International Love, Europeans in Union

A full week and a half under my belt in Brussels. Here's what I've been up to in the past few days, a nice little read before the weekend begins.

Last weekend was my first in town so on Saturday afternoon I joined the family on an afternoon trip into the city centre. First, we went to Bozar, an arts centre, museum and classical music venue where we got a bit creative ourselves. There was a campaign event on for Childrens' Charity UNICEF in which you had to build your own large blue lego brick then write your name on it or do some kind of design before adding it to large blue wall made of lego in support of the charity and their partner Montblanc (small donation optional). The event was to raise awareness and money for educational equipment for African schools and was great fun to participate in. I took the opportunity to make my very own Fraser On Tour! brick for the wall (yes, I can confirm that FOT! does indeed support children learning in Africa) before browsing the others which included interesting designs and messages such as a brick from Manchester and a drawing of the inside of Bag End-Frodo's house in Lord Of The Rings!

Welcome to my world-me on Mont des Arts

Lego brick building

The FOT! brick

Louise and her brick

'All in all you're just another brick in the wall'

Manchester Na Na Na

Cheeky

Frodo travelled along way from Middle Earth to make this brick

Clément being a lego brick layer hammering my brick into the wall

Finished

Before wandering around the city for the rest of the day (including a trip to Waterstones), we also went to the Musée Magritte on the nearby Mont des arts, an art museum based around the work of famous Belgian Surrealist Artist René Magritte who is probably most famous for his iconic painting 'The Son of Man'-a man in a suit and bowler hat with a green apple covering his face. I don't hesitate to admit that art isn't really my cup of tea but for under 10 euro a ticket it is good value and worth seeing some pieces of rather bizarre art.

Inside Musée Magritte in the section before the exhibitions (you can't bring any cameras with you into the exhibitions)

FOOD OF THE WEEK: Belgian waffle, so much nicer than the Belgian waffles you get in the UK

Me, Clément and Louise with some statue that I fail to recognise

Love this

Native American musicians playing in the city centre

Now, some of you may not have guessed this but I am, weird. I'd like to think I'm quirky or outgoing rather than the w word though. Sunday's activity was something that many people would probably class as weird, maybe even mad. On Sunday I went Hashing. If this were a conversation rather than an online monologue I'd expect you to say something along the lines of "What on earth is that Fraser? sounds pretty dodgy". Well, Hash House Harriers or H3/Hashing for short is something that I can only describe as a mixture of cross country running, orienteering, beer and general silliness. A group of runners attempt to follow a pre-set trail without getting lost on the way using marking in chalk or flour to find the correct route. At the end of the run, the group then drinks lots of beer (a common description of H3 groups is "a drinking club with a running problem") and sing traditional hashing songs that are often quite lude yet humourous at the same time. Hashing is a worldwide craze but it is especially popular among expat Brits so being from Hong Kong-a major expat community, I have been involved with it from the age of 2 onwards and still run with the Cheshire H3 and Manchester H3 groups at home when I've got the time. You can read more into Hashing and its roots and traditions on this wikipedia page here or on the UK H3 Page (I also did a kick-ass presentation on this as part of my GCSE English course that got me an A* so I may stick a link to that on here when I get home).

Anyway, back to Sunday. I suspected there would be a Hashing group in Brussels so before arriving here I did a web search and found one I did, Brussels Manneken Pis H3, so I decided to join them on one of their weekly runs. Sunday's run started in a small village called Céroux-Mousty 45 minutes by car out of Brussels and it wasn't just my first run with this group but Renaud also decided to join me for what would be his first ever Hash-losing his hashing virginity. The run was everything I love about hashing with lovely rolling Belgian countryside similar to that of which I run on in Cheshire, cold weather, muddy and slippery paths, a bit of trespassing on private farm land (something I've never come across before but certainly made it much more interesting) and a mid-run beer stop. The group were particularly friendly towards us as most were either British or American expats or French speaking natives so after the customary post-run drinking circle and sing-song I joined them for a curry in the evening to celebrate one of the member's birthday. I had a great time chatting with some like-minded people outside of my host family which included a fellow Norwich City fan, an interpreter working for the EU and a hasher who I'd actually met on a previous hash in Manchester! I really feel welcome with this group and considering that Renaud thoroughly enjoyed his first hash, we will be going again this weekend and perhaps a few more times while I'm here.

Group Photo of the Brussels Manneken Pis Hash House Harriers

Private property sign on trail

Renaud and I receiving our 'Down Downs' in the circle

"Drink it down down down down down down down down"

More action from the circle

Much of this week has been rather uneventful as we've got into the daily routine of things but part of my new routine is the return of regular Swimming sessions. I go for a 1  hour public swim at the local pool whenever I like during late mornings/early afternoons while the kids are at school which is great as come November it was something that was seriously lacking in my Mallorcan lifestyle. The pool is a bit odd as it's 33 Metres long (normal pools are either 25 or 50 Metres) which takes a fair bit of in-head calculation to get used to but now I'm more comfortable with the distance. Another exciting feature of my routine is that due to the kids having English lessons after school on Thursdays, I am granted the day-off to be used in whatever way I fancy.This Thursday after a later start, I headed into the centre of Brussels for another day of wandering and sightseeing. This time, I went to the Bel-vue museum across the street from the Magritte which is a museum all about the history of Belgium. I generally prefer history museums to art galleries so this was much more my bag and I especially enjoyed the sections on the First and Second World Wars as I studied elements of both for GCSE and AS Level History so I could relate to it quite well. It's yet another cheap museum to visit (I paid 4 euro entry) so I'd say it's worth a visit. After that, I wandered into the European quarter of the city where, not surprisingly, the European Parliament is based as is various embassies, hotels and parks and ironically some of the poorest housing areas in the whole of Belgium (though I didn't see any of them). While studying AS Government & Politics at college, our teacher Will promised us a trip to the European Parliament but it never materialised for various reasons so I was glad to finally go there and let the nerdy political side of me loose. The whole area is very impressive and with all the foreign languages being spoken within earshot and all the flags around; you do feel like you're in a very international environment which is something I really cherish. Brussels is often described as the 'capital of Europe' and I now understand why. Just walking around the various buildings was really inspiring for me as someone both interested in languages and politics. Perhaps a future career at the EU is something I would consider pursuing.

A garden I found while I was walking to Bel-Vue

Bel-Vue Museum

European Parliament

Selfie time 

A street of restaurants in the centre of Brussels near the Grand Place

That's it for now, hopefully I can shake this sore throat I've been having lately and make the most of another action packed weekend. Ta ra!

#FraserOnTour

FP

Je suis arrivé à Bruxelles!

Bonjour tout le monde!

This is my first post from Brussels so I confirm that I am alive and well and I survived the journey here (which is pretty easy to do). Here's how I got to this point.

On Monday afternoon I waved goodbye to my Mum at Stockport train station before starting the first leg of my journey-a two hour train down to London. Largely uneventful but I saw a surprising amount of lakes in the fields surrounding the train line which actually just turned out to be flooded fields from all the stormy weather in the UK recently. One thing I'm happy to be leaving behind!

Leaving Stockport

Train to London Euston

I arrived in London mid-afternoon with 4 hours to kill until my Eurostar to Brussels from St.Pancras. I would've liked to have a bit of a wander around London but seeing as I had so much baggage with me I didn't really go anywhere, pretty much sticking to Euston Road for the entire time. Despite this, I did manage to do something I'd wanted to do for a while. I went to Kings Cross Station so I could visit the infamous Platform 9 3/4, maybe nip to Hogwarts for a bit. I had a picture taken running at the barrier however in hindsight I have made a horrible realisation. In the picture I am wearing a Gryffindor scarf but I have since remembered that on Pottermore I was sorted into Hufflepuff-Nerdy I know. I may get this picture re-done properly on my way home in honour of my house.

Kings Cross

Who needs Belgium when you've got Hogwarts!

 So after further procrastination in the British capital, I finally boarded my Eurostar to the Belgian capital. It was my first time on Eurostar and my first time on any highspeed rail service and I didn't truly realise how fast it was going to be. While I chatted away with some French women sitting next to me I could feel my ears popping! 2 hours later I arrived at Brussels-Midi station and was met by my new host Renaud who welcomed me with a sign with my name on it made by daughter Louise. I then went on to meet wife Marie-France when we got to the house who gave me a brief guided tour of the house before a cup of tea and some much needed sleep in my new host family's house.

Leaving London

Arriving in Brussels

My Arrival sign made by Louise

My new room

My first two full days in Brussels were spent sorting out various bits and bobs to do with admin. Registering myself as a temporary Belgian citizen and Au Pair, getting a sim card, getting a travel card, understanding the local area and getting to know the kids Louise and her older brother Clément. These initial days have been pretty hard-hitting. Not only am I still getting used to a new country, a new family, a new city and a new culture but also I have been thrown into the deep end of the proverbial swimming pool of French language. Since I finished my A level exams last June, I haven't had to really use any French having spent both part of the summer and autumn in Spain so I've found it hard to adjust to this new environment where I hear and see French all around me. The kids are nice enough when they're not being noisy and I find that I can get along with them quite well as we have different but similar interests. Clément in many ways reminds me of my brother Ethan as he loves Star Wars and Pokémon but isn't really into sport or music in the same way as me. Louise is really sweet and although she doesn't speak too much English, we do find our ways of communicating with each other and playing games and I expect that she will improve over the course of my stay as will Clément.

FOOD OF THE WEEK: Having a crepe party for my first tea time in Brussels, something very French with my French family

Thursday was my first day in Brussels city centre in which I took the afternoon to wander around and get a feel for the city taking many pictures as I went around. Initial thoughts on Brussels are that it is a weird mix between the traditional buildings of Amsterdam, the grandeur of Paris and the grey modern architechture I seem to associate with Germany. There are plenty of impressive sights and museums to see around the city and I feel there is much more for me to explore in the weeks to come.

At Belgian Parliament

With Manneken Pis, one of the most famous Brussels landmarks. A sculpture of a little boy taking a slash, quelle bizarre! 

To round up my first five days in Brussels, I joined Marie-France in doing something very much out of my comfort zone-Rock Climbing, something I hadn't done for about 4 years. This may seem a bit bizarre to some of my friends as for years I have shunned any type of climbing due to my mild fear of heights (quite understandable when you're as big and heavy as me), my lack of coordination and weak fingers from my Rugby playing days but using my yes-man mentality I decided to give it a go. I was more King Kong than Spiderman on the walls and despite a few hairy moments of panic it wasn't too bad so I may consider going again sometime.

Not sure what else there is to say so I'll leave it here for now. A good start to my Brussels experience, long may it continue.

#FraserOnTour

FP

Not so Happy New Year, Resolutions and Departure once more

Happy New Year everyone! I know this is my 2nd post of 2014 but seeing as I didn't really update you on what I've been doing during these early days of the year I thought I'd stick to the theme.

For me, New Years Eve itself was nothing special, a bit of a non-event really.In order to avoid the severe bankrupting experience of NYE in Manchester, my friends Olly, Kunal and I decided to go and have a night out in Hazel Grove like I did last year, a much cheaper alternative. Unfortunately, upon arrival Kunal realised he had forgotten to bring his ID with him which critically limited the places we could enter as a group and the bars and pubs we entered were so empty that we just decided to end the night early and head back to Olly's house for wine at midnight and some chit-chat. Although it wasn't the crazy New Years that one would like to have at my young age, it was still nice to spend it with friends and it turned out that watching Jules Holland's New Year's show (Hootenanny) and Glastonbury highlights was a great way to reminisce on the music highlights of 2013 including performances on Jules Holland's show from my favourites HAIM, The Lumineers, John Newman and Laura Mvula. I have spent a lot of time with Olly over these Christmas holidays which has been great as before recently it was probably over a year since I last saw him, it's been a long time since secondary school.

So, a new year, 2014, has begun so what are my resolutions I hear you ask? It's not something I really do and if I do I don't tend to stick to them but here is a short list of resolutions I've come up with:

1. Be more Creative

With my blog writing on here, for Pyramid Online and Kiss From The World as well as my Youtube Channel and Songwriting/Music  I've got plenty of mediums in which I can express my creative side and I aim to encourage that and see where it takes me.

2. Make The Most Of My Gap Year

I feel that if I continue to put myself out there and take the opportunities that come my way then I can have an amazing time over the rest of my gap year.

3. Be More Confident

Perhaps linked with the above point but confidence is something I still have trouble finding sometimes and in particular situations. Often I am very paranoid and self-conscious which can hold me back at times as I think too much about what others think. So yea, less of that basically and a bit more self-belief is a target.

4. Stay in shape

On a gap year it is very easy to indulge in an unhealthy lifestyle so to counter this, I plan to do regular daily exercise and to make sure I eat correctly when possible. It's a very general point to make but I definitely found that when I've been at swim training in recent weeks that I've been slightly off my usual pace and I've been a bit more tired out after training as well. Guess my time in Mallorca did take its toll on me a bit.

5. Keep up the good work

Although there are aspects of me that I would like to improve, there are still plenty of things that I'm happy with in my life. More of the same please

That's all I can think of right now but I think that's quite a comprehensive list.

As I often like to discuss, the title of this post is a bit bizarre. It may be a new year, a new start, a clean slate however there hasn't been too much to be cheerful about. Everyone associated with Aquinas has been grieving after the death of student Adam Pickup who didn't return home from a night out in Manchester a few days before New Years Eve. I must admit that I barely knew Adam having only met him on a few occasions but it is always shocking when something so tragic happens to someone you know. I knew Adam's brother Ben quite well through Aquinas and my thoughts are with him and the family as well as many others. One of the great things about being an Aquinas student/Ex-Aquinas student is that we are all one big family and the support shown for Adam and his family in these sad times is very admirable. Candles have been lit and reefs have been laid outside college and on the first day of term tomorrow, everyone is coming to college dressed in Christmas Jumpers in honour of Adam.

Tribute to Adam Pickup outside college. R.I.P Adam

There's been further glum news in the wider world with the deaths of actor James Avery (Uncle Phil from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and footballer Eusebio as well as the severe skiing accident that Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher sustained who is now in a coma. I'm sure 2014 can only get better from here onwards.

This is my final night at home before I embark on my next adventure on my gap year-two months in Brussels. Much of this week has been spent making preparations for going away (although even now I still feel slightly underprepared) and seeing some of my friends for the last time before I head off once again. Thursday night was a reunion with the cast of the college production of Miss Saigon that I was involved in during my final year which was a great night of drinking at Revs de Cuba and Taps in Manchester to catch up. I've never felt such a strong bond between a cast of any show I've ever been in before as this one and I hope we can do it again sometime when perhaps more of us are available.

Today, my family and I went on a walk in Macclesfield to the summit of Teggs Nose and back down again for my Dad's birthday which ended with a much more enjoyable pub lunch. Besides the pub grub, I have also indulged in a few last bits of home cuisine including Fish & Chips and Toffee cheesecake, washed down with the left over cider from Christmas and New Year. If I find any of those things in Brussels then I will count myself lucky.

Dad's birthday walk

Trouble and trouble

The birthday boy

View over Macclesfield Forest from the top of Teggs Nose

FOOD OF THE WEEK: Pub lunch at the Hanging Gate, Macclesfield after Dad's birthday walk

Anyway, I really better sleep. Brussels tomorrow, a new country, a new city, a new family, a new challenge, a new year.

#FraserOnTour

FP

Home comforts: pie and chips

Home comforts: Toffee Cheesecake, my favourite dessert

Home comforts: British Cider

Review 2013-Part 3: What I'm excited for in 2014

Happy 2014 everyone and welcome to the final part of my Review of 2013 series. To say this post was all about 2013 would be a 100% stone-faced lie on my behalf. Instead, I'm going to leave 2013 behind and focus on the future-2014. This year has the potential to be really great and here is just a few things that I'm excited for in 2014.

1.Belgium

On Monday, I will be beginning my 2 month stay in Brussels and I'm really looking forward to it. Brussels is one of the main European cities I am yet to visit and like with Mallorca I hope to get to know it well over the coming weeks. With visits already planned to Lille, Alsace and Paris (maybe?), tickets to see Bombay Bicycle Club in February booked and the possibility for lots of sightseeing, I am pretty sure I will be staying busy. Keep following my posts in the near future to see what I get up to.

2. The rest of my Gap Year

Belgium is by no means the end of it. I intend to do much more travelling before my gap year is over. Plenty of planning and stress to come though before I can tell you my plans...

3. FIFA World Cup 2014

Lampard's disallowed goal, the hand of Suarez, De Jong karate kicking Xabi Alonso in the chest, World Cup 2010 had all kinds of drama, action and controversy. Despite all the struggles behind it just to be ready in time, I expect this year's World Cup in Brazil to give us a similar offering even if England may not survive too long with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in the same group.

4. New films

2013 was a big year for cinema but it's now onto 2014 to see what films are on offer. The two films I'm looking forward to seeing are both prequels: the long-awaited '300:Rise Of An Empire' and the final one in the trilogy 'The Hobbit: There And Back Again'.

5. Summer of Festivals

For me, Summer means a few things. Time for relaxation, time for holidays, time for Open Water Swimming (you totally saw that coming) and last but not least- Festivals. This year, I hope to work as a volunteer for Hotbox Events once more at Latitude Festival and Leeds Festival. The perfect way to spend the summer before going to...

6. Uni!

This September, I begin my 4 years at the University of Southampton and the rest of my life. I have been itching to go for such a long time now due to seeing all my friends off at Uni and in September it is my turn.

7. 20 Years of age

Not exactly something to be too excited about but on October 21st I will complete two decades on this earth. It will be a Tuesday night so a night at SoBar is probably on the cards.

So that's just a selection of things that I'm hoping will be awesome in 2014. A nice way to start my first blogpost of the year and to end this series. I'd just like to make you aware that at the top of the right side bar on my blog there is a poll in which you can vote for your favourite FOT! content. I'd love it if you could leave a vote before the poll closes at the end of the month. It's just a way for me to do a little survey and see what you guys out there enjoy reading about. It's just one click of the mouse, not much effort involved, so I would love you to do that for me.

My next adventure in Belgium kicks off in T-minus 48 hours so it's safe to say much of this weekend will be packing, planning and worrying. Woo hoo!

FP

#FraserOnTour