Moving to Belgium! Help?

[Plgrm43]

Hey everyone! I am so excited! I just got accepted to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven! I'll be leaving in September from somewhere outside of Pittsburgh, and head to Belgium! I've been to Europe before but not for more than a month, so I need advice. On living in Belgium, studying there, etc. All subjects apply so any advice I will appreciate! Oh yeah, and what's the gay scene like there? THanks!

[olides84]

Hey! First of all - congrats! It is a great school And I'm pretty sure EC member Filip went to KU Leuven! I'm sure he'll see this and respond - it's not like Belgium comes up in many thread titles

I am American and went to school in the US, but I've been living and working in Belgium since last year. Leuven is a beautiful, historic city and seems to be totally dominated by students and the university. So there's lots of bars, cheap places to eat, cheap student flats, etc.

Overall, I'm sure the university has web pages that provide assistance to international students studying there. Like how to get housing, dealing with student visas and residency, etc. Each province/city has different rules - Belgian bureaucracy is quite decentralized and amazingly inefficient A national sport is to avoid following the rules if you can.

I'm not sure about the gay scene--I've been to Leuven a few times but hitting gay bars/clubs wasn't the purpose. Overall the country (especially the larger and university cities) is very gay friendly with same-sex marriage and adoptions and overall protections. Belgium's a very family-oriented place, but not very religious. I live in Antwerp which is VERY gay friendly and isn't that far from Leuven--maybe 60km?--Belgium is small so everything is pretty close.

I think you'll have a great time. It's a great country with cool people and the BEST beer in the world. You'll be right next to Brussels, and not too far from great Euro cities like Amsterdam, Cologne and Paris.

Feel free to contact me if you want any more info.

Here's a pic of Leuven that I took sometime last year

[Callie]

^^ Wow, now I want to move to Belgium too.

[Stuie]

So do I, I'd guess that that entire street is older than anything in the entirety of Melbourne.

[Ben]

They have great chocolate.

From what I've heard from Filip, Belgium has equal rights for gay people, so is pretty gay friendly. And it's a lovely place

[partietraumatic]

Originally Posted by Invisible

They have great chocolate.

From what I've heard from Filip, Belgium has equal rights for gay people, so is pretty gay friendly. And it's a lovely place

The one time i've been to Belgium i was on a football tour with my team and we were driving through it on the way to holland. We stopped at this chocolate shop in the middle of nowhere and the choc was amaaaazing. There was also this room at the back where they sold 'adult chocolate' I've rarely laughed so hard

[Filip]

Hi
I'm pretty amazed people here immediately think of me when Belgium is mentioned...
I guess that I'm the only native Belgian here, and Olides84 the only honorary Belgian. Though if others are lurking around, they're free to make themselves known!

Are you coming here in the course of some student exchange program? Or did you apply completely on your own? I'm guessing you already went to the KULeuven site for international students? On the right hand side of the site there are a few .pdfs that lay down the basics of living here. I haven't read through them entirely (they are more than a 100 pages long!) but as far as I can see they mention a lot of great info.

The KULeuven is indeed the university I went to (I actually hail from a city 20km from Leuven... In the US that would still be the same metropolitan area!). Since it was founded in 1425, the city has been inextricably linked to the university. To the point that students and university personnel make up almost 30% of those living in Leuven.

This means that Leuven is geared entirely towards students. There's a lot of bars, restaurants and shops geared specifically to students. This keeps the prices acceptable as well (you can eat for only a few € per day, if you're so inclined). And there's a lot of parties going on as well.
Unfortunately, what I heard from international students is that this also means weekends are a bit boring. Since Belgium is a pretty small country, and Leuven is smack in the middle, most students spend the weekends at home with their parents. So you would be advised to seek out some other international students to socialise with during weekends and holidays.

My experience is that Belgians are easy to get along with... once you get to know them. It takes some time to crack the outer shell. Though students are a bit more open than the average Belgian.
One big advantage of being the most central country in the EU is that most people here know English. So you shouldn't have too big of a problem talking to them.

As others have mentioned, the culinary aspect is a big part of life. We have enough different sorts of beers that you could drink a different one each day you're here. The chocolate is excellent (don't waste your money on expensive chocolate though, the supermarket stuff is already vastly superior to what everyone else in the world has). And in student cities, you can easily find the famous frietkoten everywhere, which sell a bonanza of fastfood that I've never seen anywhere else (not healthy, perhaps, but you have to try it!).

The gay scene... Let's say I spent my uni years so deep in the closet I wouldn't have recognised the gay scene if it came up to me and hit me. I know that there is at least one gay bar there, and that there are regular parties and events geared especially to holebi's (which is the Dutch term for GLBT). I went there once since coming out, and I had a blast! But given my lack of experience with gay scenes that might not mean much.
Belgium is very gay-friendly (same rights as the straights, discrimination is illegal etc...)
On the other hand, people here are very close-lipped about their private lives, so don't expect to see a lot of openly gay couples walking around in Leuven. Antwerp is pretty much the gay promised land, going by what I hear from others .

That's all that springs to mind immediately. Having lived here all my life, I find it surprisingly difficult to mention everything a foreigner should know. There's probably a lot of unique stuff that I don't notice, being used to it.
But I'd be glad to answer more questions!

[Plgrm43]

You guys are great! That really helped me relax about everything. To answer your question Filip, I am not coming on a student exchange program, but on my own.

If I have more questions I'll come back and ask, but if you can think of anymore advice, feel free to share. I need all the help I can get!

[Filip]

Interesting... What are you going to study here? And what made you choose Leuven?

I think that housing might be the toughest concern to start with. Unlike in many American universities, housing is all provided by private persons renting out rooms, rather than by big dorms. And since the local students are generally already starting to find habitation in july, you're at a bit of a disadvantage there...
But I know that the university does a pretty good job at getting foreign students a place to live. In any case it would be wise to contact them about this in advance, though.

[SillyBunny]

Originally Posted by Filip

I guess that I'm the only native Belgian here, and Olides84 the only honorary Belgian. Though if others are lurking around, they're free to make themselves known!

*waves*
born and raised in belgium...

@Plgrm43: Hope you have a great time in belgium, leuven,.. its pretty much THE city for colleges and universities so im sure you'll like it.

I myself hope to move to the uk in a few years on my own but i have other reasons for leaving belgium.. but d.w, you'll have a good time i bet.

+ I'm not sure, but isnt belgium (leuven) like known for its universities ? because they have a high standard ? (i mean you learn alot there compared to others)

anyways yeah i hope you have a blast <3

xlisa <3

[katherine20]

I lived in Brussels for my whole childhood, and I absolutely love Belgium, the people, culture, and THE FOOD. basically, whatever restaurant you go to, you can always expect to have great food, at least to my experience and compared to my hometown Paris.
I recently went to Brussels for a long weekend and got to explore the gay scene, it seems pretty good in the capital so if Leuven gay scene reveals to be not so interesting, head to Brussels and the district of place st-géry, rue dansaert and everything close to the Bourse, downtown. There were tons of gay bars, cafés, crazy shops selling "accessories" for gay guys... As others said before, belgians seem to be very gay friendly indeed. Hope you'll enjoy Belgium

[olides84]

cool! more belgian-osity on EC

so maybe one of you who is into belgian food can go revive this thread
http://www.emptyclosets.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=21367

[Filip]

I like how I was wrong and that there are more Belgians here! I feel less lonely now!

[Elven]

Belgium as a place has a nice landscape well where I went it did... and its famous chocolate very addictive and well yeah... I didn't really see many gay threats while I was there so it seems pretty friendly on that front too ...

[Plgrm43]

Filip, what made me want to study there is to get a real education in philosophy. Frankly, I am bored with my American university education so far, and I've always wanted to move to Europe so it fulfills two desires.

I may never move back to the States if things go as planned. I don't know what's going to happen because I REALLY need money, but I am sure it will all work out.

In that case, does anyone have any advice on getting money for American students studying in Europe/Belgium? Keep in mind I am NOT studying abroad, but actually attending the school.

[sdc91]

Oh, I dunno about a job for an American in Europe... I know in Germany, you have to have some permits and be language certified to even hold an internship. Maybe Belgium is different. I would try finding an American company and seeing if they have a branch out there.

[NkyJ]

Originally Posted by Plgrm43

Filip, what made me want to study there is to get a real education in philosophy. Frankly, I am bored with my American university education so far, and I've always wanted to move to Europe so it fulfills two desires.

I may never move back to the States if things go as planned. I don't know what's going to happen because I REALLY need money, but I am sure it will all work out.

In that case, does anyone have any advice on getting money for American students studying in Europe/Belgium? Keep in mind I am NOT studying abroad, but actually attending the school.

I am doing the same thing as you, just not as far. I'll be studying full time at a francophone university in Québec and it's not for study abroad. What I am currently in the process of doing is getting a Stafford Loan since all the other types of financing cannot leave the country (ex. scholarships). You can try looking at the university's website and see if they offer any financial aid in the form of scholarships or something like that. I'm not sure how it works in Belgium, you're going to have to do a lot of research.