Juan's Story - Week 4: To Brussels, capital of Belgium

Have you ever heard of the phrase: time is money?

After 4 weeks I own finally a bike with which I can ride to work and believe me, it's a whole new experience in Ghent. Everything goes so fast now and a perk for Belgium is it's flatness, which is perfect for people with bikes. Although now I fear for the security of my bike and have to double- or even triplecheck that it's safe and can't be stolen. The time to work got a lot shorter, from 30 to 10 minutes and I have to admit, that I measured the time it took me to the office. I'm really impressed by Ghent and I have never been in a city this beautiful, that gives me such a good feeling while walking in the city centre or driving with the bike - I will have to do that more often and enjoy it as much as I can. After work I visited the "kermis" which is right now in Ghent. The attractions and the food there reminded me a lot of German ones which gave me a nice and nostalgic feeling. Next to it was the "Overpoort", so I visited that as well, as I had seen pictures of it during a busy night and it looked crazy. No wonder that I was slightly disappointed of how empty it was. Maybe I'll have to check it out one of these weeks to see for myself how it is during the busiest time.

For the first time during my internship and my life I travelled to Brussels. After a few complications with getting my Campus Card in Ghent, I finally got one in Brussels thanks to the other interns and I noticed that it's definitely an advantage to speak Dutch regarding bureaucratic affairs. The week before I met the people from the office in Brussels and I noticed the difference between them and the people from Ghent and my first impression turned out to be true: I get a completely different vibe from Brussels than from Ghent. But that doesn't mean it's a bad thing or that the capital isn't beautiful, on the contrary: I was really amazed by the buildings on the main plaza. After work I discovered a lot of places in the city and I tried some "macarons" for the first time. I won't have to tell you much further how delighted I was. Afterwards it got even better, I went together with my girlfriend to an Ethiopian restaurant called "Toukoul" and it has been one of the finest restaurant experiences in my life. The atmosphere was amazing, every decoration gave you an authentic African feeling. We ordered a menu for 2, which consisted of 6 different dishes, 12 portions altogether. A nice waitress taught us how to eat the dishes with our hands and made us familiar with the eating tradition: The first bite had to be exchanged with the partner. It was delicious and we nearly finished up everything, resulting in a feeling to be able to roll home. It was a good idea to walk a bit and help the digestion, therefore we headed to the financial district of Brussels North. It reminded me a lot of the one in Frankfurt in Germany and as I have been quite often there - it is relatively near to my hometown in Germany - it was  both an impressive and also nostalgic view.

Thursday I worked from home as my girlfriend got very sick and I wanted to take care of her while working. After working for a few weeks in a busy business incubator, it was quite the unused feeling to work in a complete silent environment. Well, if you ignore the snoring upstairs anyways. It worked out really good and I could get in contact with the other interns and my boss to coordinate some tasks. I only hope that I won't get sick myself anytime soon. The weather outside is especially amazing as if tempting me to go out and enjoy the sun and warmth, but work calls. Therefore the only thing I could do was to open the windows and try to enjoy it as well as possible while working.

Lees ook: Would you like to study abroad? Get a scholarship!

Once a month on Fridays there is a "Get together" of all the people who work in different companies in the business incubator. Here everyone gets together as the name suggests and they can drink a few beers, talk about their start-up, their progress and problems. It's an easy and nice way to get to know some people and enjoy the good atmosphere. I feel like I'm having a sore throat so I really hope I won't be sick.

With best hope and wishes I conclude my chapter and till chapter 5.

Juan