Our Apartment in Brussels

Finally I've decided it's time to show you pictures of where we live! I took pictures of most of the rooms except our bathroom/toilet room, extra bedroom and tiny office area. I've also included photos of our apartment's surroundings. Our apartment is very small compared to American standards, but we're getting along just fine! The toilet room (yes, it is in a separate room than our bathroom) could be a bit larger as your knees tend to hit the wall while sitting, especially if you're a tall person. We had some friends here in May and they took a picture of that room because they thought it was so funny...we've learned to sit at an angle!

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Just the other day, we went to Midi Market (huge Sunday Market with everything you can imagine) and bought some additional plants to make our apartment more lively. We purchased a few flowers to put in a planter outside our middle window. We also ended up with an olive tree and some beautiful purple and white orchids. Maybe I won't have to buy olives at the market anymore if our tree does well! It's a little over 5 ft tall...we couldn't have anything too large because it's in our living room (we unfortunately don't have a lawn/garden area). It was either an olive tree or a grapevine, we couldn't carry both! You can see that we miss our yard in Lincoln.

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Since our apartment didn't come with any light fixtures or blinds (very normal), Shannon had to

put those all up when we moved in. Gradually we've been buying light fixtures as they are quite expensive...we've become accustomed to light bulbs hanging by wires here and there! Shannon may also add some cupboards to the kitchen so our pantry can be moved from the dining room cupboard. You will notice in the kitchen there is no dishwasher; hence my hands are in suds every day, well I guess I do have the time! Also in the bathroom we have a washer, but no dryer since they are not energy efficient, thus I air dry about everything.

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Overall, we love the location and have grown to like our apartment more and more as we are almost done furnishing it. I especially enjoy the large bay windows both in our living room and our bedroom. Our living room windows overlook a nice green space with ponds and our bedroom faces some cute old buildings; although, a tram does run by us, so occasionally I put some ear plugs in, but I'm getting use to it. There is also a forest near our house that we occasionally go biking in since it has several nice paths and some additional ponds. We also have some restaurants, pubs, grocery stores, clothing shops and other stores within a 5 - 15 minute walk.

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Our Apartment Complex (bay windows 2nd floor) - Brussels (Ixelles Commune)

Living Room (overlooks ponds)
Dining Room
Our bedroom
Tiny kitchen...oh well, it's not forever!
Our neighbors down the street also facing the ponds (a bit nicer than our place!)
The Ponds outside our Apartment Complex (Christina and me) The Ponds by our Apartment