5 bonnes raisons d'être un étudiant d'échange en Belgique
Well as the registration of National Selection AFS Indonesia will be soon opened, whether you will join that or nope, this post remarks the first part of my writing "series" about my exchange year.
1. Travel
Oh… this should be the first one that I should write here. I love to travel, whether I do it with some friends or alone. While my host family always let me to go anywhere I want, I’ve observed this small country with my own. I just need to buy my lovely Go Pass (a train ticket to go to all parts of the country, it’s just for <26 y’o, it cost just 50 euro and you can use it for 10 times travelling and you can always cheat with it). Comparing to another European countries, it’s much cheaper and worth it (it goes also with bus and particular public transport in each region or city). There are a lot of things to see here or particularly to learn, whether you like history or just want to hang out. You could feel world more! As it is not a big country, it will not be annoyed you if you hosted in a village to go anywhere you want (it’s not in France, or even states when you live in the real middle of nowhere). Then its location who located in the middle of Europe, not that middle though, but you could easily go to another surrounding country with train (which cost a little bit expensive) or the eurolines bus or if you want to go to the eastern or southern part of Europe you can easily use ryanair (the Irish low cost airline) from the second Belgian main airport, Brussels-Charleroi.
2. People
Before my departure a lot of returnees and some of my friends told me that most the European are so chill but I found it’s not happen with Belgian. At the beginning maybe they will see you as a stranger, but it just for some couples of minutes. Belgium and its capital Brussels is one of the most diversity place in the world (Brussels is the capital of Europe but around 25% of its population are Arabian or the others races). So just going on, be yourself! Contribute in class, trying to tell everyone everything about you, suffering school together or maybe join scout or crushing to someone party will be the best things to do at the beginning. As you firstly open yourself for the peoples, then the peoples will be easily doing something like what you’ve done. In my opinion, Belgian is the one who always have something to be laugh, they not embarrassing someone but they always have some jokes to be posed. Though sometimes they’re so boring because they always thinking about their school, but its goes well for me. Then again, because their country is small sometimes they gonna be surprised when you told them that you will go to somewhere which it’s still in Belgium but it took an hour or more and tell you directly that is too far.
3. Food
Let’s mention it! Chocolate, waffle, chocolate, beer, chocolate, potato fries, chocolate. Hahaha, chocolate is everywhere here. Especially for the chocolate and beer, you could found it anywhere, any taste, any mix (because usually they mix it with uncommon things) or any price here. There are like 5 most prestigious Belgian chocolate, like Godiva, Neuhaus, Leonidas, Guylian or Marcolini which are believed that their chocolate are handmade (I don’t put cote d’or because its so industrial now) and sometimes their price is fuckin expensive *then I will just bought them before I come back*. The beers, there are more than 300 hundred kind of beers which it’s exist also the house-secret-brew-recipe. The Belgian frites (potato fries) which probably claimed by French (for its French fries) is one of the thing that you need always eat along your exchange year. Then don’t forget, waffle! I love them so much! Because in Indonesia I never tasted any of them (I mean whether its too sweet or the flour isn’t that good). What I love much is the warm waffle with the real melting chocolate stick inside of them or the strawberry jam! Beside of them, like in the normal Europe, I eat a lot of bread, cheese, frozen meat and seasonal vegetables. Ah ya, anyway, you should taste the biological food (snacks, jam or chocolate) here, it taste much better and tasty than the chemical one!
4. Language!
“So how was your Belgian dude?” or “are you speak Belgian fluent now?” several funny questions from someone who doesn’t know what exactly language that Belgian speaks (like me before). Belgium is a small country but there have been many historical occasions happened in Belgium, formerly it is part of the kingdom of Netherlands but which before the Netherlands was also part of France. Because of that at the beginning of the kingdom of Belgium, the Belgian just spoke French but some centuries after Belgium recognized Dutch as its main language after French. Then after occupation of NAZI Germany, Belgium recognized German as its main language too (they now considered the language as 3 different communities). Why do I say both of three languages are main language? Because in Belgium we use that language base on the region we live. People speak Dutch in Flanders, the north part of Belgium. In Wallonia, the south and west part of Belgium, people speak French but in the northwest or region that bordered by Germany people speak German. While Brussels is stated as the bilingual region, but most people speak French or English there. When you live in Belgium you will realize that all names of the cities or regions are bilingual (French and Dutch). The best thing when you are in Brussels is in its stations or metro you will hear all the announcements in 3 or 4 different languages (sometimes it’s with English too). I actually never learn French before, even dream for it! I thought its gonna be so hard but comparing to other language that I’ve been learn before (Arabic, Japanese and German) it is so much easier and now I can proudly said that I love French! Well, because its consist of 3 different communities as a student in a state school in Wallonia I need to learn Dutch as my language modern lesson after English and vice versa for the students in Flanders. That’s the profit that I wanna told to you! Then, comparing to the real French or the real Dutch, the Belgian-French is little bit easier to learn (if you never learn any before) because they speak so slowly with everyone and Belgian-Dutch, their accent isn’t as strong as the real Dutch. I love to learn about language because now I realize many different things in terms of friendship relation, its feel different when I speak French slowly to my friend rather than I speak in English. Then when you learn Dutch or German you can easily practice it because you live near with the people who speak it!
5. Comic strips and youth festival
For something like that –usually- people prefer to go to Japan but it’s not happen to me, I don’t love manga that much though. Smurfs, Tintin and Lucky Luke are some of famous Belgian comic strips. Before I thought they are American because its realist drawing style but nope! They are Belgian! For the francophone, Belgian comic strips are the best French comic strips ever and there are a lot of series or titles. In Belgium we called comic strips as “bande dessinée” or B.D. which literally mean drawn group (or exactly a picture which drawn by several people). I love Tintin and its creator Hergé, they inspire me to observe more and more natural landscapes. Instead of vandalism, in many Belgian big cities you could see there are some walls which decorated by comic strip’s character. I love cartoon, that’s why I put this in my recommendation list. Festival! I slightly translate "les festivals des jeunesse" as youth festival *just give me the better translation if you know*. Though its expensive but its one of many things that you need to do in your exchange year. Thing that I cant imagine is when they held it in the middle of cold weekend or winter, but don't worry its indoor. I love to go to festival, either I meet another exchange students, either meet my Belgian friends or either just hanging around in the middle of drunk people are my reasons why I love it.
That's my reasons for you who still confusing to choose your destination exchange country! For those who've been came to Belgium for doing the same thing as me, please comment and maybe tell me what's your point of view!
