Visiting Mafija

Last weekend, I visited Mafija in Mons where she's been studying during her one year long Erasmus exchange.
The Friday when I was coming was an interesting day, first the internship, then an excursion to OCC and then hoorah to Belgium! On the border (Roosendaal on one side, Essen on the other side), I received an SMS from Mafija that there would be a general strike on Sunday and Monday -> no trains. Oops! Nevermind, I already got so far, so I won't go back, will I?

After transfering in Bruxelles to another train, I arrived to Mons shortly before midnight and soonly, Mafija appeared. Mons is to become an European cultural capital 2015 - perhaps because of repeated burying and unearthing of the roads? Also, they have three free chameleon bus lines.
The cities in Belgium look differently than those in the Netherlands. Houses seem to be a mix between the houses in the Czech Republic and in France. There are many homeless people and the overall atmosphere seemed rather gloomy (I am talking about Mons and Bruxelles and also Liege that I visited the last time; Gent and Brugge had a different feel). Also, the modern building in Belgium are usually not that daring as the ones in the Netherlands.
The University of Mons has a famous department for translators and so Mafija lived with seven other girls studying translation/interpreting. They spoke among themselves in French, so a good opportunity for me to practice! Speaking French - it seems that Dutch and French are occupying the same memory slots - it was hard to start speaking French again but then, when the weekend ended, the Dutch words were those hard to find.
On Saturday, we visited Bruxelles. A huge city, with a lot of differences. I have already passed through it once, though only briefly - yet we visited the places of my last visit again. Also a very multicultural city. Though maybe one of those where the multiculturalism has got out of the hand.
I had the opportunity to taste Belgian chocolate and cheese and wafels: delicious!
On Sunday afternoon, the strike began and I could not get back by train. Fine, let's hitchike: it was pretty cold weather, but it went quickly
Hitchhiking back: with two cars. Second ones were worried about my "crazy" (come on, I consulted a guide beforehand to make sure that I don't get into the dangerous districts! And by the hand, hitchhiking from Antwerepen at the deep night would not be crazy??) plan to spend the night walking around Antwerpen, so brought me all the way into the Netherlands. I took the train to Utrecht and the story ends...