Friday, after our first exam, we took the train up to Leuven. The old college town was important to see, as it is where KUL (the Flemish Catholic University of Leuven) set up after the university split in the 1960s due to the language debate. The place was really small, and attracted a different crowd than Brussels does. Also, in the cathedral in the center of town, lies Saint Damien, a priest from Flanders who moved to the small Hawaiian island of Molokai to spend his life with the leper population there. When someone contracted leprosy, they were sent to live on the island and forced to leave society behind. Fr. Damien restored a sense of dignity to these people after deciding to move to the island himself (never to be allowed to return home) until he died of the disease himself. His tomb was surrounded with flowers. It was strange to think that of all the humanitarian work I aspire to achieve in my life, I couldn't see myself doing something that brave.
Antwerp was Saturday's adventure. We walked through the closed diamond district, talking about how the trade has evolved and about one famous diamond heist that happened a few years ago. The culprit is still at large. If you're wearing anything with diamonds in it now, chances are the diamonds have passed through Antwerp at some point. If I remember the statistic correctly, 85% of the world's diamonds pass through Antwerp for cutting and/ or inspection!
Finally, we visited Ghent on Sunday. There was so much to see! We visited the castle of the Counts of Flanders, a historic castle built in the 14th century. Walking around inside was chilling. We also got to see the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. Such detail! Many of you know I'm no art expert or even an art enthusiast, but even I could appreciate the detail and imagery of the piece. If you've never seen pictures of it, I'll put one in the bottom of this post. We weren't allowed to take any ourselves, but a picture won't do it justice anyway. Later, we went on a boat tour of the city.
A final note: sorry these posts are out of order! I'm trying to keep up, but everything's happening so fast! This weekend I'm talking about was the 24th through the 26th of September.
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