Brussels, Day One

Well I made my flight and arrived safely in Brussels on Saturday.

I should mention that I grab my baggage and pass out of security and into the airport without ever passing a customs person. Which kind of worries me. I don't have a visa stamped on my passport for Belgium. Is this a problem? I have one for Italy...

Anyways, the next plan was for me to buy a temporary cell phone at the airport, but alas, the shop was closed. I was then supposed to call my landlord with my new cell phone and he'd leave to pick me up (30 minute journey). So I used a payphone nearby which charged 40 cents for a connection and 50 cents per minute for calls, gave no change, and had a minimum of 1 euro (worst machine ever i think), to call my landlord and let him know I was there. No answer, I call and call and I finally get him and I run out of coins to put in the machine and the call goes out (total rip off).

I get some more change and call again and again, finally giving up I wander the airport seeing if he happens to be there. I don't see him, so I get some more change and call a few more times. I talk to him once but run out of money again (since I had missed a few more calls before), I'm leaving voicemails these times you know, but I don't know that he's getting them or anything), and finally start to wander out again and finally see a man holding a sign "William, VKI", which must be me.

He apologized for the miscommunication, but he couldn't really hear me because it was so noisy in the airport, and he had my flight schedule so he came on ahead. My flight was early though so I didn't see him when I first came out of the gate.


So all is well and we're heading down to the town where I'll be living this summer, and where VKI is located: Sint-Genesius-Rode, . Not too bad of a drive, and we're there. He drives a bit extra and shows me where VKI is located, the way to work, and the closest ATM and the grocery store.


After dropping my bags off at home and showing me the apartment, he takes me back to the grocery store where I buy a few things to have on hand (milk, eggs, cheese, veggies, fruit, etc). We come back, I put them away, and then I pass out for the rest of the night. I was utterly exhausted from not really sleeping the night before!

Also, the not really sleeping leads me to develop a bit of a sorethroat which follows me even today at the time of the writing (Saturday until Monday). Bleh!