Do they speak Belgian?

Thursday 12 November 2015

A to B

At university I joined a module called Justice, mainly for the fact that it is taught in English, but after the first lesson I found it much more interesting than I had imagined. This class was formed on the idea of a historian refugee from Austria in the second world war, a historian who was trying to find himself and figure out the world around him. From this, we started to think about how Europe finds itself between past and present, in social, political and economical situations, and how justice has a major impact in these areas.

There are just 15 people in this weekly class, much smaller than any at Camberwell, and it's a class in which we can interact and converse with one another about our ideas and opinions, an opportunity that is rare in London.

In pairs, we chose a point on the map of brussels, all at the same perimeter, as a starting point to walk in to the centre point Palace de Justice. We had 4 hours to walk from our outer point, to Palace de Justice.

Sunday 1 November 2015

Ghent

My friends from Manchester came to visit me in Brussels this weekend, and it was so good to be around not only English speaking people, but the accent as well, which made me feel like I was back home. I was struggling to find things for us to do in Brussels, as there it isn't that big, so decided to do a day trip to Ghent.

The day trip turned into a 'couple of hours' trip, as the night before we had a few too many and getting out of bed the next morning, or afternoon, seemed impossible. Eventually, after a couple of hours of lying down and chatting we forced ourselves to get ready.

Once we arrived in Ghent, around 3pm, we wondered into the centre from the train station mapless and came across a beautiful park covered with golden leaves. We also stubbled across a sort of cave like tunnel, which gave the park a very eerie feel.

The sun set shortly as we arrived in the centre, and the next stop was waffles. I made a terrible choice to top mine with ice cream, and although it was freezing outside, it melted just as quick as it would in 40 degree heat. Next time i'll stick with Nutella.

Thursday 22 October 2015

Pop Art

On our Wednesday off university, me and two of my friends planned a trip to the ING arts centre to see the current Pop Art exhibition. Pop art wouldn't be my first choice of art see, but as the exhibition was free we didn't want to miss our chance.

The works of well known Pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were displayed, and although these works aren't my personal favourite, discussing the use of colour and material with two other like minded people gave me inspiration and ideas for current projects that I am working on. It gave me so much motivation that afterwards I went to buy primary coloured paints, and I can't remember the last time I chose to work in this medium.

Sunday 18 October 2015

Brugge

Yesterday my friend and I took the train to Brugge for the day, for just €14 return! The price was probably the only positive thing I have to say about the journey. Although the train was only an hour long, it felt like ten due to the hysterically crying new born sat next to us, and no we couldn't move as we were enclosed in the aisle with what felt like half of the population of brussels. Why the train windows in Belgian don't open, I do not know, making the roll-neck a bad idea.

We spent most of the day exploring, map-less, the residential backstreets over the picturesque canals trying to avoid the crowded main square. We stumbled across several art installations whilst eating ice cream and waffles on our way around the city, including Nathan Coley's 'A Place Beyond Belief'.

Friday 9 October 2015

Beaux-Arts

Everything at Académie royale des beaux-arts de Bruxelles seems very laxed, and almost unknown to many people, including the employees. I received my timetable over a week after starting at the school, which still made no sense, not only to me, but to the natives as well.

After going to all classes on this hectic and confusing timetable for two weeks, and straining my brain to understand every other french word being said, I finally found the Erasmus co-odinater who explained the system, in English, to me. I had been attending double the amount of lessons I need to be going too. No wonder I have been feeling more exhausted and drained as the days go on.

In brussels, people, even strangers, meeting for the first time, greet one another with a hug
and kiss on the cheek. Back in England I don't even hug my friends, so to me, kissing a stranger is very.. strange! Plus having a cough and a cold for the past 10 days makes it more awkward, as I try to explain to people that they really don't want to come that close to me, but I have realised there aren't enough seconds to say this before they go in for the hug and the kiss. On the plus side to being ill, the nasal french vocabulary is much easier to pronounce.

Last week when I was talking to the half welsh, half Belgian philosophy lecturer, a girl overheard me with my very British northern accent, and came over and introduced herself. It turns out she is also an Erasmus student from Camberwell, in second year Sculpture. Although I am finding the French language very interesting to learn, the relief ran through me as I have found someone I can have conversation with, without having to pause for five seconds between each word. For a second I felt like I was back in London.

After being at the school for three weeks now, I'm still not 100% sure I'm attending the correct lessons, but the ones I am attending are enjoyable.

Exploring the Neighbourhood

I looked at the weather forecast for the next week, and purposely decided to choose the one sunny day (purely for more aesthetically pleasing photographs) to go and explore some more.

The majority of the photographs I took are of buildings, as I love the Belgian architecture, so I won't bore you with too many.

View of Brussels from the Promenade at the Palais de Justice

After taking photographs in the day, I sat drawing in a cafe on Avenue Louis before heading home whilst the sun was setting.

Friday 25 September 2015

Settling In

After being in Brussels just over two weeks now (this blog thing is new to me), apart from the empty Strepsil packets and putting on a couple of pounds from the several waffles with Nutella and a pint a night; I am settling in well in my new home for the next five months.

For those of you who happen to stubble across my blog, I am Izzy, an erasmus student from Camberwell College of Arts London, now studying at The Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts (yes i just copy and pasted that) in Brussels.

In answer to my question, Belgian's speak dutch, french and flemish, and in Brussels the majority of people speak French. So far I have mastered the pronunciation of "Parlez-vous anglais?"

Before leaving the UK i managed to find myself a room in a student house situated in St Gilles, a lovely picturesque neighbourhood. Little did i know that there were 25 others in the student house, but thankfully we have a cleaner every week.

Upon arrival I discovered what looked like a castle behind my new home, until I noticed the barbed wire circling the high walls. On the plus side my house is on the same street as a police station, but that was enough exploring for one day.