Jason's Daily Notes

It was the day. My train to Belgium was at 12:58.

But first - I had to ship the box of graduation photographs back to California. So I went to the Stockwell Post Office and took care of it - the girl helping me was very friendly and interested (because she also had family in California). It ended up costing 56 pounds. Ouch.

I rushed back to the apartment. Mike was awake. He had plans to visit his office in the morning, and then he said he would meet me at the train station. He accompanied me to the bus stop, helping me carry my bags (which were pretty heavy), but it looked like he wouldn't have enough time, so he just accompanied me all the way to St. Pancras.

I picked up my tickets, and there was still about an hour before the departure, so Mike and I got some coffee (when do we ever get coffee? I guess we just didn't know what else to do). We just hung out a little bit more. Before I knew it, it was time to go. We said our byes and I entered security. Mike was standing there waving bye to me the whole way as I passed through security. Aww.

My passport was stamped, and the train was boarding. I got a seat in a 4-seat group. Luckily, no one else sat down with me, so I had plenty of space for the entire train ride. The train zoomed away quickly. It darted all the way out of London mostly underground. Within 10 minutes I was in countryside. I was whatsapping most of the way until we went into the tunnel. I put on some music and just reflected. What interesting turns my life has taken to this point. And I really had no idea where I would go next.

Before I knew it, the train arrived in Brussels (after a stop in Calais and in Lille). I got off, carrying my bags down to the connecting trains. The train to Antwerp was to leave in 4 minutes - perfect! I took the lift there and got on that train. It did not have a luggage cart, and the train got pretty crowded. It was interesting to look at the people - they were simply different than those in London. A group of kids were horsing around loudly in the hallway between the compartments.

I arrived in Antwerp just past 17:30 (I had scheduled to meet Nike at 17:30). It took some time for me to find the Starbucks, so I withdrew some cash along the way. And we met! It was great to see her.

Interestingly, she made two observations quickly: (1) I seemed much less American than I did last year; and (2) I seemed sad. Both of which were obvious to me on the inside, but I didn't know that they were so externally visible too.

Anyway, we walked to her flat. I settled in. I joined her flatmates, Katrin and Jan, for dinner (roasted bell peppers).

In the evening, I met up with Laura at the Mechelese plein (Zeppos). No one else joined me because they were all brak (hungover). She was busy preparing to go to Guatemala, so I occupied myself talking with her friends. It was good to see her, making her now a 3-country friend!

I walked home, returning around midnight.