It’s been more than a
week since I’ve arrived in Leuven, and it’s been quite the rush (with some
struggles). Good thing practically everyone speaks English here, so that
simplifies everything a bit.
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| Brussels from above. |
The thing about Leuven is that it’s an extremely
“bikeable” little town, which basicallymeans that a bike is more of a
necessity. The morning I flew into Brussels and finally got my keys for
Wisteria, the building where the interns would be living, I realized that I
needed to go grocery shopping. I ignorantly embarked on a great trip to the
center of Leuven to buy some food and supplies, and that thirty minute walk
was, needless to say, Very Bad. Walking home with those groceries was also Very
Bad, and I tried to find the shortcut through the woods to Wisteria, which
ended up in me getting a hair full of bugs and a soaked sweaty shirt. I also
ended up taking the longest way home. Whoops.
Flash forward to a couple days later,
when I finally got to rent out a bike. The first day, I noticed that my bike’s
gears did not work properly, and no matter how hard I pedaled, it seemed to
always be on third gear and I could not move my bike fast enough to keep up
with the others when we biked to town. It messed with my legs so much. I took
it in the day after to get it switched, and on that same day, my new bike’s
chains slipped out halfway home from IMEC, and I had to walk the rest of the
way. As someone who was blessed with so many great bike problems, trust me when
I say to please check your bike well before renting it because going back to
the bike shop every morning is a big pain.
My jetlag also hit me hard (I had to fly
in from San Francisco). Every day for the first few days I was in Leuven, I
would wake up at 5 am no matter what time I went to bed the night before, and I
would just bike around Leuven or walk around the outside of Wisteria.
So… that was basically my first week of
adjusting. Adjusting to European work life, times, biking everywhere, going to
work at IMEC, the fact that there’s no grocery store or convenience store we
could just run down to get groceries at. It was kind of rough, as you can see.
My sense of
direction was also so bad to the point where it was ridiculously funny. Grace,
one of the other interns, and I got lost so many times in Leuven that it’s
become a joke between us. That Saturday, we were supposed to go to the farmer’s
market, but Grace managed to lead us through some woods and out of the city
limits to the farms. This is what the farmer’s market looked like:
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| This is not a farmers market I am use to. |
The other interns and I went to Brussels that weekend and saw some
nice buildings and sites. Brussels is all around a nice city, though a lot
of people I’ve talked to don’t really like the city because they say it’s too
dirty and noisy. The city does get rowdy, at least on weekend nights, but it’s
a funny sight to see people having a good time. Make sure you get some Belgian
waffles and see the peeing statues.
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| Views around Brussels. |
The second week in Leuven was a bit better – my perpetually sore
legs were finally starting to recover (I’m not as physically fit as I was a
long time ago, okay?!?) and biking everywhere was beginning to be a habit.
Still somewhat trying to figure out how to “life” here, but hey, I’m exploring
new restaurants and bars and making new friends. I think it’s going to be a
good time.
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