train station and she gave me a quick walking tour around her city at night. Too bad that was the most time I got to spend there as we were going to go to Bruges the next day for a music festival called Cactus Festival with her friends H (whom I met in Paris) and K.

Bruges was fun, with another walking tour (I love experiencing the city with a local this time), and of course the brilliant music festival. It was small by Belgian standards (~5000 people), and delivered great indie music (Jamie Woon <3).

The next day I had to say goodbye to Belgium and return to Paris. But not before a really fun game of Rummikub with the girls in a cute little cafe... and a really interesting chat with R about faith.

REFLECTIONS

I really know the reason behind my massively spontaneous trip to Belgium, without much agenda in terms of places to go... Spending time with local people and getting to know them as well as showing God's love to them was really the main agenda... and it was such an awesome time! I learnt how to overcome some fears and prejudices along the way and just be open and flexible.Thank you Jesus for the opportunity to be able to experience Belgium on such a personal level! :D