It's hard to believe I've only been here for 46 hours.
Already I have scrubbed my apartment from head to toe (it was actually so filthy...), set up a phone, attended a full day of french class, registered with the international student office, tried to register with the city administration 3 times (their hours are SO finicky), taken a tour with a ULg student, tried Belgium fries for the first time, tried Belgium chocolate for the first time, and gone grocery shopping. There are just not enough hours in the day! Actually, plenty of hours but everything is closed by 7:00 pm. It is so bizarre not to have a supermarket or Walmart type building open 24/7. Certain elements of my day definitely take more planning now.
The French class was amazing. I jumped in with the beginner level this morning because I missed the placement testing and first two days of classes. It is extremely extremely basic and I would like to say I could've made placement into a higher level. However, because the instructor only speaks French to us, and I know what she wants us to learn, I am able to learn so much more from her instructions than her lessons. Her lessons are great refresher material but knowing what to listen for and being able to interact with her was an absolute joy. It made me feel like I might actually come away with decent French by the end of this exchange. I expect vast improvement even by the end of next week!
In the meantime, this hasn't made my recent French exchanges any better. I had an issue with my kot's heater. Basically I turned it on and couldn't get it off no matter what I tried. I eventually unplugged it out of fear of it burning down the building. Little did I know, when you unplug it it switches to battery. It just kept right on burning. I went upstairs and grabbed my housemate, Lionel, and tried to explain to him my problem. He came and took a look but had no idea. He offered to get the landlord (LL) for me. Turns out the store I live above is owned and operated by the landlord! Wish I'd known that! So we went downstairs and grabbed the LL, came back up, he took a look, did a lot of explaining in French to Lionel, and bid us au revoir. Lionel explained the bit about it being backed up by battery and tried to explain other things. It didn't really come across so I thanked him regardless. As long as it is off from here on in, that's all I want. It has taken a full day since but it is finally almost cooled off. I talked briefly, and awkwardly in broken franglish (sigh) to the LL today and he asked if it had turned off. I wasn't sure at that point because I hadn't been home in 10 hours. I said I'd check and let him know. He said to come tomorrow as it takes 3 days in the summer/1 day in the winter for heater controls. Or something like that. I think he knows more English than he lets on. I definitely know less French than I pretend.
Still so much to do before classes start on the 15th. I'm very grateful I came two weeks early for the French preparatory course. I feel like I've started to really appreciate the implications of my exchange. I've met people from Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Chile, Poland, Germany, USA, Belgium, Ireland, Taiwan, and Somalia in the past day. It is amazing to talk with them, compare countries, and struggle through language barriers together. I've had a PhD student from Iran ask me for help practicing his English after our French classes. It was a nice reminder that although I am focused on how jilted my French is right now, I am very very very fortunate to be fluent in English.
I found it extremely entertaining to see all the different versions of French-other language dictionaries. The Chinese-French and Poland-French are definitely two favorites.
I took a tour with a girl from ULg named Alice. She showed Chelsa and I some main places and provided general information about Belgium and Liege. It was fantastic to hear her input. We tried french fries (frites) with her and learned that they are so delicious because they are double fried. Once at ~160 F and then again at ~180 F. The second, hotter frying really crisps them up.
Love you all!
Jacqueline
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Arrival
Hello Everyone!
I have arrived safe and sound after a fairly uneventful travel day. This post is a little mangled because I am so jet lagged, hungry, overtired, and have yet to see the light of day in Belgium. However, here it is before I forget it all.
- The plane started boarding passengers about 25 minutes late but somehow we still managed to leave on time. I am still impressed by this.
- Although not full, the plane had a capacity of about 380 passengers.
- I lucked out and was one of maybe three people who had an entire row to myself. Originally I'd planned to try to stay awake on the flight but once I raised those arm rests and laid out across those seats I was done.
- I slept for about 6 hours in a very restless-your neck-will-never-forgive-you way.
- The final two hours of flight were passed eating a quick breakfast (orange juice, yogurt, and a cinnamon roll thing) and reading on my kindle.
- The plane landed way earlier than expected. I don't know if we made fantastic time or if the ticket was just plain old wrong but it was at least 45 minutes earlier than I had expected. Thank goodness too because my train was bang on time and the extra time to get to it was greatly appreciated!
- Customs was a really quick process and getting my bag didn't take too long either. Finding the train station caught me off guard. I had looked at maps of the Frankfurt terminal and thought the train station was in the basement. It is really at a separate terminal. I still think the way the map is drawn is silly. Anyways, found out I had to catch a shuttle over.
- Moved my train ticket to my jeans pocket because I kept pulling it out, trying to find clues as to where my train would be, and was clueless. Went to ask someone for direction, reach into my pocket and find it missing. Mentally flip out for 2 seconds as my hand checks other pockets knowing it was in that front right side, glance around, see it lying on the ground 25 feet away. Sheesh. Lesson learned.
- The train ride was nice enough. Wish I'd been forward facing instead of backwards but that's ok. The German country side was pretty.
- Get to the Liege-Guillemins station and see that the student with the Erasmus Student Network isn't there to pick me up yet. After 20 minutes I turn on my phone and text him. 10 minutes later he returns my text saying he can't make it and call Chelsa (the other U of Lethbridge student). After giving her a quick call, I end up taking a taxi to my apartment. It ended up being 7.65 euros and holy moly. The cab driver did not understand my French at all! I really really really need to work on it. We managed to hash it out eventually but yikes.
- My building mate, Lionel, let me in, carried my heavy bag up to my apartment for me and handed over the keys. He tried explaining the water heater thing to me but he has such little English and my French is apparently just not happening so we just kind of laughed and that was that. I have yet to figure out the lock on the bathroom door. I know how it should work, I just can't get it to actually do up. Throw it on the list of things to learn in the daylight.
- I am on a fairly busy street. It was quite noisy until about 10:30 pm but as the businesses closed, it isn't too bad anymore. It is however extremely bright and the curtains don't do much. I'm glad I brought ear plugs and a sleep mask.
Tomorrow will be the day to start assessing what I really think of the situation. I was such an overtired bundle of nerves throughout travel and arrival that I didn't get a great impression. Even now, it is 4:19 am local time. I managed to sleep from 11 pm - 2:45 am but jet lag has apparently decided to have its way with my sleep patterns.
The point is I am here and hopefully the morning will shed some light on the situation.
Love you all,
Jacqueline
I have arrived safe and sound after a fairly uneventful travel day. This post is a little mangled because I am so jet lagged, hungry, overtired, and have yet to see the light of day in Belgium. However, here it is before I forget it all.
- The plane started boarding passengers about 25 minutes late but somehow we still managed to leave on time. I am still impressed by this.
- Although not full, the plane had a capacity of about 380 passengers.
- I lucked out and was one of maybe three people who had an entire row to myself. Originally I'd planned to try to stay awake on the flight but once I raised those arm rests and laid out across those seats I was done.
- I slept for about 6 hours in a very restless-your neck-will-never-forgive-you way.
- The final two hours of flight were passed eating a quick breakfast (orange juice, yogurt, and a cinnamon roll thing) and reading on my kindle.
- The plane landed way earlier than expected. I don't know if we made fantastic time or if the ticket was just plain old wrong but it was at least 45 minutes earlier than I had expected. Thank goodness too because my train was bang on time and the extra time to get to it was greatly appreciated!
- Customs was a really quick process and getting my bag didn't take too long either. Finding the train station caught me off guard. I had looked at maps of the Frankfurt terminal and thought the train station was in the basement. It is really at a separate terminal. I still think the way the map is drawn is silly. Anyways, found out I had to catch a shuttle over.
- Moved my train ticket to my jeans pocket because I kept pulling it out, trying to find clues as to where my train would be, and was clueless. Went to ask someone for direction, reach into my pocket and find it missing. Mentally flip out for 2 seconds as my hand checks other pockets knowing it was in that front right side, glance around, see it lying on the ground 25 feet away. Sheesh. Lesson learned.
- The train ride was nice enough. Wish I'd been forward facing instead of backwards but that's ok. The German country side was pretty.
- Get to the Liege-Guillemins station and see that the student with the Erasmus Student Network isn't there to pick me up yet. After 20 minutes I turn on my phone and text him. 10 minutes later he returns my text saying he can't make it and call Chelsa (the other U of Lethbridge student). After giving her a quick call, I end up taking a taxi to my apartment. It ended up being 7.65 euros and holy moly. The cab driver did not understand my French at all! I really really really need to work on it. We managed to hash it out eventually but yikes.
- My building mate, Lionel, let me in, carried my heavy bag up to my apartment for me and handed over the keys. He tried explaining the water heater thing to me but he has such little English and my French is apparently just not happening so we just kind of laughed and that was that. I have yet to figure out the lock on the bathroom door. I know how it should work, I just can't get it to actually do up. Throw it on the list of things to learn in the daylight.
- I am on a fairly busy street. It was quite noisy until about 10:30 pm but as the businesses closed, it isn't too bad anymore. It is however extremely bright and the curtains don't do much. I'm glad I brought ear plugs and a sleep mask.
Tomorrow will be the day to start assessing what I really think of the situation. I was such an overtired bundle of nerves throughout travel and arrival that I didn't get a great impression. Even now, it is 4:19 am local time. I managed to sleep from 11 pm - 2:45 am but jet lag has apparently decided to have its way with my sleep patterns.
The point is I am here and hopefully the morning will shed some light on the situation.
Love you all,
Jacqueline
Friday, 29 July 2011
Bookings are Booked!
Hello!
I have done it! Both plane and train are booked. Both flight and train ride are direct from Point A to Point B and both were really cheap! Bonus! The flight ended up being $326 and the train ride was just under $80. I am making it to Europe for ~$400. That is INSANE.
I fly out on August 28 at 11:55 pm from Calgary International Airport and arrive at the Frankfurt International Airport at 5:40 pm on August 29. The flight is only about 9 hours but Belgium is 8 hours ahead (Central European Time). From Frankfurt I go to the train station, which is in the airport, and catch a 6:43 pm train and arrive in Liege at 8:44 pm. Super slick!
However, I arrive and have no where lined up to stay. I am going to make some final efforts to house hunt and then probably just give in and book a hostel.
Exactly one month. Holy sheet.
Jacqueline
I have done it! Both plane and train are booked. Both flight and train ride are direct from Point A to Point B and both were really cheap! Bonus! The flight ended up being $326 and the train ride was just under $80. I am making it to Europe for ~$400. That is INSANE.
I fly out on August 28 at 11:55 pm from Calgary International Airport and arrive at the Frankfurt International Airport at 5:40 pm on August 29. The flight is only about 9 hours but Belgium is 8 hours ahead (Central European Time). From Frankfurt I go to the train station, which is in the airport, and catch a 6:43 pm train and arrive in Liege at 8:44 pm. Super slick!
However, I arrive and have no where lined up to stay. I am going to make some final efforts to house hunt and then probably just give in and book a hostel.
Exactly one month. Holy sheet.
Jacqueline
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Getting It Together
Hello!
Finally got the acceptance letter from ULg in around mid June. Due to the post office strike of the last couple weeks and a shuffle in exchange coordinators, it has been quite the endeavor to get everything together to send off for an exchange visa. For anyone who does this exchange in future (or any exchange), definitely get an early start on things like the medical certificate, police records check, and anything to do with financial statements. Make lots of photocopies of any and every document to do with your exchange and make sure to read the instructions closely. For example, I screwed up and sent the Belgium Embassy the wrong type of self addressed prepaid stamped return envelope for them to return my documents and passports to me. It was supposed to be a courier envelope (i.e., FedEx) and I sent a regular office Canada Post one. Now I get to call in and ask them what they want me to do about it. My prediction is that I will probably get to mail them an envelope within an envelope. More money and more delays! Sheesh. My own oversight too.
Scholarships for exchange were due July 1st. I managed to get them all in despite an extreme lack of motivation. It is hard to justify filling in a bunch of paperwork and jumping through the hoops when the scholarships:
A) Don't tell you how much they are worth
B) Ask really ridiculous questions about your finances
C) Specify that if you are awarded scholarship A you are ineligible for scholarship B and vice versa. Tedious and unnecessary work is unavoidable.
Because the pre semester French course starts on August 29th, I hope to fly out on the 28th or 27th, spend a night or two in a hostel and house hunt like crazy. It is really stressful not knowing where I am living when I get there. However, living in the residence is so inconvenient, CityLiving is way too expensive, and house hunting internationally is the next best thing to impossible. Fingers crossed for a quick find once I get there.
I hope to book flights in the next week or so. It's slowly coming together. Less than two months!
Jacqueline
Finally got the acceptance letter from ULg in around mid June. Due to the post office strike of the last couple weeks and a shuffle in exchange coordinators, it has been quite the endeavor to get everything together to send off for an exchange visa. For anyone who does this exchange in future (or any exchange), definitely get an early start on things like the medical certificate, police records check, and anything to do with financial statements. Make lots of photocopies of any and every document to do with your exchange and make sure to read the instructions closely. For example, I screwed up and sent the Belgium Embassy the wrong type of self addressed prepaid stamped return envelope for them to return my documents and passports to me. It was supposed to be a courier envelope (i.e., FedEx) and I sent a regular office Canada Post one. Now I get to call in and ask them what they want me to do about it. My prediction is that I will probably get to mail them an envelope within an envelope. More money and more delays! Sheesh. My own oversight too.
Scholarships for exchange were due July 1st. I managed to get them all in despite an extreme lack of motivation. It is hard to justify filling in a bunch of paperwork and jumping through the hoops when the scholarships:
A) Don't tell you how much they are worth
B) Ask really ridiculous questions about your finances
C) Specify that if you are awarded scholarship A you are ineligible for scholarship B and vice versa. Tedious and unnecessary work is unavoidable.
Because the pre semester French course starts on August 29th, I hope to fly out on the 28th or 27th, spend a night or two in a hostel and house hunt like crazy. It is really stressful not knowing where I am living when I get there. However, living in the residence is so inconvenient, CityLiving is way too expensive, and house hunting internationally is the next best thing to impossible. Fingers crossed for a quick find once I get there.
I hope to book flights in the next week or so. It's slowly coming together. Less than two months!
Jacqueline
Friday, 1 April 2011
Advice from the Expert
Hi Guys,
Two days ago I had the opportunity to chat with a guy named Eugene. He did a 10 month Belgium exchange last year and as such is a very valuable resource to this year's outgoing students. Over the course of our 1 hour chat I was able to glean quite a bit of information from his experiences. Eugene designed his exchange to be entirely travel oriented. In the span of 2 semesters he managed to travel to 20 different countries in Europe and racked up an $18 000 travel bill - not including tuition at ULg. Although I definitely want to travel as much as possible, I will definitely not be Eugene level extreme. He ended up skipping most of his classes and doing a lot of travel alone as all the other students opted out of a lot of his trips. Imagine that. To be fair though, Belgian classes often have one component, such as an assignment or exam, that make up almost 100% of your mark. As long as you do well on that one thing, you're set.
To summarize the conversation in list form:
1) Set up a bank account while there, pay the one time transfer fee to transfer all your money, and use a European debit card.
2) Flights are really cheap so don't settle for cheap by Canadian standards. From Belgium to Poland (round trip) cost Eugene 40€. When he paid 75€ for flights to Rome he was later told by Belgians that they would never pay that much.
3) There is a fantastic fresh food farmer's market along the river every Sunday, year round, from 8:00 am - 1:00 pm that is relatively inexpensive. The only issue is most things are sold in bulk and fridge space tends to be limited.
4) Some bus passes and rail passes are specifically for tourists who don't know better. Eugene had a bus pass that made every bus ride equivalent to 30 cents. The tourist pass made each bus trip several dollars.
5) Travel in groups at night and always keep your eye on your stuff.
6) Www.couchsurfing.com is the way to go if you want to stay cheaply in the comfort of someone's home instead of an overcrowded hostel
7) Insist that a woman named Amanda is your exchange advisor. A woman named Joan caused some real issues for Eugene.
8) Belgium is colder than you'd think because of the humidity. Eugene is from northern BC and said he'd never been colder in his life. Minus 5 degrees Celsius in Belgium feels like our minus 20.
9) Be spontaneous. Make friends with locals. Use the opportunity to learn as much French as possible.
What fascinates me is that Eugene is now super involved with the U of L International Center and has learned proper French from that. He said most of his French has developed from hooking up Belgian exchange students with places to stay in Lethbridge and from hanging around with them here. Also interesting, he said that of the people he knew who lived in City Living Student Hotel, most came away with more Spanish or Italian than French. The international students that stay there are predominantly from Spain or Italy and as such, Canadians don't get much opportunity to practice their French.
Another thing that Eugene threw out there was that he wished he'd spent more time exploring Belgium. As great as it was to visit tons of countries, he would've liked to have gotten to know the host country more thoroughly. Also, because of all his international travels, he didn't fall in love with Liege until the very end. I think those comments have really helped to shape in my mind what sort of exchange I want to have. While I will take as many opportunities as possible to travel internationally, I want to really delve into the Liege and Belgian communities and establish a friend base.
All my best,
Jacqueline
Two days ago I had the opportunity to chat with a guy named Eugene. He did a 10 month Belgium exchange last year and as such is a very valuable resource to this year's outgoing students. Over the course of our 1 hour chat I was able to glean quite a bit of information from his experiences. Eugene designed his exchange to be entirely travel oriented. In the span of 2 semesters he managed to travel to 20 different countries in Europe and racked up an $18 000 travel bill - not including tuition at ULg. Although I definitely want to travel as much as possible, I will definitely not be Eugene level extreme. He ended up skipping most of his classes and doing a lot of travel alone as all the other students opted out of a lot of his trips. Imagine that. To be fair though, Belgian classes often have one component, such as an assignment or exam, that make up almost 100% of your mark. As long as you do well on that one thing, you're set.
To summarize the conversation in list form:
1) Set up a bank account while there, pay the one time transfer fee to transfer all your money, and use a European debit card.
2) Flights are really cheap so don't settle for cheap by Canadian standards. From Belgium to Poland (round trip) cost Eugene 40€. When he paid 75€ for flights to Rome he was later told by Belgians that they would never pay that much.
3) There is a fantastic fresh food farmer's market along the river every Sunday, year round, from 8:00 am - 1:00 pm that is relatively inexpensive. The only issue is most things are sold in bulk and fridge space tends to be limited.
4) Some bus passes and rail passes are specifically for tourists who don't know better. Eugene had a bus pass that made every bus ride equivalent to 30 cents. The tourist pass made each bus trip several dollars.
5) Travel in groups at night and always keep your eye on your stuff.
6) Www.couchsurfing.com is the way to go if you want to stay cheaply in the comfort of someone's home instead of an overcrowded hostel
7) Insist that a woman named Amanda is your exchange advisor. A woman named Joan caused some real issues for Eugene.
8) Belgium is colder than you'd think because of the humidity. Eugene is from northern BC and said he'd never been colder in his life. Minus 5 degrees Celsius in Belgium feels like our minus 20.
9) Be spontaneous. Make friends with locals. Use the opportunity to learn as much French as possible.
What fascinates me is that Eugene is now super involved with the U of L International Center and has learned proper French from that. He said most of his French has developed from hooking up Belgian exchange students with places to stay in Lethbridge and from hanging around with them here. Also interesting, he said that of the people he knew who lived in City Living Student Hotel, most came away with more Spanish or Italian than French. The international students that stay there are predominantly from Spain or Italy and as such, Canadians don't get much opportunity to practice their French.
Another thing that Eugene threw out there was that he wished he'd spent more time exploring Belgium. As great as it was to visit tons of countries, he would've liked to have gotten to know the host country more thoroughly. Also, because of all his international travels, he didn't fall in love with Liege until the very end. I think those comments have really helped to shape in my mind what sort of exchange I want to have. While I will take as many opportunities as possible to travel internationally, I want to really delve into the Liege and Belgian communities and establish a friend base.
All my best,
Jacqueline
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Accommodations
Hi Crew,
I am presently going through the process of trying to find accomodations for next year. I have four options available to me:
1) University Residence
2) Private Accommodation AKA Kot
3) City Living Student Hotel
4) Self Initiative Search
The university residence isn't really an option. All the descriptions I've read and people I've talked to have said that although the price is attractive, the location is isolated and undesirable. It is located on the campus of Sart-Tilman which is actually outside of town. Buses stop running at about 11:00 pm which can make getting home difficult. No thank you.
The private accommodations option definitely shows some potential. ULg has what is called the "International Exchange Student Network" (ESN) which is a student association that among other things will locate and negotiate the terms of a lease for incoming international students. The average price of housing found through the ESN is 300€ monthly and the administration fee for finding a place and working out the details for you is relatively low at 20€. I have filled out the registration form and submitted it so hopefully I hear back relatively soon.
The City Living Student Hotel is a neat concept. It is a complex that house about 150 students and is 10 minutes away from the downtown ULg campus. A full time building manager is always floating around and the complex is extremely secure and is know for being a safe place. There are four different room types that range from basic to over abundance. The room I am considering is the most basic bedroom. Consisting of simple furniture and a bathroom with stand up shower, the cost for the "standard" level rooms are about 460€ a month with utilities not included. The more advanced rooms have more space, double beds, full bathrooms, and full kitchens if you are willing to pay for them. There is one common room and study area for the building but full kitchens on each floor. The kitchens have locking cupboards for each resident. I think that is a brilliant idea. Another nice thing about City Living, although again expensive, is that they sell basic linen and kitchen packages that have all the basics you need. It would be nice if these were provided but I can't imagine it would be too hard to buy a set of an outgoing student for relatively cheap. My only hesitation with City Living at this moment in time is one or two of the contract clauses. Before I apply I will definitely be consulting with someone who is wiser than I.
My last resort is trying to find something on my own. This may prove rather difficult from Canada but I'm sure I could dig something up.
Tomorrow I have a meeting set up with a former Liege exchange student named Eugene. He did a double semester 10 month exchange and lived one semester in residence and one semester in a Kot. Hopefully he will be able to provide some insight.
153ish days until take off!
- Jacqueline
I am presently going through the process of trying to find accomodations for next year. I have four options available to me:
1) University Residence
2) Private Accommodation AKA Kot
3) City Living Student Hotel
4) Self Initiative Search
The university residence isn't really an option. All the descriptions I've read and people I've talked to have said that although the price is attractive, the location is isolated and undesirable. It is located on the campus of Sart-Tilman which is actually outside of town. Buses stop running at about 11:00 pm which can make getting home difficult. No thank you.
The private accommodations option definitely shows some potential. ULg has what is called the "International Exchange Student Network" (ESN) which is a student association that among other things will locate and negotiate the terms of a lease for incoming international students. The average price of housing found through the ESN is 300€ monthly and the administration fee for finding a place and working out the details for you is relatively low at 20€. I have filled out the registration form and submitted it so hopefully I hear back relatively soon.
The City Living Student Hotel is a neat concept. It is a complex that house about 150 students and is 10 minutes away from the downtown ULg campus. A full time building manager is always floating around and the complex is extremely secure and is know for being a safe place. There are four different room types that range from basic to over abundance. The room I am considering is the most basic bedroom. Consisting of simple furniture and a bathroom with stand up shower, the cost for the "standard" level rooms are about 460€ a month with utilities not included. The more advanced rooms have more space, double beds, full bathrooms, and full kitchens if you are willing to pay for them. There is one common room and study area for the building but full kitchens on each floor. The kitchens have locking cupboards for each resident. I think that is a brilliant idea. Another nice thing about City Living, although again expensive, is that they sell basic linen and kitchen packages that have all the basics you need. It would be nice if these were provided but I can't imagine it would be too hard to buy a set of an outgoing student for relatively cheap. My only hesitation with City Living at this moment in time is one or two of the contract clauses. Before I apply I will definitely be consulting with someone who is wiser than I.
My last resort is trying to find something on my own. This may prove rather difficult from Canada but I'm sure I could dig something up.
Tomorrow I have a meeting set up with a former Liege exchange student named Eugene. He did a double semester 10 month exchange and lived one semester in residence and one semester in a Kot. Hopefully he will be able to provide some insight.
153ish days until take off!
- Jacqueline
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Up and Running
Hi Crew,
Although I don't leave for another five months, I figured it would be best to get the blog up and running before I leave. Besides taking the time to tinker away on small details like colour schemes, I will also post on what it takes to get set up for a trip like the one I am taking. For those who don't know, I am embarking on an international exchange through the University of Lethbridge's (U of L) Faculty of Management to Liege, Belgium from September 2011 - June 2012. During these 10 months, I will be studying at the University of Liege (ULg) at the HEC Management School. Although I will receive credit for the courses I take, let's be honest. I am Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science major going on an international management exchange. My actual goals are as follows:
1) Learn how to survive on my own in a foreign country
2) Become fluent in French
3) Travel as often and as broadly as possible
4) Seduce a handsome Belgian Prince and create a Canada/Belgium mega-nation
In actuality, I will serve as a convenient excuse for any friends and/or family that have always wanted to explore Europe to finally jump on a plane. That being said, you are all highly encouraged to come visit me.
In the mean time, I am going through the process of applications to ULg, acquiring a student visa, filling out all the fun liability forms the Faculty of Management requires, and attending information sessions and meetings. Last Friday we had a meeting that was Culture Shock and Risk Management. Instead of scaring me with all the things that could possibly go wrong, it only served to build my excitement as we talked about little customs that are intimate to the Belgian culture. For example, when invited to a house, bring flowers or fine chocolates for the hostess. If you bring flowers, they cannot be chrysanthemums (which symbolize death) and they must be in an odd number but not 13. Exposure to these culture differences, no matter how small and specific, is exactly why I'm going.
I am fortunate in that I have another student going on exchange with me to the same school for the fall semester. Her name is Chelsa. She is a third year management major and wants to travel as much as possible during her single semester exchange. We are extremely fortunate to be able to plan together for housing, flights, rail passes, etc. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, she is only going to be in Belgium from September to December. As such, I will be on my own for the second semester unless another handful of students from U of L arrive for the spring semester. Being on my own is a relative term though. ULg has an absolutely enormous international student population.
Cheers,
Jacqueline
PS: The name of this blog is a reference to a friend from Lethbridge. Having spent 7 months in Tanzania prior to when we met, he would often start his stories with, "This one time in Tanzania...". After I called him out on overusing that line, he told me my karma for teasing him would be finding myself constantly starting all my future stories with, "This one time in Belgium...".
Although I don't leave for another five months, I figured it would be best to get the blog up and running before I leave. Besides taking the time to tinker away on small details like colour schemes, I will also post on what it takes to get set up for a trip like the one I am taking. For those who don't know, I am embarking on an international exchange through the University of Lethbridge's (U of L) Faculty of Management to Liege, Belgium from September 2011 - June 2012. During these 10 months, I will be studying at the University of Liege (ULg) at the HEC Management School. Although I will receive credit for the courses I take, let's be honest. I am Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science major going on an international management exchange. My actual goals are as follows:
1) Learn how to survive on my own in a foreign country
2) Become fluent in French
3) Travel as often and as broadly as possible
4) Seduce a handsome Belgian Prince and create a Canada/Belgium mega-nation
In actuality, I will serve as a convenient excuse for any friends and/or family that have always wanted to explore Europe to finally jump on a plane. That being said, you are all highly encouraged to come visit me.
In the mean time, I am going through the process of applications to ULg, acquiring a student visa, filling out all the fun liability forms the Faculty of Management requires, and attending information sessions and meetings. Last Friday we had a meeting that was Culture Shock and Risk Management. Instead of scaring me with all the things that could possibly go wrong, it only served to build my excitement as we talked about little customs that are intimate to the Belgian culture. For example, when invited to a house, bring flowers or fine chocolates for the hostess. If you bring flowers, they cannot be chrysanthemums (which symbolize death) and they must be in an odd number but not 13. Exposure to these culture differences, no matter how small and specific, is exactly why I'm going.
I am fortunate in that I have another student going on exchange with me to the same school for the fall semester. Her name is Chelsa. She is a third year management major and wants to travel as much as possible during her single semester exchange. We are extremely fortunate to be able to plan together for housing, flights, rail passes, etc. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, she is only going to be in Belgium from September to December. As such, I will be on my own for the second semester unless another handful of students from U of L arrive for the spring semester. Being on my own is a relative term though. ULg has an absolutely enormous international student population.
Cheers,
Jacqueline
PS: The name of this blog is a reference to a friend from Lethbridge. Having spent 7 months in Tanzania prior to when we met, he would often start his stories with, "This one time in Tanzania...". After I called him out on overusing that line, he told me my karma for teasing him would be finding myself constantly starting all my future stories with, "This one time in Belgium...".
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