Saturday, January 22 - Arrival

So I will write this today on Sunday, since I was too tired yesterday to write even a few lines. The flights went well; Turku-Copenhagen (sleeping) with a 2 hours wait in Copenhagen (sleeping), and Copenhagen-Brussels (sleeping). So in other words I slept all the way to Brussels. Still I couldn’t shake off the tiredness, since my dear friends arranged a leaving party for me on Thursday, which somehow continued yet on Friday, hmm, but in the company of others…  J Enough about that, though. Viking Margret was the plane's name from Copenhagen to Brussels, the captain's name was MIchael and on the plane was a sign where it stood "Have you ever tasted a snowflake?". Signs! :)

 Anyways, the assistant working in the office before me came to welcome me at the airport, from where we took the train to Brussles City (to Gare Centrale). From there we took a taxi to the hotel, which actually was quite unnecessary, since the hotel is located just in the middle of the town (MaxHotel at Boulevard Adolphe). When we arrived at the hotel at about 11-12am, I wasn’t able to check in yet, since the check-in is around 3pm. Luckily, I got to leave my luggage at the hotel, so I didn’t have to carry it around. My suitcase did, of course, not fit into one of the lockers, where people could leave their stuff, but I was able to leave it in a locked room then. After that we went to get me a monthly card for the public transportation systems (metro, bus, etc), and a Belgian prepaid-number. Then, the assistant had to leave just to pick up another intern at the airport and I needed to get some lunch, so I headed off to Mc Donlad’s, of all places (yes, I have had the principle that I don’t eat at Mc Donald’s or any that kind of place while I’m abroad, but this time I even didn’t mind, since I was starving!). I had a New York Crispy burger, which we cannot get in Finland, and I have to say that it tasted almost better than the El Maco –burger, which I use to get in Finland at Mc Donald’s, whenever I go there. The thing is that I usually don’t go to Mc Donald’s or any that kind of place. Anyways, enough about Mc Donland’s. It is as if I would have some kind of hidden multinational sponsor here now...

I had to get me some new shoes as well, so I took a look at the shops in the city’s shopping street. The hotel is obviously located just one parallel street from the main shopping street, and best of it all is that there is the after-Christmas sale in every shop I go, yay!!! So I found some nice shoes, and a college blouse, since I had to leave mine at home because the luggage was overweight. And I got myself a hairdryer as well, since that, too, had to be left at home due to the weight of the luggage.

My new shoes
My new college blouse ;)

And for those who don’t know, I will stay the first week of my stay in a hotel, since I do not get to move in the flat, which I have reserved for myself, until Sunday 30.1.2011. First it was meant, that I get to move in 1.2.2011, but fortunately I get to move in already during the weekend, so that I don’t have to carry around my luggage to and from work during the week. I will tell you more about that when I get there.

So then I went back to the hotel and was able to check in at 2pm. The room, is a small doubleroom, and a very simple one. But just perfect for me for now. When I looked out the window, I noticed something really familiar. There was a big sign of another hotel (Hotel Manhattan), and suddenly, when looking at the sign, I just got a flash. It was the same hotel we stayed at the last time I visited Brussels with my study-colleagues, while our excursion to Brussels in 2004. So Hotel Manhattan is located just off the street from my hotel right now.  The only thing I remember from that trip and the hotel is just that it was located on a street with many sex-shops. That I can still confirm. Fortunately the shops are located in that quarter, not the same as this hotel is located, but not far from that. To be exact, I’d say about 20 meters from this hotel, hmm…

Memories... By the vowen street of sexshops in the middle of the town, hmm... (pic taken from my hotel window)

After my check-in, I had to get back to a supermarché, since I needed some day-to-day products and some breakfast-stuff for me. Nope, I do not have breakfast included in this hotel stay. And frankly, they don’t even have any kind of restaurant here either, just some machines, from where you can get your breakfast quite cheaply. The only thing about this room is that it doesn’t have a fridge, which would be quite cool, st to get some food and beverages in there.

Then I arrived to the hotel  just to put on my warm and confy colleges and go to bed, while surfing the net, talking on Skype and such, and falling asleep.  I had to buy an internet card from the hotel, which lasts for 72 hours for 12 euros, which though is good, so that I can update my blog! ;) When I woke up at 9pm and went to the local “everyday market” by the hotel, and which is actually marketed as such, just to get me a laugh, since when I entered the shop, the only thing I could find there, was some few toothbrushes and loads of alcohol! Not that I would mind, though… So I bought a few beers, which still are resting on my shelf in the hotel for a better point of enjoyment.

So that was my first day in a nutshell. As summa summarum, I could say that, as first impression, the people here are not highly developed in customer service, and that I can feel my own energies changing as to adapt to the change in itself and to the new surroundings.