OK, I'll admit that there were moments when Britain felt a little like Disneyland. Having crossed the border in to Belgium, I'm fully aware that I'm not in freakin' Kansas any more. First of all, the damn keyboard has been switched around on me. Q switched with A, Z switched with W, a comma is suddenly where the M should be, and if I try to hit a period I get a colon. Allow me to demonstrate what this does to my typing: "Qlloz ,e to de,onstrqte zhqt this does to ,y typing:"

It's making me quite crazy. I haven't had to look at the keys to type in about 15 years. Ugh.

Other than that, I'm happy to say that my tiny bits of french are at least helping me understand the signage, even if i can't understand anything that's said to me. I found the hostel without getting lost; navigated a very foreign metro system without a problem, and i've made the receptionist at the hostel chuckle at my attempts at speaking. thank god he speaks English. so far the streets are incredibly narrow and crowded. The hostel I'm in tonight is in a heavily Muslim area. I'm not sure about the one I move to tomorrow. We'll see, I guess.