Youngest child is back in the bosom of his family after 5 long months doing an Erasmus term in Liège in Belgium. His family has hardly seen him since his return since he has been extremely busy picking up the threads of his social life.
He wanted to go to Belgium on his Erasmus trip as he was born there and felt he ought to know it a bit better. His university had links to Liège so that’s where he went.
He did not love it. His accommodation was on the new (1980s) campus in the forest. It only had a couple of faculties (the main campus remains in the city) and no shops or restaurants and a very irregular bus ride to the city which was a 20 minute drive away on the motorway. There was no train which really surprised me. The Belgian students all lived in the city or at home and had no interest in getting to know someone who had joined their course in the middle of third year. His only social outlet was the other Erasmus students (many of them also stuck in the accommodation in the forest campus) and these were, perhaps, more friendships of convenience, like the guy who had a car. Belgian universities don’t have extensive clubs and societies like Irish universities so there was no chance for him to find like minded students. So not a total triumph.
However, I feel it did him good. To be fair to him, he organised himself to go to all the Flemish cities. He also went to Brussels, Maastricht and Luxembourg. He went to Budapest for the Hungarian election (something I don’t think he would have done from Dublin – budget airline and hostel accommodation but he really enjoyed it). He has a whole new found appreciation for the people who do laundry and make dinner at home. It’s not like he wasn’t grateful before but now he appreciates home comforts. His French has really improved and he had to do exams in 4 or 5 subjects in French as well as a couple in English and, mercifully, he does not have to return to resit anything.
Overall, I would say it has been good for him but it would be great if it could have enjoyed it more. Mr. Waffle was chatting to one of the neighbours on the road and it turned out that she had done her Erasmus year in Liège about 20 years ago and loved it, so it is possible. Though she stayed in the city which I’d say was a help.
Still youngest child is thinking about what he might do after college next year and he said he might try to get an internship in Brussels which is not something I think he would have thought of before. So, a win, I guess. I’m not sure that is entirely his view though.
No mention of Antwerp, a beautiful town, gorgeous cathedral and buildings. Great food, friendly, I visited regularly for 25 years and lived there for 6 months. I never went to the French speaking towns very often as the diamond business is really only in Antwerp. A very under rated country with an interesting history.
Everything you say about Antwerp is entirely true and, despite my plugging it’s one of the only places he didn’t go in Flanders.
We are Brussels based and no1 son went to college in Maastricht. . he came home a lot.
But then he did a semester in Sweden – Linkoping so not super exciting – but it was really good for him, he had to be self reliant and do things for himself in a new system.
Cracking other systems is a life skill I think. Younger son did it moving back to the UK for college – he was born in Belgium and went back to ‘find his UK self’ if you see what I mean.
Most experiences have some good in them in that age group, I think.
I think so – it was a bit of a mixed bag and definitely some positive but I would have liked some more…
Yes, but to be fair Liège is not top Belgium…so it’s a shame but also for a young man who is brought up in a capital city learning about a provincial city is an experience..
Indeed…