8+ hours on the bus, 4 miles to the beavers, and climbing 400 stairs inside the caves later …
This past weekend, CIEE organized a two night trip to the Belgian Ardennes.
We were in a town named Gouvy, in the he very southern part of Belgium.
On Friday afternoon around 15.30 3:30, about 60 of us loaded our overstuffed backpacks into the bottom of the coach bus and got (un)comfortable in our seats for the 4 hour bus ride that was ahead of us.
Upon arrival, we were greeted with rolling hills as far as the eye could see and a giant barn-looking white house. Inside was a huge open room with a giant kitchen, about 10 picnic tables, a ping pong table and projector screen. Down the stairs were two large rooms that were filled with about 40 bunk beds each, and a communal bathroom and shower room. I’ve never been to sleep away camp, but I’m pretty sure it’s pretty similar to what I experienced this weekend.
Photo credit goes to Claire Brown. I seem to have forgotten to take pictures of where we were staying.
Caroline and Reneé, two of the program leaders, were already at the house making dinner for all of us. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pot of pasta larger than what they made. They also prepared a salad, had bread, various drinks (even beer and wine), other sides and dessert!
The amount of food CIEE provided for all of us this weekend was incredible! Breakfast each day included eggs, bread + toppings (jelly, nutella, hagelslag), yogurt, various fruit, tea, coffee. Lunches were various types of sandwiches and snacks. We even had a BBQ for dinner the second night!
The free time we had at the house, usually the evening into nighttime, was either spent napping or playing card/board games — there was no wifi. I enjoyed being able to disconnect from my virtual reality and actually connect with the people around me. I lost at ping-pong. And Spoons. And Uno. And every other card game we played. On the bright side, my team came in third place (out of seven) for the PubQuiz that Jonathan, another Program leader, held! Besides being the worst game player out there, I definitely enjoyed spending time and bonding with everyone.
Like I said, I forgot to take pictures of the house itself this weekend, so thanks Mikey Jacobs for the picture. Check out her blog, Adventures in Amsterdam!
When we weren’t acting like serious sleep away campers, we were doing various activities that were organized by CIEE. After breakfast on Saturday morning, we took a 45 minute bus ride to the Bastogne War Museum.
It was actually a really cool place that covered World War II, specifically Battle of the Bulge, in Belgium. We all got headsets that had a speaker with a really cool accent that summarized whatever exhibit was in front of you. After each room, there was a theater that played a short movie from the perspective of a young boy. There were three in total that told his story.
Outside, there was the Mardasson Memorial. It was built to honor the 76,890 American soldiers that died in Belgium during The Battle of the Bulge. This structure is in the shape of a pentagon, has stairs to climb to the top (12m high), a circular atrium in the center, and the names of all 50 states engraved on the outside.
After the museum, we headed back to the house for lunch. I changed out of my jeans and boots and into leggings and sneakers because we had a two and a half hour nature walk next.
Thank goodness I did. After the 60 of us were split into three groups, we went off to find the beavers. Yup, my tour guide was insistent that we hiked 4 miles to the dams to try and see some beavers.
Pre 4 mile hike …
As if 4 miles doesn’t sound daunting enough, when my group veered off the path, we had to make our own. Up the side of a mountain. Yup, we were literally trailblazers. The beautiful landscape was definitely a silver lining though.
Actually had to break down plants to make our way back to a real path.
It was such a cool experience. We didn’t see any beavers. But we did see a lot of cows.
Our last activity before heading home was Sunday morning, about an hour away from where we were staying. After being able to sleep in-ish (rolled out of bed around 10:30, for the 11:15 departure), we cleaned the house and once again loaded our stuff back onto to the bus. We drove for about an hour, got a little lost, and eventually got to the Grottes de Remouchamps. Basically this super old cave, that was super cool.
After the hour and a half tour, half spent walking (this is where the climbing 400 stairs reference comes in) and half spent floating down shallow, narrow river, we were back on the bus and headed home.
The caves were an hour in the direction of Amsterdam, so we only had a three hour bus ride home. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep as well as the ride there, but the beautiful landscape out the left window was yet another silver lining.
It was an extremely incredible experience, and I am so thankful to CIEE for organizing such an awesome trip.
As cool as it was to bunk up with 60 other students and share 5 showers, my room at PMG really felt like home after this trip.
Home is where Kipster, our resident chicken, lives.
Oh yeah, did I mention I was battling the stomach bug all weekend. That made everything extra fun.
Having A'Dam Good Time 