Hasselt, Belgium

Week 1       

Groeten uit België. Finally, after and anticipating few months, the 30^th January has arrived where our amazing Erasmus journey begins. Myself, Adam Bratton and Stewart Irwin met at Dublin airport to start the trip to our new home in Hasselt, Belgium. In the airport it eventually hit us that we are leaving our family and friends for a full four months. Luckily we were able to get the little ‘Dutch Courage’ we needed at the airport bar before our flight.

After the short flight we had arrived in Brussels airport, here any sad thoughts we had about home quickly disappeared to laughter when Adam got stuck in a closing door, in front of our new Belgium ‘buddies’ whom were waiting on us at arrivals. This brightened up the mood where we then set off in the car to our town of Hasselt.

Me with my Belgium 'Buddy' Sielke.

During our first day we went exploring our new ‘home town’ which was going very good – as we found an Irish Pub close to where we live! We then set off on a mission of finding a supermarket which resulted in a 5 hour trek for groceries and three hungry bellies, let’s just say we will not be doing that again. As we purchased all this food we thought it was a good idea to make dinner – this thought did not last long! We ventured into the kitchen meeting a lot of our new house mates. To their amusement a few ‘incidents’ took place here. Adam somehow stabbed his own leg with a knife and set a saucepan in flames, what a way to make a first impression.

On Saturday 2^nd February our Belgium ‘buddies’ took us on a tour of Hasselt showing us the necessities which we might need, including our university campus, grocery stores, banks and of course where to get the nicest Belgium waffles. 

Adam, myself and Stewart with our Belgium waffles.

In the evening we went out socializing with all our new E.O.S classmates – of course we directed them to the Irish pub!

Our Erasmus Group at KHLim University.

On Monday we started at university which included a flag ceremony, meeting our lecturers and having a welcoming dinner. After class we went to a small village, called Diepenbeek, where we received our new wheels for the next four months.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we began our lessons in university which involved Dutch language lessons, drama lessons and technology lessons. They were good introductory lessons and helped us settle in more by getting to know our classmates better. On Thursday we attended a trip to the Alden Biesen Castle, which is in a small village called Rijkhoven, outside Hasselt. This was an interesting trip to find out the history of this large castle which got more exciting as it started snowing heavily.

Alden Biesen Castle.

As Bacon (1909) recounted, “Travel, in the younger sort, is part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.” This week has been both a daunting and exciting experience for me throughout, however I am very grateful to be given this opportunity of Erasmus. I wish to further my adventures in the four months within Belgium itself and the countries close by.