Last Monday, myself, along with 10 other people, gathered in the ISA office for a little valentine's day celebration. We cooked dinner and spent the rest of the night chatting and hanging out.
Saturday was a looong day. It began with an excursion to Breendonk where we had a tour of a concentration camp. It was very touching and a little bit difficult to get through, but we had an excellent tour guide who did a magnificent job of relaying the hardships of the prisoners. Located in Antwerp, Belgium, the prison camp held both Jews and political prisoners, prior to their transfer to Germany. The first prisoners arrived in 1940 and, according to the tour guide, stayed anywhere from 3 to 18 months. No one ever knew how long they would stay and about 3500 prisoners passed through the camp until its evacuation in 1944. The Jewish prisoners were separated from the rest until 1942. Thereafter, the Jewish prisoners were sent to Aushwitz or Mechelin (a transit camp in Belgium). Originally designed as a military fort, once the Germans took over, the conditions in fort Breendonk became brutal. The prisoners were forced to do unnecessary labor, were poorly fed, and had horrid sleeping conditions. Many individuals were exterminated while there and only one person, out of pure luck, successfully escaped.
Following the 2-hour walking tour, ISA students boarded the bus to continue onto the Antwerp's city-center. Antwerp reminded me a lot of Brussels and, in fact, my friend Rachel nicknamed one of the areas "Little Brussels." During our lunch hour, my friends and I took advantage of this free time to explore and take some pictures in the Grote Mkt (main sqaure). Our first site visit was the "Cathedral of our Lady," which is home to several of Peter Paul Rubens' famous paintings. Next, we headed off to the Plantin-Moretus Museum, which contains the world's oldest printing presses, old maps of Antwerp, and even a copy of the Gutenberg Bible. 
Once again, we had some free time to explore the city. So, of course the girls wanted to check out the shopping area...but a few friends and I left there pretty quickly and went for a long walk. We saw the Antwerp train station (pictured left) and Het Steen (pictured below)--Antwerp's oldest building--near the harbour. 
From here, we met back up with the group. It was time for the event we'd been waiting for...a ghostwalk around Antwerp to get to know the dark corners of the city and learn about medieval life through folk tales. It rained on and off, which completed the mood. We heard a bunch of (99%) made-up stories, but got a really cool tour of the city, going through side streets and alleyways. This concluded our night (around 8:30pm), and we walked back towards the bus to drive home to Brussels.
Oh, and I almost forgot. One of the major pluses of Antwerp over Brussels (for all you foodies): waffles on a stick. What a brilliant idea!
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Bon appetit!
Arielle
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