I've been home the last two weeks, writing emails and searching for a suitable project to write my thesis on. I still have TWO more exams, but they won't come up until spring so I will write my thesis.
Ericsson still has their offer, but to be honest, the project doesn't seem that interesting. I have some other options and I will make up my mind this coming week. If nothing better comes up I will head for Beijing again very soon. Unfortunately that is a place very far from Belgium.
Cheers,
Johan.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
The Party is in the House
The yearly house party and my goodbye party. Every room (12 in total) is to provide something to drink or eat. Starting from the top and go from room to room.
The red room
3 monkies
12 drinks take their toll.
Finishing off with tequila
The red room
3 monkies
12 drinks take their toll.
Finishing off with tequila
Monday, October 10, 2005
Visiting Sam in Gent
Sam is a crazy guy that I met in Beijing. He did an internship at the Belgian embassy together with Wen. During the couple of weeks he was there he probably went to more bars and clubs there than I did during the last two years! This weekend he was back from another crazy trip, this time to Portugal, and invited us to his town, Gent.
Sam showing us around in Gent
Trying out the "Quack", a special glass that makes a sound when you drink from it.
Sam sleeping in during the day after have gone to bed 2pm the day after! In the background are his turntables. His greatest passion is DJ:ing. Techno. He listens to it all the time and everywhere!
Wen finding a friend at Sam's parents house.
Walking the dog
All-you-can-eat ribs as Sunday family dinner! Great finish for a great weekend! Then he took us to Brussels driving 170km/h! We had to take a train back because he had to pick up his parents at the airport.
Sam showing us around in Gent
Trying out the "Quack", a special glass that makes a sound when you drink from it.
Sam sleeping in during the day after have gone to bed 2pm the day after! In the background are his turntables. His greatest passion is DJ:ing. Techno. He listens to it all the time and everywhere!
Wen finding a friend at Sam's parents house.
Walking the dog
All-you-can-eat ribs as Sunday family dinner! Great finish for a great weekend! Then he took us to Brussels driving 170km/h! We had to take a train back because he had to pick up his parents at the airport.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Belgian Curiosities
I've learned quite a lot of things about this country that I didn't know before, things that really surprises me.
First of all the thing the rest of the world call "cell-phone", "mobile", "mobile phone", or "handy", the Flemish people call it "GSM". As in "I will GSM you tomorrow, OK?".
Sam proudly shows one of the Belgian national treasures
Every single household seem to have a deep-frier to make French fries, "frit", a national passion for a dish. There is usually a whole section at the supermarket with sacks full of it. With that they eat mayonnaise (One could argue that they are eating mayonnaise and add a few fries to it). Still, with all frit, waffles, beer, and chocolate, it is rare to see very over-weight people. Impressive.
They make and drink a lot of beer here. And in a great variety. Some stuff would probably not be called beer at other places. Most importantly though is that there are many kinds that tastes great, there are plentiful of nice places where you can drink them, and many friendly people to drink them with. It is affordable to go to the pub as well. Well, that is from a Swedish perspective I guess (not a Chinese).
Another thing is that I had no idea that the country is so divided, and from now on I will probably consider it to be two. If it wasn't for the complication of Brussels that would probably be the case. What about Brussels you might ask? Well, the country is divided into the two regions Walonia and Flanders. Walonia is the southern part where people speak French, and as most French speakers it seems, only French. In Flanders, the northern part, they speak Flemish, a version of Dutch. Most of the people here also speak at least French and English. Flanders is the more prosperous part and many people there are angered that they have to contribute so much to the Walon people, who they see as backward, lazy, and who are not contributing anything back, including learning Flemish. So again, what about Brussels? Brussels is an administrative region in it self, situated in Flanders, but is multilingual. If the two regions where to separate, the big issue would be: What about Brussels? So far there doesn't seem to be possible to find a solution that enough people would be ready to accept. Meanwhile it seems the voters in Flanders is turning more and more radical with the extreme right seperatists party Vlaams Belang as an outlet. I've actually not heard the opinion of anyone from the Walon part, and even if I did meet one, maybe I would have to learn French first to understand.
Why doesn't the Flemish join Holland then and Walon join France? Well, if they actually did split, many speculate that the Walons actually would. The Flemish then? They dislike the Dutch probably more than the Walons! Tricky region this. One anthropology professor claimed during an introductory course here that the largest cultural difference between two neighboring countries is between Belgium and Holland! I find that hard to believe, but he did sound pretty informed.
One related thing to this is that the country is so small geographically that all students head home during the weekends. That means Wen's place doesn't have a wash-mashine, even though 12 students live there! They all go home during the weekend and bring their clothes with them. Many also brings plastic boxes with food from home. The other meals will consist of toast, fast-food (frit, kebab), or food at the school canteen.
All these observations are verified by my huge sample of about a dozen people during my 5 weeks stay here. ;)
First of all the thing the rest of the world call "cell-phone", "mobile", "mobile phone", or "handy", the Flemish people call it "GSM". As in "I will GSM you tomorrow, OK?".
Sam proudly shows one of the Belgian national treasures
Every single household seem to have a deep-frier to make French fries, "frit", a national passion for a dish. There is usually a whole section at the supermarket with sacks full of it. With that they eat mayonnaise (One could argue that they are eating mayonnaise and add a few fries to it). Still, with all frit, waffles, beer, and chocolate, it is rare to see very over-weight people. Impressive.
They make and drink a lot of beer here. And in a great variety. Some stuff would probably not be called beer at other places. Most importantly though is that there are many kinds that tastes great, there are plentiful of nice places where you can drink them, and many friendly people to drink them with. It is affordable to go to the pub as well. Well, that is from a Swedish perspective I guess (not a Chinese).
Another thing is that I had no idea that the country is so divided, and from now on I will probably consider it to be two. If it wasn't for the complication of Brussels that would probably be the case. What about Brussels you might ask? Well, the country is divided into the two regions Walonia and Flanders. Walonia is the southern part where people speak French, and as most French speakers it seems, only French. In Flanders, the northern part, they speak Flemish, a version of Dutch. Most of the people here also speak at least French and English. Flanders is the more prosperous part and many people there are angered that they have to contribute so much to the Walon people, who they see as backward, lazy, and who are not contributing anything back, including learning Flemish. So again, what about Brussels? Brussels is an administrative region in it self, situated in Flanders, but is multilingual. If the two regions where to separate, the big issue would be: What about Brussels? So far there doesn't seem to be possible to find a solution that enough people would be ready to accept. Meanwhile it seems the voters in Flanders is turning more and more radical with the extreme right seperatists party Vlaams Belang as an outlet. I've actually not heard the opinion of anyone from the Walon part, and even if I did meet one, maybe I would have to learn French first to understand.
Why doesn't the Flemish join Holland then and Walon join France? Well, if they actually did split, many speculate that the Walons actually would. The Flemish then? They dislike the Dutch probably more than the Walons! Tricky region this. One anthropology professor claimed during an introductory course here that the largest cultural difference between two neighboring countries is between Belgium and Holland! I find that hard to believe, but he did sound pretty informed.
One related thing to this is that the country is so small geographically that all students head home during the weekends. That means Wen's place doesn't have a wash-mashine, even though 12 students live there! They all go home during the weekend and bring their clothes with them. Many also brings plastic boxes with food from home. The other meals will consist of toast, fast-food (frit, kebab), or food at the school canteen.
All these observations are verified by my huge sample of about a dozen people during my 5 weeks stay here. ;)
Monday, October 03, 2005
Weekend in Amsterdam
During the weekends all students leave Leuven and head home to their parents (and get their clothes washed by their mothers). Left behind are the few who actually live in Leuven and the exchange students. Not wanting to be left behind we went to Amsterdam during the weekend for some fun.
Being the first time there we tried out anything any sensible backpacker using the Lonely Planet would do.
That includes walking along the canals during the day...
... and elbowing with the crowds in the red light district during the night under influence of various intoxication.
Beau having a late snack at a Febo's, the Dutch McDonald's with these little boxes where you take out the food. He's an architecture student at Berkeley and have received a fat scholarship ($25k) to travel around the world by himself and check out buildings. Not bad.
The morning after we had a look at the temporary "Masterpieces" collection in a section of the Rijksmuseum. Most of the building is under renovation.
Being the first time there we tried out anything any sensible backpacker using the Lonely Planet would do.
That includes walking along the canals during the day...
... and elbowing with the crowds in the red light district during the night under influence of various intoxication.
Beau having a late snack at a Febo's, the Dutch McDonald's with these little boxes where you take out the food. He's an architecture student at Berkeley and have received a fat scholarship ($25k) to travel around the world by himself and check out buildings. Not bad.
The morning after we had a look at the temporary "Masterpieces" collection in a section of the Rijksmuseum. Most of the building is under renovation.
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