I have been in Liége, Belgium, for a month now. I think the first week
was the most challenging time, because then everything was new for me. The language,
the culture, the school and the way people greet each other by kissing each
other on cheeks.
Belgian life style is not so different and it wasn’t the hardest thing
for me to understand, but the school was, and it still is very different from
ours in Finland. I go to a private Catholic school here. In Belgium most people
are Catholic, but the religion is not emphasized in my family or at our school
in any way. By the way, our
School is very beautiful, because it’s 100 years old. The school has quite many
rules that are new to me. Like during the school day you stay in the school the
whole day, you are not allowed to step outside the school area, the gates are
closed. Or if you come late to the lesson, you can’t just go to the class and
say “Sorry I’m late”, first you have to get a piece of paper from the school
office with your name on it and give it to your
teacher.
Belgian food is not so different, but the eating habits are. You eat
lunch at school at twelve o’clock and the next time you eat is at home at eight
o’clock in the evening. For a snack, you usually eat a chocolate bar. In
Finland we get a free warm lunch at school every day. In my host family we eat Belgian
and Spanish food (because my host dad is Spanish) and it’s very delicious. I
particularly like Belgian fries and mayonnaise, they are very good.
In my host family it’s very important that children study every day.
There isn’t much time for meeting friends in your free time. For me it’s
surprising, because in Finland I’m used to seeing my friends after school every
day and of course at weekends too. Over here I
spend more time with my host family. At my Belgian home I usually speak
English, but I learn a lot of French too. My host dad speaks English with me
but my host mum only speaks French and the children of the family, my little
brother, Axel, 16, and my little sister Chloe, 14, mostly speak French with me.
The school begins every day at 8:20. The lessons last for fifty minutes
and we have three breaks during the day; the first at ten o’clock then the lunch
at twelve for one hour and the last at three o’clock in the afternoon. Some
students speak English, but like in Finland too, many seem hesitant to use it.
Over here English studies aren’t obligatory so older people can’t speak
English. My teachers here suppose that I can speak French and they are very
surprised when they notice that I can’t say much in French. In Finland I only
took a couple of lessons in the basics of French before my exchange, so I really
don’t know much about the language and its grammar.
Now after one month
the life in Belgium and speaking in both English and in French is kind of normal
to me and I’m used to it. It’s getting easier day after day. The other thing I
have noticed is that the time seems to fly. I only have two months left of my
exchange. Hopefully, I will learn more about Belgium and its people and have a
great time here for the rest of the time! 
Tiina with her Belgian host dog Hestia
