The Things I've Missed...

I realized that a few very important things have been overlooked as far as blogging goes. Totally my bad. :) So, here's what's been going on in my life the past little while that I forgot to add to the blog...

Item #1: I am blood clot free!!! I had another ultrasound done on my leg and the clots are gone! I was able to complete my "anticoagulation therapy" (Coumadin) on April 12 and I feel great!!! As far as the flight home goes, I just have to take some precautions: lots and lots of water, a fast walk before (to get the blood pumping), laps around the plane every hour, and compression stockings. :)

Item #2: I'm going to Israel in June! My boss asked me to speak at a seminar on the topic I have been involved with all semester. He initially wanted me to stay in Belgium for another 3 months, and go to Israel during part of that. That didn't feel right, so we worked out a deal that involves me preparing for the presentation from Utah. I'll head to Israel for about 2 weeks the last part of June!

Item #3: Other than the whole Israel thing, I'm done with my internship! w00t w00t! April 15 was the day of glory... It feels good to be done!

Item #4: Traveling. Of course! I'm here... Why not? :) The weekend before Italy I went with some friends to Liege, Belgium, and Maastricht, the Netherlands. It was a fun Saturday trip! Last weekend Alana and I were able to go up to a concentration camp in northern Belgium. That was incredible. Pictures from these two adventures are below with more detail...

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but 4 is enough for now! Enjoy the pictures!

~

The sight to see in Liege is a big staircase. I'm not really sure why. I didn't do my research. :) I do know that we climbed to the top. My travel buddies were James, Mindaugas, and Alana.  We had such a great time! We laughed all day long. We passed a sign that read: "Dead Ends 'All streets that are only accessible from one side are to be dead ends.' But this measure of the Municipal Council of the 6th March 1863 was not constantly applied..." Wait, what? Yeah, we laughed about that one all day long!

Here's Alana and I on the stairs. We didn't exert a whole lot of effort, as you can probably tell by the smiles on our faces. We took our sweet time!

This is the view of Liege from the top of the stairs...

BREENDONK

Fort Breendonk is a prisoners of war-turned-concentration camp. It is one of the best preserved concentration camps in all of Europe. It was in use from 1942-1943. In that time 3,500 people suffered there. Of those, according to a sign at the entrance, 164 were shot, 21 were hanged, and about 100 died of torture and exhaustion.

It was an incredible experience that I hope I will never forget. It was like walking through a ghost town. I can't really describe the emotion that was felt as I walked through the hallways. I felt such a deep sorrow for each person that suffered there. At the same time, I felt such hope for the life I have right now. It was fascinating to look at the pictures they had around the fort. You could look into the eyes of the victims and see such light and such life, even if the rest of them was skin and bones. It was such a contrast to members of the SS. There was a room where you were told about what certain guards did to people, and how they enjoyed the killing. In their eyes there was only black. No light, no life, simply death and hatred. It was so amazing to see that captured through a camera. It was extremely moving and inspiring to me. It made me all the more ready to live life to the fullest extent!

This is the entrance to the fort.

This is the inner courtyard of the fort. Breendonk is surrounded by a moat, and set up in true fort-style. (The layout can be found at the site http://www.breendonk.be/EN/index.html.) The red brick building on the right is the building where the prisoners were checked in.

This is what is called the Execution Place. The harsh feeling was softened slightly by the bouquets of flowers wrapped in white paper at the base of each pole.

The doors in the long corridor gave an eerie ambiance to the rooms behind them. This is one that remained closed.

Here is the corridor I mentioned. It was long and unwelcoming.

Breendonk was an experience to be remembered. It would be hard to classify it as a "fun" Saturday, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything!