Ghent!

Last Saturday several quality people and myself set out to see Ghent. Now, most of you have probably only heard of Ghent in relation to the Treaty of Ghent (which ended the war of 1812 between the British and the U.S), and its likely you had no idea it was even in Belgium. That's okay. I honestly was fairly clueless about what Ghent had to offer but let me tell you it was AWESOME.

Ghent is only about half hour away or, at least, it is if you take the fast train. We made the mistake of taking the slow train to Ghent, which took about an hour and a half and stopped in pretty much every little farm town in Belgium. It was actually really cool though, to more of the countryside in Flanders.

When we arrived in Ghent we asked for directions to the city center, and then hopped on a tram toward the center of town. On the tram, we were holding up our maps looking confused when a nice woman approached us, and gave us directions to the city center. One of the lovely things about traveling in Flanders is so many people speak English.

When we arrived in the city I was floored by how beautiful it was! Ghent is a well-kept secret. It is a small town, with cobble stone streets and canals running through it. A tall Belfry towers overhead, and there are several gorgeous churches and a beautiful castle! I was absolutely amazed.

We began wondering around snapping pictures of everything, when we found Sint Baafskathedraal. Of all of the churces I've already been into in Europe I think this is my favorite so far. It was dark, but beautiful statues and carvings were all over the place, and there were gorgeous paintings all over. The famous painting in Sint Baafskathedraal is the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. This large and beautiful painting includes depictions of Adam, Eve, Mary, and John the baptist, and the center of the painting shows a lamb standing on an alter. It has been peirced and is bleeding. I know it sounds gross but it was actually really beautiful.

Another great aspect of the Cathedral was the crypt. We almost didn't go down there because, honesty, who wants to see a crypt? But I'm so glad we did becuase it was a fantastic museum, displaying many paintings and vessels. I was so impressed.

Next we visited another church, St. Niklaaskerk, which was also beautiful. This one was much brighter and more open. It was gorgeous.

At this point we were hungry, so we sat down for lunch at a little cafe, and I enjoyed a "Croque Madame". A Croque is a french dish that is basically some sort of delicious ingrediants all toasted together. Mine was ham and cheese on toasted bread with a friend egg on top. It was delicious.

We headed out and continued to wander around the city. We walked along the canal, strolled through the market, and just enjoyed the beautiful architecture. We did some window shopping and indulged in French Fries before heading over to the castle.

Me standing by the canal

The group wandering through the market

Yes, that's right, Ghent has a Castle, and it's really cool. Her Gravensteen, or "The Castle of the Counts", is a really interesting castle settled on the edge of this canal. This castle was built as a military defense fortress, but eventually ended up being a big jail where lots of people were tortured.

View of the castle from the roof of one of its towers

Despite its rocky past, the castle is beautiful, and steeped in history. We walked through it, reading the signs, and learning more about each room's history. We also enjoyed the breathtaking views from the castles roofs. It was simply perfect. After a long day of touring Ghent, we headed back to the train station and managed to choose the express train this time.

View of Ghent from the top of the Castle. Please note how I am perfectly centered between the flags, and you can see the top of both churches and the Belfry in the background; Well done Lori.

The rest of the week has also been pretty superb. It's committee week in the Parliament, so work has been very very busy, but its also been really enjoyable. I am so glad that I chose to do a program with an internship; it really adds some structure to my day, helps me to learn so much more about the EU and policy formation then I even could have learned in the classroom, and exposes me to some really cool people.

Tuesday night, Olivia (one of the other interns), invited me to take part in a "Human Dignity" party being hosted by one of her friends who was interning with the World Youth Alliance. I was curious, so I decided to go along.

The World Youth Alliance is a large supported of human dignity, as it is essential to loving one another and to respecting human rights. So, as part of thier internship, each World Youth Alliance intern must host a "Dignity Party", illustrating a way to bring out and respect human dignity. The intern that was hosting this time chose to focus her party on art, as art is way of expressing emotion, examining beauty, and discovering humanity. I'm doing a terrible job explaining it now, but it was really neat the way that she tied everything together. Overall, it was a really great night. I got to hang out and eat snacks with some quality people, while discussing art and painting beautiful pictures.

Other highlights of this week include running around the Parliament with my fellow interns in an attempt to find free stuff, enjoying the beautiful weather, and talking to my little bro on skype. It really was a great week.

I love and miss you all!

Em