Gent Museum of Fine Art

Today myself and a bunch of other exchange students went to the Museum of Fine Arts here in Gent. It houses a lot of Flemish works from the 1800's and 1900's, but also a lot of religious paintings from as early as the 1600's. I wasn't quite sure whether I was allowed to take photos so I took a quick snapshot without a flash when no-one was around... I really enjoyed the large paintings (covering entire walls) with many different things going on. For example, in one depiction of the crucifiction, I saw some tiny dice at the bottom of the painting, so I looked through the explanation of the painting, and sure enough, the dice were being thrown by 2 men who were vying to win the clothes of Jesus. There were some neat stories to go with paintings of Greek myths and other stories, and many paintings of Saints. The idea was that we would go to the museum of contemporary art (which is somehow abbreviated as SMAK here, haha), because both of the museums are free on sunday mornings. But we didnt make it to SMAK, so I guess that is something to check out next sunday!

After 5 hours in the museum we were all starving, so we went back to one of the student residences to cook some food. Of course no shops are open on sundays, so we had to work with what we had - some spaghetti, cheese, canned tomatoes, sausages and onions - spaghetti bolognaise! I also spread the awkward turtle message when we had an awkward moment in the kitchen with a very strange Belgian girl.... For those of you who aren't familiar, the awkward turtle is a motion you make with your hands like a swimming turtle, when you come across an awkward moment. Depending on the situation, it can lift the mood a bit, or make things a whole lot more awkward! Be proud nean, the awkward turtle will be spread throughout Europe in no time - everyone promised they would teach all their friends!