Brussels in a box

Hello!

Long time, no see? Well, the last weeks at the delegation before Christmas was quite hectic. As I decided to take one module at the University of Oslo this autumn I had to deliver my home exam besides having visitors the last three weekends in December. And my very exciting trainee job too of course. Now I'm home in Oslo on Christmas holiday and it feels so good to be home for a week. When I return to Brussels for my final month I will just enjoy my last time in the city before I move back to Norway to finish my studies. I will walk in Bois de la Cambre, eat brunch at the boulangeries, go to wine bars with friends and to Plux every single Thursday. And maybe another visit to a nice European city? I really wanna go to France or to the coast of Belgium. Maybe I'll do that. Time will show!

The strange thing about being home, first time since I moved to Brussels in August, is that all the things I've experience these months is that I now see it all from a distant (an well needed!) perspective. Brussels life feels so far away when I'm in Oslo surrounded by my closest friends and family. It's a bubble I've traveled out of for a week. Now I am looking forward to coming "home". I hope it won't be my last time living there, but first I need to write my master thesis. It's on my mind all the time.

What have I learned about the city these past months? What is Brussels to me? Who does this city mean to me? And to people who is visiting the city for a weekend? Here is a summary of my experiences, combines with feed backs from the people who has come to visit me this autumn.

1. Brussels is not a beautiful city.

Ok, let me explain that one. Compared to its strong competitors nearby, Paris, London and Amsterdam, it's not an ancient capital pearl filled with beautiful boulevards, landmarks, ancient buildings and a big cathedral in the city center that all the tourists enter. But Brussels have many beautiful boroughs in the art noveau style and a city life that certainly make you love the city. For example in my borough of Ixelles. We have so many local wine bars, boulangeries, vegetables markets and the international restaurants from Belgium, Greece, Italy, Morocco, France, Vietnam (and I could go on!). These are things it takes time to explore and get to know. So to me Brussels has a beautiful soul. With a rich city life, very nice wine bars and a great variety of cuisines in all the international restaurants, friendly and interesting people, located in the middle of Europe where you feel everything is nearby. A rich culture life in music, arts, theatre and political events.

So to summarize: Brussels is great for a having a varied and interesting daily life, not specific for tourists. So whenever I have traveled from Brussels to Amsterdam, Paris, Brugge, Ghent, Antwerp - and now to Oslo - I am always looking forward to coming back. I prefer the daily life most. Weekend trips are good, but to be fair I like to have my days with routines.

In Brussels my daily life consists of exciting work days, after-drinks or events during the evening or maybe dinner out or in the flat with a friend? Or maybe relaxing at a wine bar with a friend or a book? I love having all these opportunities and I am not sure I will have it again - even though Oslo is a rich cultural city as well.

One of my favourite wine bars in Ixelles is Le Stoefer, by Place du Châtelain. A cosy, warm atmosphere, excellent place to enjoy a glass of red wine while reading a good book.

2. Brussels is the worst city for public transport (if you don't live by the metro)

In my home town of Oslo the Green party has received a lot of negative (and some positive) reactions due to their ambitious plan on making the city center streets free of cars. Too idealistic? So did I think when the political platform first was introduced. After living in Brussels I have totally changed my mind about it.

I have never experienced a worse city when it comes to public transport. And the reason why? Because everybody drives a car! Rumour has it that's because so many Brussels workers get a car trough their work. And the incentives to have one are certainly so high that people prefer that over taking public transport. I partly understand when you live in the eras of Ixelles, Uccle and St.Gilles, where you need to take the bus to come directly to the European quarter of Schuman, because they are not on the metro line. The public transport connections from here is crazy and I really don't understand why the Belgians haven't thought of expanding the metro lines to these eras? Well. Easier said then done. And this is why I always walk to work. When it's the EU Summit, it's a complete disaster as many of the roads from Ixelles to Schuman are closed as well. Last time I used 80 minutes (!) in the bus from Flagey to Maelbeek, a bus trip that normally takes like 10 minutes with now queuing...

My street was suddenly white one day in December. Just imagine what the traffic is like then.

3. Brussels is a city where it is easy to feel at home - but also alone.

How does this work? Easily explained, it's a city where it is so easy to meet internationals in the same situation as you - living abroad for a shorter period. We meet at work, on events, in bars or on parties. Everyone asks where you come from and what you work with. And the conversation go on. You exchange Facebook-names (yeah, not very much phone today) and maybe you see each other again (or not). My point here is that it is easy to meet people, but it takes time before you call it a friendship. One thing is contacts you can benefit from in the professional life, but on private basis you have to do some efforts. Because people here are really busy. When you get home from work you just want to relax or take it easy. But I guess this also vary from person to person on how you like to organize your social life.

So in the end, you could feel alone. However "alone" in this context - and it's just a theory from my perspective - means that in a city where people live for usually only a period, it can be easy to feel alone once you've gotten to know some people and suddenly they are returning to their home country. When people move in and out it's not that simple to know how much you intend to invest on a friendship or relationship with someone when you know they will be gone in only a few months. And then you might need to find new friends, because you are gonna live here temporary, maybe indefinitely.

And with all these words said and done, please prepare me for 2018 and my final month in Brussels! I'm gonna make most out of it!

Happy new years! xxx Cheers to new challenges, explorations, opportunities and new acquaintances!