BELGIUM II
The culture in Belgium was definitely something I didn't expect. For me, the Benelux region was something that had a low priority on my travel list until I saw the offer from our university to go for a semester abroad . I traveled to Belgium without any expectation or expecting the worst. But it all changed quickly. From 0 to 100.
Biking culture. Only after a couple hours after landing in Belgium I was already about to die because of a bicycle. Learning about the biking culture was a very fast lesson. My plan before coming to Gent was to rent a bike in order not to pay for the public transportation. The bike has become very quickly a big part of my life and become a car for me. If you don't have one, you most likely miss some things. For example, we had to go to Halloween shops to buy costumes. Without the bike it would have taken us a whole day to visit all the stores but with the bike it took us only an hour to see everything. In the morning, if I had to catch the tram to the city centre, I would have had to leave the house 45 min. before the class instead of 10 min. Psychologically biking helped me in positive ways through the pandemic. I even went biking for a whole day, resulting in cycling over 45km and walking around 20 km. I was able to visit a castle nearby in a village and to see how village life functions. Although they are urbanised. This culture has rekindled my love for cycling and with all the benefits, it made me want to get a bike in Liechtenstein.
Architecture, weather or the outdoors. When I first arrived in Ghent, I was disappointed by the architecture. The houses looked like they came from England. Brick houses side by side in a single row that stretched all over the Island. I didn't feel like they had anything special about them. Just a reminder that Ghent has a housing problem and to get a permit for the construction of a new building can take up to a year . I was pretty disappointed at first until my classes started - and until I drove into the city center.
What I observed and understood was, that the city centre is not a victim of uncontrolled industrialisation. Therefore, it was able to protect its characteristics of local architecture. What is more intresting is that a building can become a third space due to its importance in the past. Such as the Tax collection building for ships located at the entrance of the canal leading to the city. These types of buildings can be found in different cities throught Belgium. One of the most important one is in Antwerp, where Zaha Hadid, an important female architect of this century, intervened with a new, contreverisal architectural approach. She added another volume over the building instead of upcycling and respecting its natural charateristic, pushing the idea further and freezing the time of the building. This is one of my favourite buildings.
With my studies, my world opened up to something else that you can only learn from books. I actually experienced it. During the workshop week that was part of our design studio, we worked on a concept for the use of 100% renewable energy by 2080 in the small town of Evergem near Ghent. For this I was in a group with four other students studying landscape engineering. During the design process, we looked at the Belgian government's plans for future energy sources and considered how we could use the land efficiently to provide sustainable agriculture and how we could transform the city to become a collective energy source. To accomplish this, we read various sources and brainstormed for a few days to understand the needs. This process helped me to move forward with my studies and make my ideas as sustainable as possible.
As for the weather, I come from southern Europe. We have sun, warmer temperatures and blue skies. We don't have all that in Belgium. Most of the time I am unmotivated
to do anything during the day. I had to adapt to this weather by changing my habits. One of them is a short workout in the morning to get adrenaline into my bloodstream. Another is to light my room well so as not to feel the gray weather.
The last main theme would be growing up in all areas of life. Life in Belgium is focused on individuality and not on the collective as in Southern Europe. I would also include Switzerland and Liechtenstein as part of the part of the collective lifestyle. When you come to a country where you have no friends and know nothing, it's like a new beginning
in your life, where you are more independent than ever before. For some reason, I feel like I have more control over my life. I can decide what I want to do, when I want to do it, how I want to do it, etc. This gives me more confidence in myself and where I stand in life.
There are more unfamiliar things that are slowly becoming familiar to me as I am in Belgium. They are what makes the exchange worthy. Every day a new challenge, a chance to adapt to a new society. I am glad that I got to know Belgium and grew up with it.
Cemil Kaan TAKA Gent, 28th of December 2021