SO, it has been just over two weeks since I officially moved to Brussels so I thought I’d write down some of my thoughts and feelings during these past few months up until now. In order to do that, let me take you guys all the way back to January.
Why January? January was when I received the official confirmation by my home university that I will be studying in Brussels. despite me telling people way before (like from August last year, possibly July) that I was (unofficially) going anyway.
I guess it does show that there’s power in speaking things into existence. Of course, the most obvious feeling I had at the time was pure and utter excitement, which was shared among my friends and family. It was also nice hearing from other friends on my course who were also doing a year abroad, in places like China, Finland and the USA (BTW I hope you guys are enjoying your time out there so far!).
From February till about now meant that there was loads of paperwork to do in order to finalise the process of studying abroad. And yes, at times it felt like time was dragging with the amount of paperwork we had received. Okay, the paperwork was not that deep (I’m over exaggerating a bit) but I just couldn’t be bothered to fill them out (which I have done, don’t worry) and wanted to go as soon as possible! So, my main thought during these past months was ‘Gosh, another form to fill out? Can I just go already?’
The end of July and August flew by so quickly, but I’m glad I had a few chances to meet up with friends before I left (missing you guys BTW). At the time, although we did talk about me being in Brussels a lot, it didn’t seem real the fact that I’m going for a year. I just saw it as no biggie, mean I’ll be back for Christmas. Even when I left, it felt like I was going on holiday, which is the same sort of feelings you guys will also initially have when doing a year or even just a term/semester abroad. I must say it only kinda-semi hit me when I said my goodbyes to my Mum. She had come with me to Brussels to make sure that I settled in okay and so when I took her to the Eurostar Departures that’s I thought to myself ‘Oh Sh*t, looks like I actually am staying for the year’. (brb: currently crying). Thoughts? Well, I miss my mum and my family and friends but there is still lots of excitement in me ready to take on a new environment.
What have I been up to during these past two weeks? Well, I have been doing some exploring and site seeing, both alone and with my friend Sini who is also another student from my uni studying in Brussels so I’m not alone (yaay!). So far, adapting to life in the City of Chocolate has been going really well… LOL, I say that but I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve nearly been hit by a car (I still need to adjust to the fact that everyone drives on the right and not on the left).
Oh and THE CHOCOLATE AND WAFFLES? You guys: I have officially found the new loves of my life. How’s the French-speaking going? Well, I can understand it and read it perfectly well, however, my speaking is terrible at the moment but that is all due to change in the next few months so watch this space (insert wink emoji). Plus uni officially starts on tomorrow (17th) and so it means that I’m going to have to force myself to have conversations in French, something that I am pretty nervous to do but it’s all part of the fun in adapting to a new environment right?
Well, there you have it! I hope you guys enjoyed reading this post. Are you or have you been on a year abroad studying or working? How’s it currently going/ How did you get on and what feelings did you have both before and after your arrival? It would be really nice to hear your story and who knows, maybe others like myself can relate to the same sorts of feelings you have/had.
In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoy the slideshow of snaps of my touristic adventures. I know they’re not of the best quality and my apologies, but I will try and improve the quality for my future posts.
Hugs and Kisses,
Elda xx