Dollar, Dollar Bills, Y'all

BELGIUM: MAY 16, 2012

Antwerp & Diamonds, a brilliant story.  The diamond district was an intimidating place.  Much Curiosity sprung in the area - who has diamonds on them and how much.  Within Belgium create a value added worth 2 billion US dollars. Eighty percent of all rough diamonds and 50% of all polished diamonds pass through Antwerp.

When we went to the Antwerpsche Diamantkring (Antwerp Diamond Market) building they gave as an informational PowerPoint presentations on the process of receiving the diamonds, cutting, polishing, and selling them.  From this presentation we learned that when shopping for a diamond you want to look at The 5 C's:

- Carat

- Clarity

- Colour

- Cut

- Compliance

 

After the presentation they took us to one of their local diamond polisher's room.  When we walked in he was just finishing up cutting a diamond on his diamond cutting wheel using diamond dust and paste. He had been doing this for the majority of his life and was so skilled that he has even designed some of his own unique cuts of diamonds.  He showed us the various technology and tools that he uses in the process of cutting and polishing the diamonds including his high tech cutter and computer that shows him the exact angles need to make a cut for that specific diamond.

Pictures he had hanging on his wall of the different cuts that he designed himself using various angles and cuts

Kelly Finds True Love... In the Form of Chocolate

BELGIUM: MAY 15, 2012

Today started with coffee and class. After a few PowerPoint presentations and in informative guest speaker, we headed back to the Monty to meet up for our Chocolate Tour.

The Chocolate Shop

Our tour of the Chocolate Shop started with an informational video explaining what happens between the stages of the coca bean and the actual chocolate.  This particular shop uses beans from Ghanda, which tend to be higher quality. The owners of the chocolate shop, Raymond and his brother, showed us a few different ways they make their various chocolates and we even got to decorate a few ourselves!

Kelly and Raymond adding
decorations to some of the chocolates!

And So Our Little Adventure Begins...

BELGIUM: MAY 14, 2012

View of Belgium from the airplane!

Nora, Chuck, and Danielle in front of
the famous hand statue on Meir Street.

Arrival day in Belgium!  Not a lot of action here especially since it's Sunday.  After arriving to our dorms at the Monty, we were given a group scavenger hunt assignment around Antwerp to get an idea of where useful things and landmarks were located around the city including a laundry mat, the train station, the professors apartment, and various statues.  Unfortunately we didn't win but it was a good way to get an idea of our way around the city and get to know our group members a little better.



Later in the day we also visited a pub and experienced some new Belgium beer, it was delicious!

Tripel Karmeliet

On our way to a delicious group dinner at an Italian restaurant, we passed to Town Hall and the statue of the Giant's Hand being Thrown into the Scheldt River.