Happy New Year! Thomas and I completed our first year in Belgium – Belgium style, by eating mussels, frites, and waffles. We headed downtown to Place de l’Albertine for more celebrations. They were showing videos of the Berlin Wall on the side of the Royal Library in honor of the The Fall, 20 years ago. We enjoyed a quick drink next to the Mannekin Pis (he was still naked) and then joined the crowd for fireworks. We had a great time, but thank goodness for the free public transportation – the streets were packed full with happy drunks.
Grand Place
This morning, Thomas and I were talking about the past decade and asked each other who we were 10 years ago. In 2000, I was a Junior at UNC, living in a very cozy 12ft x7ft dorm room. It was small (a single), but I loved it. I had cut my hair very short and dyed it red. My dream job then was to design interactive informational websites, like they do on news sites to show timelines or crash paths. I had no idea I would ever live in Europe 10 years later.
Fireworks Reflected
Thomas said he was living in a house with 3 other people and a baby. He was a sys admin, but working up from the bottom of the ladder – making less than teachers did. He didn’t have a driver’s license or a car and all of his free time went to studying Unix. He spent the holidays with a coworker and her family because his was still in Sweden. He had no idea he’d ever be working for a leading Search Engine.
Statue Silhouetted by Fireworks
So how about you? What were you doing 10 years ago? Did you have any idea you’d be who you are today? It’s been an amazing decade and I hope the next one is just as grand.
If you’d like to see more photos from last night, I’ve posted them on Picasaweb:
- New Year’s Eve in Brussels (25 photos)
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You ask a good question, and I love reading your answers.
Happy New Year.
I love this idea for a blog post. I am totally going to go have the same conversation with my hubbie right now and will probably copy your blog idea. It is like a reverse time capsule! And Dallas your photos are surreal. The ones of the fireworks against the building windows…too cool. Happy 2010!
You and Thomas have the best conversations (: And I agree with Reid, the pictures are great. Is it often that you see films or lights on buildings over there? Usually when I see something like that online, it’s in Germany and other parts of Europe. I think the colored lights on the architecture is incredible. We got your card by the way, thanks!
Jane – I don’t think outdoor art videos are really common here. I think the video was just something special as a memorial to the Berlin Wall falling. It was at the NYE celebration only. The main art here seems to be murals of comic strip characters. :)
Random question — how do you travel around town with your camera? Do you have a bag that you love, or one great lens that you rely on? One of my goals this year is to start taking photos again. I stopped mainly because I got tired of lugging my huge camera bag around so I’m looking for tips! :)
.-= Sarah´s last blog ..2010 =-.
Sorry I didn’t reply to this sooner. I’m really not the person to ask this as I kind of give my camera a beating — but to me, if that’s what it takes for me to carry it around, then that’s better than not having one. I usually just store my camera in my tote bag purse (seen here – http://forthejourney.net/2009/01/black-and-white-and-yellow/) and I really like the Nikon 18-200mm lens because it offers a wide variety and it has VR. I also have a 10-20mm wide angle that I take if I know I’m going to a place where I’ll really want to capture landscapes or architecture. And recently, I’ve been trying to switch to the 35mm, just as a challenge to me. When we go on longer trips, we have a tamron backpack that we use – it has camera storage in the bottom, and a regular backpack top, but it looks like a backpack which seems a little less pickpockety to me. Anyway, hope this helps some – good luck.