The Last SAS Goodbye - Brussels, Belgium

Its been almost exactly four years, give or take a few months, and I have made it back to Brussels, Belgium. The train from Amsterdam to Brussels was quick and painless - less than 3 hours. I arrived at Brussels Midi and hoped in a taxi to the Meininger Brussels City Center Hostel. To my surprise, I beat Myla to the hostel. Myla and I took different modes of transportation so we left Amsterdam at different times.

Nevertheless, she arrived in Brussels 30 minutes before me and stopped for dinner. I checked into the hostel and met up with Myla to quickly change and see what the Monday nightlife is like in Brussels - aka we met up with Amie, one of my sorority sisters, and two of her friends for a drink at Bar du Matin. Our accommodations at the Meininger were really nice and pretty close to the city center. We had a private room - there were three beds but we had a friend who didn't show up so the bed sat empty. We also had our own bathroom and shower which we took full advantage of - you never know when you will get a perfectly pressurized hot shower.

The next morning we woke up and started our day at the Grand Plaza - one of the most famous spots in Brussels. We grabbed a morning coffee in the square as we people watched and took in the UNESCO heritage site in all its glory. Then we made our way down the block to the Choco-Story museum where we learned about cocoa and chocolate. Ruby and Alawna met us there and together the four of us spent hours learning about chocolate and trying different samples while making comments about the abuses within the chocolate industry that we learned about in Ghana and on the ship. From there we stopped at a hole in the wall place for lunch which happened to be Peruvian. The food was delicious and the restaurant was located right near the Manneken Pis where we paused for pictures before saying goodbye to Ruby and Alwana. Not to worry, we ran into them 3 more times on the side of the road. Once we said goodbye and awkwardly followed each other a block down the road, we split ways as Myla took me to the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. The Cathedral was huge and just like in every other country, Myla was in awe of its beauty and could not stop jumping up and down as we walked up the steps.

The Galeries de Royales Saint-Hurbet was a block away from the cathedral. If you are looking for somewhere to wander through, this is the place. The gallery is a two-block long covered shopping area with boutiques and cute little restaurants. Careful though - if you are on a budget, it can get quite expensive in there but the picturesque stroll is worth it for a break from the cars and bustling city. After hitting the Galeries we decided to start meandering towards the hostel to meet Jackie and give her a key to the room. Jackie decided to take the extra bed in the room and was on her way to Brussels via train from Amsterdam. The walk back should have taken us about 30 minutes but ended up taking us an hour because we kept peaking in shops, not to mention we picked up too stragglers along the way. We found Ruby and Alwana on the side of the road (again) and invited them to wander the streets with us. Once we made it to the hostel, we showed the others the room as we waited for Jackie to arrive. Less than 5 minutes later, I looked over to find Ruby passed out on one of the beds as the rest of us are chatting. Eventually, we welcomed Jackie before saying goodbye to her again as she set out to find a coffee shop and we set out in search of fries and ice cream.

The long search took us in many circles but eventually, we succeeded just in time to say goodbye to Ruby and Alwana one last time before meeting up with Jackie, Mason, and Valeria at a local pizza joint, NONA. Mason and Valeria traveled to Brussels for the day and joined us for one last meal and a stroll before dropping us at the Waffle Factory and saying our goodbyes. Not gonna lie I drowned my sadness in delicious Belgian Waffles.

We stopped at the Manneken Pis one last time to show Jackie as we headed back to the hostel telling jokes and taking random turns down random streets, getting lost in the beauty that comes with wandering a strange city. We called it an early night as I had a phone interview, Jackie was exhausted, and Myla had a 03:30 wake up call to go to Rome. With Jackie asleep next to us Myla and I watched an episode of Brooklyn 99 before I said goodnight and made her promise to wake me up and say goodbye in the morning. It was the perfect way to end my last day with my SAS fam before embarking on my own little adventure. I woke up the next morning, said my goodbyes, and boarded a train toward Luxembourg with my life on my back and tears threatening to spill from my eyes.