Quality time

I missed sooo much some time by myself, doing things that I really love to do, that today was almost close to my idea of a perfect day! (not a whole perfect day since I missed the only important thing, though).

I started this Sunday in the best way you can (late) start a Sunday: a brunch, of course! Lot of yummy food and staring at people in the street.

Then I walked randomly around Leuven to photograph random things. So happy it wasn't raining!

Obviously bikes because they are everywhere!

And they are also parked in the most creative ways

Then I went to the Jardin Botanique. I know, not such a great idea in the middle of January , but it actually was more alive than what I expected.

And I also found this:

Run, run, run

I ran 7.5 km in 45 minutes. YES! It was also raining= bonus point.

I came back home completely soaked, eh eh but I love sooo much running in the rain.

The plan for the night was dinner+ going out, but I'm too tired for going out and for cooking a decent dinner (= not directly coming out from the freezer). So I had frozen tomato soup (that I actually really love, the frozen version, I mean), hummus, whole wheat bread, and surprise surprise: Brussels sprouts. I've saved you the pictures of this creative and never seen dinner =)

I'm looking forward to going home and to have a REAL oven to bake with!

Oh it's such a perfect day,
I'm glad I spent it with (you) me.

What is your idea of a perfect day?

I don't see fun in my near future

I'm free from exams here (I have a couple more at home, duh!). So this week I'm gonna pack all my teeny tiny room FULL of stuff and leave Leuven. I'm almost done with my exchange, I cannot believe it! These 6 months were super fast (
and completely free from studying
). Sometimes I feel like I could have done more (more study, more trips...), but then I remember that I discovered something that I really like to do (photography) and I met great people, I saw Paris many and many times, so it wasn't wasting time at all!

So now, in my near future I see:

• moving (with an help to pack the HUGE amount of my stuff (20 pairs of shoes, ehm ehm). Thanks mom!)
• one month at home and then moving again (Yurray!) to my University city
• starting to think about my thesis
• doing my last 6 exams
• thinking about what I want to do after (absolutely.no.idea.)

So all funny and pleasurable things, you see. I'm also planning a travel somewhere, so I won't be crazy by the end of the semester.

Today my food was meh meh meh, exactly like the whole day. Besides breakfast which was yummy I had:

a PBJ sandwich and a pear

Since I wasn't really hungry before my exam and I had nothing else in my fridge (literally). I snacked on a

black
very ripe banana and caffèlatte (no photos, because it wasn't a nice view).

Dinner was a HUGE salad with everything

(mushrooms, broccoli, cherry tomatoes,carrots, Brussels sprouts)

since I was very low in veggies today, hummus and whole wheat bread

plus an orange

Now I'm off to a birthday party in a place called Villa Ernesto where they do the best mojito of Leuven (and also the only one, I suppose).

I see a very late brunch in my future, though.

A Leuven guide by an italian girl

I know, probably it's not the first city that you want to visit in Belgium (anyway, are you sure that you want to visit Belgium?), but Leuven is nice and really university-friendly (the university was founded  in 1425, uhlala) and it's also were I live now (at least, for another week!), so here there are some random places and nice things to do if you ever will be here.

Things to do

From above:

The Town Hall and Grote Markt

Le Jardin Botanique (or Kruidtuin in Dutch, so harmonious)

Ladeuzeplein, the University Library and the giant beetle

The Church of Saint Michael

St. Peter's Church

Even wander around the city is nice

Things to eat (for lunch)

The food maker

(grab n go snacks without preservatives)

Coup de soup

(well, soups, great multi-grain bread)

Nosh

(bagels and other yummy stuff)

Things to buy

Tante Jojo

Hexagoon

(Ravenstraat, 81)

Living lounge

You can see the strangest bikes here. I love that!

Winning combo

I'm looking forward to restart to do things (besides studying), so that I can photograph them.

In the meantime here is what I ate today. I'm officially the leftovers Queen.

Breakfast was this and this:

and a caffèlatte

Lunch: Whole wheat bread, tomato with basil, spinach and guess what? feta!

and a pear (apparently)

plus caffèlatte (i'm coffee-addicted, you know)

As snack I had an apple with peanut butter, but I forgot to take pictures, nothing special anyway!

Dinner was the reason why I deserve the crown of leftovers Queen

Pasta with frozen grilled veggies, peas, chickpeas, black olives, Brussels sprouts (no not feta!)

If you don't know what to do with random

I-have-to-use-them-asap ingredients, make a pasta!

and a pear (again)

I also had the revolutionary (at least for me) idea to bring my notes to the gym. Advantages:

• not fail the exam
• not have a look-like-a-flat-frying-pan butt at the end of the exam session
• being able to do more than five minutes on the elliptical without dying of boredom

It's brilliant! I know that tons of people are already doing this, but I've never realized that it was such a brilliant idea. (It's clear that I need some excitement in my life if I'm so happy for being able to study more)

Have you ever had a multi-tasking idea who has solved a lot of problems?

Dealing with post-exam mood

Since I ate only boring food today, (in order: breakfast, 1/2 banana, tomato soup, multi-grain bagel at Nosh, a pear, caffèlatte with soy milk, whole wheat bread, carrots, Brussels sprouts, hummus, an orange, and maybe some chocolate later) I won't post any photos.

Instead I did a reflection (not serious, I mean) on my post-exam mood which is incredibly similar to the five stage of grief:

1. Denial: I feel fine, the exam went well, I didn't make horrible mistakes in english and dates

2. Anger: Oh wait a sec, I completely misplaced an event in my answer/ I created some serious language-monsters/ I translated italian words in english only by removing the last vowel

3. Bargaining: Maybe the professor won't notice the mistakes/ He must take into account that English is not my mother-language/ I'd do anything to better explain some points

4. Depression: I'm fucked

5. Acceptance: What is done is done/ it's gonna be okay/ Let's move on to the other exams

Now I'm between the stage 3rd and 4th (actually more towards the 4th). I'm looking forward to the 5th, less to my next exam (on Saturday).

Random things of the day:

• A Polish guy went to the exam wearing a suit (!!!). All the other people wore jeans (including me).


• I went to the gym, but I hadn't been properly fueled, so I made lazy random exercises.


• No one of my friends wanted to go out tonight because of the exams session.


• I drank an espresso with salt on the edge of the cup (bleah!).


• I found 1 cent. After all, not a totally bad day!

-1

No, not the temperature (that, for the record, was a sunny 12 C°. In January. In Belgium. While I have to study), but the days before my exam, actually now we can speak of hours. 12 to be precise.

As usual breakfast is here.

Lunch:

Bruschette with frozen grilled veggies, pesto, black olives, fresh basil and feta cheese (again)

and some more topping on the side (with more feta)

one pear and a huge caffèlatte

As afternoon snack I had an apple pie without pie,

so basically microwaved apple with cinnamon and

leftover (ehm ehm) Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream

Dinner was random food on a plate including lentils and tomato sauce,

whole wheat sesame bread, Brussels sprouts

and a sweet and juicy orange (=sticky laptop)

No gym. No run. No workout of any kind, today. Except that I walked to the laundry and back. The only thing that I did apart from studying (and wasting time on internet ahem).

Now I'm gonna prepare the breakfast for tomorrow so I'm sure I won't running late since my exam start at 10 am!

Don't you hate blah Sunday?

No weekend week

That's it, I've studied all day long without interruption (or almost). Yes, maybe, if I had turned off my laptop, I would have been more productive since my study break were much more than it should.

The only photographable thing during my day was food, so here we are:

(For breakfast, check here)

Summerish Greek pasta

made with tomato sauce, black olives, fresh basil and feta

I also add a humongo pear and caffèlatte

Moroccan tea (

while studying

)

as snack: a slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter and chocolate

(actually, Belgian chocolate= heaven)

Dinner was some leftovers since I'm trying to clean the fridge before going home

Starring: Greenway falafel,

Brussels sprouts (I'm soo into them- I know that sounds weird),

Ghemistà

and an orange

I made the Ghemistà (it's a Greek dish) changing a bit the original recipe; I added peas and feta cheese to brown rice and fresh tomatoes.

Mmm it looks like I'm in a Greek food mood!

Bored of studying (what a exciting life these days!!) I went for a run. I was listening to music (like always) and I can definitely say that the Cure made the workout for me and before I knew it, I ran 7.5 km (4.6 miles). Not bad, given my sucky performance on Monday!

Sooo I think I deserved a dessert, vanilla ice cream anyone?

I'm curious:

DO you also crave food that are NOT meant to be craved (like Brussels sprouts)?