Juan's Story - Week 6: Time is the longest distance between two places

Do you have cherished people that are far away?

I think true friendship isn't about being inseparable, it's about being separated while nothing changes. Over the week I have had some nice talks with friends of mine who are scattered around the world. Two of them are doing their respective internship in Barcelona and Strasbourg while the third one is doing his semester abroad in Kuala Lumpur. It was really nice to talk to them about just everything, like in old times. I'm looking forward to see them again in the near future and I hope that we’ll be able to pull it off before returning to Germany. Maybe we can meet in Barcelona or Strasbourg, but Ghent would be also nice as I know my ways by now and would like to show them everything this amazing town has to offer. As Brussels isn’t that far away, it also ranges high on my list of cities to visit with them.

Speaking off, it might take a lot more time to travel to the office in Brussels, but it has easily become one of my highlights of the week. This is the only time in the week that I can practice my French, be it in the office when having lunch or going after work for some drinks. And after a few weeks of trying to speak a little French I have to be honest: It has gotten really rusty. Similar to Dutch, understanding French is not a problem, but speaking is. No wonder though, as it has been around 10 years since I last spoke it in school. I think it will be easier to bring it back on track than learning it from scratch thanks to my Italian and Spanish knowledge. Like every time after work, I went out to discover the city and found myself in a nice bar called “Bar des Amis”. It had a nice atmosphere and was full of tourists, but I wouldn't stay here for too long. Afterwards I went to the “Amadeus” for some delicious and hot spareribs – again. There are a few ones in Ghent so you might ask yourself why I went to it in Brussels, when there are so many other options and possibilities to discover new places. The answer is pretty simple: I was really hungry for some spareribs.The food was even a bit better than in the Amadeus in Ghent and this time I had my food not even after 20 seconds. Talk about fast service! You can imagine that I was pretty satisfied with my decision for spareribs and concluded in this way a really nice evening in Brussels.

Moving forward to the weekend, which was surprisingly amazing thanks to the hot and sunny weather. On Saturday I visited a new town: Roeselare. One of the interns hails from this city and he recommended me to go there for shopping. The town has indeed a nice shopping street – and an Amadeus which I noticed to my amusement. Unlike Bruges which was overcrowded with tourists, Roeselare was full of locals and I thought it was a nice change to only hear Dutch speaking people. I would have never expected such a beautiful and sunny day in a northern country like Belgium on April. And what’s better than having a nice barbecue to celebrate the beginning of Summer? After being full with grilled food, I went to a nice and long ride with an electric bike. It was my first time and I was incredibly happy with this experience, as I could drive really fast with no effort at all.

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

With hope in my heart that the weather stays like this the coming days, I conclude this week’s chapter and would be happy to see you again next week.

 

Juan