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Trip to Belgium

I'm back from my first trip to Belgium to visit Mindy. Quite simply, I had a great time. Here I will just post some impressions of the places we visited.

Europe is definitely different from the US, and almost certainly the complete opposite of Utah.

Brussels is a fairly low-key city, but it is still quite bustling. It sort of reminds me of Boston, especially the mix of modern and historic architecture, and in the way it's lower-key than, say, Paris, but still as relevant (much like Boston compared to New York City).

I was surprised at how little English was spoken in Brussels. Even the people who could speak it when we asked, could do so barely enough to communicate.

Europe is clearly more oriented toward train and public transportation. There are less cars, but I wouldn't want to drive in Europe after seeing how crazy they all seem to drive there.

Overall, I found Europe to be dirtier than the US and way more relaxed with rules, but almost annoyingly so because sometimes it feels like there's no order.

I can't believe that in Europe they charge people to use restrooms. Since they don't charge much, I can't imagine that it's particularly profitable either--especially the restrooms with people attending to them. The concept seems so strange and so wrong to me, and I don't think it helps the cleanliness of their cities (or lack thereof).

And then there's Paris. Paris is the dirtiest city I've ever seen. The concept of placing trash in a trash barrel is seemingly foreign to Parisians. The city is partly at fault because all they provide are cheap, flimsy trash bags rather than large, sturdy trash barrels. The bathroom issue (see the trip report) seems to not help matters, because people just use the city streets as a toilet.

I wasn't overly impressed with Paris. Obviously it was very cool to see some of its famous landmarks, and Paris seems like a fun place if you're up for some nightlife, but I'm not sure I need to go back.

Having been outside the US even for just a few days, it's clear that we are much more strict and restrictive around everything associated with airline travel, and customs, immigration and border patrol. No one even checked our passports when we arrived in France from Belgium. Of course, that is probably because both countries are part of the European Union, but I still didn't anticipate that they would be that lax. The airport security in Brussels reminded me of airport security in the US before the attacks on September 11, 2001.

With all that said, I definitely enjoyed visiting a different place and seeing how some of the other half of the world lives. Check out my trip report for more details.