There, my friends, is a vehicle powered by human cycling and it's just buzzing through the road like that 😂

This was to be the last day officially traveling with my PSSM buddies. It was melancholic, bittersweet, and full of what-ifs and what-if-nots. To be fair, much eludes me now that it's been... a full month? *chokes on minor sobs and fades out into the background*

This was me with my victory (sold already) heading to Grand Place with Seanthehonk for some snacks before joining the rest at the university for work...

I shalt miss thou most dearly, Belgium Frites 😭

Unboxed in class to show off heh. Well, they really wanted to see what I woke at 7am (ish) and queued 3-4 hours for.

After the work day was over, we went to our faavee restaurant Fin de Sicle for a sumptuous last dinner together. We really went all out, and ate to our heart's content. Most of the dishes are classic Belgian main courses and not to mention, every single platter was delicious. Oof. Pricing-wise, it's decent too. Of course we had made a booking prior to arriving, because queuing with the rest of the diners would most certainly upset the cheer we were in after being finishing our work.

Huge ass creme brulee for sharing

As one might notice, the flowers are more purple than blue...

Here's a failed closeup attempted

Le artistique shot 😏

Taking portrait-landscape shots with this background was my idea ;)

View of Halle station where our train was pulling in while two people were doing something *ahem* unspeakable in the toilet 💀💀

Reminds me of Lazy Oaf. I like.

Think we were back at a gallery near Grand Place to do some last-minute souvenir shopping.

Pardon me for looking like my legs are extra short here. Camera angle very bad lol

Don't you think the mascot on the upper floor looks kinda creepy?

This place got attacked by terrorists just a few days ago (from when I'm writing this). Can't help feeling very fortunate that nothing happened to me while I was there, but my heart goes out to all the families who were affected or even lost a loved one :/

Random art like this intrigues me

Ah well. That marks the end of the chapter in Brussels. It's not too big a place, small enough for a stranger from faraway lands to gain a smidgen of familiarity with that she'd feel like she can identify with the alleys and buildings she has visited.

To someone studying the EU or European history, Brussels may just be the unofficial capital of the EU. A place which houses many institutions: the European Commission, Council of the EU, and European Council. Many embassies and other important organizations sit in the European Quarter. I guess you could call it the heart of Europe, and it was really cool to see people from different nationalities and backgrounds converging in this international city. In some ways, it resembles Singapore. Yet there are so many differences which one could unmistakably sense if walking about in the city.

Despite the shops having super early closing hours (relative to our 9/10pm standards in Asia), I had a blast exploring and tasting what the city had to offer. Literally beers, chocolates, fries, sausages... and metaphorically. And as what someone would (or has) said to me

Brussels, you've been lit.

Just hung out with mah pssm mates last night at Sque and it was really nice to catch up with them again. It wasn't full strength, but next time will be better I hope.

Scarlet, Aks, and I crashed Japandroids' concert in Botanique because we were roaming about at night trying to find out the opening hours for the garden (which we thought had a labyrinth but it didn't actually). It was 😍😍

The next morning, our whole class headed to Vrije Universiteit Brussel to begin putting our research paper together proper. The name translates to Free University of Brussels, and also into my envy for the European education welfare system. What happened after was a blur. I do not remember. It was work, work, work, then food, then more work, then dinner at this place selling African cuisine.

Three rabak girls going out clubbing in Brussels.

Wanted to save money, so being students we attempted to walk solely guided by Google Maps. Was a terrible idea. It was so effin' cold, us girls kept our spirits high (even though our legs were exposed to the biting wind) while the guys were glum and grumbling what a bad idea it was to keep at it. The first club we checked out had weird undance-able music. The second was closed that night, for godknowswhatreason. The third was open and pretty decent (THANK GOD!) but then we later found out it was gay night so yea... most of the crowd there were males. Even though there were a couple of good looking dudes (some who looked younger than me even *gasp*), none of us girls got much attention besides one or two slightly drunk fellas.

A boy of about 18 asked if I wanted to get a drink at the bar on him. First beer, then coke, then after I asked for plain water he gave in. Gullible me was thinking "hey, just a drink couldn't hurt much right?" But Scarlet looked me dead straight in the eyes and asked if I would be okay doing that if my boyfriend were around and made me think twice. In the end, I decided it was kind of a stupid move anyway and rejected the poor young fella apologetically. Else I'd be leading him on to... nowhere.

A stream of low-energy tracks spun by female DJs. Yaaas. Not sure what genre it was... Google says KNTXT is techno 😨

Left to right: JJ, Seanthehonk, yours truly, Kw, and Scarlet

Simi lighting hahaha

The following pictures were taken when we walked out of the African restaurant.

La Lune