How Do You Say, "Where For God's Sake Am I?" In German?

It seems that this phrase, or some variation of it, has been haunting me since I got to Europe. I wish I’d been keeping a tally of how many times I’ve muttered it out loud to myself. I also wish I got a Euro for every time I said it.

I’ve asked this question out of awe, both reverently and disappointedly.

I’m asking myself this question about Antwerp. Well, not so much Antwerp but my Hostel in Antwerp.

It's always kind of funny when I find myself saying "What is this place? How did I get Here?" It can be really disconcerting. I didn't get to Antwerpen until about 11 p.m. That's ok except I realized at about 8:30 that I hadn't written down the name of my hostel OR directions to it from the train station. How could I be so base? My cellphone was dead too. Ugh. Luckily I remembered seeing a plug on the wall three train cars back. So I went and charged my phone for a matter minutes, just long enough to call Seb A to see if he was close to a computer. Fortunately he was! He got into my Gmail account and google mapped the directions for me. I love Seb A.

So I walked through the dark and eerie streets of the ghetto side of Antwerpen to my ghetto hostel. I had to walk through a very strange bathroom type area that looked like 70 years ago it would have been an open air section of the building. Is this making sense? The building is on a corner and I have a feeling there was a court yard in the middle of the building that was then filled in when this place became a hostel. There are bits of outer wall on the inside of the area. The whole place is confusing in an unnatural sense.

And they forgot to give me a pillowcase. And the pillow felt like a bag of cotton balls. I used my scarf to cover the pillow and fell asleep thinking "Where for God's sake am I?" And the bed tilted to the right. Noticeably.

I was actually rather cranky this morning. Someone's alarm was going off really loudly and they weren't shutting it off. After the second round of the William Tell Overature in cellphone beeps I realized freaking great, it's MY annoying alarm and I'M the idiot not turning it off. The seven other people in this room must Hate me. Luckly they all checked out this morning.

There was a free breakfast that was pretty decent. Toast, chocolate cereal, Unlimited coffee (of which I had 3 cups) fresh oranges, ham, cheese, and rolls. I ate a lot. And took some for later.

I finally got to Brussels and am having an alright time. It's a really beautiful day. I found a very cool place to order food in French and suck up the free wifi. I'm going to see a silent film this afternoon with a live piano player. For 3 Euros. I'm catching up on photos.

It's also Mother's Day and I'm missing moms.

I'll see Lydia and Lori in 1 day 17 hours!

So. Where for God's sake am I? I'm in Brussels! I'm in Belgium! I'm in Europe! I'm in the midst of European Adventure 09! I'm three weeks from my birthday! I'm 79 days from flying home and living in my house! I'm in awe! I'm in Love! I'm involved. I'm in safe hands, as well as my own.