Heading to History in Order to Rethink the Future

I believe that society has come to pressure people to conform, especially when you're my age.  This statement is definitely a major generalisation and I would like you to interpret it the way you want whether you're the conformer or the rebeller (two indefinite terms that can be stretched and changed when you would like).  Anyway, the moral of the story here is that when you complete high school, you should go straight to university to study something that your school set you up for.  Soon enough you should be graduating and in a stable job.  Then comes the process of finding a husband/wife which you should have definitely completed by the time you're 30 because you need to be proactive in your society and well... breed.

This is all wrong.


Okay well it's not all wrong.  What I mean is that you shouldn't feel pressured into taking this particular path.  You should welcome all paths and define for yourself what you would like your life to be like.  (Just a quick note here - I'm not taking a stab at all of those that have traveled on the path that I mentioned above.  Congrats to you!  I'm simply stating that this path is not always the one that needs to be followed).  Once you come to understand this freedom I swear you will be so much more well off than you were when you were chewing the ends of pens in high school.  As for the particular path you choose, whether it's working before you decide to go to uni, going to uni, not going to uni, traveling, raising a family, etc. - it's completely up to you and if it's any help I will always be here to support your decisions because heck I think it's awesome that you're living your life for YOU!

On this freedom related note, I would like to share with you a little from my Christmas trip in Bruges.  With the whole city to myself, I couldn't be selfish and not share pictures with all of you lovely people!  To start with, Bruges was magical.  As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it truly is like going back to a time where it was just winding cobbled streets and horse-drawn carriages.  Although the area has been slightly modernised with the creation of multiple museums it still has an antique pizazz about it, and even though the sites were extremely tempting I craved knowledge first.  So a few visits to the museums were definitely in order.

The Markt getting some sun for the first time in a while!

As most of my friends and family know, I'm not that much of a drinker however I had heard various wonderful reviews on the Beer Museum so I decided to wander on over there for my first evening in Bruges.  The verdict?  Totally worth it!  Also, side note, their sweet rosso beer was divine that I honestly could've kept drinking it the whole night.  After sleeping off my rosso hangover the next day (or lack thereof... look I'm just lazy okay?) I needed to wake myself up with some CHOCOLATE and what better place to do so than Belgium itself.  The Choco-story Museum was a fair walk away which was necessary since I was about to eat Belgium out of it's chocolate.  To be honest though, the museum itself was a little bit of a let down along with it's neighbour the Friets Museum (a museum just for potatoes/fries).  The only reason I was slightly disappointed was due to the lack of visually and/or kinetically enticing entertainment.  In fact the majority of the two museums mostly had a whole lot of reading.  To be truly honest though I'm sure many other people enjoyed it, I just felt the lack of things to interact with made it not so pleasing for me.

Check out those taste tester sized beers!

After visiting the many museums of Bruges, I needed to check out the still standing history as well (after all that's why it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site).  So I made the proactive decision to walk up the 336 stairs of the Belfry Tower which is situated in the centre of Bruges - the Markt.  The stairway to the top was extremely steep however every 50 or so steps there was a landing for people to rest and learn about the tower itself.  It was honestly very well thought out BUT for those ever visiting Bruges in the future, make sure you arrive at this attraction early because by the time I walked back down (around 2pm) the line was out the door!  Some of the other wonderful things I went to see included the Love Lake, some windmills, the city gates, Gent-port and numerous other churches as well.

 The Belfry Tower basking in the sun and the view from the top!

Love Lake in all of its glory
(apologies for the overexposed building in the background) 

 A windmill from afar and of course the magical Bruges at night time :)

Come Christmas day, once my sightseeing opportunities were exhausted, I decided to go and check out the Ice Sculpture festival which apparently Bruges holds every year (exciting, I know!).  I was completely overwhelmed by how wonderful it was.  I was definitely not expecting everything to be made completely out of ice and even an ice slide at the end!  It simply was one of the coolest (pun intended) things I've seen.

Me awkwardly posing for a photo -- not used to this!

All in all, Bruges was fantastic however now that I feel I've done everything there I don't feel the need to go back again anytime soon.  This simply means it never had the pull on me that somewhere like San Francisco or Vancouver had on me.  I do however highly recommend that anyone who wants to visit should do so an simply walk (or ride a bike) as it really is the best way to see this beautiful city.