I awake on Saturday fairly early in order not to miss my flight. I paid for the remainder of my bill at the hotel (I had paid for 400Euros yesterday) and took a tram and metro to the central station. After waiting around a bit, I was on the bus to Linate Airport and after some more waiting (reading and playing Scribblenauts mostly), I was on my plane. The flight was fairly brief – partly due to me snoozing off mid-flight.
It took a little bit of negotiating to find the bus I needed, but I was able to get to it before it left for another hour. The bus trip itself was quite long, and allowed me to see the interesting countryside of Belgium. The whole country is made up of interconnected villages, where every house is brick, two-storey and lacking windows at particular sides. The roads are often cobbled and quite narrow. The whole place seems very ancient, where even the fences are made of stone.
It seems that driving requires a lot of courtesy and giving way, while the coming cars drive along the narrow roads, only made narrower by the cars parked along the sides. Also, there are a lot fo cyclists. And, unlike NZ, cyclists are actually treated with respect and as vehicles on the road. And, in most places, there are dedicated cycling lanes.
When I arrived at my stop, I only circled the block once before finding the house. Maurice and Lieve’s house was like other houses; quite big and brick, but they are currently renovating it to make it look more modern inside. The house itself was 250 years old, and it was their pet project to renovate it and adapt it to their needs. My room was at the top of the (steep) stairs, where the ceiling sloped with the roof. Still, the room was comfortable enough, and would have been quite good for using my laptop, had it been working. Their son, Joost, was also at home for 2 weeks or so. He was a pretty sharp guy, and spoke English well.
There were a few rules about the house that I found a little odd, such as wearing slippers inside. I couldn’t even go barefoot. Luckily, they had some slippers that were almost my size, but I’ll probably buy some more at some point. Another one, which made sense, but was a bit nit-picky, was drying down the shower when I was done with it.
And the meals are quite interesting indeed. My first dinner consisted of bread with hot chocolate. The bread was fancy in that it had special ingredients and it was home-baked. In fact, so far, the bread has been in every meal, bar one.
On Sunday, we had a special lunch with Lieve’s family, and it actually had some meat in it! The lunch was big enough to keep us full til past dinner, so we went without it.
Monday, my first day at Uni, started at 7:30am (early, but I’ll have to get used to it) which consisted of a breakfast of more bread. Then, i was given a bicycle to use to get there. I realised now that it had been years since I had ridden a bicycle, but I was able to pick it back up. Like riding a bike! The route was fairly long (20-25mins) and consisted of going over a large hill. The slope wasn’t particularly tough, but it was a long uphill ride, both ways.
Maurice showed me my office (a desk within a communal office, like many of the rooms here) and I settled in. At the time Laura was the only person there, so I chatted to her for a bit until Kurt arrived. He hadn’t yet managed to sort out my workplace properly, so we attended to some tasks regarding that, but were unable to secure a proper computer. Laura lent me her Mac (grrr), so I had something resembling a computer to work with. Up ’til lunch, I spent my time working and chatting with the group. Then, at about 1pm, we all left to watch a PhD Defence.
The Defence looked to be a very nerve-wracking affair, much like a grading test. You know you’re going to pass, but it doesn’t help in calming the nerves anyway. After the defence, there were some drinks and light nibbles. I stood around drinking, and listening to others talk of their tales (the ones who spoke in English anyway). After this, I went back to the Uni to continue my work. Finally, at 6pm, Maurice and I left for home again.
The dinner this time around was a bit fancier than bread. Steamed Salmon (big chunks of it, too), with mashed potatoes and veges. After dinner, they had a walnut tree that still held it’s nuts, so I volunteered to climb it and shake ‘em out.
I tried again that night to revive my laptop, but I don’t think it has any chance of coming back. A pity too, as I had only recently bought a new hard drive for it (which was still usable).
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