DIScourse - Antwerp

a view from my apartment balcony





















I arrived at the Centraal Station in Antwerp, Belgium yesterday around 2:30. I was met by Mik and his girlfriend, Tina. We then walked to my new apartment which took about 10 minutes. The weather was pretty grey and not too warm (coming from the too warm Portland) but it was good to be back in Antwerp after two years.

My apartment is pretty large and came furnished including dish soap, bath towels and even a guitar. It's on the 1st floor (or 2nd floor to Americans) right above a pub. It overlooks a large square (unfortunately they are working on most of it, so there is a lot of construction mess) and is sort of in the theater district. After putting my things away I had lunch with Mik and Tina in there apartment (the top floor in the same building as me) then I went to the grocery store with Mik to get some food for my apartment since stores are closed on Sunday. After that Mik, Tina and I went to get a SIM card for my phone and then we went to an art opening (The Phonebook of Atlantis) and then met Tina's parents for drinks. We then met up with Filip (another Theo employee) and he and I went out for dinner. I pretty much instantly fell asleep when I came back to my flat. I'm not really sure what time I got back to my apartment because I was a little out of sorts from being tired and having too many drinks.

Today is my first full day living in Antwerp. It actually started of poorly, since I woke up at 4:30am only to find that my refrigerator and hot water heater weren't working, neither of which are the end of the world but I really wanted to take a bath (I'm sore from moving, and traveling) and I bought some perishable groceries yesterday that I'm afraid are spoiled now.

It was nice to wake up early though and watch the light change outside and watch the market slowly come together as carts and stalls showed up. I also watched a little TV (Dutch, Flemish, French and British programs) and played the dime-store guitar that is in my apartment.

After making coffee and eating some bread, fruit and cheese I went to the open market in the Vogelmarkt (Bird Market) and walked around the city some. The city is pretty much shut down on Sundays except for some cafes, restaurants and of course the churches. There are a lot of people walking around though which is a big change from when I was here 2 years ago in August when Antwerp was more like a ghost town.

After my walk I came back and found the the circuit board for my apartment and saw that one switch was off. After turning it back on everything seems to be working now. I figured out that there are some free wi-fi signals that I can pick up from my apartment which is great even though they don't seem to be too reliable.

I'm not sure what the rest of today will bring besides dinner with some of the Theo Family and a hot bath.