4 months in Leuven

Hi everybody!!

An Erasmus in Flanders does not represent a big change. First because it isn't far from home, and it offers the advantage of not being desoriented at all, but this also means few discoveries. We didn't live in an Erasmus structure but with the Flemish students. My roommates were all Flemish, except a French girl from Rennes.

Let's turn to more serious things. We had 5 different courses, among which only one in English. The others were in Dutch. The most difficult thing was that we had no written notes for four courses out of five. So we had to be really attentive in order to take note correctly, especially because all the courses without syllabus were assessed on the basis of oral exams.

However, the week in Leuven was quite short: the week was already over on Wednesday afternoon. From time to time, I gave conversation classes in French to KULeuven students (BAC 1): I found that really interesting. I enjoyed that experience a lot. Yet it was still what we can call a "light" timetable. With so much free time we could enjoy a maximum of Leuven's night life ( so many good memories), but I will keep the details for myself.

If you want to visit Leuven, start already with www.leuven.com/virtueel/index.html .

See you soon

Maud

About my stay in Berlin

Sensational! That’s the best word to describe my Erasmus stay in Berlin. I had the time of my life and I fully enjoyed the opportunity of living four months in another country.

The first time I ventured into the capital city I realized that I was going to have an interesting stay. Traces from the past are present at every corner and there is an abundance of interesting musea. Theaters and operas are also part of the programme. Moreover, Berlin is unexpensive, which means that a student’s life doesn’t cost that much. There was also a student restaurant at the university, the Mensa, which was cheap but tasteful.

Concerning my courses, I only had ten hours of class a week but it was enough if I wanted to enjoy Berlin. The German approach of studying is completely different from ours and honestly I do prefer it. Knowledge is acquired through personal research and not through studying huge amounts of pages by heart, which you will sooner or later forget (everybody must admit). They are more based on a long-lasting memory. All my courses were seminars, which means that I had to prepare the lessons and to take an active part in the discussion taking place during the class. I learned a lot!

Further, I can say that I learned a lot about other European countries and their traditions. I lived in a residential home full of Erasmus students and most of them came from East Europe. We made a lot of activities together like having international dinners, visiting German cities, going out in Berlin clubs, celebrating at the Brandenburger Tor for New Year’s Eve. Living closely to foreign people brings you a lot; especially by cooking together. You cannot imagine what some people can eat for breakfast!

I would recommend everybody to take part in the Erasmus programme. It was a very fulfilling experience. Now I have a network of friends all around Europe and I’m now equipped with uselfull skills in German.