It's almost February: it's Carnival time!

In about a month, we will be ready to dress up and walk down the streets to celebrate Carnivals.

There are famous Carnivals around the world, especially in Europe and America.The most famous ones are Rio de Janeiro or Venice Carnivals. But there are so many more, as for instance Carnival of Cologn.

 It is a large ceremony that involves parade and big celebrations with parties, circus and masks.

 But why is the Carnival celebrated? 

It's usually the celebration of seasonal changes. Hundred years ago in Italy, before the first day of Lent,  the Catholics were holding a Festival called "carnevale" ( carne, levare) where they were dressing up. Carnivale means " to put away the meat", because during the Lent, Catholics aren't supposed to eat meat. After a while, this tradition spread in all the Catholic countries in Europe. Afterwards, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies brought with them the practise of Carnivals in America and around the world.

Another legend says that old farmers dressed up in their monster's costumes to ward off the threat brought by the devil creatures and keep them away during the long nights of winter time.

According to the Religious Calendar, the Carnivals start on the 6th of January, the day of the Epiphany and end at Mardi gras, one day before the Lent. Mardi Gras is also called "Fat Tuesday" because it is the last opportunity for the Catholics to eat protein-rich food.

One of the most famous Carnival in Belgium is " le Carnaval de Binche" and lasts 3 days ( Sunday-Monday and Tuesday). The Gilles are the main characters: they wear wax masks, wooden footwear and vibrant dress. At Mardi Gras, they come up with hats decorated with ostrich plumes that cost a great deal of money. Not everybody can become a Gilles, you have to be born in Binche and live there, it's a tradition from generation to generation.



It's time to find your most beautiful costume because Carnival is almost there!

The famous Belgian Artists

Today, I'm going to write about the famous Belgian artists. Even if we are a small country, we still have a lot
to offer, especially in the arts.

Nowadays, one of the artist we talk about the most in the media is Stromae. Even in Graz, I've heard his songs many times on the radio.
His real name is Paul Van Haver. He was born in 1985 in Brussels where he's been living with his belgian mother, his three brothers and his sister. Stromae's father comes from Rwanda but he never recognised his chidren.
He's really appreciated for his musical skills, but also for his writing skills. In fact, Stromae's songs often deal with society issues as a one-parent childhood in Papaoutai, the unease of the youngs in Alors on danse, break-ups in Te quiero or couple issues in Tous les mêmes.
His nickname is  backward-slang of the word Maestro.
He's sometimes said to be the heir of Jacques Brel.



Since I wrote about Stromae, let me introduce you to Jacques Brel. This singer was born in Brussels in 1929. Raised in the flemish french-speaking bourgeoisie, Jacques Brel started writing songs in Dutch and in French. In 1952, he started writing his first French songs and gained quickly more and more popularity to finally become one of the most famous french-speaking singer around the world until he died in 1978 at the age of 49 years.



Among the famous Belgian singers, I can name the two groups Hooverphonic (Mad about you) and The Wallace Collection (Daydream).






















Belgium is also considered as the country of the comics. Many characters were created by Belgians. The cow-boy Lucky Luke was created by Morris, The Smurfs by Peyo, Tintin by Hergé or Spirou by Dupuis.























































Last but not least, one of the most famous Belgian actor is known all around the world. As Austria, Belgium has its own Arnold Schwarzenegger: Jean Claude Van Damme.
He was born in Brussels in 1960. At first, "the muscles of Brussels", as we call him in the United States, was a famous martial Arts fighter and then was elected Mr. Belgium. In 1982, he went to the United States and in 1988, he got known with the movie Bloodsport. After that, he started acting in many more action movies and soon became a legend in fight movies.

Improving my writing

Throughout the semester, I had to write many paragraphs and essays in every class. It was really hard at the beginning because I'm not used to writing so much back home!

But now, since I have been writing more regularly and made a great deal of exercices, it's getting easier.

I would like to go through one of the paragraphs I wrote in October with the corrected version and all the comments that go with it:

First version :

In order to do well on the vocabulary and grammar section of the first progress check and  avoid the mistakes I usually tend to make, I have come up with what I think is a smart plan. Firstly, I will study regularly; it is important to set up a plan with all the things you have to accomplish, as the "EVU, Innovations' and tenses'exercices. Secondly, I will draw up a list in a book with all the words I didn't know before; that can be vocabulary from economic newspapers, English books I read or from the shows I watch. Finally, I will attend every tutorial class after making my grammar and vocabulary exercises. It's important to have extra classes and learn from its mistakes. Moreover, I think that working as a team can bring huge benefits; it's obvious that two heads are better than one. That is my strategy and I hope my hard work will pay off at the end of the semester.

Corrected version:

In order to do well on the vocabulary and grammar section of the first progress check and avoid the mistakes I usually tend to make, I have come up with what I think is a smart plan. Firstly, I will study regularly; it is important to set up a plan with all the tasks I have to accomplish, such as the EVU, Innovations and tenses exercises. Secondly, I will draw up a list in a notebook with all the words I do not know. These can be vocabulary terms taken from economic newspapers, books in English I read or from the shows I watch. Each day, I will study 30 words from that list. I will also attend every tutorial class to make sure that the exercises I have done by myself are correct and that my self-study plan is efficient. It is important to take extra classes and learn from my mistakes. As I usually prefer to work in groups, I will contact my classmates to work together. In a nutshell, I am sure that if I put in the effort, I will improve my English skills and this in turn will help me succeed in the vocabulary and grammar sections.

Important comments about my writing:

1) First of all, all my supporting sentences have to support my topic sentence ! For example, on the first version, "moreover...one" is a general statement but doesn't tell me what I plan to do.
2) The conclusion sentence have to be stronger than the first version.
3) All the book titles in English are always written in italic font and without "...".
4) For the register, it's important to write I am and not I'm. I do not and not I don't.
5) I have to use the correct collocation: "to take extra classes" and not " to have extra classes".

I also learnt one important thing.

              The more I write, the better I'll be and the more I read, the better I'll write.

My Erasmus : a lifetime memory

Hello guys,

I'm finally back in Graz after two wonderful weeks in Belgium. It was a nice time but I'm really happy to be back to enjoy my last month of Erasmus here in Graz.

In four months, so many good things happened to me ! New life, new home, new friends and new tradition. Everyday is different and filled with new adventures. It's crazy... The time is flying so fast but at the same time I've already had a lifetime of memories...

First of all, I met incredible people from all over the world: Poland, Hungary, Germany, America, England and so on. We shared meals, experiences and had parties all together. We became a real family !
I also had the chance to share my flat with 2 Austrian girl and got to learn more about the Austrian culture and traditions : the typical " krampus" on Saint-Nicolas's day, the christmas cookies and the candles for the first Advent Sunday, the 6th of January or even the typical meal we cooked all together. There is no routine in Erasmus and it is what I like the most.

It was my first time here in Austria. So I also had the opportunity to travel a lot inside and outside Austria. I've been to Dachstein, Hallstatt, Mixnitz, Tauplitz ( skiing), Vienna and Salzburg. I've also been to Budapest, Maribor and Bratislava. I feel lucky to have travelled so much and discovered so many things.

Finally, I came here for one main purpose:  TO IMPROVE MY GERMAN. I feel like I made progresses. I understand the teachers better and I can say what I have on my mind without thinking too much...even if the Austrian accent is really difficult to understand!

So guys, if you have the possibility to go abroad and have an Erasmus experience, don't hesitate! And make the best of it!

Enjoy your meal !

Today, I'm going to give you a mouth-watering experience ! I decided to build a one-day menu that would be typical for us, Belgian people.
After the heavy meals of Christmas, I hope you'll still be hungry enough and be able to appreciate my              " Flemish Carbonnate" as the main dish, and the "Belgian Waffles" as the dessert.

Are you ready? If yes, let's get it started !!!!

1) The Flemish Carbonnade: 4 people, preparation 45 min, cooking 2h30

Ingredients, you will need:
1 kg of beef, 4 onions, 1 tin of mushrooms, 1 liter of Leffe (Belgian beer), one tablespoon of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of mustard, 2 big slices of country bread, 4 tablespoons of sunflower oil

 Preparation:
1) Cut the beef in cubes. Peel and mince the onions. Clean the mushrooms.
2) Put in a pan the oil and fry the cubes of beefs for 2 minutes. In another pan, heat the oil and stir in the chopped onions.
3)Put the country bread spread with mustard in the bottom of a saucepan and put on top the beef and the onions. Pour the beer then 30 cl of water.
4)Salt and pepper.
5) Sprinkled with brown sugar and let it simmer gently for 2h30 minutes.
6) At the end of the cooking, put the mushrooms without stirring the preparation.

2) The Belgian Waffles (from Brussels)

Ingredients: 125gr flour, 250 ml milk, 10gr sugar, 100 gr melted butter, 4 eggs, 10gr salt, 50gr icing sugar

Preparation:

1) Boil 25 cl milk and let it cool afterwards.
2) In a salad bowl, put 125gr flour and mix it with 4 egg yolks, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar.
3) Dilute the milk and then the 100 gr of melted butter.
4) Mix everything together into a smooth mixture and add delicately the beaten egg whites.
5) Heat the waffle machine and butter it.
6) Pour the waffles batter in the machine and let it cook until the waffles are brown on the top.
7)Finally, sprinkle with icing sugar.

BON APPETIT !!!                                                                ENJOY... 

The Red devils : our national pride

Have you ever heard of the Red devils ? According to you, what could it be? Take some time to think about it ;)

Here is a brief explanation. The Red devils is the name given to the Belgian  national soccer team.They are also called " les diables rouges" in French. This team is composed of 21 players. Half of them come from the French part and the other half from the Flemish part.

Our national soccer team has not always been good but last October,the Red devils qualified for the World Championship that takes place in Brazil in 2014.


But why are the Red devils our national pride?

It should be remembered that the relationships between the French part, the Flemish part and Brussels have not always been easy. Strong political tensions recurred for a long time in Belgium, we didn't have any government for 18 months during the crisis of 2010-2011. Many negociations had to be done and the disagreements between those 2 parts of Belgium grew stronger and stronger throughout the years.  We even thought that Belgium would be soon separated, the French part associated to France and the Flemish part to the Netherlands.

BUT the tensions have subsided and a consensus was finally found between the different political parties. The victory of the national team contributed to strenghten the feeling of belonging and unity of the Belgian people and for most of us we are proud to be Belgian.

Picture of my friends and I in Brussels next to the Roi Baudouin Stadium, ready for one of the World cup game, dressed up with our colours Black, yellow and red and drinking our most famous beer   "Jupiler".

YOUPOST 4

Hello Guys,

How are you doing today?

Are you ready to travel a bit more with me ?

Today, I'm going to talk about Budapest. I was there from December 20th till December 22th and I had a wonderful time. I would really advise you to go visit this city.

We travelled from Vienna with my boyfriend and we took a bus of the Orangeways company. It is way cheaper than the train and you arrive in the center of the city after only 2 hours and half. Don't forget to exchange your money when you get there, Hungarian people still don't use Euro.



There are some beautiful places to visit there. Between the splendid Hungarian Parliament, the royal palace, St. Stephen's basilica, the Chain Bridge, you have a lot to discover. I would recommend you the free walking tour that takes place every day at 10.30am. A Hungarian guy will explain to you what is so typical about the city, you'll go inside some of the famous buildings, you'll get to know the history of BUDA and PEST, and even know some funny stories about the city.

After the walking tour, you can't miss the famous baths of the city. I've been to the Széchenyi bath. It is unbelievable, the perfect place to be when it's winter time and you want some relaxation! Funny story: you can even play chess in the water!


Night time is also great in Budapest! The Hungarian pubs are cheap and full of students wanting to party with you! You must try "Palinka", it's the traditional Hungarian drink ( fruit brandy). But pay attention, it is strong alcohol, you might not drink too much!

Budapest is a great city and affordable for students! So go ahead and ENJOY :)