This past weekend, I decided to travel to Brussels, Belgium alone. My original plan to go to Barcelona failed, because I was afraid of the major protests. I thought about everything that could go wrong if I traveled to a foreign country alone; could I miss my flight? Could I get kidnapped? What if I hate it there? I researched places to go and things to do before I left to get a feeling of what to expect. The more I learned about Belgium, the more I realized that it isn’t what I usually look for in a country: sunny days and beautiful weather. Belgium is much colder and rainier than Seville, I became worried if I would have fun in Brussels.
Travelling to a new country alone is not as scary as I thought it would be. I thought the language barrier would be an issue, because I don’t know any Dutch and the only phrase, I know in French is “désolé je ne parle français.” From what people told me, the Belgians get angry if you don’t speak French, but the people I spoke to usually spoke English. I think that people didn’t believe that I didn’t speak French because I perfected that phrase. One man on the train got mad at me and tried to communicate in Spanish and English to me, but he was angry he wasn’t able to.
The main reason I decided to go to Brussels was to watch a band that I love. Truth be told. I didn’t know the history of Brussels. Before I left, I looked up their history and promised myself to go to as many historic landmarks as possible. I believe that if you travel to a new place you should learn about their history and find fun places to go to. I learn better when I go to a museum or go to tours, which is what I did for this trip. Even though Belgium is a small country, it played an important role in World War I and World War II. I stood at the Grand Palace of Brussels and I thought about the lives people have lived, and the history they survived.
I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that Brussels is birthplace of Rene Magritte. Rene Magritte. Is a famous surrealist painter. I saw his works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I got to go to his old apartment, which is currently a museum with a few of his paintings, and I got to learn about the reason he painted strange imagery. Afterwards, I went to the Museum of Modern Art in Brussels and saw more of his paintings, as well as paintings from Salvador Dali. In another section of the museum, the Hall of Old Masters, I was pleasantly surprised to find a painting that I studied at school, “The Fall of Icarus” by Peter Bruegel.
On my final night in Brussels, I saw my favorite bands play at the AB Club. I had a wonderful night and met new friends from Cologne, Amsterdam, and the United States. I got to stage dive, which has always been a dream of mine, and I got to meet the band afterwards. Afterwards, my friends and I went to get noodles. They walked me to the train stop because they were worried about me getting home safely, which I am so thankful for. Brussels is a beautiful city, but sometimes it gets dangerous for women; I would get catcalled and men would bother me quite a bit. Other than that, it did not deter me from having a great time abroad.
I was shocked by how much I actually enjoyed Brussels. Despite the cold and rainy days, I felt warm happy the entire time. Maybe it was the adrenaline of solo travelling, but I believe that the fact that I was able to prove to myself that I can travel alone made me ecstatic. In my next post, I will be writing about my trip to Rome, Italy.
Ali's Adventures Abroad 