Yesterday I turned 27, officially joining the “upper 20s” club! It’s funny to think back on how I once believed people at this age had everything figured out. I also imagined I’d be a mother by now and certainly never thought I’d be living in Europe.
Reflecting on the past year, I’m amazed by the experiences I’ve had and the things I’ve accomplished. I checked off the number one item on my bucket list: hot air ballooning in Cappadocia. I visited six new countries, hosted nine visitors, stood by four of my beautiful friends on their wedding days, joined one of those brides on part of her honeymoon in Greece, prioritized my health, earned an “Exceeds Expectations” on my performance review, and made countless memories in Brussels.
Birthdays have always been significant for me, thanks to my mom, who always went above and beyond to make them special growing up (we’re talking ponies, water parks, camping, crowns, karaoke, etc.).
A picture of me on my 1st birthday….and we wonder why I am extra lol
Ben continues this tradition, and thanks to him I had an incredible birthday weekend! In our friend group here, three of us have birthdays in the same week. On Friday night, we celebrated at a Middle Eastern restaurant that serves food family style and turns into a party after 9 pm. Saturday was perfect: Ben and I went out to brunch, visited the farmers market, took a walk in my favorite park with Mallow, and he made me a southern meal with an adorable printed menu!
BBQ food is hard to find in Brussels, so he made his own BBQ sauce and found a butcher to get pork for slow cooking on the grill all afternoon. On Sunday, we visited Pairi Daiza, known as “Europe’s Best Zoo.” It was a unique experience, feeling like we were truly walking through the animals’ habitats rather than seeing them behind cages. A lemur almost jumped on my shoulder! My favorite animals were the elephants and the giant pandas. We ended the day with our favorite animal, Mallow.
I’m so grateful for the friends who celebrated with me, everyone who texted or called, and especially my husband for his thoughtfulness and efforts to make the weekend special. We’ve now celebrated (at least) one of each holiday here, just the two of us, and he always makes it memorable. Despite my worries about feeling homesick, I felt all the love and support from everyone important to me. Plus, I have visitors coming this week that I’m VERY excited about!
May and June were incredibly busy with work and personal travel. I spent a week in Italy for work in May with our Senior Leadership Program, then took a personal trip to NYC/NJ for a family wedding, road-tripped to Virginia to see my mom, grandma, and auntie, and then flew back to Chicago for another wedding! After returning, I went straight back to work and four days later left for a week in Sweden with our European Master Program.
There’s no slowing down in July either. (Are we shocked?) Two of my high school best friends (Alex and Sam) arrive this week, and we’re heading to Austria for a long weekend – Sound of Music tour, here we come! The following weekend, my friend Marisa and I will meet in Milan for Taylor Swift’s ERAS TOUR!!!! We’ll also take a day trip to the famous Lake Como. A few days after that, my cousin Sarah and her husband arrive, and we’re going to Amsterdam for the weekend. Although I don’t typically repeat cities, Amsterdam is one of my favorites and only a 2.5-hour car ride away! It will be both of their first times in Europe, and I am so excited to show them where we live. Then, the weekend after that, I’m going to Tomorrowland, one of the world’s largest and most exclusive electronic dance music festivals, which I somehow managed to get tickets to. Finally, my mother-in-law comes to visit the day after and I’m looking forward to the quality time together.
With so much happening in the world—the ongoing war in Ukraine, the crisis in Palestine, the uncertainty in America with the upcoming election— I acknowledge the privilege of such experiences and express my empathy towards those facing hardship. I make it my goal to never take any day of this life for granted. Thankful thankful thankful!
I haven’t blogged in 2.5 months and that’s because summer has been a whirlwind. Who would’ve guessed that I would still be as busy as usual even though I moved halfway across the world? (Okay the answer is probably everyone who knows me lol) In the time since I have written last…
We’ve had 7 visitors (shoutout to my mother-in-law, Roni, Shannon, Paddy, Justine/Steph, & Gabby)
Celebrated my 26th birthday
Been back to The States 2x (Illinois, Michigan, Texas) where I was in two weddings
Had my first Euro business trip to Lyon, France
Been on 2 personal Euro trips (a weekend in the south of Belgium with my coworkers and met a friend in Budapest)
Ben has had 2 Euro trips (Rome with his mom and met a friend in Ireland)
I am honestly tired just typing all that LOL. Summer has flown by per usual, and this week marks 7 months of living abroad! The weather here hasn’t felt very summer-y though. According to the Brussels Times, this July was the rainiest July in 35 years. I am not even surprised considering Ben and I have the WORST luck with weather…traveling to the top of the Swiss Alps and it being too snowy we couldn’t see past an arm’s length, hiking at sunrise to a lookout in Tennessee and only seeing fog, snowing on our wedding day but being hot and sunny the day after…the list goes on hahah. Any day that we have sunshine here in Brussels, you can bet we are going out for long dog walks and drinks on the terrace of our favorite local spots.
Other than the weather, things have been pretty great! I am still loving my job. My HR team and coworkers have really welcomed me, the projects I am working on have me feeling motivated and creative, and I’m excited for some new programs I am working on that will launch this fall (or as they say here ~autumn~). I am still getting use to using the European way…discussing the weather in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit, measuring distance in kilometers instead of miles, speaking in French/Dutch to make small talk and do simple tasks such as ordering a morning coffee and croissant. Every day here really feels like I am living in a parallel universe…and I love it! I really feel like I have adapted much easier than I expected. (I might never want to come back…jk…maybe…)
Visitors
So when we announced that we were moving abroad, nearly everyone in our lives said that they were going to come visit. I really didn’t expect that as many people would come visit, just because of how busy life is/the expense/getting time off of work/far flight/etc. But we have been blessed with so many visitors! At this point, I can confidentially say that we are professional tour guides of Brussels.
Earlier in June, my mother-in-law came to visit for 10 days. It was her 1st time in Europe and she absolutely thrived!!! She is gluten and dairy free in America, but she could eat WHATEVER she wanted while she was here without having stomach issues, rashes, fatigue, or any other symptoms. Can we just take a minute to realize that the hormones and preservatives that are put into our food in America are not okay? Anyways, her and Ben went to Rome for a few days. I stayed back to work and care for the Mallow. Although I was jealous for three full days straight, I was so happy for the two of them to have that time together. After they returned, we had a ton of fun showing her around and eating all things gluten and dairy filled! I am really lucky to have such an awesome mother-in-law, because I know that’s not the case for everyone!
My next visitor was one of my closest college (university) friends, Shannon. This was also Shannon’s first time in Europe. We spent 5 days together exploring Brussels, the medieval town of Bruges, and one over night seaside. It was my first time seeing the Belgian coast, and it was beautiful. I felt so honored that Shannon came to Europe just to visit me! I visited Shannon once in Colorado where she lived for a couple of years, and we always have the best time. We don’t see each other often, but we have the kind of friendship where we pick up right where we left off.
One of my best friend’s, Alex, her mom and sister were traveling around Europe trip and added on a couple of days in Brussels. It was so great getting to spend time with Justine and Steph. We had a classic Belgian meal and they discovered life without air conditioning. When Alex and I both studied abroad in Barcelona in 2017, Steph came to visit. I thought it was funny how we have had drinks together in 2 European countries! I love the Enright fam and can’t wait for Alex to come visit next 😉
My most recent visitor was another friend from college (university), Gabby. We met up in Budapest and had an absolute blast! Budapest is such an incredible place. We did an e-bike tour of the entire city, went to our first music festival, stayed up wayyyyyy too late, but managed to relax during the days at the famous thermal baths. More to come on the trip to Budapest!
Ben had two friends come and visit, too! One of Ben’s best friends that he played hockey with lives in Sweden, Roni. Roni was also a groomsmen in our wedding. He has already visited 2x, which is so cool that they get to see each other this often! Ben had another friend come visit, Paddy, that he coached with for the Glenbard hockey teams. They went to Ireland for a weekend and visited the Cliffs of Moher. I am sure that with all the time Ben and I spend together, he enjoyed this guy time!
It is always so special for us for our friends and family to experience our daily lives here in Brussels. We loveee having visitors. I have each of them sign our guest book and describe our travels and the time together. Fun fact: I haven’t read any of the entries. I want to save them until the end of my time here…I told this to Ben and he thought I was crazy. We will see if I can last the whole time without peaking in the book!
Trip#1 back home
I can’t believe I have already been home twice! The first time was in June for literally only 4 nights because I am crazy. When I told my European friends that I was going home for that short of a time they laughed at me LOL. Typically when people travel that far, they go for at least a week or two. The first trip home was because I was in charge of my cousin’s bachelorette party and to attend one of my best friend’s bridal showers! Both events were so so fun. I literally drove from the bachelorette weekend in Michigan straight to the bridal shower in Chicagoland, changed in a random bathroom, and carried on. I was dying of exhaustion but laughing along the way. I also managed to see my high school friends, my childhood best friend, and spent some time with family. You can never doubt my commitment to the people I love, that’s for sure!
I flew home absolutely exhausted and had no chance but to adjust to jet lag and repack because I had less than a 24 hour turnaround for my first business trip! As someone accustomed to traveling within the United States, I was very excitement when I found out I would be going to Lyon, France. True to my organization’s values, the travel policy encourages us to choose the most environmentally friendly means of transportation. Instead of taking a plane, which would have been the obvious choice, we opted for a high-speed train journey. This not only reduced our carbon footprint but also allowed us to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. (We will just skip over the part where my boss’ Louis Vuitton suitcase was stolen). During our stay in France, we dined at a Michelin-starred restaurant. What amused me was that, unlike in America where we would typically order an Uber, we happily embraced a 30-minute walk to and from the restaurant. It was a pleasant reminder of the European lifestyle and their appreciation for the simple pleasures in life. This trip also provided an opportunity to engage with our European works council and strengthen our partnership with union representatives. My boss and I stayed an extra night to explore the town and went out for a nice meal and drinks, too!
Lyon is the culinary capital of France!
I finally returned home after traveling for a week straight, and it’s safe to say I learned my lesson that I took on too much. I came home and was sooo sick. Because I don’t want to miss out on these big life events for the important people in my life, I maybe overcommitted and underestimated the toll it would take. What I am slowing starting to realize is that my life is here, for now. That is definitely my current challenge so if you could be praying/sending me good thoughts about being present and accepting that I can’t be everywhere at all times for everyone…I would greatly appreciate that.
Trip #2 back home
A couple weeks later in July, I headed home for the second time. My second trip was still extremely busy, but this time I scheduled in a spa day to force me to relax. Ben and I flew home for my cousin’s wedding where we got to walk down the aisle together as the Matron of Honor & Best Man (so fun to do that together!!). We even gave a combined speech, which I thought was really funny if you ask me. It was so nice to see all of my dad’s side of the family and many of our friends at the wedding. A few days later, Ben flew back to Belgium to take care of Mallow because it is nearly impossible to find a dog sitter in the month of July. We had to ask 9 different people before we could find someone who wasn’t traveling in July! I flew to Dallas, Texas where I was the Matron of Honor in my high school best friend’s wedding. Although it was HOT, it was seriously one of the best days ever. I think I cried 3x that day just watching how genuinely happy she is was.
Two beautiful brides!
I flew back to Brussels the day after her wedding and had a travel day from hell, where I was stranded in London for 14 hours. I was so exhausted from the past week that I literally paid (way too much) to be able to shower and sleep at the airport for a few hours. After finally making it to Brussels, Ben picked me up at 9pm and I went into the office the very next day!
Other Exciting News
I got tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in Milan, Italy for next July!!!
Ben got a job!! More to come on this because I want him to be able to share all the details
Life with Liv 