1 week in Brussels - 10 things.

Here are ten things I've taken from my first week in Belgium:

1. Brussels apparently put cars last on their list of priorities against other forms of transport, in fact today is even 'No car day' and public transport is free. However, it appears no one has told the cars this, and everyone drives like they've been told they've only got an hour to live, like 'even if there's a red light I'll drive anyway if it doesn't look like I'm going to hit anyone'. It will probably be a small miracle if I leave this year without a broken leg.


2. The weather is the same. For anyone who had the idea that the weather would be much nicer for much longer in Brussels, this was an error, it's freezing and it rains, just like home...


3. On a more positive note, my French is much better than I thought, at least understanding wise, and when someone asked me a question in the street I actually helped them!


4. Sunday is a ghost town day, everything is closed by 1pm apart from the restaurants, public transport is still as regular,  but buying things is off the agenda entirely.


5. They absolutely love the waffles-fame, no doubt, they know that's what people come to see, in Grand-Place there are at least 5 shops per street that sell waffles for €1, and the waffle vans are everywhere in the city.


6. There's a big difference between the outer districts and the Schuman/EU institution area, particularly in language. I barely hear English in Etterbeek, but a 15 minute walk to the institution buildings creates a very different environment.


7. People are constantly coming and going. Not just in a 'this is an international city' kind of way, but in a 'internships are usually only 5/6 months here' kind of way. So as I'm staying until the end of June, come March I'll probably have to make a whole new set of work/house friends.


8. Google Chrome struggles with having websites in 3 languages. It translates something originally only in French fine, or in Dutch fine, but as soon as a website is potentially in both languages and I would like it in English we seem to get an amalgamation of the three. In which it translates some number characters into their English word counterparts and days of the week are spread over all three languages.


9. It's pointless to register as a resident - or so I've been told. I had an appointment to go and show my documents and pay the fee to become an official resident which then means I can have a bank account. However when I mentioned this to some people they told me it was more trouble than it was worth and since international bank transfers means I don't even need a Belgian bank account to pay my rent  and I don't want a phone contract - I guess they're right.


10. The guy who created Tin Tin is from Brussels, he's even from my district, which so far is my only claim to fame.

À la prochaine

xx