Dear all, this weekend we had a terrific weather in Brussels, well beautiful blue skies at least. The weather was a bit chilly but if seeing the sky means breezy weather I am going to take it. My friend Kirsten from the Netherlands came for a visit for the weekend and we hit the town.

Dear all, my latest adventure took me to the great city of Amsterdam. I will admit that I had predetermined notions about what I would find in Amsterdam and to some degree I was correct in my assumptions. This was my first ever real visit to the city; I spent several hours wandering in the drizzle last year but not enough time to really see anything or get a feel for the place. Three of the interns and I planned a quick trip to this nearby city that never sleeps trying to pack as much into 36 hours as we possibly could and I must say we did pretty well.

Dear all, does it feel like 2008 passed by in a blur or what?

Dear all, I cannot afford to go to Italy every weekend so several weekends ago I convinced a few of the interns to go check out the authentic Christmas Markets of Germany. We talked about going to Germany for a while but failed to ever set a date or buy train tickets, by the time we got around to it the tickets were exorbitant and it was cheaper to rent a car, hooray for the Autobahn. Four interns and an intern mom piled in the car on Saturday morning equipped with “Harriet”, our on board automated direction giver, and headed for Deutschland.

All I seem to tell you about is Italy lately but I must say that I am addicted. After ten days in late October and early November over the school break I returned to Brussels rejuvenated and ready for the six remaining weeks of school before Christmas break. I also started flight shopping for tickets back to Italy practically as soon as I stepped off of the plane. Over October break one of my fellow interns, Carrie, had to return to the states because of a family emergency and was unable to travel around Europe.

My October break seems ages ago but still I have more to recount. My roommate Bridget and I ended our Italy trip in the Northern city of Milan. Italy any time of year is wonderful but I was beginning to get a bit tired of the rain. We arrived in Milano in the afternoon to drizzle and after depositing our bags at our hostel we went out to explore the city rain coats on hand.

From Venice my roommate Bridget and I literally crossed the country; we went from Venice on the Adriatic Sea to the town of Levanto on the Mediterranean Sea. I loved my time in Venice and wished I could have explored and soaked up more of the surroundings but I was truly looking forward to getting away from some of the crowds. The Cinque Terre is a series of five villages connected by a 9 km, slightly less than 6 miles, foot path that follows the coast over slightly rugged hilly terrain.

I just spent three days in Venice; jealous?

After reviewing the vote we are pleased to announce that the winning piece was--

Bruja Crocodilo--The Crocodile Witch
By Julia Drake

Congratulations, Julia!