One month in

So d'yall miss me?

The last few days have been pretty miserable as the weather has been a bit crappy and I have a really bad cold. Everytime I need to go somewhere on my bike (like to Uni) it rains on me, so I have arrived home soaked the last 2 days. Poos. It's been difficult to get through 7 hours of class each day with my nose dripping like a tap, but thankfully its the weekend now so I will be able to chill out at home a bit. I decided to decorate my room by plastering all you lovely NZ folk on the walls, so I went to the train station and used one of those photo machines to print out a bunch of photos. It makes my room a much nicer place to be :) But yes, now that I see the photo I took, they appear to be crooked on the wall!

There's a trip to Antwerp tomorrow, another city in Flanders. I would really like to go because I've heard its a great city to visit, but I will see what the weather is like and how I'm feeling. Last night I missed out on Low Countries studies and our International Dinner because I didn't feel up to it. A group of us have decided to make it a weekly thing, to cook a dish from our home country for everyone to share. Looking forward to next week's!

Hope O-week was good for all :)

xxx R

Belgium's newest resident

I got my Residency card today!! It's valid until the end of Uni in July :) so until then I am a resident of Belgium!

I got a kind of temporary paper card as they are just in the process of introducing fancy plastic ID ones... but I'm glad I got in to the Foreigners Registration Office early as 2 days after I went they bumped up the fees from 7 euro to 28! (that's $50 NZ). This is also excellent news because I was expecting the process to take months, meaning that I could not leave the Schenegen area until I got my permit (as my student visa only grants me one entry into the Schenegen area, so I can't leave until I have my Residency Permit). This now means that I can go to Ireland for the holidays -which happen to include St Patrick's Day! There are some crazy cheaps flights available, about $12 NZ each way so I will be taking advantage of the opportunity to participate in some green-coloured fun!

Aachen - GERMANY!!!

Today I went to Germany!!! 12 of us went on the trip, from Gent to Liege (in Wallonia, the French-speaking south of Belgium) and then another train across the border of Belgium and into Germany to Aachen. The trip was organised by a group of spaniards who were really great people (the nicest spanish people I have met so far) and also there was an Italian girl I hadn't met, a Turkish girl who's name I can't pronouce (sorry) and a Polish guy Artur (Arthur). Plus some of the crew who went to Brussels yesterday. We even made proper packed lunches to take with us as we didnt arrive in Aachen until 12:30pm.

Aachen is an ancient city, for example the Cathedral we visited was built in 732 AD !!! Can you believe it?!??!?! Aachen is also quite close to Cologne / Koln. It was really lovely to go by train as we got to see the countryside of southern Belgium, which is a lot nicer than what I have seen of Flanders so far, as it has rolling hills and nice trees etc. It was also another nice day. Aachen scared me at first as we came out the the train station and some punk-dressed people harassed us for money. So we all felt threatened and unsafe for a while. But then once we were in the city centre and found our way around we were fine. I didn't have a map of Aachen, so I took a step back and let the others guide the group and decide where to go, unlike the last few trips we have had where I have helped guide the group. I do find that I get delegated to tasks requiring asking for information in English, but in Brussels we had to rely on our French colleagues, and in Aachen our Polish colleague who knew some German.

We saw the Cathedral inside, which is so beautiful, and then went to visit the Treasury, which is a room full of jewels and artefacts linked to the history (and it is a long history!) of the town. My personal favourite is "The Arm Reliquary" which is an arm-shaped reliquary made of gold, to house the right forearm of Charlemagne (an Emporer of Rome who built had the Cathedral built). You can see the ulna and radius bones inside - he died in 814 AD!

Some of the group who had togs then went off to the Spa (there are geothermal springs) that Aachen is well-known for. I wish I had not left half of my togs in NZ! But I guess that is a good excuse to travel back there once Hamish arrives, so I can have a spa! We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out other touristy spots like the city park, the last bit of medieval wall protecting the city, and then headed back to Gent! We had great fun on the trains, singing and having a complete ball. I'm very glad I made the effort to get up early, make my lunch and get myself out the door!

I've been to (some of) Germany!!!!! Wooohoooo!

Brussels

Just a quick post, its 1am and I want to go to bed! Today 11 of us went to Brussels to have a look around, and it was great! A lot of French there, so I am glad there were 2 French girls with us to translate and guide us! We checked out all the main spots, European Commission and Parliament buildings, Royal Palace, the Grand Square, and the Mannekin Pis (peeing statue....). Also the Atomium. Missed Leonardo Da Vinci's works which are on exhibition there so I think I will go back next weekend to see those!

Tomorrow, or in 8 hours, I am actually hopping on a train to Germany!! A town called Aachen on the border with Belgium. So I will have lots and lots of photos to post when I get back!

Love to all,
Nelle xxx

A Night Out

Well.

Yesterday we had a guided walking tour of the city with the Low Countries Studies class, focussing mainly on the historic parts of the city. There are buildings from as far back as the 12th century here. A highlight was seeing a copy of the painting that Gent is famous for - the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, by the Eyck brothers. We got a full explanation of what was happening in the painting too which was neat. My favourite part of the painting is a Bishop who was standing in a corner looking glum, with a long pair of pliers and some kind of pink meat. Our guide told us that he was an Irish man who came to Belgium as a missionary. But he didn't speak Dutch so the people couldn't understand him and got a bit angry because he was always gibbering away in Gaelic. So they removed his tongue with some pliers! Hence the poor guy is standing there holding his own tongue! Now don't tell me that medievel painters didn't have a sense of humour!

Then there was a reception/welcome for us at the city hall, which was special because apparently people aren’t generally allowed in there. There was some media interest in our tour and reception so there was a radio broadcast and photos taken of us at the city hall! So, we will all be in the Flemish newspaper! There was a journalist asking us all sorts of questions about where we were from, why we chose Belgium etc. So that was interesting! By the way, the flag in the photo above is the Flemish flag of Gent :)

Then of course, Wednesday night is the big night out in Gent. On Wednesdays, the ESN pub The Porter House has a drink special (beer here is about the only thing that is actually cheap – for example $2-3NZ for a beer in a pub, or $6NZ for a 6 pack of Leffe in a supermarket!). This week's special was an Estonian beer called Gordons (so initially I thought it was Gin!). I didn't like it very much but the other beers I have tried here are all amazing. Especially the Trappiste ones. Anyway to cut a long story short I ended up having a great night out, spent hardly any money because the beer is so cheap, and got home to bed just before 6am. Nice. Needless to say, today was a bit of a slow day but my Nature Conservation class was really interesting so I didn't have any trouble paying attention! We also found this Chocolate bar called Quetzal (ahh brings back memories of spanish class) which serves the BEST hot chocolate I could even dare to dream of. Seriously. Its like, liquid chocolate. They actually put melted chocolate in the bottom of the cup. Mmmm.

How are you all doing back in NZ?
xxx

Ahhh, that's the good stuff :)

I’ve got MARMITE and MILO. The world is now a better place. I got my first mail today, a letter AND a parcel woop woop! Thanks Hamish :). I spread the marmite on a little thickly, but from now on I'm gonna ration it!

So I’m sitting here feeling rather good, marmite sandwich and cup of milo down the hatch. Ah yes.

Had first Dutch lesson today from 6-9pm. I think Dutch is quite similar to English when its written, but the pronouciation and sounding of letters is compleeeeetely different. It's going to take me a loooong time to get used to it, I keep trying to pronounce words in a Spanish way! Anyway it was great fun, there are lots of neat people in my class, and our teacher/leraar Caroline is pretty neat too. The lessons are very interactive so we do a lot of speaking to eachother, and also we have written activities and computer activities (for pronounciation, we record ourselves and then hear it played back so we can improve and talk like proper Flemish Belgians!) Speaking of which, I have an appointment next week with the Foreigners Registration Office to get my Residence Permit. Yuusss, I will be able to leave the country for Easter without getting arrested on the way back in!

Also got my Belgian bank account sorted today so I’m up and running with that, which is great, seeing as the NZ dollar is doing well against the Euro! I even have this fangled security machine for online banking that I have to put my bank card into before I can log into the internet. I certainly chose the right bank because its free for me but other banks charge 40 euro (80 NZD)!!

Tomorrow I'm going on a more in-depth guided city tour with the Low Countries Studies class (the welcome day was a bit hectic) so that will be good. Also, I am going to (try and stay awake and) go to the Erasmus pub the Porter House for a drink or 2 tomorrow night! I haven't really done that yet so I guess it will be good to have a night out. Thankfully there is no class until 2pm on thursday :)

Gent Museum of Fine Art

Today myself and a bunch of other exchange students went to the Museum of Fine Arts here in Gent. It houses a lot of Flemish works from the 1800's and 1900's, but also a lot of religious paintings from as early as the 1600's. I wasn't quite sure whether I was allowed to take photos so I took a quick snapshot without a flash when no-one was around... I really enjoyed the large paintings (covering entire walls) with many different things going on. For example, in one depiction of the crucifiction, I saw some tiny dice at the bottom of the painting, so I looked through the explanation of the painting, and sure enough, the dice were being thrown by 2 men who were vying to win the clothes of Jesus. There were some neat stories to go with paintings of Greek myths and other stories, and many paintings of Saints. The idea was that we would go to the museum of contemporary art (which is somehow abbreviated as SMAK here, haha), because both of the museums are free on sunday mornings. But we didnt make it to SMAK, so I guess that is something to check out next sunday!

After 5 hours in the museum we were all starving, so we went back to one of the student residences to cook some food. Of course no shops are open on sundays, so we had to work with what we had - some spaghetti, cheese, canned tomatoes, sausages and onions - spaghetti bolognaise! I also spread the awkward turtle message when we had an awkward moment in the kitchen with a very strange Belgian girl.... For those of you who aren't familiar, the awkward turtle is a motion you make with your hands like a swimming turtle, when you come across an awkward moment. Depending on the situation, it can lift the mood a bit, or make things a whole lot more awkward! Be proud nean, the awkward turtle will be spread throughout Europe in no time - everyone promised they would teach all their friends!

Trip to Oostende - the beach!

Today was a clear sunny day (although only 5 degrees, and very cold in the wind), so three of us decided to catch the train to the coastal town of Belgium - Oostende. Or Ostend in English. All the cities in Belgium have names in Dutch, French and English so it can be hard to keep up! Oostende is about 40 min by train from Gent, passing through the city of Brugge which we went to last weekend. I really wanted to see the coast, the sea, and also to check if we could maybe see the UK from Belgium! But alas no, you cannot. But we could see the coastline of France heading toward the UK so that was neat. I made a point of dipping my hand in the water (the North Sea) which was freeeeezing, but worth it so now I can say I have been in the North Sea. Nice. I only took one small shell from the beach (aren't I good!), to keep in my room.

The photos above are of me at the seaside (lots of little mussels), and me at the train station with 'my friends' who were some random statues. You can see from the different colours across the laps of the statues that lots of people have been sitting on them!

We unfortunately didn't learn much about the history of the town as we had no guides and no maps of the city except for the ones we found on bus stops and the like. But we did manage to find the city park and the big cathedrals (about 85% of Belgians are Catholic) and had a good look around the port and the channels. I know that around 10% of Belgium is reclaimed land so it must be in the Oostende area.

Me, Orestis and Andre have really enjoyed both the trips to Brugge and Oostende, so have made a pact to travel somewhere new every weekend. I am glad I invested in a train pass which gives me pretty much a 50% discount on the tickets, because I knew I would want to see all the main cities in Belgium. When we are brave enough, we will go to some of the French-speaking towns, and then to Paris! Sounds glamourous I know, but apparently it is difficult to get by on English alone. Maybe we will have to recruit some French-speaking students as guides!

2nd day of Uni

Today I had my first clash of classes - with Penal Systems and International Nature Conservation law. So I went to the morning class for Penal Systems and then skipped the afternoon session so I could attend Nature Conservation. I'm really glad I stuck to my guns and kept the paper as so far it is really interesting and I think I can really get my teeth into it. Also, I was very glad to finally meet some native english speakers - an Irish girl and a Scottish girl! The Scottish girl Louisa has been here since last year so she's not a new exchange student (hence we haven't met yet) and the Irish girl Catherine didn't stay long at the welcome day so that's why I havent met her either! The Nature Conservation class is a series of lectures every thursday, with a 25% assessment being a presentation on a specific topic (which is group work, with the Irish and Scottish girls) and then 75% on the final oral exam! The lecturer seems nice though, so I am not too worried, and I have a major advantage because English is my first language, whereas for a lot of the students it is their 2nd or 3rd!

We had lunch at the student restaurant again today as it was freeeeezing cold! That's right, it is now -5 degrees here!!!! No wonder my nose got so cold on the bike home!!!!

After the Nature Conservation class, Catherine and Louisa took me to a cafe to get a hot chocolate (as it was way to cold to be outside) and then they came with me to Low Countries Studies. That was interesting, we learnt the history of the flanders area (the northern half of Belgium that speak Dutch). Flanders is really quite separate from the south (Wallonia) which is a french-speaking area. So there is a bit of unrest between the 2 areas. It was also good to learn a bit about the history of the people who settled in Belgium and also in Europe (like the difference between Celtic and Germanic tribes, religions etc). Ok so the 'story' of how Belgium got its name; back in the time of the Roman empire (like 400 AD?) Caesar was campaigning for leadership of Rome, and on his 'CV' for this, he described how the bravest of all the people he had fought and conquered were the Belgians. Apparently the Belgians were a Celtic tribe. Later when Germanic people settled in Belgium, they decided to call their settlement Belgium as they felt they were the bravest people of all. Nice! And we also learnt that for all the similarities Flanders has with the Netherlands, Belgium was settled in by Catholics, whereas the Netherlands was settled by Protestants who were forced there by the King of Spain (who was actually born in Gent, did you know!) So that was some interesting history....

So I spent Valentines Day evening watching a bit of a gory movie - Sweeney Todd. It's about a barber who cuts people's throats and a lady in the meat pie shop underneath who makes the victims into meat pies... ewww.... but it was also a musical! Possibly one of the weirder movies I've seen, but also interesting...

Anyway I hope the weather here gets warmer and the weather in NZ gets cooler!

xxx Renelle

First day at Uni

Well today was FREEZING cold, after the string of amazing sunny days we have had here. Gent has been shrouded in a thick fog all day, which was amusing because every breath I took outside fogged up my glasses! This photo is of me defrosting my nose after I got home this evening!

Yesterday I visited the Faculteit Rechtsgeleerheid (School of Law) so I had a reasonable idea of where to go. I arrived at the classroom this morning 10 mintues early, just to make sure I got the right place etc. I was a bit worried at 10:15 when no-one else had shown up and the class was due to start at 10am. But eventually some more people showed up, and at 10:30am the Professor showed up! Apparently here (and in most of Europe?) the Professors just show up whenever, so the students come late too. Odd. But then again I suppose the classes do run from 10am until 5:30pm, so the Professors must get sick of talking!

My class today was Penal Systems in Europe (haha Peenal studies Penal!). It was really interesting actually, we had a bit of an overview of the course (which really only consists of 3 intensive days, and then we have the rest of the semester to complete a paper and presentation on a specific topic). Although by the end of the day we had all had enough! There are only about 20 people in the class, most of the students are Belgians taking Masters, but there are I think 5 exchange students, all of whom I know. It was so freezing at lunch time that no-one wanted to go outside, so we all stayed at Uni and went to one of the student restaurants for lunch. There (with student ID) you can get a cheap, warm meal. For 3 euro I had meatballs, beans with onions and mashed potato, and of course Belegde Brood (which, if I spelt it right, means Belgian bread). Yum!

Tonight there are 2 parties - one at my residence, and the other is at the erasmus pub 'The Porter House' - an Irish pub. The party at my residence is a Carnaval Masquerade party with a safe sex theme. Hmmm. Not quite sure exactly what that means, but I am going to the Porter House anyway because it sounds less dodgy. In Gent, the students seem to go out on weeknights instead of weekends, because all the Belgians go back to their home towns for the weekends, so there are never any parties! So I will go the the Porter House and see what's happening there, before trying to have an earlyish night for classes tomorrow! Tomorrow evening I also have my first Low Countries Studies class!

I forgot to take my camera today so that's why I didn't take any photos of the law school, but i will take some soon and post them up.

Special ups to nean, hope the jaw is ok and you are now less wise :) And happy valentines' day to the rest of you NZ folk. xxx

Belgium so far

So what do I think of Belgium so far? It's great. I still can't get over the number of plane trails in the sky. I still think its funny that there are so many crazy-looking bicycles all over the place, and I love riding mine. I'm still suspicious of crows, due to the fact that there are very few children around. I'm still laughing at the chickens outside my window who run around with the rabbits on the lawn. I'm still learning a lot.

Some things I just have to learn the hard way. Like how you are not supposed to take bags into the law library (I only found out after getting told off by the librarian because I had failed to see the sign written in Dutch - no bags allowed inside). I also discovered that in many places they have ticket systems for service. For example, I went to the rectorate to talk to someone about my courses. I saw a queue of people so I sat down. And waited. And when people behind me were just randomly getting up and going, I started to wonder. So I went and asked. Apparently you have to get a ticket from a little machine, and wait for your number to come up on a screen before you can be seen by someone. Same goes at the post office. I was trying to buy some postcards and stationery and went up to the counter to pay for it. The lady at the counter ignored me, which confused me a bit, so I asked a guy where I go to pay for stuff. He didn't know either, but eventually we discovered that you also have to get a ticket there too, before you can be served. So there we go, I have learnt to look for ticket machines!

Other things I am getting used to are people's reactions to meeting a New Zealander. Most people assume that I am french because of my name (which apparently sounds very french), which caused me to look it up on the internet. I previously thought it meant the same as Irene, which is goddess of peace, but now I see that it does in fact have its own meaning, which is latin for 'rebirth'. Kinda kool I thought. People are still mega-excited to meet a real live New Zealander, because NZ is 'so exotic'. Hehe! Word gets around amongst exchange students as to who is here at UGent and what they're studying, so I have had a couple of people seek me out who are studying law and wanted to meet 'the New Zealand girl'. I think I'm a bit of a novelty around here.

Yesterday I found a shopping centre which is fabulous. It has shops I couldnt find before like retail clothing stores and health shops. Also it has a bigger-sized supermarket that has a better range of stuff, because the smaller ones I had found were about the size of a 4-square back in NZ. So I finally bought a bunch of meat and food stuff that I had put off buying until I found a better shop. I bought a good stock of simple food, but splashed out and bought strawberries because they were calling to me! And a nice stick of grainy bread for a good ol' Belgian sandwich. I almost died when I saw the price of meat (at least $30NZ per kg) but I managed to find some small meal-sized packs that were $4-5 each. It was a bit of a mystery what I was buying too. Some stuff is obvious, like chicken. But the mince was a strange lighter colour and I think it said calf so I didnt buy that. I found some affordably priced chops that looked like pork, but I didnt understand the name on them. However I then saw some pork hocks with the same word as the chops, so I concluded that the chops must be pork. This is how I am currently learning Dutch! hehe. Getting all my shopping home is a bit of a hassle but I manage to balance a bag on each handle-bar. I must investigate getting a carrier-bag or something for the back of the bike.

I also visited the law school today, to figure out where my classes would be held. The law school is right in the middle of the city, where space is at a premium so it is crammed in between 2 streets, a maze of coridoors and many floors! It will be fun to learn to get around a different law school, but it was also a crazy mass of dutch-speakers! Tomorrow I have my first class, so I will know more after that!

Hope NZ gets some rain and a reprieve from the heat soon.

xxx Renelle

Yay I've got the internet at home!

Finally got connected yusssss! (I'm dancing the happy dance here).

Had another great day today, the sun is shining and I managed to get lots done. First I plucked up the courage to go into a bank and beg them to let me open an account for the 5 months that I am here, but it turned out to be quite simple, and even free! Other students haven't had as much luck with other banks, but I went for Fortis bank as they are international (so I can use my accounts in the UK woop woop!). Also I went and registered for my Dutch classes which start next week, and run on tuesdays from 6-9pm. It has an exam :( but I do get credits for it (towards my degrees) so it will appear on my academic record. I also registered for Low Countries Studies which is another course for exchange students that teaches us about the culture, history, food, art etc of Belgium and the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands). Actually 'Nederlands' means 'low lands' so there you go. I'm especially looking forward to the 'Belgian Gastronomy' class (lol!) where we get to cook waffles! It runs on thursday nights from 6:30 - 8pm. So that means I'm taking 6 courses altogether, with my 4 law papers.

Anyway I am very pleased to be online, so ya'll can email me and I will be able to check my emails and reply every day. Also this means I am now on Skype, MSN, and all that jazz. It's so great to be online - now I have my little window back to NZ (for example, right now I am listening to The Rock online!). AND it means no more sitting on the curb outside the Vooruit cafe stealing their wireless! :)

Love to all, no doubt you will be hearing from me soon on Skype. xxx

Im an Old Fart now...

Yep so now I'm 23!! Argh! My actual birthday was quite quiet as I had my celebratory splash-out on our trip to Brugge, which i thoroughly enjoyed. So I spent the day cycling around the city trying to find a wireless connection so I could download some patch thing I need to get before I can connect to the internet in my room. Apparently the Uni system isnt properly set up for Windows Vista! Other than that I just relaxed most of the day, and even went to visit the Citadel Park which is really quite nice and has a little lake and everything. I'm currently sitting in McDonalds using the wireless, which is still an upgrade from sitting on the curb at Vooruit!

Beautiful Brugge

Really enjoyed myself today. ESN (Erasmus Student Network) organised a trip to Brugge, a smaller city 30 mins to the North by train. Its pronounced kinda like 'bruise' but with a je sound? It was built around the port there, but then unfortunately the coast moved about 20km away so now it is pretty much a tourist town! We had a bit of a guided tour around the city squares, the canals and learnt some of the history of the city. Like I mentioned, Brugge was built around the port it had, as Belgium was big in the cloth trade in medieval times, so raw wool and cotton materials would come in by ship to be made into cloth. Then we were told a story (doesn’t sound true but hey legends are nice). Apparently there was an uprising of the Brugge people against their French King, they killed his adviser who was his best friend, and whose name was the French word for ‘long neck’. The people demanded more freedoms and rights, and the King agreed on the condition that the people not kill him, and also that they keep and tend to the swans that live in the Canals, in memory of the King’s adviser ‘long neck’ – y’know, because swans have long necks! Anyway there are lots of beautiful swans still in the canals there. Apparently there was a big problem recently when avian flu came to Europe as all birds had to be caged by law, but the people of Brugge felt they had to still keep their historical duty to the swans, so they built cages over the canals for the Swans to live in, and still stay on the canals. Nice! Anyway I liked that story.

Brugge became a really poor city when the coastline moved away, so for 3 centuries they waited for a canal to be built so that ships could come in to the port. Finally a canal was built in 1907, but got destroyed 7 years later in WWI. Oh Dear! Today it has been rebuilt though so there is a canal from the sea into Brugge. I want to go back with my bike so I can cycle along it and visit the sea!

Some other highlights of the day were the chocolate museum and the Belfry tower view. We were trying to get into the Belfry tower to climb it and get a view of the city, but we went in the wrong door and ended up in a chocolate museum! Which was fantastic, lots of free testers there (like strawberries in white chocolate mmm). I couldn’t read the information signs as they were all in Flemish and French, but I got to see pictures of cacao and stuff! Then we found the right door to climb the Belfry. Apparently they aren’t that common in Europe, and are special to France and the Flemish region of Belgium. The tower itself was for a view of the city, to check for danger and to ring the bells if there was danger, to warn the people. Also the Belfry is where important documents were stored – specifically the documents that conferred rights from the King. Apparently if the documents were destroyed, then the people would have no rights, so they guarded them zealously, and they were all locked away in a box - but not too high up, so they could be easily carried to safety if there was a fire or accident in the Belfry. Anyway there are 300+ steps up really neat spiral stone staircases (very narrow and steep!) and there is a great view of the city from the top – with bells in your ears!

What else does Brugge have to offer? Well, Michaelangelo’s sculpture Maddona with Child is there. Also, there is supposedly the blood of Christ (‘Holy Blood’) in a vial that is laid out on a pillow each day for people to worship. We didn’t make it to the church that houses the Madonna with Child until 5 minutes after it closed, which is stink because I really wanted to see it, so I will have to go back sometime. Also, we didn’t go to see the Holy Blood because it is expensive to get in! Other things I loved about Brugge were the swans, the horse-drawn carts, the chocolate shops EVERYWHERE with free tasters! And also the streets are clean, whereas in Gent there are quite dirty :S. I thought Brugge was absolutely lovely and I hope to return! I took heaps of photos so check out my flickr page (link to the right) for the rest of them :)

Errands

Today I picked up my voucher for Dutch classes (which are heavily subsidised by the Uni so only cost $100 NZD) and I will start next week. I also tried a Belgian Waffle. MMMMMM is all I can say to describe it. I think I will be back to that place a lot as they are only 1,50 euro. Not much else to report other than it was a beautiful day today, the warmest and sunniest since I’ve been here. It was so lovely in the city centre.

Tomorrow there is an ESN trip to Brugge, a nearby city (about half an hour by train) so I will go there and check it out. Apparently it is a bit like Gent, only smaller. Hopefully the weather is as nice as today!

The Welcome Day

Ghent University held a welcome day for exchange students today, so we could all meet each other and find out about the uni and all the administrative things we needed to sort out before starting study. It was held in the Aula which is this amazing building like a theatre inside (photo shows the outside). There are actually a lot of exchange students. The biggest group are from Poland, there are also lots of Spanish speakers (from Spain, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia). I also met people from Lithuania, Portugal, Ghana, Slovakia, Greece, France, Italy and Turkey. It was neat to meet all these people and everyone was very excited to meet a New Zealander! One guy said to me – ‘So this is what New Zealanders look like!!’. Lol was he expecting an alien?? It was a little frustrating that people tended to aggregate in groups of people from their home country and speak in their own language which kinda left me on my own. We had presentations from various uni groups about language lessons, libraries, sports facilities and the ESN (Erasmus student network) who organise parties and stuff. Then we had lunch (broodjes) before going on a guided tour of the city with ESN. We walked through town and then visited the Castle which I mentioned below, the founding building of Gent, and even went through the torture museum! Apparently when corporal punishment ended the last executioner of the city decided to donate all his gear to the museum. So there is a guillotine (complete with used blades and sack to catch the heads), various instruments of torture such as thumb screws, stretch racks, shackles with sharp points, and various other head gear to keep people quiet. Quite disturbing really, but also strangely interesting. I also enjoyed seeing the suits of armour and the very windy and steep stone staircases up to the tower! Then we went past Gent’s very own red light district (also disturbing) before stopping off to try a Belgian beer. Ah Belgian beer – first impression has been very good. I tried a dark Trappiste beer (made by monks I think, all the best booze is made by monks) which was very heavy, full and a little sweet. It was 9% ethanol! I think the highest percentage beer here is 12% which is higher than most vodka RTDs, and I think most beers back in NZ are 4-5%? Anyway apparently there are hundreds of varieties of beer here so there is certainly no shortage of variety. After our beer stop we headed to one of the university restaurants for dinner, where I loaded up on meat and vege. Then we had some time to kill before the ESN party which was at a club on the ‘Overpoort’ (main pub street) so a few of us went to an internet café. I started feeling a bit unwell so I headed home for the evening but I hear it was a great night out. The Overpoort is about a 30 second walk from the 2 main student residences, so its very close for those students to just walk home. I will have to make some kind of plan for nights out as to getting home afterwards and such!

Anyway now I just need to open a bank account here and I am pretty much set. Uni starts next week, although my first class isn’t until Wednesday. Classes here are a different format to back at Waikato – instead of an hour class they are run from 10 in the morning til 5:30pm! Mind you this is Masters so im expecting it to be smaller classes and a bit more interactive too. Hopefully I will be starting to learn Dutch next week as well, there are night courses run especially for exchange students.

Almost Set Up

Well having a bike has made things a lot easier today, and I managed to get most of the bits and pieces I need (like a LAN cable, coat hangers, a vege peeler, yadda yadda). Most of it I actually got from this great shop called ‘Super Sold’ (lol). Inside it’s a labyrinth of hallways full of almost everything you could ever need. The thing I’ve found odd here is that there are no chain stores (and few franchises) so most stores are independent and specialist. So it was a great score to find a one-stop-shop where I can find stuff I need.

I got to have a look at some of the things on a tourist map today, which was neat. Tomorrow is the welcome day but on Friday I want to go check out some more things like the torture museum! That’s right, museum of torture implements and such. It’s in the castle that established the city of Gent way back in the year 867 (and Hamish, it was built to thwart the attempts of raiding Norsemen… no Vikings here!).

Anyway here are some amusing street names that I found rather hilarious;

Krommen Elleboog = Twisted elbow
Paradijszak = Paradise Bag
Zondernaamstraat = Street without a name
Straatje Zonder Eind = Street with no end
Pekelharing = Pickled Herring
Kwaadham = Angry Bacon (!!!)
Verloren Kost = Lost Food

Plus there is a whole street covered in Graffiti, as it is the only street in which graffiti is legal. Random!

I’m finding it difficult (and v. expensive) to find food like what I would eat in NZ, Belgians eat weird stuff. But for all the pastries and baked stuff here, people are very skinny. And where has all the tomato sauce gone?? It seems to have been replaced by mayo.

Some information for Mum; the population of Gent is around 225,000. And did you know that in the 16^th century Gent was the most powerful city in Europe besides Paris?

I’m sorry that I haven’t rung anyone – I hope you don’t all think I’m being a snob! Its just that I can’t dial out from the phone in my room, I cant get my phone card to work and I still don’t know how to get an operator! Please bear with me. Xxx

Isobel II

I just got myself a bright yellow set of wheels. Her name’s Isobel, she’s got 6 gears, 2 locks, a carrier, dutch-style handlebars AND a dynamo headlamp!!! (photos to come) I’ve hired the bike for 6 months (coz they only hire them for 3, 6 or 12 months) for around $50 NZD which is pretty good for 5 month’s transport I reckon. They even have do-it-yourself repair shops dotted around the place if I get a puncture or need to repair anything. So this evening I got to ride home (which is so much quicker!) and even though it was raining cats and dogs, I was ecstatic! I arrived back to my room soaked, cold, and grinning from ear to ear. The only thing I have to figure out is what kind of ribbon or attachment I can find that will distinguish Isobel from all the other yellow student bikes! On the ride home I managed to navigate pretty well I thought on the other side of the road, but intersections are going to take some work. Thankfully the route from my place into town is mostly along one road. Still feel a bit weird about not having a helmet, but I haven’t seen any sold here and the guy who rented me the bike didn’t even know what a helmet was… I will just have to be extra-careful. But like I posted earlier, bikes pretty much are the king of the road here so cars give way and people are pretty good about letting bikes pass through.

So, the city centre... The first day I went to have a look in the centre of the city (where it is pedestrian only... and trams…) I was completely blown away by the buildings there. I will have to take a panoramic video to show you all, its just amazing. There are 5 massive and gorgeous cathedrals all together (I have no idea why so many in one place but hey). I haven’t yet found out what they’re about or the history behind them (but one of them houses the Mystic Lamb – anyone heard of the painting?), and I spent that day just looking, didn’t take a single photo. That way I could just take it all in. Also, I saw my first Crow (you know, evil black bird that hangs out with witches and feeds on the eyes of small children) which at first I found a bit haunting but now have accepted as part of the landscape. The second day (today), I managed to get around without a map, and without getting lost, which I can tell you is no small feat. That’s right, its big feet! Anyways, I’m glad I spent the time the first day learning what’s what (and finding places on the map I needed to go) as it saved a lot of time and stress today when I had a big list of important things to do. Of course if I was to go off the main streets I would be completely lost but at least I’ve learnt the main stuff!

Yeah and that’s another thing… there really aren’t that many children around Gent. I have seen maybe 4 kids around school age (eg 7) and ONE baby. But that’s it. And when I was talking to Erin about it she just said “Kids? Yeah, they’re rare”. Which really cracked me up at the time, but now I think about it – they are! I wonder where they all are?!?! Maybe the crows got them?!?!

Here’s some dutch for you all to learn;

Duwen = Push (as in opening a door)
Trekken = Pull (ditto)
Ingang = In/Entrance
Uitgang = Out/Exit

And now you all know how to get in and out of doors!

Anyway I must learn to keep these posts brief as I know you’re all busy J

Xxx

Rain and stuff

Hello lovely people.

Today I had lots to do, like go get registered at Ghent University, get my student ID card, lodge my application for residency at the Foreigners Registration Office and I also had an appointment at the Law School to confirm my courses. I have clashes with my criminology papers and the international nature conservation paper but I really want to take it so they are letting me do it, provided I clear it with my professors first. The law school is really quite interesting, as from the street it looks tiny, but it actually is a whole block of buildings which are accessed like a maze from this one entrance. There is even a large courtyard in the middle. I only had time for a brief look but it was nice to sneak a peak at where I will be studying! I haven't found the library yet which i should probably do soon as I will most likely be spending a lot of time there if Waikato is anything to go by!

Im just heading back home now to post some postcards and pick up a bike on the way (hopefully!) but its raining here now quite hard so biking will be interesting!

Yesterday I had my first stroll through the city centre which is GORGEOUS - cathedrals and old buildings galore. Will post photos soon. Better get going as it gets dark soon (almost 5pm!)

Love to all,
xxx nelle

p.s about a week before I get the net connected for Skype.

Out and About

This morning I counted 16 jet trails across the sky out my window!

The Weekend

Today was a really great day. The weather is still pretty good, although a bit colder today. The one thing I cant get over is how dry the air is here, my nose is having a little trouble adjusting and my lips and face get dry too, from the wind and the lack of humidity. So I am making sure I drink lots of water to compensate. Bottled water here tastes a bit funny, like its really soft. I tried to buy some milk today but apparently I bought buttermilk instead. It smells like yoghurt but is really only good for cooking. That was a bit of a laugh. People here don’t seem to drink a lot of milk as there are only a couple of bottles for sale in the stores I have been to, and the rest is UHT milk. I bought the buttermilk because the only words I recognised were ‘melk’ and a picture of some grass, and some French words about protein and calcium content. Think I might swap to milk powder anyway as there is no room in the fridge here to store it. But I was really looking forward to having a cuppa! I ended up having black tea J. Anyway, today was super-great because I met up with Erin, a Waikato Uni student who has been here since last semester when she had her exchange. She is here until the 11^th Feb, and is staying in one of the other halls so I went to visit her. She is really lovely and gave me lots of hints and advice about registering here and her experience in general, which was reeeeeeeeeeeally handy. Plus it was great to talk to someone from home, as she actually is from a farm on Tauhei road, Morrinsville, right close to Woodlands rd! Plus her birthday is the 13^th Feb, so we have February in common too. We got on really well and I wish she was staying! But im just really grateful that she was still here at all, and had the time to chat. Also, she donated a whole bunch of stuff to me, and helped me lug it all the way to my halls, which was great! Stuff like pots and pans, utensils, a duvet, towels, some food and folders and stuff for uni – amazing! It was especially handy as I had no utensils or plates or anything before that, as most of the shops are closed over the weekend and so I hadn’t been able to buy that sort of stuff yet. Also she gave me the contact details of some friends she made at uni who are staying on for this semester too! Apparently there are a few Scots, Irish and Americans here, but the rest of the exchange students are European, mostly from Spain and Italy. We have the welcome day for exchange students on Thursday, so I get to meet everyone then which will be exciting. We also learn all about the uni and how to get around and whats available in the city, which will also be handy as I’ve not been here long enough yet to figure out what’s what.

I hope you all are well back home. Lots and lots and lots of love,

Renelle xxx ooo xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoox

First Sight of Gent (From St Pieters Train Station)

The Travelling

Overall a pretty good experience in travelling half way around the world. Im glad I invested in my travel stockings as my legs were fine after flying, no swollen ankles or soreness or anything. Also extra glad I took earplugs on the plane, as it was rather noisy, plus they blocked out the sound of crying persons (small persons). So Hamish remember to pack some for your flights eh. The first flight (from Auckland to Bangkok) was on an Airbus so it was a newer plane. The best thing was that the plane wasn’t full, so the guy in the seat next to me was able to move off and have a whole 3 seats to himself, which left me with 2 seats at the window to myself. Awesome. I sat over the wing just like when I went to Japan, and the weather was great so I got a good view over Australia – Brisbane, Queensland and the Northern Territory. I think we flew over Darwin but I was asleep by then. I did watch one in-flight movie (Ratatouille) but then resisted further temptation so I could sleep. However I didn’t seem to be able to relax my mind, too excited and also trying to think over what I had to do to travel to Gent, so just sat there with my eyes closed most of the time.

The service on the plane was great, and the food was pretty good too. Got to Bangkok feeling pretty good, just needed a stretch and a wash. Bangkok airport is pretty flash, but there were lots of people and not many seats which was kind of strange I thought. Hence I sat down on the floor most of the time, waiting for my next flight. (The photos are of Bangkok airport, one is a 'smoker's room' and the other is just a random shot of the place i waited for the plane after going through passport security). I did buy an apple, orange and carrot juice which tasted really weird, had a wash and then spent the rest of the time listening to music. By the time the next flight was ready, I was almost asleep! Got on the plane and it was delayed, but I was so tired I fell asleep during takeoff and woke up at dinner time! The plane from Bangkok to London was a Boeing 747, so it was older and didn’t have the TV screens in the seats. It also was full of people so I didn’t have the luxury of extra space, but the people next to me were nice enough. The attendants sprayed us with some kind of insecticide on the plane and announced that we wouldn’t be allowed into the UK unless it had been done (so no choice there) so that was interesting. There were tooth brushes in the bathrooms (which I thought was great) and also the flight attendants came round and gave us hot towels to help us wake up, and also we had pancakes and croissants for breakfast before landing in London. The ladies on the plane were also given a corsage of orchids which were really lovely.

I arrived in London feeling pretty good, possibly because I had had a little bit of sleep, then had a coffee with breakfast, and then the adrenalin started pumping because I knew I had to get to the eurostar terminal on time. So I rushed off the plane (40min late) and straight to passport control, where to my amazement there was no queue (I’ve heard it can take hours). The guy who stamped my passport was really nice and gave me a stamp for passing through, rather than ‘activating’ my working holiday visa, which means that I will be able to get the full 2 years if I want to, or if I was to decide not to use it, then I would be able to reapply for a new one (whereas it is only issued once, and once it has started you can’t pause or extend it). So that was good to know. Left passport security and headed straight to baggage claim, it was all well-marked. Grabbed my bag and left! Simple as that! Got to the train station and couldn’t believe my luck really, it was so quick and easy. Then got to the terminal of the Heathrow Express which is a fast train into central London, and found that my NZ phone does work in the UK, so I was able to send texts and receive calls, which was lovely. Unfortunately it doesn’t auto-roam in Belgium so I can’t use it here, but apparently it will work in France, Spain and Germany so I guess I’ll see. The Heathrow Express took me into Paddington station, and then I had to catch a tube about 6 miles to Kings Cross / St Pancras where the Eurostar train departs from. I was a bit nervous about this, but there were so many people around and the whole atmosphere of the place was so mental that I just floated through pretty much. As soon as I had bought my ticket and walked down the corridor, the tube was about to leave so I hopped straight on it, which was lucky. The actual tube wasn’t too busy as I guess they are so frequent there are enough to pick up all the people that are around. It was a quick trip to St Pancras where I got my Eurostar ticket, registered, went through passport control again and then had a couple of minutes to buy some water and then board the train. It had a lot of carriages, maybe 30, I was surprised just how many people it carried. I struggled to manoeuvre my luggage onto the train but got there in the end. It sure is a fast train, and really quiet too. It only took 2 and a half hours to get to Belgium, which was neat. Got to see a bit of France on the way too (we stopped at Lille). The countryside in the top of France is much like the little bit of England I saw - flat, lush and green (unlike brown scorched NZ at the mo) and with all their characteristic houses. Belgium is also similar in landscape. There just aren’t any hills around, which makes it difficult to navigate by geography when there really aren’t that many landmarks hehe. Anyway the Eurostar arrived in Brussels a bit early even, so I wandered on through into the station and asked about a train to Gent. The attendant told me that one was leaving right then, so I hurried off to catch it rather than waiting around. Just made that train, and arrived in Gent with an hour to spend before I got picked up. Was really starting to feel tired so I bought a coffee and a ham roll (I think Belgians love to eat crusty bread like French sticks, broodje or something I think its called?) and then looked for the loo. Now I checked the whole station, and I could only find one toilet called ‘WC’ and you had to pay 40 euro cents to get in. I only had British pence and 35 euro cents, or bigger euro notes. Then after much consideration I remembered that Ellie had posted me 5 euro cents and I had packed it in my bag! So that pushed my balance up to 40 cents and I was able to use the toilet!!! Yay!! Thanks Ellie!!! It was actually much nicer than the usual public toilet anyway so was good to have a wash etc.

Then I had a bit of a wander round outside the train station and got my first sight of Gent. There were a million bikes parked up, and lots of trams going around. I was apparently wrong about Gent – the whole city is not pedestrian-only, but the city centre is. And public transport is good – there are buses, trams, trains, underground trains, and trolley-trams, whatever they are. Then I finally met up with Elke and her friend Claudia (who are both Belgians) from the ESN organisation that looks after exchange students. They picked me up from the station and drove me to pick up my residence keys etc. Unfortunately I didn’t get in to the halls I chose (Home Fabiola which was smaller, and newer, and closest to the law school), but am in Home Boudewijn which is further south. I guess this is probably for the best as it means I will have to hire a bike (and use it) which will be good exercise I suppose. Elke took me right to my room and gave me a few hints on how to get set up and suff. They were really lovely and introduced me to all the people we saw along the way, which was neat. I unpacked my stuff from my suitcase, or, as Elke said “we leave you some time to get installed”, had a shower and then went to bed about 7pm, around 42 hours after leaving NZ. Phew