Parijs en Ijs (Paris and Ice Cream)

First, I just want to say God is good. He is fantastic and blows all of my expectations out of the water.

Now, let's hear why.


If love is measured in pounds, I feel about 454,767,876,646,436,439,872,398,439lbs. of love whenever I have someone who comes to visit! I was fortunate to feel this overwhelming feeling right at the beginning of this month! John Lee, a friend from Lansing came for a week! I only knew three weeks before he came that he would visit. It was definitely a welcomed "surprise." We toured Leuven, made sushi, and hung out with Pharos people. It was all around a great time. Here are two pictures that pretty much sum up the Belgian part of the experience!

One: Waffles and Chocolate

Two: The Sushi! The first I've ever made!

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Probably the most exciting thing to happen while he was here was our trip to Paris! John, Lynn Van den Zegel, my best Belgian friend, and I left at 5am from the Leuven train station so that we could catch our 6am bus in Brussels. We got on the bus, and four hours later, we were in Paris! We took a quick stop at our hostel to check-in and then drop off our luggage. What followed was a lunch of baguettes, cheese, and wine in front of the Eiffel Tower! It was great! Afterwards, we climbed up the tower. Yes, we took the steps. None of this elevator crap. I might have been winded after, but I was quite conditioned since my room is on the 3rd floor my house. Comparable, right?

The rest of our trip included seeing the Arc de Triomphe, eating an authentic Korean meal, visiting the Eiffel tower again at night, going to Sacre Coeur, attending Mass at Notre Dame, and two failed attempts of going to the Louvre. It was wonderful.

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The next experience worth mentioning is the community retreat. Every year, the Jerusalem community goes on retreat together. For the past 31 years, it's been at a retreat center in Bonheiden.  Now, I hope you haven't been worrying too much about me. I know that you've probably been thinking that I should go on another retreat in a castle. I mean, I have only had the one experience in January. You may put your little heart to rest. Here are two pictures of where the retreat was held.

One:

Two: 

Yep. So cool. Anyway, the theme of the retreat was Freedom - Vrijheid. It spoke very much to the heart of the community, and it was a great experience to see how Jerusalem was really seeking for healing and unity. Great moment #1: Singing Great and Wonderful at the Lord's Day Celebration. Great moment #2: Singing The King of Glory Comes also at the Lord's Day Celebration. The second song always brings this video to mind. It took all my energy to not laugh uncontrollably while imagining members of the Jerusalem community doing this:

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This past semester, Pharos has put on the Life in the Spirit Seminar- a 7-week series that explores the fundamental truths of Christianity and offers participants an opportunity to choose (again) for Christ. Each week builds on the previous, and during the 5th week, there's a chance to receive prayer for Baptism in the Holy Spirit. This past Wednesday was our 5th installment. That day was just a horrible day, to be honest. I just felt like everything was wrong. The whole day I thought that there would be no way that I could lead music for that night since I was in such a terrible mood. The day progressed. My mood stayed the same. It was only 45 minutes before I was to begin leading that something happened. The week previous, I had jokingly said that a Pharos member owed me some ice cream for a bet that never really happened. Either way, that night, she came up to me with a voucher for free ice cream. It was completely unexpected, but it was exactly what I needed. I felt so loved it was crazy. It helped me free myself from whatever was holding me back, and I felt God's grace help me with leading the music for the night. It was easily the most moving prayer session that Pharos has had all year. Who knew that God would help me get through a horrible day with free ice cream!?


Well, that's March. It's been full of all kinds of excitement. I know there's more to come! There's about 11 more weeks of my Gap year. With that, there is also roughly 4.5 more months worth of Europe, friends, and God. Praise Him!

Let's Stick to the Facts

Disclaimer:

Due to a lack of creativity, this blog post shall not have any intricate theme woven into the words. However, I'm aware that an update of my life is necessary. So, without further ado, The Life of Kate Stevenson, Gapper Extrodinaire, and her February escapades.

February 6th: Our "regular" Pharos schedule went into effect on this date. The week that followed was full of meetings and planning out the semester. It ended with Kairos Weekend 2012.

February 10th: Kairos Weekend 2012 was held in Dublin, Ireland. 140 university students came together from Beirut, Belfast, Bielsko, Dublin, Glasgow, London, Leuven, Munich, and Vitoria. The theme was Power from On High. I had the privilege of being a part of the music team, which has been one of the highlights of my Gap year. At the weekend, I made new friends, grew other budding friendships, and made some best friends.

February 15th: My baby brother turned 18. It felt weird to think about. Also, we had our first social event of the semester. Casino Night was full of cards, snacks, beer, and chatting. It provided a relaxed atmosphere where Sam gave our plug for the Life in the Spirit to begin the following week.

February 20th: Presidents Day. This day my household was invited to have dinner over to the guys' household. Javi's parents were visiting, and they made dinner. Unbeknownst to them, they made my favorite meal. I considered it a little birthday present from God, since my birthday was only 2 days later.

February 22nd: Ash Wednesday. I turned 20. I found much pleasure this day by making comments about how I woke up with more wrinkles and needed to start using a cane. Pharos put on its first Life in the Spirit Seminar night. In a room arranged to feel like a pub, we aimed to provide a comfortable environment for people to learn about God and the new life we can have in Him. We began with a dinner, moved on to a talk, and ended with discussion groups. We also had Coffee Stall and a prayer meeting, so the day was really busy. However, throughout the whole day, I felt extremely loved.


That's February.

In other news, the official ending date of my Gap year: June 12th. However, I am hoping to stay for the summer! I'll let you all know my returning date within the next 2 months.

Taste of Home

That's right.

The Lord has been SO good to me this month. Ok, He is ALWAYS good to me, but I'm definitely recognizing it more. There’s a reason to it as well, but that will come later.

So, Kate, why don’t you explain to us WHY!?

Ok!

The beginning of January was quite the American experience for me. The Schaefer family came to Belgium, and I got to spend so much time with them! As my second family, you can bet that I was SO excited to see them! Let me tell you, quality time, with people who understand you, is something that is almost unbeatable. With Ellen, Mary, Emily, Mr. and Mrs. Schaefer, and Audrey LaPorte, I visited Antwerpen, Gent, Brugge, and Luxemburg. Granted, it might have been literally raining on our little parade around Belgium, but it didn’t matter. There could have been hurricanes and hailstorms (well, it did hail for a bit in Luxemburg, so that’s partly true) and I would have still thought the same of being with them. I haven’t felt so loved in quite a long time. I’m definitely thankful that they were able to come over and visit. I was unaware just how much I needed a little taste of home. 

Taste of America #2 came in the form of a friend, Sarah Hale. She and I attended Huntington University at the same time. She’s definitely got the travel bug, and when she suggested visiting me, I said, “OMG. ADKFJSFHDGJKHSDFKJHGSFDGD. PUHLEAAAAAAAAASE!” Don’t worry. I actually went back to check my Facebook to see exactly what I wrote. So, she came one day after the Schaefer family left Belgium. While she was here, I remembered just how fortunate I was to have made the friends I did at HU. One of the things we made sure to do was Skype our two best friends at Huntington. I can tell you that I hadn’t laughed quite that hard, loud, and long in a conversation for quite some time. Even though I didn’t feel like I could do much with her since I was working during her stay, it was nice to just share my life with someone back home. I won’t even hold it against her that she suggested going to a horse milking farm…

Volgende, ik geslaagd mijn examen! Op de  zestiende, zeventiende, en negentiende van januari, ik had geweest mijn examen van Nederlands. Ik was heel veel blij!  (Google translate will do an ok job at helping you with this…)

After my exam, I ended up in London. This time, Sam, our fearless leader, drove us four Gappers to France, where we got on a boat. Our voyage was two hours, and then we drove two more hours to a place called Buckden Towers. Ok, so it was more towards Cambridge rather than London, but whatever. There, we participated in Koinonia’s (the London college outreach like Pharos) Joy Weekend. There we really learned that joy is a decision. You look for it. It stems from trust and hope. Needless to say, it has really impacted me. I can even see a difference in my thinking in less than a week. I hope that it stays this way! Immediately following this retreat, there was a Gapper retreat. All 13 of us Gapper from around Europe were here and received some more intense Gapper training.

HOLD UP.
I’ve forgotten like the most important thing about these retreats.
BUCKDEN TOWERS IS A CASTLE.


I WENT TO TWO RETREATS IN A CASTLE IN ENGLAND.
SO SPECTACULAR!


Anyway, there’s an interesting fact about the Gappers in Europe this year. There are 13 Gappers. Of these, there are 8 people from Michigan. So, for me, it was kind of like a hometown reunion! All of these people natively spoke my language. Not only that, most of them knew people I knew. Not only that, a few of them have become really good friends to me since our time over here. Not only that, one of them was also at the great Christmas I had this year and one of my best friends of my life in general. Being able to spend so much time with all of them was so invigorating. I know it’s weird to say, but I almost feel that the longer I’m gone, the closer I hold my American identity. Being separated has shown me how others view America, but I’m also seeing so many more benefits as well…. And my national pride speech is over. Sorry about that. Hahaha. Either way, it was life giving to spend time with these people, especially people willing to sing, “Joy is a Flag Flown High from the Castle of my Heart” about 50 more times than necessary. This was taste of America #3.

In Leuven, we’re nearing the end of exam period. For me, this has meant that most of my service has been atypical this month. Why? During January, Belgian university students have a month off of school. Sounds great, right? WRONG. During this month, they are expected to study the whole time for their exams which probably count for almost their entire grade for the class. Because of this immense amount of pressure, students lock themselves away in order to study. This makes our job as student missionaries a bit difficult. So, instead of doing outreach for the university students, I was asked to do more work as a mother’s helper. So, for this month, I have gone and helped a few young mothers a couple times a week. What I call it is Mom practice. Hahaha. I’ve cooked, cleaned, watched kids, folded laundry, and done other motherly duties. For me, I found it all therapeutic to do something that not only impacted someone very openly, but also to do something that was not our regular service.

So, that’s that. Next month, Pharos begins its regular outreach work again. I’m reenergized and reinvigorated. I know the Lord will do great things here during this time.

[For those who, for some odd reason, know that Taste of Home is an American cooking publication and noticed the tie in of my mother’s helper work as well as my quality time with fellow Americans, I applaud you.]

On to the Next One

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve completed the first semester. What’s that mean? I’ve been here for 121 days.
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE DAYS.
So, you know, just a third of a year. Surely I’ve had some exciting things occur since my last post.

YUP.

THANKSGIVING. Don’t you worry your little heart, dear reader. I, as a strong and patriotic American, made sure to have an American Thanksgiving celebration. I wanted this so badly that I arranged the first guys and girls household event together! So, it was myself, my two American housemates, Martha Gornik, another American, Javier, our brother American, two Belgians and a Lebanese for Thanksgiving. We had everything thing that a traditional Thanksgiving should have, for the most part. We had your turkey, your gravy (or in our case multiple kinds of gravy), your cranberry sauce, your mashed potatoes, your stuffing, your green bean casserole, and your pumpkin and apple pie. DELICIOUS. Also, since I wanted to be festive and authentic, I made some hand turkeys and hung those up on the wall. You know those outlines of your hand that you make when you’re roughly 5 years old? Yeah, those.

On Thanksgiving Day, I went to a conference in London. (We had to celebrate Thanksgiving two days early to make sure we could fit it in, but I KNEW that it would be worth it.) It was the second part of the SWOT conference… For those of you who have been following this fairly faithfully, you’ll know that this is the same type of conference that I attended at the beginning of my Gap year in Scotland. The emphasis of this conference was on teamwork. And so, as you can imagine, lots of teamwork topics and exercises were talked about and done during my time in London. It’s a bit of a shame that I was busy the entire length of my stay in London, but I figure it was worth it. Actually, I know so. I was able to stay at the women’s household in London with my friend, Camille. She’s fabulous. I’ve probably said this before, but I’ll say that roughly 2,598,347,596,846,945 more times as well. We had quite the time, and definitely grew in our friendship in ways I can safely say that she and I were not anticipating.

The next most exciting event was Pharos Weekend! WOO! Our outreach had a retreat at the beginning of December and the focus was on worship. Well, seeing as that was the emphasis, and I am the worship team leader, you can bet your bottom dollar that I had my work cut out for me. But, in the end, all worked out. We, the Pharos team, had been praying since the beginning of the semester for 20 people to be able to attend the retreat. The headcount: 21! It was really great. The Lord really worked in people throughout the retreat. We also had a little bit of fun as well. ;) My highlight was probably playing Sardines. For those who are not familiar with this, it’s essentially like hide-and-go-seek. However, one person hides. The rest search for the person hiding. Once you have found the person hiding, the goal is to hide with them and not be the last person to find the “hide-ee.” This late night activity, I’m pretty sure, helped to strengthen some of the friendships within Pharos. Another great event that has happened was our Pharos Bingo Night! As the head of the Social Events Team, I knew that I had a little bit of power in deciding what the next event was. At the time, I really just had the urge to dress up like an elderly person. So, I decided to combine these together. Thus, Pharos Bingo Night was created. I tried to figure out how to spice up the old age factor, and what instantly popped into my mind was the idea of a bingo hall in America. So, for the event, we played Christmas Bingo, and we asked all those who were to attend to dress as if they were 65 years or older. I was a bit cautious that the Belgian people wouldn’t quite be as thrilled for dressing up, but, fortunately, they were just as enthusiastic as I. Needless to say, it was quite a fun event.

The final Pharos event of the semester was a Joint Prayer Meeting. Pharos, along with two other Christian student groups, joined together to have one heck of a night. The event started off with a prayer meeting, mainly run by Pharos, where I participated as the music team leader. With the three groups, we were able to form a team of musicians, including a flute and a saxophone which gave a great feel to the music. After the prayer meeting, there was a dinner. It was essentially a potluck dinner where people from all the groups brought food to share. Following this, the event team had hired a folk dancing group to come and teach us folk dances. So, we danced the night away. The event was over 5 hours long, but it went very well.

I’ll end with this. I’m sure there will be plenty for me to write soon, seeing as my best friend from Lansing, Ellen Schaefer, and her family are currently here in Belgium. There have been many adventures in the past two days that they’ve been here, and I’m quite positive there will be more to come during their stay.


Oh, but quick check out a video we made in December too!

Right Time, Right Place

Alright. What time is it?
There are two appropriate answers to this.

It's the right time (in reference to this post's title)
It's story time!

If you thought of one of these, then I give you credit for being a mind reader. Well, maybe just my mind reader.

1:
This is a story that was suggested to be put on my blog a fair while ago. But now, I'm just getting around to it. It all begins at the beginning of October. The weather was still quite warm and pleasant, sunny and just a bit of a breeze. So, I took the opportunity to do some work outside. For me, that work was selecting the songs for the prayer meeting that night. And so, I began to look through and play different songs for the prayer meeting that night. After about 3 songs, a guy I'd never seen before asked me if he could sit nearby and listen. He had heard me from his room since he had his window open. I said certainly. Really, I didn't think anything of it. I play music. The point of music is to be heard. So, I continued my work, singing and playing the guitar. After a while, I needed to go inside seeing as I had completed my task of selecting the songs. As I was packing up, this guy complimented me. I responded with a thank you. After that, he had said that he recognized one of the songs. And so, we conversed a little bit. During the chit chat, I mentioned that I was leading the music for the prayer meeting that night and I invited him to come. I doubt he would show up. Surprisingly, he came. But wait, there's more. That night, I made an announcement saying that I was assembling a music team and that I was looking for volunteers. This Sunny Afternoon Worship Song Listener came up and volunteered! He explained to me that he was looking for a Christian group to join here since he's from Italy. He also had played guitar for 10 years. He now is one of the most active participants of Pharos this year. Talk about God's timing and placement!

2:
As I have mentioned previously, the Pharos team does a bit of campus evangelism, and that we mainly do this through our Coffee Stall event. Needless to say, walking up to a random stranger, offering free coffee of a free waffle, knowing that your goal is to steer the conversation towards the topics of God and faith can seem daunting. Since we do it every week, it gets a bit easier. Having a point of similar interest helps to break the ice. One Wednesday, Marisa had walked up to a girl and offered her free coffee, and the stranger accepted. They began to talk, and the Coffee Drinker explained that one of her interests was Kdrama. For those of you who don't know, Kdrama, or Korean Drama, refers to televised dramas, in a miniseries format, produced in the Korean language. And also, for those of you who don't know, I love Kdrama. Either way, Marisa was aware of this and invited me into the conversation. the Coffee Drinker and I geeked out for quite awhile. Between the 3 of us, we talked for nearly 1.5 hours. For a conversation with someone you've never met before, that quite a long time. During that time, one of us Gappers invited her to the Pharos event that night which happened to be a women's event at the women's household. We figured it was a long shot that she would come since she had just met us that day. That night, that Coffee Drinker came! She ended up coming late after she was given bad directions and got lost for over 45 minutes, part of which was in a different city. However, that didn't deter her! We were majorly impressed. I can say that now, I definitely consider her a friend of mine, and I love watching Kdrama with her. Who knew that a step of faith at Coffee Stall would have provided me with not only an evangelistic opportunity, but also a friend with similar interests!

3:
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to serve the Jerusalem Community here by aiding in the Visitation. That is a check-up done by community leaders from different communities in the region that occurs roughly every 5 years. I had been asked to aid in the Lord's Day Celebration, which was quite a production. All in all, the evening, the socializing, and the meal went well. But what I want to mention was the actual celebration of the Lord's Day Prayer. During this time, all the leaders from the different communities were gathered together and I had the opportunity to join in as we all prayed and sang together. Paul Jordan, one of the community coordinators, led this time. In the middle, he urged us to give each other a sign of peace to one another. The way he explained it implied that it was not just an utterance of the words, but also a time to show physically what we meant. And so, everyone began to hug one another and declare "Peace be with you" to each other as well. Everyone did this to everyone. So, I received right around 20 hugs in a row. Now, this may not seem like a big deal. For me, however, it was. I had been having an extremely difficult week, most definitely the hardest week of my time here by far. I was an emotional wreck, and I had no idea where I was going to receive comfort. One thing that my mother has said in a conversation earlier in the week was that I was probably going through hug withdrawal. Why? Well, that's just how I greet all of my friends and family back home. Here, well, that's not how they do it. But so, after this awful week, God provided me with not just one really good hug, but 20 hugs.

4:
For now, this will be the last story. It has to do with what happened tonight. Not too long ago, Pharos was emailed with an opportunity. There was to be a big Adoration event in Sint-Pieterskerk (Saint Peter's church) right in the middle of Leuven.

Here's a picture of the church.

We were asked if we would take an hour and provide the music for the Adoration. And so, that's what we did. Tonight, I got to lead music in a HUGE 15th century Gothic style church for a city-wide all night Adoration event. It's very difficult for me to explain the feeling. In this gigantic, cold stone church, warmth was felt through the company of other's coming into the Lord's presence. The silence was only interrupted by songs that echoed through the building. I felt as if it was one of the coolest music opportunities that I've ever had.


Yep. This is my life. This is where God wants me. There's nothing like being in the right place at the right time.

Babe of Beer River Road

Substance. Finally, some substance!

Most certainly, this post is long overdue. I believe this without a doubt! Hopefully, I'll be able to catch you all up significantly.

I'm choosing to begin at September 15th, 2011. Why? Well, I don't really think I need to expound upon anything earlier than this since I've already mentioned it. I can't say nothing happened between my trip to Scotland on the 2nd of September and the 15th. However, I'm sure many details need not to be said about being sick for roughly two weeks in a foreign country. Simply it was miserable. And that's that.

Now, to the good stuff! The 15th of September marked the beginning of my Gap Year! What happened? Well, we moved. The women's household from the previous year had a house until that day. You would think that moving wouldn't be that big of a deal. Well, that's not true. The catch was we didn't really have a place. The house for this year's household (where I'm living currently) wasn't available until October 1st. Generously, a family from the Jerusalem community here allowed us to keep all of our furniture and everything at their home. Truly, it was a blessing!

So, then, let me answer the question of where I stayed during this two week section where the women's household was minus a house. I guess that just made us a hold. Hahahah. ANYWAY, us three girls living in household were provided with different places to stay with members of the community here in Leuven. I mainly ended up staying with Martha, a lovely lady from Michigan. For those who don't know her, she's fantastic. For those who do know her, you know I'm not lying! She had just moved to Leuven from Spain only a week before I had arrived in Belgium. She selflessly opened up her flat for me to stay in for 2 weeks. Much fun was had, much laughter caused, and much Korean Television watched. All in all, it was grand. I suppose the only thing out of the ordinary was her landlord.

I'm trying to find the best way to say this. I'm feeling that this might just be a lost cause. However, I must attempt. Don't get me wrong, Martha's landlord, Wajih, has been decent at his job. There is, though, one slight issue: He jumps to conclusions. Because of this, I became her boyfriend. Then, I became her girlfriend. One of the mornings that I was in her flat, Wajih came to fix something with the heating. I wasn't really awake at the moment, so she had me move to her bed so I wouldn't be in the way on the floor. I quickly moved to her bed which was out of sight of her landlord. Whatever is was that required the adjustment was adjusted, and her landlord left. We thought we had averted a crisis. Wajih had previously voiced that he "didn't understand why she didn't have a boyfriend!" He had even thought this so much that he had told people that he needed stuff from Martha's apartment for, "a 26-year old woman who's about to be engaged!" He just really wanted her to be involved with someone. Unfortunately, I had become that someone in his mind! The next time she had contact with Wajih he apologized for interrupting her and her boyfriend. I HAD BEEN NOTICED. Martha thought about fighting against this, but ended up just rolling with the punches. Thus, I became the boyfriend. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for Martha, I ended up coming back to her flat the same time he was right outside her door. So, Wajih and I properly met. I was introduced as Martha's friend. Innocent? Yes, by American standards. In Belgium, friend means more than that. And so, Wajih made the assumption that I was her "friend." So, I at least became regarded in the correct gender. As for what it meant for the "relationship" between Martha and me, it was blown even more out of proportion. Honestly, I found the entire situation absolutely hilarious!

October 1st marks the date of my first night at "home." The moving process occurred again! The new women's household was moved into, rather easily. And so, I became a Babe of Beer River Road. I rather enjoy the title. It stems from the fact that we live on Bierbeekstraat. Translated you get beer river road/street. So, naturally, we, the babes, became the newest residents on the street. We live in Beer River Basilica. Or at least, that is what I want to call the house. That's still up for debate.


Ok, Kate. That's great. You've been a boyfriend, girlfriend, and a babe. What about this "Gap" business that you're supposed to be there for? What's going on in that realm?

I AM GLAD YOU ASKED.

Well, let's see. Let me tell you my roles as a Gapper.
I am on the leadership team for Campus Evangelism!
- Daniel and I are the team for this event. What we do is what we call Coffee Stall. We had out free coffee and waffles to students for a 2 hour period of time once a week. While doing so, our aim is to engage the students, steer our conversations towards faith and God, and hopefully get contact information so as to invite people to Pharos events. It's challenging. It's good. It really helps me to remember that we're called to evangelism at all times. As uncomfortable as it may be, the more you do it, the more experienced you get. The extrovert in me loves being able to meet so many different people a week!

I am also in charge of the leadership team for Social Events!
- You may call me the Master Party Person. I'm on the team with Javier and with Maarten, a native Belgian. Really, we get to plan the fun events for Pharos. Last night, we had a Photo-Scavenger Hunt. Roaming around Leuven at night searching for random parks, statues, and flags? Finding interesting door handles and taking pictures with a blind dog? Doing so without it raining? Yes, please!

Lastly, but certainly not least, actually my most favorite:

MUSICCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC.

I am working music for Pharos. What does this mean? Well, I'm in charge of the music team. Oh wait, first, let me just say that I had no existing team with which to work. And then, God just threw one at me. It was so fantastic! In the matter of hours, the team went from just me to 4 guitarists, 2 pianists, 3 vocalists, and a drummer. Sure, some of that might overlap within a person, BUT STILL. Certainly a blessing! Now, I'm in the process of working on the song list. Also, I shall soon be starting to work with 3 to 4 people on guitar so that I can hopefully plug them into the music team as well! God is so good!


So, I think you're up to speed. Well, as up to speed as necessary at the moment. I wouldn't say any of the above post is typical. But, such is the life of a Gapper.


Tot ziens!
[goodbye in Dutch. I'm in Dutch class currently. I promise I know more than this. I'll just leave you with my favorite word and it's definition. Winkel = shop/store. HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE FUN SAYING THIS!? hahah.]

Let's Face It!

Alright. I know. It's LONG OVERDUE that I post again about my Gap Year. As for content about my time here thus far, this post shall be lacking. However, I hope to make up for that by posting some pictures! I know, I'm getting real high tech here.

As I was thinking about my blog the other day, I realized that I'll be throwing names all over the place. So, in order for less confusion for you, my dear reader, I have decided to put some names to faces. Those featured shall be appearing probably most often on my blog. Now, when you imagine my friendly foreign encounters, you will be able to picture my experiences more accurately! I know, I'm really so kind for doing this. Hahah.

Well, here I go.

Also, for those of you who share my love and enthusiasm for puns, please appreciate that I went this far without a comparison to FACEbook for this post. Thank you. :)


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Sam Geleyn - Gap Director, Otherwise Known as Understanding Dictator ;)




Clare Darnell - Assistant Gap Leader, House Leader, Gap Leuven Survivor! (Goodness, I like the sound of the last title! Hahah.)




Risa Peine - Fellow Gapper, Housemate, Minnesotan, Coffee Enthusiast




Javier Sastre - Fellow Gapper, Fellow Michigander, Avid Longboarder
Daniel Kallassi - Fellow Gapper, Lebanese, Loves birds - at least, shooting them.
Javier to the left, Daniel to the right!





And there you have it. Leuven's Finest. I'll top it all off with a picture where it looks like we all might actually get along!