A new life-experience in a kind of new city – I collected some of the stuffs which I already like about the city I am going to live in. They are a little bit stereotypical, but sooner or later my list will be more detailed and real – until then I am happy to explore the city of comics, unhealthy food and foreigners!

 

Welcome to Brussels!

After Italy and the EVS I have a new adventure in my life: I am going to spend 10 months in Brussels to volunteer with handicapped persons. I arrived about two and a half weeks ago, so I don’t really know much about this city and the quality of life here, but I have my first impressions.

 

1. People from Everywhere 

This city is definitely one of the most intercultural cities. It is not just about the European Union and the workers there, but also about tourists – you can go out on a Sunday evening for a beer and Delirium still will be totally crowded, full of People from Everywhere. And those from the USA, Vietnam and Argentina will be the most shocked ones when they hear that you are from Hungary. HUNGARY, itself! “What, you are Hungarian?! Wow, so exotic!!” (And of course, they will have to learn some bad words in Hungarian.)

 

Fun fact: This image originally was supposed to represent a gay couple, but the government said no back than and the painter had to re-paint it. See that flag in the back? Now nearby one can find the center of the organizations fighting for gay right. I love the irony. :D

2. The love of comics is all around

There are these awesome cities with a lot of geek shops on every corner and then there is Brussels. I really like the culture of comics, and the Belgians are famous about the pride of Tin Tin and The Smurf. You can sense it from the city, too: there are wall-paintings all around the city and you can actually go for organized trips to see them all and hear their stories. One of my plans is to walk around and search them during this year.

 

It is n old picture of me, but even back in 2014 I knew that when life gives you a Belgian waffle just eat it. And take a picture before.

3. The fear of gaining weight

It is a totally realistic fear, I can tell this to you without hesitation. I already have an exercise program… in progress in my brain… for the time when I cannot get up my trousers anymore. There is chocolate and waffles and fries and this nice biscuits everywhere, so unhealthy but delicious, and in my house we have the food for free, so I am constantly afraid of gaining weight. It would be too costly to buy new clothes! :D

4. The parks here and there

I guess in every bigger cities you can find hidden parks, even more beautiful than in Brussels (let’s just think about the Giardino delle Rose in Firenze or the Parco del Valentino in Torino). Still, I like this rustic place called Parc de Woluwe and of course the Parc du Cinquantenaire which is actually really close to my home.

 

Parc du Cinquantenaire

 

5. More museums than expected

There are 100 museums. One hundred. I will have things to see.

 

 

6. The houses

After Italy I wanted to have this North-experience with this special atmosphere (but not too North, I would prefer not to freeze to death) of tall and thin houses and almost all the time bad weather (okay, I would not miss rain that much if it would disappear soon!). Well, the houses are just perfect. I live in Etterbeek, we have this kind of house everywhere – even ours is nice. Tall, crowded with smaller-bigger rooms, frightening stairs and old, but nice furniture (if I would be fashionable, I would say, they are vintage).

 

Etterbeek

7. Get out of here

As an average Hungarian girl from the poor east side of the country, I had the opportunity to visit the countries which are not so far away from Hungary and/or cheap, like Croatia or Greece or Poland, when I was younger. Now I have the option to get lost in the very typical tourist-counties like France, Germany and the Netherlands just because they are finally close and easy to reach. So cool!