The Global Student Lounge

So ISA recently added Belgium to their programs and let me be the first to say it is great! The city of Brussels is so diverse with NATO and the EU being located there. It is bilingual, including dutch and mostly french speaking people. But don’t worry, getting by with English is easy too. It is the perfect size for student life. Big enough to house so much night life, museums and architecture yet small enough to make getting around a piece of cake. It’s location within Europe makes traveling extremely easy. In less than two hours by train, you can reach The Netherlands (Amsterdam), France (Paris) or Germany. The chocolate, waffles and fries are really better than any where else. Only if you are not duped into a tourist trap. Make sure you find the real deal. The beer here is vast and diverse, just becareful because alcohol content can be double or tripple the amount of American beer.

Vesalius college is a very small school catering to mostly international students. Instructed in English, many teachers are American so they know how to make you comfortable. It is located on the VUB (dutch free university) campus so there is plenty of diversity. Vesalius college allows the upper classmen or full time permanet students to show the study abroad students the town. So you get to met people for everywhere. So far I have met people from Spain, France, Czech Republic, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, China, South Korea, Hatiti and ofcourse Beglium and others all over America. The classes are just as challenging as my courses at home but grading is definately better The college makes everything so easy for you that its almost impossible not to have a question answered or problem solved.

Living with a host family is a unique and great experince. You get immerse youself in the culture and experience it first hand. Most host families understand student life and do not restrict you from going out and doing what you want, as long as you keep quiet if its late. I have yet to meet a belgian that can’t cook. The food is great, and being a vegetarian is not a problem! The rooms are since and big and you feel right a home quickly. The ISA director is there for you 24/7 and is very invovled. The family enjoys talking to yu and wants to make you feel comfortable it is important to interact with them.

Anyone wanting to experience a real European city that has rich culture and amusmant without being too touristy, I highly recommend Belgium.