Kerri’s Guest Post!

Hi there readers of SquibbVicious! I’m Kerri and I’m so excited to be guest posting for Haydn whilst she’s away for the weekend!

 Let’s start with a small introduction. As I said, I’m Kerri and I blog over here! I’m currently a British expat studying for my PhD in Belgium and have been for the last two years. I live here with my boyfriend, Kris who is also studying for his PhD. Aside from being science nerds we also like to travel around Belgium (and the rest of Europe), explore the local area, try our hands at being amateur chefs and anything else life throws our way. I then write all about it the blog in-between some personal style posts and every day musings fresh from my own brain.

 In keeping with the style of SquibbVicious I’m going to keep this post short and sweet and tell you all about life in Belgium.

The Basics.

Belgium is tiny yet it still has three official languages (Flemish, French and German). The north of the country is the region of Flanders and the south, Wallonia. We live in Flanders, close to the Flanders-Wallonia border and close to Brussels. Brussels is the capital, but I’m sure we all know that, right?. Brussels has an amazing international community and it’s a pretty nice place to check out too. English-wise, important to me as my language skills are non existent, it’s pretty amazing. I rarely meet anyone that cannot, or will not, speak English. It can be a little harder in Wallonia but we haven’t had too much experience in that region.

What’s there to like about Belgium?

When I first told people I was moving to Belgium, I was surprised by the number of people who told me it was ‘boring’. Don’t get me wrong, Belgium is never going to be the life and soul of the party, but it all depends on the party you’re going to. If food and drink is your party material then what’s not to love: waffles, chocolates, mussels, beer and fries. Maybe travel is your party material: Belgium has architecture, rivers, historic buildings and some quirky little goings on too (graffiti ghost towns, anyone?). Plus if you decide that Belgium isn’t for you then you are in the prime location from travel around Europe and just a Eurostar trip from home!

As with all travel and expat living, there will be things to miss from your home land. I wasn’t sure what I’d miss but I sure miss proper bacon and sausages, general chit chat to cashiers and I miss the simplicity of being in the know all the time. You can find yourself out of the loop a little when everything is in another language but almost everyone is accommodating and well, it wouldn’t be fun if everything was easy.

Belgium is a little misunderstood and unappreciated at times. Differences in culture aside and it’s actually a lovely place with lots to see and once your are past the initial stranger-danger mode that most Belgians default to, full of awesome people.

Kerri x