2 weeks training in Leuven, Belgium

31 Jan 2010, 9.30am,after taking 14 hours of flight, I'm finally here at Leuven, Belgium. Walking towards to Novotel Leuven which is 400m away from the Leuven train station, I felt it took ages to reach the hotel. It was really cold, 4 celsius , snow covering here and there. Yes, this is the very first time in my life walking on the snow. I had been waiting for this moment to come, but at this time I didnt really enjoy watching the snow as I was freezing (my winter jacket was inside the checked in luggage and the checked luggage would only be sent to hotel later) and hoping I could reach the hotel soon. This is only the begining of my journey, I would be spending 2 weeks here for training and 1 week in Paris and Rome, I got to get myself "used to" it!!!

Spending 2 weeks training with Piet Wuyckens, I would say this training was really beneficial to me, I gained a lot of knowledge from this training. To be honest, I did not feel a bit of sleepy at all throughout the 2 weeks training, thanks to Piet, his presentation was lively and easy to understand. On the last session of the training, I got full marks for the final test!!! I was told by Piet that I'm the 3rd trainee got full marks from his training!!! ^0^

Let me give you a brief introduction of Leuven. Leuven is situated 20km east of brussels. Belgium has three official languages, Dutch, French & German. English is widely spoken here. I'm quite amazed by the multilingual of the people here. Belgium famous for beer and chocolate. Famous chocolate maker include Godiva & Leonidas. I had chocolate almost everyday, chocolate here is really nice. I hate myself for not buying more back to Malaysia~~~

Cycling is one of the common transportation in Leuven, even in winter. How could they cycling under such freezing weather?? This really puzzle me~~~

Morning view from my hotel room. Cars, roads, buildings all covered by a thick layer of snow~~

The Saint Peter's Church, the first catholic church i saw in europe. I expected more to see when in Paris and Rome~~~

This little cute chiwawa wearing winter jacket catched my attention~~~

Don't they feel cold??

Taking photo with my trainer, Piet~~~

Celebrating last night of training in one of the bar. Left clock wise, Camil, Piets, Jeannie, Sarah, Carla & me~~~ We had lots of fun that night~~~

Group photo with the team on the last day of training. Left, Piet, Joe, Yves, Jeannie, Me, Camil, Sarah, Carla & Eric.

This little statue is named "Fonske". Latin for "fountain of wisdom." The statue represents a university student who, while reading a book, lets wisdom flow into his head as liquid from a glass.

Main street in the city.

The town hall of Leuven.