Wait... she's studying?

April 20: Well, I've gotten quite a few questions about whether or not I'm actually going to school in Belgium. I assure you that I do in fact have class. I just think most people aren't too interested in what I'm studying, but I'll give you a little rundown just so that you believe me. :)

-International Business: working on a case study of corporate international expansion methods.

-International Financial Management: currently managing an online worldwide steel company learning to hedge foreign exchange risk and currency exposure. My teacher is president of Indosuez bank of Luxembourg and is on the board of directors for many other large banks in Europe. Patrick Zurstrassen: Look him up. He's pretty cool.

-Corporate Social Responsibility: We have lots of speakers from the corporate sector presenting different aspects of CSR, and I'm working on a case study about the (un)ethical practices of Gap, Inc. in relation to (Product)Red.

-International Accounting Standards: I'm studying under the president of the Brussels Stock Exchange. Basically I'm just learning about the differences between GAAP and IFRS, and doing a case study/paper on the International treatment of Goodwill. (Exciting, right? :-p)

-European Public Affairs: We have alot of conferences in Brussels at different parts of the European Commission with members of the WTO, lobby associations, etc. I'm working on a case study of a recent nutrition regulation passed by Parliament, and researching lobby activity.

Ok, so after reading that, you probably have a decent idea of why I haven't talked too much about the school side. It's just not as interesting as Barcelona and Budapest. Classes finish the second week of May, and then exams start in June. This means the stress is finally starting to kick in. Anyway, the pictures are just some generals of my trips to the European Commission: the signs and flags of the european union, the Berlaymont building, and part of my European Public Affairs class and our teacher.

Oh yes, and yesterday, I went to Les Serres Royales: the royal greenhouses. They're the queen's gardens at the royal palace(upper left) in Brussels. They're open for about 3 weeks per year and they are absolutely beautiful. We spent a few hours there, and then walked around the city over to the Atomium. It's the magnified structure of an iron crystal built in 1958 for the world's fair. The first idea was to build the eiffel tower upside down, but that was nixed. It was only supposed to be around for less than a year, but is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a 109 meter tall iron crystal this year. Crazy Belgians.

Oh and of course.. waffles. Seriously. There's something about these things. This one is a little fancy with the strawberries and whipped cream. Usually, they eat them plain.

Next week: the Ardennes!