Personal Narrative: The Medieval City Of Brugge

Coming from the United States, where is seems as though the majority of cities have evolved and adapted to the fluctuating, modern world around them, I was initially astonished as to learn that Brugge is considered to be a city that hasn 't really changed since its Golden Age during the fifteenth century. For example, while the city of Boston has its historical buildings like Faneuil Hall and Old North Church, it also has a bustling, metropolitan aspect, with its financial district and Skywalk Observatory. However, it wasn 't until I found myself in the medieval city of Brugge that I realized how frozen in time Brugge seemed to be. Upon arriving with the group at the Brugge train station, surrounded by Starbucks, Panos, and automated ticket machines, I didn’t get the vibe that Brugge was necessarily a vintage city. Though, after the fifteen-minute to the actual city, I did feel a bit like I was plucked up and dropped in back in medieval times. From the

While we have the Groot Begijnhof that you can walk through in Leuven, there was something much more powerful about walking through a Begijnhof that was still set up as though there were fifteenth-century beguines still living there. While my classmates were walking through the different, rather small rooms, I sat on one of the creaky wooden benches in the tiny courtyard/garden hybrid. I sat there and let my mind wander, pondering what it might have been like to be a beguine, living a secluded, pious life in medieval Flanders. It made me wonder how people were able to live so simply and still be content and happy. I suppose it was just a simpler time then, when Wi-Fi and smartphones were not even dreamed up yet. It was also fascinating to me that there were Benedictine nuns still living in parts of the historical Begijnhof that continue to carry out tradition, living devout lives of prayer and