Back due to popular demand...

Hi all,
Sorry I havent written (jeez, rough crowd). I have been busy with class, orientation etc! Orientation was fun (relatively), I visited a lot of libraries (I dont think my classmates are very familiar with the dewey system, judging by the painSTAIkingly slow and precise manner in which it was explained in EACH of the 4 or 5 libraries that we visited. Yesterday I had a first meet and greet with the Professors, organizers and students... It was pretty formal and we were in the Holy Spirit College, surrounded by pictures of Jesus Christ. Pretty different than my days at CU! I made friends with the main prof from the Netherlands. Nice guy! But, seriously I guess I am really used to the american "this is my personal space" phenomenon. They all stand really close to me (you know, Alice, ala Hilary Cohn). Then we had lunch and I went out with my flemish buddy to (another) lunch. She is cool, Leisbeth, but also dorky. Not sure what is up with that. Then at night my classmates and I went out for frittes and beer to the square. Nationalities present: USA, philippines, argentina, macedonia, ethiopia, nigeria, china and palestine (bethlehem!) Today we had our first class. It was really interesting. I now know the diff between morals and ethics. The prof (Borry) already knows my name- for better or for worst- and apologized if his lecture seemed anti-American. Ha! No problem, I said. OBAMA, OBAMA. Then to the gym (unifit) for a quick run and back home to discuss garbage and cleaning duties with my roomates (seriously, garbage is HUGE here). So I sat down with Esther, Eva (Flemish, 5th year Med student, 22 years old) and Adrian (Flemish, 4th Year Med Student, 20 years old) and ... discussed Sarah Palin. These "kids" are so well versed in american politics, and really anything else. They are so mature and well-mannered and awesome! Adrian has the french-ish pout (you know what i mean? "bah...") and is so cute. He asked me about my day and my classes and asked if I knew where the grocery store etc was (when i said "Yes" he still thought he should draw me a map:) ) and Eva has already invited me to spend the weekend in Ghent at her parents. She then came to knock on my door to ask me when i eat dinner cause she wants to eat with me. My social calender is almost too full! I havent yet cracked my "reader" (textbook)... And tomorrow there is (another) student welcome in the Grote Markt (great market, see dutch is EASY) with concerts etc. which I just KNOW my philipino doctor friend is going to want to go to see if he can "pick a babe"... Keep you posted. Pics are (obviously) of a skyppes conversation gone mad (if you look closely at the pic with p and his camara you can see my reflection with my camara).
Kisses, XO
PS: this is p's response to my story: "I couldn't believe you called a 20 year old a kid..."