Ghent

We began our Belgium experience with two days in Ghent – a single 40 minute train ride straight from Brussels airport. This city is also spelled Gent – each city has a French and a Dutch spelling, sometime similar, and sometimes not. Even spellings that look similar can be pronounced quite differently, as Brugge is pronounced Broozh in French, and the same city is spelt Bruges in Flemish and pronounced Broo-gah. So if we lived in the Flemish area of Belgium, like Ghent, would we learn Dutch or French? Or both? I would have to live in Brussels or Wallonia to be immersed in French.

While Adrian was off at his interview at Vlaanderen Instituut Biotechnologie (Flanders Institute of Biotechnology – VIB), I spent the day exploring Ghent, grabbing a delicious Belgian waffle from a street vendor to sustain me. In the 12th century it was the biggest city in Europe after Paris, and this is reflected by its wide streets and impressive buildings. The castle and the belfry, the bridges over the canals, and the cobblestone streets give with city a very historical feel. Yet the H&M stores and street art merge together to bring this city into the modern age. Most people seem to get around by tram or bike, and don’t even bother locking up their bicycles when they pop into a store

July 15 was our one year wedding anniversary, and we celebrated by wandering though the streets of Ghent in the evening, and sharing an indulgent chocolate mousse and ice-cream dessert. We discussed the many directions that our lives could take together, and pondered the pros and cons of living in Belgium.

Blankenberge
Belgium is a tiny country with a fast and dense train system, which meant that we could see three cities in one day. We began with Blankengerge, a seaside town that hosted the Zandsculptuurfestival, including the world’s largest sand castle.

Brugge
We then back-tracked to Brugge, and we were very impressed with the beauty of the city.

In addition to admiring the main square, we visited three museums – the Chocolate Museum, the Lamp Museum, and the Fries Museum. The Chocolate Museum was disappointed and did not result in 5 Euros worth of chocolate, even though I took more than my share of free samples and was scolded by the attendant. Lumina Domestica consisted of the world’s largest collection of lamps, and was disturbing in its scope and the personality that must lie behind such compulsive hording.

The Fries Museum was our favourite, and we learned a vast amount about the history of the potato and the emergence of the ‘French’ Fry, first invented in Belgium. They seem very circumspect about this mis-attribution, stating that proper recognition this would only have added to the problems of Wallonia. I was also able to see a fry-making robot, and the world’s smallest fries, set amongst a miniature fry cart.

Brussels
One day in Brussels to see if I could live and work here. We spent the morning exploring the city centre, including the Grand Place and Manneken Pis. Then it was time for Adrian to head off to his job interview at Université Libre de Bruxelles (University of Brussels – ULB), while I got a better feel for the city.

It is a big city, full of Dutch and French, with dense townhouses and plenty of foot traffic. I popped into an employment agency to have a chat, and it seems like I would have excellent job prospects here, especially as Adrian’s job would once again provide assistance. As the capital of the EU, there are many public health organisations based here, and if I learned French I could obtain a (low-paid) internship and then move into one of many policy based jobs. Out of all the candidate cities, I think Brussels would be the best at helping me move into working in an international organisation with the aim to further worldwide health.

As Belgium is so central, we could explore different areas of Europe over the weekend, and be only a few ours by train from many of our favourite cities. The quality of life is very high and there is are excellent state-funded health-care and education system. However, the weather is grey and it rains on two-thirds of the year. Adrian would get a lower wage here, our house deposit would be crushed when converting it to Euros, and if I was on a low-paid internship, we may be struggling to buy a house and live comfortably.