Kia ora friends and whānau, and welcome back to Belgium! It’s been a few months since I arrived in February for my semester exchange to study law at KU Leuven, and there have been a few changes (unlike the weather, which I was really hoping would be warmer by now 😒)- so let me get straight into my April-May recap!
The biggest development, of course, has been that my courses have gained some momentum, and classes are in full swing- and I’ve truly enjoyed them all. As an international student I’m not studying the Belgian legal system, My papers are based on either international law or broader legal issues instead, such as labour law and cybercrime. Taking an international focus this semester is such a nice change (as lovely as the NZ legal system is!! 😆), and it’s so interesting to learn about topics that are so relevant to the current state of the world.
Speaking of, being in Europe, I get to see more of the world, too. I keep saying to people that it’s so exciting to be on a continent where you border other countries, as opposed to our beautiful but faraway island. While it was highly tempting to cross as many of these borders as we could during the mid-sem break, we (my travel buddy Fin and I) decided to tour northern France for a week before heading up to England to see family. Normandy was épique– we walked a coastal trail to find the famous cliffs of Étretat, saw Monet paintings in Rouen, visited the D-Day beaches, saw the small commune island Mont-Saint Michel from its wooden walkway- all the while fuelled by a lot of baguettes and eclairs. To then just hop on a train to go see my family in London when they are usually on the other side of the world was the cherry on top of the European cake. One week later I found myself watching Eurovision with unexpected fervour… Europe and its railways can take my wallet, and especially my heart (which I have already left in Yport, France, with the best almond croissant I have ever had in my life). 🥐
I had such a great time over the break that it made me think about travelling more on the weekends- but I haven’t been able to as much as I hoped. I’m not sure why I expected trains to be dirt-cheap, but if you don’t book well enough in advance (several months I reckon) then they’re certainly not inexpensive enough to be coming and going all the time. There’s also the pressure to stay on top of classes and assignments, especially when you don’t know where your average work sits in a new grading system. But I think the biggest reason is that Leuven feels like it already has so much going on anyway. It might be a small city, but it is constantly using its streets and plazas to hold (free!!) events like concerts, markets, mini carnivals…. they pop up so quickly too, in the space of a day they seem to be able to construct an entire stage in a square, or fill the main road with temporary bars and stalls. And it’s not even summer yet!!
Aside from its events, there’s lots to see in Leuven. This city is perhaps best known for its old town hall, pictured above. It lies at the end of Leuven’s main road, with the train station at the other end. The street is one straight line, so when you exit the train station and look at the town hall from far away, to me it looks a bit like a Disneyland castle. The first time I saw it, this produced the strange effect of both newness and nostalgia. Up close you can see the 235 statutes that line its walls, all of which differ in size despite looking exactly the same height. In fact, the higher up they are, the bigger they are, which is to make them all look uniform to viewers on the ground, and to give the effect of verticality (which apparently is what Gothic architecture is all about).
Leuven also has some beautiful parks that are gradually reaching their prime now that they’re dragging themselves (very slowly) over the line to spring. The one on the left is in the centre of the city, which, based on what I’ve seen on sunnier days, is where uni students go to eat lunch during the summer. Further out of the city is the Park Abbey, a large stretch of green that hosts one of Belgium’s best preserved abbeys, as well as swans, frogs and rabbits, and on my particular visit, a nice little sunset.
So that’s been my past two months- lots of settling in but also lots of exploring. It’s so nice to have the experience of getting to know a place as a new home, something that you just don’t get when you’re travelling and staying in places temporarily… and Leuven is certainly the kind of place you feel comfortable in quickly. 🥰