I have finally made it! I have my feet on the ground in Belgium! My first 2 days have been quite interesting nonetheless, as I am settling in with my new family and getting to know the area and the community that I am in! Of course the language is a struggle but I'm sure I will learn to understand sooner rather than later.
To start off, my family is super kind and welcoming. My host mother, Delphine, and my host father, Roger, welcomed me with open arms at the airport as I sped through customs with the new and advanced automatic customs stalls, which is was hesitant to utilize at first but turned out fine. Unfortunately this was the moment I had to abandon Sabrina as she was funneled into a much longer line for "all passports". After waiting an alarmingly long time for my bags, and few stressed walks around the carousel hoping my luggage wasn't lost mid flight over the atlantic, I strolled through the gates and noticed a surprising number of families waiting for their new student, greeting them with massive posters and signs. I guess I wasn't the only one coming in today... My new host parents found me, which I am grateful for, because I would not be able to recognize them in that crowd, and then we started home, a quick drive. I got a short tour of the house upon arrival as Roger needed to return to work in Brussels. Delphine, Red (the very expressive Labrador) and I had some lunch and I retired to my room to unpack and have a short nap, which turned much longer than expected. Later in the evening, Eloise, their daughter, returned from her summer job and we had lovely homemade moules-frites (Mussels and fries) a signature dish of Belgium. The meal times are quite a bit later than expected and it will take a while for me to adjust to this change. Overall, day one i felt very welcomed and a part of their family.
The second day, Delphine worked the morning and upon her return home we both went into town to show me the place and do some errands such as getting a residence I.D. card, a bank account, and a phone plan. We now await a visit by the police back home to check if I am actually residing in their house and following that I can receive my I.D. . Due to my dual citizenship I can legally stay in Braine-le-Comte for 5 years, could be an option... We attempted to open a bank account but that was halted due to not recieving an I.D. card, however, I have subscribed to a phone plan which is a good step in the right direction. Delphine and Roger take nutrition very seriously as they exclusively buy organic food and strive to purchase local food from their neighbors. The area I am staying is a very rural farming district, with the neighbours owning around a dozen cows in their field, who wake me every morning. The other neighbour owns a few chickens and possibly a rooster, who add to the commotion at dawn. Even in the garden are a few sheep who spend the majority of their day sleeping. It is a very nice area and I am sure I will enjoy very scenic dog walks with Red.
Day three remained a pretty relaxed day for me. I woke up relatively early which turned out to be a foolish mistake which I found out later as I did not get nearly enough sleep. Everyone in the household had to work today so I was left alone for the majority of the day. That meant I could finish settling in and gave red a massive walk around the neighbourhood as I sort of got lost in the corn fields. My bags and everything are mostly unpacked now and I took the rest of the day to make myself at home. It was pretty uneventful. At night, my host family and I went to have dinner at one of their friends house's in Brussels. This friend of theirs lived in Vancouver for a few years but then returned to Brussels. This night was fun as they would often compare Canada and Belgium a lot but I'm still working on trying to understand what people are saying en Francais..... What I didn't expect was for the dinner to last 6 hours and that we would return home at 1am. This was where my exhaustion sunk in and I started to give up on listening to conversations. They had a really cute dog however, so that was fun.
The following morning was the National Day for all the exchange students. Every exchange student in Belgium would head to Brussels for the day where Rotary showed us through a few of the major attractions in the city. I woke up, quite reluctantly due to the following evening, and went straight to the train station in Braine-le-Compte. There I met Mikio, the district coordinator, and a few of the other exchange students in the area. This day was amazing as I got to meet a lot of the other exchange students, not all because there were about 250, and we toured the palace, le Grand Place, and the parliament. I also now have a pocket full of pins and a few new friends who I can talk to or visit in the following months. When I got back home, my host sister and I had dinner and made it through about half of a movie before both passing out on the couch. Overall, was the best day of my exchange, but the bar has now been set and I'm going to raise it so much higher.
So far, it's been 6 days in Belgium and it still hasn't sunk in that I'm actually on exchange. Appart for the new habits I am starting to adapt, such as not removing my shoes at the door, the "social drinking" at mealtimes and the completely new scenery from my bed room. There are somethings I'm starting to adjust to reluctantly, such as the various cries from les vaches and the chickens, the persistent church chimes during mass on sundays, and the driving styles of my host family. Overall, this last week has felt like a month already, minus the fact that I still can't have a conversation in French, which is good, it means I'm distracted from the inevitable meltdowns that are to come the next few weeks. I already have had a taste but I'm really glad that I can keep busy. I'm so grateful that my host family is inviting me to amazing events. I attended a wedding at a chateau and then directly proceeding that I went to a music festival with my host sister, which has been the highlight of my year abroad so far.I'm also very grateful for all the people who supported me and pushed me to actually go on exchange. There are too many to count, but my family, my sister, father, mother, stepmother, etc. etc., thank you all so much. Also the rotary clubs and respectful people who actually gave me this opportunity.
For now I probably won't make such in depth analysis of my days like this again because I didn't realize how time consuming it is. Anyways, below are some photos of my first week!!!
À bientôt!! (see you later)
